Selecting a player to be on the front of a video game has been anything other than an exact science. There has been a stigma attached to players on the front of the Madden Football boxes known as the "Madden Curse".
The college games have to deal with a different process because current college student athletes are not allowed to be on the covers due to NCAA rules. Selecting a player that was hot the year before has been the common practice for the most part. Sadly the players they select often times do not amount to much after their years with their college teams.
In many ways, this past console generation was a brutal one for sports video games. While other genres flourished, sports gamers were subjected to an irreversible thinning of the herd, losing MLB 2K, 2K Sports football, NHL 2K, both NCAA basketball franchises, and seeing arcade sports games all but vanish. Competition, which breeds innovation, is weaker than ever. But that’s not to say some standout games didn’t arrive as well.
Virtual Katz Writes: We are underway in the NCAA Tournament, kicking off tonight with the first round play-in games coming and going and the real fun is about to begin. What better way to celebrate the kick off of the greatest basketball of the year than to figure out why we haven’t had a way, as gamers, to pay homage to the hardwood classic. We, up until the 2011 season, had a yearly release from Electronic Arts, and up until 2008 had a competitor in a 2K series as well.
The main reson why I don't bother with anything other than the tournament is because of the low talent pool. All of the talent heads off to the NBA.. There a few exciting players in the ncaa now but how would developers know prior to the start of a season. I don't care to watch a team full of adequate to mediocre players year after year. The NBA should raise the age limit to 21...would force thses kids to learn the game and it would make for a better March tournament. ..and some might even get an education O.o
With CBS and Turner experiencing record TV ratings for the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, the video game industry is sitting on the bench during March Madness and ignoring the Final Four and the massive fan base it attracts annually. And publishers like Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive are leaving all of that potential money on the table.