2004 was a great year for sports games. NFL 2K5 and NBA 2K5 were some of the best sports game ever created (that remains true to this day) and they were sold for only $20. That put some pretty significant pressure on EA Sports, which responded in the football market by dropping the price of that year’s Madden from $50 to $30. NFL 2K5 managed to sell over 2.9 million copies in the US, according to the NPD Group, and ever since — once EA locked up exclusivity with the NFL, NCAA and Arena Football League, some would argue that EA has had little incentive to innovate or drop the price on its football titles.

That trend isn’t about to end, either. Last year, 2K Sports put out All-Pro Football 2K8 which sold poorly without the help of a significant football license. (The game wasn’t great either — it was basically NFL 2K5 sans the NFL license.)

Two gamers — one from Washington, DC and one from California — have had enough of this and filed a class-action lawsuit against EA over “blatantly anticompetitive conduct.”

“This vigorous competition benefited consumers,” reads the lawsuit. “Electronic Arts could have continued to compete by offering a lower price and/or a higher quality product. Instead, Electronic Arts quickly entered into a series of exclusive agreements with the only viable sports football associations in the United States: the National Football League, the Arena Football League, and NCAA Football.”

Even if EA didn’t have the licenses, though, their potential takeover of Take-Two would essentially eliminate any and all competition in the football market. In doing so, the lawsuit says that even if EA were to lose its exclusivity deals, it “would remove one of the few companies with the ability and expertise to compete in the market for interactive football software.”

The lawsuit is seeking restitution and damages for individuals who have purchased EA football games since August 2005 (ring me up for three of those), as well as disgorgement (that’s a fancy word for “give up”) of all profits made as a result of their anticompetitive actions, and that any infringing agreements be declared null and void.

The likelihood of those events ever occurring is incredibly low, but I do enjoy thinking of a world where the NFL 2K games are still alive.

via Evil Avatar

Another week is upon us, and while we are all sitting around marking the days off our calenders for GTA IV, some other games are being released next week and they deserve to be mentioned just as much as any car-jacking, hooker humping, free for all video game on the market.

I have broken the lists down by Console, Handheld and PC. If any of these release dates change it is not my fault – blame the publisher not the messenger. This list also does not take into account any new DLC for the week,  just retail releases.

Nintendo DS: Cory in the House, High School Musical 2: Work It Out, MLB 2K8 Fantasy All Stars, Rhondo of Swords, Teenage Zombies

Nintendo Wii: Dream Pinball 3D, Emergency Mayhem, Okami, Summer Sports: Paradise Island

PC: Dancing with the Stars, Europa Universalis: Rome, Final Fantasy XI: Vana’Diel Collection 2008, Jack Keane and The Dokktor’s Island, Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis, The Sims 2: Double Deluxe, The Sims 2: Kitchen & Bath Design Stuff,
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Turok

PS2: Nothing

PS3: Gran Turismo 5: Prologue

PSP: Nada

Xbox 360: Zilch

Konsole Kingz, a leader in multimedia content revolving around celebrity gamers and the urban gamer lifestyle, partnered with 2K Sports, announced today it will be hosting the NBA 2K8 High Risers Tournament on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. The event will kick off on March 2nd. Participation in the tournament is free and they have plenty of prizes to give out.

Check out their website for more details.

Konsole Kingz

Sometimes, I find some really interesting lots for sale on eBay. Doing a little searching today, I came across a lot of 400 video games for $3,199.99 + Shipping (US $250, Canada $400). That works out to about $8.62 per game if you have it shipped to the United States. Keep in mind that a majority of the games are for the PS2 and original Xbox. I’m not sure what a collection like this would cost you at a store like GameStop for example, but I think the price would actually be pretty close. I wouldn’t classify this as a great deal, but it would be sweet to have all these games in your collection. If the price were closer to say $2,000 for all 400, I’d consider buying it myself.

Auction Link

The exact games included follow the break:
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For weeks now, Xbox Live has been struggling to provide the usually hassle-free experience that the service provides. The massive influx of new users and traffic from the holidays is no doubt the route of the problem, and Microsoft’s inability to promptly “fix” Live (certain issues are still lingering one third of the way into January) in a timely fashion has led to outcries of the community in the form of calls for refunds, free extensions on Live subscriptions, and even a lawsuit.

And while the problems have frustrated myself as much as any other Xbox Live Gold subscriber – playing NBA 2K8 online is practically a daily ritual for a friend of mine and me – I’ve realized from the beginning that I’m not entitled to jack from Microsoft. While they announced that they’d be handing out an Xbox Live Arcade game for free as an “oops, our bad,” all of the demands that we’re entitled to prorated refunds are completely unwarranted – as unfortunate or as unfair as that might seem.
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If you’ve already played NBA 2K8, you’ll have a really good idea of what to expect out of College Hoops this year – a solid basketball sim that suffers from a variety of quirks and bugs that hold it back from being great. While 2K8 does a tremendous job of giving you complete control over much of the game and providing the atmosphere of an actual game of college basketball, it ends up being a frustrating experience thanks to botched layups, horrendous voice work, and a cramped control style.

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Well, they aren’t all classic teams so much as dream teams, but that’s a ton of teams any way you slice it. While you’ll of course have all of the current teams, it’s all about the classics, according to 2K Sports. A total of 69 of those 90 teams are actual, historically accurate teams, while the rest are all-star teams from various teams and conferences.

As someone who is a diehard player of the NBA 2K games, I know I’d really appreciate to have more classic teams than the fairly sparse offering even 2K8 provides.

College Hoops 2K8 will be on store shelves November 20.

Basketball games tend to be extremely disappointing each year for me. I love the sport, but they never seem to get it right when it comes to NBA games. This season is no exception, but they are at least getting a little closer to where they need to be. Right now, the question is whether to pick up NBA Live or NBA 2K. I tested both games on the Xbox 360 for this quick comparison. This is not intended to be an in-depth review, but rather my first glance opinion of the two games.
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Headlining this week’s PlayStation Store update is the pair of demos in NBA 2K8 and Clive Barker’s Jericho. Additionally, more downloadable content for Motorstorm and Ninja Gaiden Sigma have been released. And to top it all off, the usual assortment of trailers. Have a look at the official list, and then get downloadin’.

Demos

• NBA 2K8
• Clive Barker’s Jericho

Trailers/Videos/Wallpapers

• NBA 08 Upside Progression System tutorial
• Eye of Judgement Overview
• Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock trailer
• Iron Man trailer
• We Own the Night trailer

Everyone loves lists, and within this list is something everyone can love. Below you will find complied release dates for games coming out in October. The dates listed are as current as possible, so if a publisher changes the date we will try our best to update the list. We are well aware that September still has a couple of weeks left, give or take, but we just want to help plan your lives for the next month or two. Who loves you baby?

10/1/2007

Backyard Basketball 2007 —- GameCube
Field Ops —- PC
Heavy Rain (working title) —- PS3
Hot Shots Golf 5 —- PS3
MLB Power Pros —- PS2
Popx3 —- Wii
Race —- PC
RACE 07 – The WTCC Game — PC
The Chosen – Well of Souls —- PC
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass —– DS
Ultimate 3D Pinball —- PC, Wii

MORE AFTER THE BREAK

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