Sports Titles Named Misleadingly?

According to an accusatory column in the sports section of the New York Post, naming the 2003-season sports videogame titles as 'Sports Game Title 2004' is dishonest. The writer suggests that "..when it comes to selling video games.. Major League Baseball and all big-league sports eagerly sell their licenses and logos to manufacturers who can't or won't tell the simplest and most significant of truths.." Have you been confused by this naming method, or do you think it's fair and understandable?

Comments

What about ChessMaster 4000?

[ConceptJunkie]

I thought I was getting technology from 2 millenia in the future! Those lying bastards!

What about Mystery Science Theater 3000, or even worse, the Gruntmaster 9000?! What about Warhammer 40000?!?!?!!!

It's worse than you can imagine!

Slow news day?

[ctr2sprt]

Who actually gets worked up about this stuff? The actual number doesn't matter; they could call it NHL 1, then NHL 2, then NHL 3, and it wouldn't matter. The important thing is quickly being able to tell which is the newest, with a minimum amount of thinking. The problem with "sequels" is that you have no way of knowing the endpoint. There could be an NHL 4 you don't know about. So we go with years. And here, the actual number doesn't matter, as long as the rule is unchanged. The game covering the (ongoing) hockey year could be NHL 2002, or NHL 2003. It doesn't really matter which you choose, as long as next season's game is NHL n+1.

Besides, this is not exactly something people are unfamiliar with. I graduated from high school in the Class of '97, which means I began my senior year in the fall of 1996 and completed my senior year in the spring of 1997. This is exactly the same way sports games are numbered. Sports seasons are more formally called the "2002-2003 season," but if you want confusing, look at a couple of those next to each other. ("Do I want 2001-2002, 2002-2003, or 2003-2004?") Besides, "NHL 2k3" is much easier to say that "NHL 2k2 to 2k3." If you have to pick one year, at least for hockey, it makes sense to pick the second year, which is where the majority of games fall. Ditto for basketball, I think (but I'm not sure).

The guy who wrote this article is basically an idiot. You know what? I have never gotten the wrong sports game. Nor have I even come close. I looked at the box, saw one number, and then thought "Oh, it must be like graduation dates." I then confirmed my guess by looking at the price tag. A game that's a year old is not going to sell for $50. If it is, you're shopping at the wrong store. The EA Sports games sell for about $20 6 months after they come out. So it's very simple, even if you don't understand the reasoning at all: the most expensive product is the newest. Anyone who's spent more than $15 in his entire life should already be familiar with this rule, since it applies to everything.