How to make a Successful Olympic Video Game

[MMChrisS]

As I brought up in my review of London 2012, many Olympic-themed video games over the years have struggled to really be anything more than novelty products. The time crunch that the development team is under to churn out a game with so many events is usually evident, and said team developing the game is usually not carrying much of a pedigree. London 2012 showed some flashes of something different, with very good online play, effective (but simple) presentation, and a few events that were actually fun to play. Still, it mostly played it safe and did very little to break the mold of official Olympic titles.

It is really unfortunate that this is the reality for Olympic video games, as I think most people either really like the Olympics or at least respect it as an area of sports that you get to peek at once every four years. For the most part, you have athletes that are there for the right reasons, and they clearly pour a ton of effort into the events, even though they might seem obscure or quaint by outside observers. So why can't we have a game that really explores the depth of some of these events and the athletes who compete in them? I propose the following five areas where Olympic video games have been lacking — and that also serve as a road map for how they can excel.

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[return.specialist]

It would be great if multiple studios could band together to produce an in-depth Olymiad game, much the same as countries and cultures set aside their own differences for the sake of superb athletic competition.

[Simple Mathematics]

The more I watch the Olympics, the more I want to play a truly great Olympic video game.

[oneamongthefence]

Konami Track and Field was pretty authentic...for NES at least.

I agree as big of a spectacle as the Olympics are you would think that they would spend 4 years working on a release. Or every 2 years allowing for Winter Olympics.

[pote14]

I think it would be best with real athletes, and being able to train athletes to gain skill, speed, etc.

[BA2929]

That was the last fun Olympic style game I've played. That came out in 1988.

Bring back a power-pad sort of extra for the sprints, use the kinect for swimming and a controller for gymnastics and the rest of the stuff.

That's the only way I see it working out. Because using just a controller for the track and field events turns into nothing but button mashing.

[drk3351]

Yeah i think a good career mode would really add long term longevity. We know multiplayer is great with these titles but its time to add a good single player thing. Also real athletes and commentators would make everything better

[bxphenom7]

many sports titles should just have olympic play as a feature. For example, an NBA game such as NBA 2k could have all the olympic teams and every 4 years it would occur in the franchise mode (association in 2k) or your created player for a career mode can be selected to represent your respected country. Honestly, FIFA has so many teams so other games should do this. MLB games should do this with the World Baseball Classic. Anyways, the game's computer would have to generate these players for foreign teams every 4 years and select foreign-born players from the NBA if talented enough. Also, the game would have to randomize how good the country is every 4 years. However, if NBA games were willing to include these foreign team rosters from participating countries and have the computer generate rookies for those leagues (basically a franchise mode for these foreign teams being simulated by the computer). However, if this is too much for the game, then they can stick with my previous idea of generating players every 4 years for foreign teams but in realistic fashion (if one year there's a 26 year old player who's the best in his country, he should most likely participate when he's 30 instead of the computer throwing in all new players). This is my idea.

[Dazraz]

I agree in principle to the list but realistically the inclusion of actual athletes would be a logistical nightmare whilst expecting a game that incorporates so many different disciplines & have great depth within each of those is pretty unrealistic. Especially when you consider that there are games out there that focus on a single sport yet still have not nailed down the level of depth & accuracy we would like to see.

[bubba4]

One thing that really is lacking with Olympic video games is how sterile the atmosphere is. You just don't feel like you are on the world stage competing against the best athletes. It feels like a lonely experience as you progress through the game only worried about your lone competitor, as the computer simply displays scores and times for you to beat. It doesn't feel like a competition and it gets repetitive very fast. This year they did a lot to minimize the button mashing, but the whole feel of the Olympic package is lost. I would welcome a manger's mode and it would be nice to be able to choose as to whether I could view the cpu athletes compete. There are really only a handful of signature events in the Olympics. The rest is the spectacle of the show. I am done with button mashing, but I'd very much like to experience an authentic Olympic game that doesn't just focus on the country one represents. The glory of the Olympics is to be able to SEE as well as compete against the best in the world. Fictitious names or not.