BARRY GOOD
Barry Laminack: My Top 5 video game franchises of all time
May 31, 2018, 12:23 pm
Well it's officially the slow time of the year now that the Rockets have been bounced from the playoffs. Don't get me wrong I love baseball, it's actually my favorite sport, but when it comes to writing articles you can only write so much and so often about baseball.
One thing I turn to in the slow season of sports is sports video games, so I thought I would touch on my 5 favorite sports video game franchises of all time. Now I know some of your going to disagree with this and that's fine, but this is what I like to play in the order that I like to play them, so as the kids say, “save the drama for your mama.”
It only lasted a few years (like 5), and the last release was 2011, but as far as boxing games goes it was the champ (I’m sorry, pun intended). My love for the games kind of went away as my love for boxing grew sour and I turned to MMA for my combat sports fix. In case you’re wondering, I’ve owned one “UFC” game and I hated it.
The series was originally titled “PGA Tour Golf” and started all the way back in 1990 for MS DOS computers (look it up kid, I don’t have time to explain it). They changed the name to “Tiger Woods PGA Tour” in 1998 and that lasted until 2013. For some reason they didn’t make the game in 2014, but then in 2015 it came back as Rory Mcllroy PGA Tour. That lasted a year.
It has always been the best golf game out, and whenever I felt like playing some golf (but not actually getting off the couch) this was the franchise I turned to.
You got to play all the most famous courses (and holes) in the world with some of the best golfers in the world.
I know this is going to rustle some jimmies that it’s not number 1 on my list, but as I stated in the opening, it's my list and my opinion, but I get why your jimmy would be rusteld.
Here’s the deal...I never really got into Madden like I did EA’s college football game (more on that in a bit). For me the game play always felt a little clunky. Franchise/Career mode could hold my attention for a bit, but I always wanted to play with my favorite team as built that year.
For me, part of what I hate about Madden is the AI. I once punched my fridge because I lost on a fumble returned 99 yard for a TD. That’s when I decided that I also want to win when I play video games.
So suck it Madden, you’re No. 3, deal with it.
I don’t know why, but I’ve always loved playing baseball video games (probably because of my love for the sport itself), so you could really put any baseball game/franchise here, but at the time of this writing I’m playing MLB The Show 18 and loving it. My love of baseball as a video games dates back to the late 80’s/early 90’s, with RBI Baseball being the first title that I can recall in my head that I enjoyed playing.
It was a sad day when EA Sports stopped making NCAA football (I blame “greedy” players for wanting to get paid for the use of their likeness...ugh). It was my absolute favorite game to play. I love everything about it, especially recruiting. I got a huge rush out of getting a great recruit to sign with a team like Rice Or U of H, and then using that recruit to win more games, get more recruits and eventually get a national tile.
The game was just the right mix of fun and strategy, oh nad I LOVED being able to run the option. I always feel like the controls and the gameplay were way better than with Madden, and even though they were similar they were still different enough to me to keep playing NCAA and avoiding Madden if I could.
It will always be the greatest football game ever hopefully one day they can bring it back but I'm sure it'll never be the same.
I’m not a big hockey fan, in fact the only way I learned anything about the sport was playing NHL ‘94 on Sega. It was a lot of fun, and the fact that there was fighting in the game was a huge plus.
Jose Altuve asked manager Joe Espada to move him out of the leadoff spot and into the second hole for the Houston Astros.
The reason? He wanted more time to get ready to hit in the bottom of the first inning after coming into the dugout from left field.
Altuve is playing left for the first time in his career after spending his first 14 major league seasons at second base.
“I just need like 10 more seconds,” he said.
The 34-year-old Altuve made the transition to the outfield this season after the trade of Kyle Tucker and the departure of Alex Bregman shook up Houston’s lineup.
Jeremy Peña was in the top spot Monday night against Detroit. Altuve had two hits, including a two-run homer, and three RBIs to help the Astros to an 8-5 win. It was the first time since 2023 he batted anywhere besides leadoff.
“I enjoy playing baseball,” Altuve said. “I love playing, especially with these guys. I like being in the lineup. In the end it doesn’t really matter if I play second or left, if I lead off or not. I just want to be in the lineup and help this team to win.”
Altuve didn’t suggest that Peña take his leadoff spot.
“I just told Joe that maybe he can hit me second some games at some point and he did it today,” Altuve said. “I just need like that little extra time to come from left field, and he decided to put Jeremy (there).”
Peña is hitting .265 with three homers and 11 RBIs. He batted first in Sunday’s 7-3 win over Kansas City — with Altuve getting a day off — and had two hits and three RBIs. He added two more hits and scored twice Monday.
Along with giving him a little extra time to get ready to bat, Altuve thinks the athletic Peña batting leadoff could give a boost to a lineup that has struggled at times this season.
“Jeremy is one of those guys that has been playing really good for our team,” Altuve said. “He’s taking really good at-bats. He’s very explosive and dynamic on the bases, so when he gets on base a lot of things can happen. Maybe I can bunt him over so Yordan (Alvarez) can drive him in.”
Altuve is a nine-time All-Star. The 2017 AL MVP is hitting .282 with four homers and 12 RBIs this season.
Espada said he and Altuve often share different ideas about the team and they had been talking about this possibility for a while before the manager made the move.
“He’s always looking for ways to get everyone involved and he’s playing left field, comes in, maybe give him a little bit more time to get ready between at-bats, just a lot of things that went into this decision," Espada said. "He’s been around, he knows himself better than anyone else here, so hopefully this could create some opportunities for everyone here and we can score some runs.”