| | Operation Sports:The Future of Gaming
By Shawn Drotar, Managing Editor, OperationSports.com
Since the Xbox® video game system arrived on the scene, 2K Sports and its 2K line of sports titles have provided gamers with some of the best sports experiences in videogame history. With the Xbox 360™ now looming on the horizon, 2K Sports is poised to take its games to the next level on Microsoft®'s next-generation powerhouse.
At E3, Operation Sports was pleased to discuss 2K Sports and the future of sports gaming on the Xbox 360 with Greg Thomas, president of Visual Concepts, a 2K Sports studio. We're proud to share his insights with you here on Xbox.com.
Operation Sports: 2K Sports' titles made the most of Xbox capabilities, utilizing its hard drive with custom stadium music and archive replays, and utilizing Xbox Live™ to the fullest with comprehensive online leagues that were unrivaled in the industry. How does the new Xbox 360 help you make the games that you want, that you're proud of, and where do you see yourselves going from there?
Thomas: We've obviously been through a lot of hardware transitions—a lot of them. When we got the Xbox 360 and really started to learn about it, we discovered that this was the first console where our engineers were not simply concerned about getting the game done. When you first receive a console, you're always worried about the time frame. It's all new, and so you're not able to do everything you want to do, and you end up more concerned about getting the game done on time. It usually takes a long time to learn how to leverage new hardware.
Microsoft has created a console that's a lot easier to develop for. It's a lot more powerful—so much more powerful that we've been able to add every idea that we've ever wanted to add using this hardware. That's very different than everything else we've worked with.
We've always pushed way beyond what any previous hardware could do when we've received it. We've been pushing hard on the Xbox 360 hardware, too, but it does everything we want it to do for the first time. It makes our job a lot easier.
Microsoft is a fantastic partner for us because they share our vision. If you look at our heritage, NFL 2K1 was the first-ever online console sports game. Then you look at how Microsoft's really picked that up with Xbox Live and their online community, and at how much they believe in online league play. All these features that we really believe in and have built fit together so well. It's just a great partnership.
We really respect what they're doing, and we believe in every feature they're putting into Xbox Live—Gamer Profiles, Reputation, and everything else they're adding is so important.
Aside from all of that, Microsoft is giving developers such great support and has built them a fantastic machine. It couldn't be a better situation for us, really.
Operation Sports: First-rate online play has been the hallmark of both 2K Sports' products and the Xbox console itself. How do the two of you plan to work together to make a great experience even better?
Thomas: Online, we'll see a much better support mechanism. Microsoft announced that their goal is to have a billion people playing Xbox—that's a tremendous goal. How would you encourage that? My answer is that it has to be with online play. I truly think that everybody is going to want to play online, and Xbox 360 is going to make it so easy. They already have made it easy with the Xbox, but it'll be even easier to get online and play with Xbox 360.
All our games are going to support Xbox Live to a whole new level. We've had leagues before, but what you're going to see from us with our Xbox 360 titles is going to be a completely new and huge leap forward. We are looking at online as a key component going forward, a key feature in all of our titles.
Operation Sports: 2K Games recently acquired the development firm Indie Built, as well as a solid lineup of sports games formerly published under the Microsoft Game Studios banner, namely Top Spin™and Amped®. What can we expect of these games under 2K Games' stewardship?
Thomas: We work really closely with the crew at Indie Built, and they're fantastic. They do Top Spin andAmped for us, and both those games are looking fantastic.Top Spin is a gorgeous game and it plays so well, and we think that Amped is going to be a really big eye-opener for gamers when it's released. The Indie Built guys are real, professional developers, just as Visual Concepts is, just as Kush Games is—and putting all of us together (under the 2K Sports brand) has created great synchronicity all the way through.
We wouldn't have taken these additional titles on if we didn't think they were fantastic. We felt that they would increase the value of 2K Sports and give us even more quality titles moving forward.
Operation Sports: As part of the 2K Games brand, what advantages does 2K Sports have that they didn't before, and what can gamers expect to see from 2K Sports as a result?
Thomas: There area lot of advantages of being part of Take-Two, now 2K Games. There's stability, of course, and a commitment to making great games and game franchises. 2K Sports is our heritage. We built NFL 2K, NBA 2K, and all those titles that we built with SEGA® created the 2K brand. We think that throughout that time, it has been a considerable positive for consumers. We're proud of the games we've made, and we think that going forward, we have a very strong brand. It's something that consumers have opened up to and appreciated—and they've played a lot of our games, both online and offline.
We've had other brands, other licenses, but the one thing that was constant was 2K.
Operation Sports: Presentation is one of your strongest suits and most obvious attractions in your titles, but 2K Games is no longer co-branding with ESPN in their sports games. Does this create a challenge or an opportunity for your team?
Thomas: We've always believed that how you present a sports game is incredibly important. How you present it and the quality of that presentation matter. From the original NFL 2K game to this year's 2K5 line, we've made the gamer feel more comfortable with our games by showing them to the gamer in the way they're used to seeing the sport itself on television. It's how we all understand it. Now that we're focusing on our brand, we're not strapped down. We're freed to include more "value" in our presentation.
We're focusing on our brand now, but what's most important is that we're true to the game, true to the sport—and that's what we'll do.
Operation Sports: Greg, as a gamer yourself, what do you like the best and what are you looking forward to the most from Xbox 360?
Thomas: There are so many great things about Xbox 360 as far as how Microsoft built it, both on the interior and exterior, but the most important thing to me as a gamer is what it feels like to hold the controller in my hands. First of all, going with a wireless controller is a very smart move. When you hold the controller, unlike previous controllers, it feels just right. It's not too small, it doesn't feel "mooshy" or cheap—it just feels right. They did a very nice job, aesthetically as well as how it feels in your hand. This controller is comfortable, flexible, and functional. I really like how it all works.
Operation Sports: Thank you for taking some time out of a hectic E3 schedule to sit down and talk with us.
Thomas: Thank you for coming. I hope you'll enjoy playing our 2K Sports games for Xbox 360. I know we're enjoying making them!
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