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Press Row Podcast: All Our Rowdy Friends (Part 1)
A Press Row Podcast tradition continues with a gathering of friends of the show to tell us their favorite sports games of 2017. There are no rules other than pick your favorites! This week’s episode is the first of two, featuring great friends Gus Ramsey in one segment and Cicero Holmes in another. Many know Gus from his days at ESPN and the Bill Simmons podcast. Cicero, one of the creative forces behind Spawn On Me, has been a contributor for years. Both played their fair share of sports games and tell host Rich Grisham their three favorites in order.
For those who happened to miss either, make sure to also download the recent Press Row Podcast Sports Game of the Year and Biggest Stories of 2017 episodes!
Check out the podcast through iTunes for iOS, on Android with the Stitcher app, or with Pocket Casts on iOS, Android, and Windows. The show can also now be found on the recently launched Google Play Music for podcasts. Subscribe and review to help support the show! You can also listen with the streaming player below.
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End of Year Community Awards: Best Mobile Game of 2017
With 2017 having come to a close we look back on the developments that have taken place and acknowledge the various efforts in sports gaming. The next category in the annual Community Awards is open for voting. You can check out the winners from previous years here.
Best Gameplay, Best Career/Story Mode, Best Franchise Mode, Best Team-Building Mode, Best Presentation, Best Online Play, Best Post-Release Support and Best Racing Game can already be voted on! Categories still to come are Sports Game of the Year, Best New or Non-Yearly Sports Game, Best New Feature. All winners announced later in the month.
Best Mobile Game was a competitive category last year demonstrating the wide spread of interest across the many different games that are released or updated in significant fashion annually. NBA Live Mobile is the only nominee to return from that group and will compete with Madden NFL Mobile and Motorsport Manager 2 for the 2017 award.
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AO Tennis has released on mobile in advance of the upcoming console version
In December publisher Big Ant Studios made the surprise announcement of AO Tennis for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The game is set to release on January 16 but only in Australia and New Zealand, with a worldwide launch happening at some point this spring. In the meantime developer Tennis Australia today launched a mobile game under the same name.
AO Tennis is the official game of the Australian Open. Create your own player, take them through the complete Australian Open tournament, right through to winning the trophy, or play in a quick match against the biggest names in Tennis.
AO Tennis can be downloaded through iTunes for iOS and Google Play for Android. The game is completely free and contains no microtransactions. The roster features over 60 licensed players including the likes of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Serena Williams that are unlocked through progression. The controls are simple, involving swipes on the screen in the direction desired for each hit.
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End of Year Community Awards: Best Racing Game of 2017
With 2017 having come to a close we look back on the developments that have taken place and acknowledge the various efforts in sports gaming. The next category in the annual Community Awards is open for voting. You can check out the winners from previous years here.
Best Gameplay, Best Career/Story Mode, Best Franchise Mode, Best Team-Building Mode, Best Presentation, Best Online Play and Best Post-Release Support can already be voted on! Categories still to come include Sports Game of the Year, Best New or Non-Yearly Sports Game, Best Mobile, and Best New Feature. All winners announced later in the month.
This was an exceptional year for racing games and arguments could be made for a number of them as the best of 2017. The nominees include the highest-rated racing games with winner of the Press Row Podcast award, F1 2017, vying with what in most years would have been the frontrunner in Forza Motorsport 7 and the fun off-road racer DiRT 4.
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End of Year Community Awards: Best Post-Release Support of 2017
With 2017 having come to a close we look back on the developments that have taken place and acknowledge the various efforts in sports gaming. The next category in the annual Community Awards is open for voting. You can check out the winners from previous years here.
Best Gameplay, Best Career/Story Mode, Best Franchise Mode, Best Team-Building Mode, Best Presentation and Best Online Play can already be voted on! Categories still to come include Sports Game of the Year, Best New or Non-Yearly Sports Game, Best Mobile Game, Best Racing Game, and Best New Feature. All winners announced later in the month.
The games nominated for Best Post-Release Support have gone above and beyond the typical consumer expectation of simply receiving various improvements and fixes by also delivering consistent content updates and even brand new ways to play.
Madden NFL 18 goes for three wins in a row for the franchise after a series of patches that have improved gameplay and added features plus regular reliable roster updates and continuous new content within Ultimate Team. Rocket League makes yet another run at the award having finished as the runner-up in 2016. The game has been kept remarkably fresh through new features, arenas, items, and game modes. NBA Playgrounds debuts having added 128 players to the roster since it came out in May along with more courts/tournaments while making a number of valuable changes to the game based on consumer feedback.
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Mutant Football League releasing on PS4 and Xbox One this month
Having debuted in late October for PC the return of Mutant Football League (in spiritual successor form to 1993’s Mutant League Football) will be complete when it reaches consoles later this month. Mutant Football League now has an official digital release date of January 19 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game (which I reviewed on PC) is rough around the edges but features some elements missing from the genre for far too long.
Those who paid into a Kickstarter tier for a copy of the game will be receiving a code while others looking to buy can probably expect the same $25 price tag that it released with on PC.
Mutant Football League will be getting new features with post-release support including a multi-season Dynasty Mode for free later this winter. Additionally two new species are being created (werewolves and demons) and an adjusted run camera will be implemented.
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End of Year Community Awards: Best Online Play of 2017
With 2017 having come to a close we look back on the developments that have taken place and acknowledge the various efforts in sports gaming. The next category in the annual Community Awards is open for voting. You can check out the winners from previous years here.
Best Gameplay, Best Career/Story Mode, Best Franchise Mode, Best Team-Building Mode and Best Presentation can already be voted on! Categories still to come include Sports Game of the Year, Best New or Non-Yearly Sports Game, Best Mobile Game, Best Racing Game, Best Post-Release Support, and Best New Feature. All winners announced later in the month.
Madden NFL 18 is looking to claim the seventh straight victory for the series in the category, as its reliable servers have been key along with a variety of different ways to play (Online Franchise, H2H, Ultimate Team, MUT Draft, and now MUT Squads). FIFA 18 returns as a challenger with an always incredibly impressive consistent online performance considering it has the most total players and they’re spread across the globe. The remarkably popular Rocket League was the runner-up in 2016 and gets another shot in 2017.
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Press Row Podcast: Biggest stories of 2017
With the Press Row Podcast’s 2017 Sports Game of the Year and Racing Game of the Year determined we now turn to discussing the most important stories in the sports gaming world from the last year. These stories not only impacted the games in 2017 but could influence the direction of the various franchises and even the genre and the entire industry as a whole.
Check out the podcast through iTunes for iOS, on Android with the Stitcher app, or with Pocket Casts on iOS, Android, and Windows. The show can also now be found on the recently launched Google Play Music for podcasts. Subscribe and review to help support the show! You can also listen with the streaming player below.
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