Kasey Clark
Richard Sykes
Simulation and Game Design
9/5/2015
Playstation’s
Sports Champion
This is a game that attempts to
utilize the technology of the Playstation3 console paired with the Playstation
move. ESRB (Entertainment software rating board) describes the game as “a sports simulation game in which players
can compete in a variety of standard and fantasy-based athletic events. Games
include disc golf, gladiator duel, volleyball, archery, table tennis and bocce.
In the gladiator duel, players use swords and clubs to strike opponents and
drain their life meters; the one-one-one combat is accompanied by realistic
impact sounds and cries of pain” (Entertainment software rating board, http://www.esrb.org/ratings/synopsis.jsp?Certificate=29120&Title=Sports%20Champions&searchkeyword=sports%20champion)
At first the theme of this game would
appear to be sports, however I find the theme to also be about a good
competitive experience with friends. The designers reinforced this theme with
multiple selection of sports and a wide selection of unique characters and famous
athletes. The designers also reinforced this theme by attempting to have an innovative local multiplayer function.
With every game
there is usually something special about it, be it good or bad. In this game it attempted to be special with
the technology and innovative aspects of the Playstation move, however it failed
to deliver on this due to inadequate controls, unrealistic movements and poor
character design. When this game first came out there were plenty of people who
were excited about the possibility of having an innovative game using the
playsation move technology. I found this
game did not deliver on the excitement, however there is surprisingly a lot of
humor to be found within the technical issues that I found enjoyable.
I’m sure most people do not know what
to consider when evaluating a game. Things like whether or not the game feels
right, whether or not it is a well-designed game, whether it is it a novel game
in today’s market, and if the audience will like the game. They also have to
make sure the game will sell, is technically possible to build, meets social
and community goals and that the play testers will enjoy it.
For the theme of the game being based off of sports
and a competitive experience the game does feel right. Each sport in the game
represents the rules and expectations that would come with the sport. The
audience at the time of the game release may have enjoyed the game very much,
however with today’s standards of the Playstation move, it has too many issues
for most audience to enjoy it the way the designers intended. This alone does
not make it a badly designed game. The theme, background, and selections of the
game were well designed, but the mechanics and interface were not, this leads
to the problem of the game not being novel. The game might be a bit fun for an
afternoon play but there are other games like it with much better mechanics and
that utilize the Playstation move better and that will be more novel. A lot of
these problems were mostly due to the technical possibilities of the Playstation
move at the time. During the time this game was created the Playstation move
was still generally new and the move was not yet perfected. When the move was
created, it was designed with the purpose to be better than other motion
innovative consoles like the Nitindo Wii and the Xbox Kinect. This goal was not
met and was a disappointment to the community and the designer’s goals. Upon
the release of the game most of the play testers had positive reviews about the
game itself.
With all the things are considered by the
designers in making a game there is one important aspect they follow,
Iteration. Iteration is important for finding issues within the production of a
game and change it. When making a game most companies now use a loop method
that allows the game to go through several departments over and over to find
and fix issues as they arise. This method also allows for any creative changes
that may change or reinforce the theme of the game.
The last aspect
to cover is my personal enjoyment of the game. The game had a good theme and
was very interesting, however was overall frustrating. The part that was fun
was the interactions I was having with my fellow classmates. Watching my
classmates reactions to some of the glitches and having difficulties in the
game produced a lot of humor. If the game had better mechanics and worked a bit
better the game would have been a lot more fun.