Sports gaming is on the verge of a major evolution. With the debut of the Dreamcast, the Playstation 2 next fall, the plummeting prices of fast, powerful PCs, and the possibility of two more 128-bit consoles in 2001, the technical limitations on sports games are quickly vanishing.

With the Dreamcast capable of rendering 3 million polygons per second, and PSX 2 promising at least 20 million polygons, the most obvious and immediate improvement will be in graphics and animation. Sega's impressive NFL2k and NBA2k already hint at the potential for 128-bit sports games. Players, fields, arenas, and crowds should look almost photo-realistic, and gameplay should be smooth, fast, and responsive. But if future sports titles only distinguish themselves with better graphics, sports gamers will be deservedly disappointed. Graphical improvements will be a given on new consoles and PCs. The key will be how else the genre evolves on these new systems and how well developers utilize the incredible new technologies.

Each new generation of consoles has led to major evolutions in sports games. The first generation of console sports games (Atari, Intellivision) featured flickering blocks or stick-man athletes on plain, two-dimensional fields, with limited features and few one-player options. In its day, Intellivision's introduction of players with actual arms and legs (compared to Atari' flickering blob athletes) was revolutionary. The second generation 8-bit consoles (NES, Sega Master System) delivered more detailed, bit-mapped athletes, season play, computer opponents, statistical tracking, and limited speech. The third generation 16-bit consoles (SNES, Sega Genesis) delivered three-dimensional playing environments, increasingly sophisticated computer AI, and the introduction of sports announcers, most notably, John Madden. With games like Madden NFL Football and NBA Live, sports gamers were finally beginning to get realistic sports simulations. The "next generation" 32- and 64-bit consoles (PSX, Saturn, N64) made polygonal graphics the standard for sports games and offered detailed, realistic graphics, down to uniform trimmings, divots on the playing fields, and athletes' facial expressions. "Next generation" sports games fully integrated announcer play-by-play and color into games, and set new standards for realistic, intelligent computer AI. Finally, some computer opponents could be nearly as challenging and crafty as a real person. But as the PSX comes close to the end of its lifecycle, its graphical and memory limitations are beginning to show. Meanwhile, the N64's limitations have also become readily apparent — despite graphical prowess, the dimwitted decision to have the console cartridge- rather than CD-based has handicapped the 64-bit console, limiting the quality of speech, audio, and music. Despite a superior processor and better graphics, the N64 simply cannot match the all-around quality of many PSX sports titles.

The next generation of sports titles should offer dramatic improvements in four key areas: season and game immersion; dynasty and franchise modes; advanced AI; and online gaming. Given the capabilities of upcoming consoles and PCs, all of these features are technically possible, as long as developers are willing to take the time to write the code. The memory and storage limitations will no longer be excuses. None of these features are questions of "how," but questions of "if."

Season and Game Immersion
The best sports titles draw you into a game or a season and invite you to lose yourself in the experience. You not only play a videogame that simulates a sporting event, but also experience the sound and feel of the game, get hooked on the excitement and action, and find yourself drawn into the ebb and flow of a season. A great sports title makes you fret about playoff position, check box scores, watch the standings, and worry about post-season match-ups. Some games, such as EA's NHL and NCAA Football series, do a good job re-creating the sound and feel of "the big game." But even these innovative titles do not do a very good job of immersing players in not only a single game, but in a season or multiple seasons.

None of the games on any console or on the PC do a good job putting individual games in the context of a season, as commentators usually do on a TV broadcast. For example, on Monday Night Football, ABC's announcers will typically start a game talking about the standings, where the two teams are, and what the game means to their playoff aspirations. In addition, they will often talk about the previous or upcoming week's games, noting how they bear on the current game: Can a team bounce back from a big loss on the previous week? Can they stay focused on the game at hand instead of looking ahead to next week's big match-up? Or is the team ready for a letdown after a big win the week before? As a season comes to a close, the announcers should understand the importance of every game and what it means for the standings, playoff position, or just staying alive for post-season play.

This kind of immersion doesn't require a 300-Mhz processor or 20,000 polygons, just savvy programming and an appreciation for how seasons unfold. Better game immersion should be implemented not only on the new consoles, but also on new games for the PSX, N64, and PCs. Games like NHL and Triple Play have shown that speech in videogames has evolved to the point where complex speech can be scripted without sounding hacked together, so the only challenge is one of programming intelligent, appropriate observations. Here are some immersive features that should be part of the next generation of sports titles.