So let’s dive in to the world of sports video games, looking at the bad and good trends. The worst trend is the fact that almost all the major team sports of the US have only one game for their given sport. This is harmful because without competition there is little reason for a game to innovate from year to year. The biggest monopoly in the gaming industry is the Madden series of football games. EA sports and Madden recently signed a long term deal for Madden to be the exclusive NFL simulation franchise allowed to be published for NFL video games. While other leagues have only one title for their given sport, Madden is the only sports franchise that cannot have any meaningful competition. This has created a situation where EA Sports is hated as destroying the possible market for NFL games. I look into that situation next.

Madden has not and will not have any competition in the near future. That is obviously upsetting to many football fans who even hate the mention of the word Madden. The biggest problem with Madden is that its engine is built on animation rather than physics. Ryan Moody is one of the best contributors on this issue as he shows actual game footage showing things that would never take place on an NFL football field. In his videos you will see offensive lineman letting defenders go through to the quarterback and not blocking anyone at all. Also, you will see defenders not pursuing the ball carrier or receiver and basically just hanging out in their zone coverage and sometimes just running off the field altogether! On the positive side, I will say that Madden 26 was a significant improvement over Madden 25 as 26 played faster and was more responsive to user input. However, in my opinion, Madden 25 was one of the worst Madden games of all time. Also, it always seems like the graphics for Madden games are never as good as they should be. I have always felt that the College Football series of games have always had superior graphics than the Madden series.

Now to look at the rest of the sports lineup for video games. NBA 2k26 is one of the more innovative titles from the year prior’s game. The shooting mechanic in this year’s game is a marked improvement over prior titles in the series. Also, it shows that NBA2k is actually working on meaningful changes in their game from year to year. MLB The Show 26 has solid gameplay, but the graphics and overall presentation of the game have not changed much in ten years. Also, when you get to all star hitting difficulty on The Show, it becomes somewhat difficult to hit for many runs per games played. Also, the pitching difficulty on all star difficulty seems too easy, at least for me. NHL 26 is actually a solid game in a series that have had few good games to play recently. I like that goals are more difficult to score for you and your opponent than in previous games. An area that needs improvement is the overall graphics of the NHL series which seem poor compared to other sports titles. Also, the menu system is bad and can lead to frustration in playing the game. Finally, College Football 26 is a good game that feels too scripted and slow this year compared to last year’s game. Everything felt faster and more intuitive in College Football 25. One positive of this years game is that the music and presentation are superior to College Football 25. However, one issue with this year’s game is the fact that it is almost impossible to stop the passing attack of the CPU on all American difficulty level and it doesn’t matter who the opponent is for the team your playing against for this to happen.

My favorite sports game of the last two year’s of titles in actually PGA Tour 2k25. The graphics for this game are outstanding. Also, once you get out of the super easy difficulty mode, you will find quite a golf challenge ahead of you. But it  is a fair challenge. Golf is a difficult game and any mistake in hitting or putting the ball can derail your round just like it would in real life. The MyCareer mode is excellent and gives you many opportunities to improve your player and his equipment.

So overall it would be good if we had competition between titles in major team sports, but it doesn’t seem like that is going to happen anytime soon.

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