Transcript How Video Games have Changed Sports

By: Chance Badger
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History of sports video games
Quotes from various athletes of various sports
What the SVG’s are helping to improve
how some people are using the SVG’s
How they are benefiting the athletes
Downsides to the video games
Took extra 6 seconds off the clock to score
winning touchdown
 He ran in a perfect diagonal across the field
at the 1 yard line before he crossed to the
end zone
 While it was an exciting move that shook all
fans of Broncos and Bengals, it was a
familiar move
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Answered Chris Suellentrop’s question as to if
the move was off a video game, “It definitely
is; I think everybody who’s played those
games has done that.”
 Sam Weinberg, of The News Record, called it
the, “bragging asshole move”; while running
down the clock you’re also taunting your
opponent.
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1982: William Higinbotham, nuclear physicist,
hooked up an electronic virtual tennis game
called Tennis for Two
Magnavox’s Odyssey, the first game console
 had a virtual version of Ping Pong
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Later Pong, from Atari came out
Shortly after all the other sports started jumping
in with the video games.
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Basically if a sport required two or more possible
players there was going to be a virtual version of it
soon enough.
Video game companies race for most realistic game
Next idea=
 For better reality, put real professional athletes on the
game
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1983: EA sports signed Larry Bird and Julius Erving
for a license to basically put a virtual copy of them on
the game itself.
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It wasn’t long till other companies were coming
out with video games using big name athletes
 Now fans could play as their favorite athlete
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Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts, says,
“Most of my friends will tell you I started EA as an
excuse to make a football game. And there’s
probably a fair amount of truth to that.”
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First for the Apple 2 in 1989
Then for Sega Genesis in 1990
Became most commercially successful video
game produced
 Since at the time Madden was the closest to reality in
video gaming
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2004 an exclusive license was made with the
NFL, this eliminated any competitors fast
The Gospel of John Madden
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In 2008, Madden sold
the most copies than
any other game except
for the WII play.
 Research done by
NPD group
This brought in $263
Million dollars to EA
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The Madden series
became known as this.
This franchise video
game had more impact
on football than
anything else (besides
money)
Caused more people to
watch football and
more football athletes
being raised up
What they Copy off a Player
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Looks
facial expressions
Height
Weight
Movements
 Based on specifics
and skills
Motion Capture System
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Recreate any
movement by athlete
Athlete wears a black
spandex neoprene suit
There are small green
light sensors on specific
spots of the suit
Joints, chest, back, ect.
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These “recordings” of the athlete become the
base for imitating the athletes exact movements
Then they are tweaked by a design team who
takes the time to perfect those movements down
to the best detail possible.
This System is so powerful the athletes and
trainers and teams are using this system to
improve their form to be more effective in reality
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Example of MPS:
 A pitcher records himself pitching a specific throw
 Then watches and measures form
 Then figures out what to improve for a more effective
pitch
 Then it is back to practice and recording for viewing
again
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Bryan Lam, a spokesman for 2K sports, says,
“Our developers pore over hundreds of hours,
watching footage of players and paying
extremely close attention to all their
movements, physical nuances and a variety of
other granular detail. We work closely with pro
athletes to capture their signature style, so it’s
their exact movements in our game.”
Rob Schremp, hockey player for New York
Islanders example.
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While a player is injured they can keep skills and
focus in check in the virtual world while waiting
to heal
Makes for good friendship and bonding
Helps players to learn to play as a team
Helps improve field/court awareness
Improves skill and movements
If an athlete plays the same move/play enough
times, they will probably be able to imitate it in a
real game
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Conor Chinn, a forward for the New York Red
Bulls
While in college he started a routine
“They mimic the way a player moves, they way
they shoot, and pass the ball like in real life, you
really get to see and experience the players’ style
of play. After I face a guy on the field, you can
see how very similar the movements and actions
are in the video game.”
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Joey Logano
Practices his driving on a simulation on his
computer, using a steering wheel and peddles for
the controllers
This is as close as he can get to the real thing
since Nascar racers are not allowed to practice on
real tracks.
This is all to help him memorize the track and
improve his driving
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The purpose of the athletes playing is to learn
the plays
Team work
Practice skills while not at practice
Stay on focus
Learn specific moves
Play against the opposing team to get familiar
with them and how they play
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What if a pitcher threw a double play in video
game over and over, could he imitate that in the
real world when the time comes?
Driving the same virtual representation of the
track you are about to race, over and over so that
you will have it memorized
Football players practicing the same play over
and over so that in the real game they can
perform it to perfection
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In the newer games, the user can play as the
coach; this allows them to play the part right
What if the coach of a real team played the coach
on the virtual machine?
This new attribute to the game allows new plays
to be put into the game for the players to use
 You can bet lots of coaches got on top of that real fast
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Colorado state, Penn state, and many more use
the Madden game to program their plays into
the game
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Craig Wilson, a youth hockey coach in Maine
“My son scored three goals this weekend with a
move I’ve never seen him do, I asked, ‘where did
you get that move?’ and he answered with NHL
11, when he practiced it on the screen in the
shootout.”
It seems that most young athletes develop a way
of learning using these video games through
visual learning.
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Over 90% of all youth coaches have had no type
of coach training, but they instruct around 25
million youth a year. -Scott Lancaster
Most coaches have a lot of help from the youth
playing sports video games and learning the
game in such a way as to be able to perform well
in the real game.
John Hart, a former general manager for the
Rangers.
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Cause athletic passion to disappear
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Gilbert Arenas, player for the Washington Wizards, he
became so addicted to winning in Halo that he played with
a fake team member just to rack up his experience points.
Cause health issues
 Joel Zumaya was not able to pitch for the Detroit
Tigers in 2006, because he was suffering from forearm
and wrist inflammation because he had been playing
Guitar Hero way too much.
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Marshal Faulk, running back for the St. Louis
Rams, claimed that in 1994 “probably 10, 15, 20
percent” of NFL athletes were gamers
Later when asked again he estimated 50%
Recently when Stokley was interviewed about his
amazing touchdown, he was also asked for an
estimate and he estimated, “Everybody.”
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No doubt athletes are using Video games to
improve their skills
And as each generation grows they become
more of a virtual generation, and so there will be
even more kids than ever before, raising up
“practicing” to become an amazing athlete
As the virtual world becomes more real, there is
no telling how far virtual reality will go before it
becomes reality.
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http://blog.stack.com/2011/03/14/do-video-games-improve-performance/
http://news.discovery.com/tech/athletes-use-3-d-imaging-to-improve-theirgame.html
http://www.nesn.com/2010/04/athletes-use-virtual-sports-video-games-toenhance-performance.html
http://exergamefitness.com/wordpress/?p=371
http://rhetoricofgaming.wordpress.com/2010/10/14/the-impact-ofvideogames-on-sports/
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/01/ff_gamechanger/all/1
http://www.digitaldads.com/2010/11/the-video-game-revolutionizes-thetraditional-world-of-sports/
http://www.newsrecord.org/sports/video-games-train-athletes-for-realgames-1.2183092
http://ezinearticles.com/?Free-Car-Racing-Online-Games-Help-You-ImproveYour-Driving-Skills&id=5693266
http://www.nesn.com/2010/04/athletes-use-virtual-sports-video-games-toenhance-performance.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/technology/03game.html?_r=1