By Jesse Baker
Lamp staff
SPRINGFIELD — Walk into the Logger Lair beneath the A.Lincoln Commons, and one would find a pingpong table and video game consoles.
For many young adults, there is a world of physical activities, such as ping-pong, and a virtual world. One might ask how do you combine the two, and the answer might be quite simple in the form of sports video games.
In a small, randomized survey of 24 students at Lincoln Land, 16, or 67 percent, reported having a home video game console, and 10, or 63 percent, reported having a video game of the sports genre within their collection.
Tanner Reavis, an avid basketball player and NBA 2K17 owner, explained he enjoyed both video games and playing actual sports.
With many different sports being played at the moment at the collegiate and professional level, it may be easy to see why these sports games are so popular at the moment. Here at Lincoln Land, men’s soccer and women’s volleyball are both in season, while both men’s
and women’s basketball are in preseason conditioning. At the professional level, sports such as football, soccer, and baseball are all in season.
In the world of technology video game, sales have seemed to have correlated with this as many companies (EA Sports, Konami, and 2K Sports) have released their rendition of ongoing sports series that have done their best to replicate these sports to the finest detail in most cases.
Jonathan Davis, a former high school football player stated his appreciation for his copy of Madden 17 released by EA sports.
“I enjoy playing it (Madden 17),” Davis said. “The replays are done well, and it includes camera angles that make you really feel like you are there.”
However, Davis also had his critiques of the game as stated that “Better Quarterback vision and accuracy along with more realistic wide receiver catches would make the game even more realistic”.
The latest big sports game release was EA Sports FIFA 17, known as the best selling game of the sports genre because of it’s appeal to millions of soccer fans in the world. Wlatee Weah, a former Lincoln Land soccer player and relative of the world famous soccer player George Weah, commented on his thoughts on FIFA.
“EA sports represented the game of soccer well. The movements in the game are true to real life,” he said. “I also enjoyed playing the game mode known as The Journey, because it tells the story of a player’s life in the pros which I have never experienced.”
So while the experience of sports in many ways cannot be reproduced or fabricated without participating in a chosen sport, revolutionary video game companies are now competing and making experiences within their game that may make you feel as if you are a professional athlete, when you are just picking up a remote and not a ball.
Jesse Baker can be reached at [email protected].
