By Colin “Ghost Panda” Mieczkowski

For years, sports video games spread far and wide. From NBA 2K and NCAA Football to Tiger Woods PGA Tour and MLB The Show, There were numerous series for us to look forward to each year.

Now, as we move forward into the new generation of gaming, some games such as NCAA Football, College Hoops and Fight Night have all rode off into the sunset. However, the Sports Gaming world has seen a rekindling thanks to the explosion of popularity from the aforementioned NBA 2K and MLB The Show franchises.

Some may still view Sports Games as inferior, but games like 2K have become as popular as some of the other mainstream games. This in big part is due to the rapid popularity of the NBA.

I’ve said this before and that is, I feel the NBA will be the most popular league in America, surpassing the NFL and college football. Sometime in the future, this will occur, because more young fans gravitate to the NBA culture and the swagger that comes with it.

Soccer (properly known as football) is still the sports king in the world, and it always will be. That said, the NBA’s growth here in the United States has spread to many countries around the world.

In turn, this translates to the growth of NBA 2K which is one of the best playing video games out there. It’s more than just the license, it’s just a darn good game.

The Same thing can be said about MLB The Show. It’s not just the MLB sticker planted on the box that makes it special. It’s the rich gameplay, beautiful graphics and amazing ambiance that makes it great.

Other sports games are shining as well. The Golf Club 2 is already one of the greatest golf video games of all-time.

This, thanks to near true to life golf mechanics, and the return of the deep golf course design feature. The gameplay is so good, that, when hitting a good shot, you simply can “feel” it.

Almost like hitting a no-doubt home run. You know when you hit the perfect golf shot.

So there are a ton of great sports games out there. I didn’t even mention Madden, FIFA, NHL and Everybody’s Golf (Hot Shots Golf) which all are very good games as well.

That’s a lot of sports gaming goodness.

I mentioned earlier that I think the NBA will surpass the NFL as king of sports. But, much further down the road, I think eSports will lead the way in American sports as video games continue to explode like crazy.

Sports games will be getting more involved with the world of eSports as well. NBA 2K and Rocket League already have tournaments where gamers can put their skills to the test.

Rocket League, in particular, has become an instant hit on eSports island. The Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) has already had tournaments all over the country from Chicago to Los Angeles.

That’s a good implication of how sports games have been reborn.

In short, sports video games may not have the depth it used to have, but it still in a great place. They have transitioned into the next generation beautifully and continue to rise back up in popularity.

Sports games may never reach the magnitude of popularity that many of the other mainstream games have, but the future is still bright.

Get buckets, score touchdowns, hit home runs, and sink putts you console warriors! GP, out!

You can follow me on Twitter @ChiGolfRadio. 

The post The Rebirth of Sports Gaming appeared first on Sports Gaming Galaxy.