OS Weekly Wrap Up, Getting You Caught Up on Sports Gaming News (Oct 25 - Oct 31, 2020)

But one of the most increasingly important things that all of these modes need to contain in this day and age of dwindling attention spans is some kind of quick, stripped-down version of the sport that you can jump in and out of without too much commitment or hassle. MLB The Show scratches this itch with Battle Royale’s 3-inning games and Madden has a House Rules mode that regularly switches up things. But until now, the NHL series never offered anything in this bite-sized format, instead forcing anyone looking for competitive online play to slog through three-period games that generally take about a half hour to play.

The chaos of the NHL’s free agency period has died down considerably in the last couple days, but one big offensive name and one just big human still remain on the open market. Furthermore, there are still some notable names remaining on the board as the NHL’s free agent signing period gets closer to being a month old. Could the NHL team you root for use one of these players? How about the franchise mode team you’re using in NHL 21?

Now, that NHL 21 has been in your hands for a couple of weeks (and my review has been up since last week) have you mastered any of the new dekes? Additionally, let me know who you used to pull off your first successful Michigan deke with during an actual game.

We all know the hype surrounding the potential return of Front Office Football 9, and many of you have played Out of the Park Baseball or Front Office Football Manager (a personal favorite of mine). These are only a couple examples of some of the better text-based sports games. That being said, I’m not a text-based connoisseur, but I did review last year’s Draft Day Sports Pro Football title and was very pleased with my experience. This year’s game preaches control and the newly revamped franchise mode, and I was excited to dive in. Here is my Draft Day Sports: Pro Football 2021 review.

The eFootball PES 2021 Season Update released back in September and the general consensus was that it was one of the strongest PES releases on this generation of consoles. Despite being advertised as only a glorified roster update, PES 2021 saw some nice tweaks in the gameplay department. While the modes didn’t receive any notable additions or tweaks, smaller changes to the gameplay have really made this a good game of footy.

During the next couple weeks leading up to the launches of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, we’ll be talking about next-gen sports games and also looking back at sports game launches from generations past. The first thing we’ll be doing is looking at individual sports games as they made the leap from one generation to the next. In this particular instance, we’re going to be looking at sports game launches starting with when they made the jump to the HD era, which means the PS3 and Xbox 360 generation. With all the scuttlebutt surrounding whether or not Madden 21 will even be a launch title on the upcoming next-gen consoles, it feels right to start there by following back through the two eras of HD Madden.

While not a standard “pick up and play” sort of game, PSF ’21 looks to blur the lines between strategy and action while trying to deliver the best of both worlds to a community that is starving for other options. Let’s see if they accomplished what they set out to do. Here is my Pro Strategy Football 2021 review.

2021 is going to be a very big year for San Diego Studio and MLB The Show. The launch of a new console generation is always a catalyst for hype and expectations, and MLB The Show will be no different. The potential for new consumers on Xbox Series X (and hopefully PC) — perhaps as early as 2021 — only adds to the excitement surrounding the series. In fact, MLB The Show 21 might be the most intriguing next-gen sports game purely because it will be going multi-platform at some point. But what should we fans expect as baseball takes the next step into a new inning? Better graphics? New player models? Create-a-stadium? What’s reasonable? What can the past tell us?

We got our first unedited look at NBA 2K21 on next-gen consoles, so what are your next-gen NBA 2K21 reactions after seeing the footage?

By now we know that the future of next-gen gaming is only a couple of weeks away. Yes, by this time next month, the lucky ones will be a few weeks into their newest console experience. However, when it comes to the NHL series from EA, we will all have to wait almost a full year to experience hockey at the next level — well, hopefully it will reach another level. In short, the first hockey release on next-gen consoles will not be until NHL 22, but that doesn’t stop us here from taking a retrospective look back at EA’s NHL series and how it transitioned during the last two next-gen life cycles.

During the next couple weeks leading up to the launches of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, we’ll be talking about next-gen sports games and also looking back at sports game launches from generations past. The first thing we’ll be doing is looking at individual sports games as they made the leap from one generation to the next. In this particular instance, we’re going to be looking at sports game launches starting with when they made the jump to the HD era, which means the PS3 and Xbox 360 generation.

While we’re still about year away from eFootball PES 2022 on the PS5 and Xbox Series X it feels right to start by tracking back through the two eras of HD PES that came before it.