Are you good at sports, but you know — not really good at sports? Could you pitch a no-no in MLB 2k11 before anyone else? Here’s hoping you can as 2K Sports has announced that they will once again offer a cool million dollars to the first gamer to pitch a no-hitter when the game launches in March.

“I don’t know if we’re smart or just insane,” said Jason Argent, the vice president of marketing for 2K Sports. “The million-dollar bounty’s back. I just walked out of a meeting with our chief financial officer; budgeting for this sort of thing is a bit of a challenge when you can’t say exactly when you’re going to pay it.”

Now, before you go off and think you’re going top use your crappy little brother to scheme out a no hitter, you should know that there’s a pretty steep list of qualifiers here. The feat will have to be accomplished in the game’s MLB Today mode, which matches the on-field lineup for each of that day’s games of the actual MLB schedule. Record a no hitter, and you’re a million dollars richer (if you follow some legal mumbo jumbo that can be found on the company’s website).

If this year’s contest is anything like last year’s, you’re going to need to get an early start — the prize was awarded on the day of the game’s release.

The world of sports and its presence in the video game industry has become huge for many reasons. For one, the average person can sit on their couch and immerse themselves in a professional sport and be throwing touchdowns and pulling off 360 dunks just like their favorite stars in no time. You can hop on PSN or Xbox Live and compete against your friends and talk trash, which is a personal favorite past time of mine.  These games also give players the ability to play out the future and see how it stacks up to how the next season really plays out.

Two developers have dominated the sports genre over the past decade EA and 2K who bring us yearly renditions each year of basketball, football, baseball, and other sports games such as EA’s Fight Night boxing titles. The masses line up for each new edition just to hop into a franchise mode or start with bragging rights online, whether the game has any new features or qualities or not. This year, 2K has brought a NBA title to the shelves that has a legend on the cover and his name is Michael Jordan.

This title is by far the best year over year improvement in a sports franchise I have ever seen. That statement alone I know is huge but this game packs a basketball lovers punch. There isn’t just one aspect of the game that makes it so spectacular. I don’t want to spoil too much but the game begins with Michael Jordan in the tunnel at the 1991 NBA finals game one looking back at you saying “are you ready”. The fun doesn’t stop there before even seeing a menu screen you play out that game as the 1991 Chicago Bulls against Magic Johnson and his Lakers. This alone had me floored and wanting more right off the bat.

Now you are probably wondering with Jordan on the cover this year “does that mean Jordan is a big part of the game?” YES it does. The title offers a Jordan challenge section that allows you to play through 10 historic scenarios in his career. They are called challenges because you have to do as well as he did in those historic games to complete the challenge. That isn’t where the love stops either for completing different aspects of the game you unlock different Jordan edition sneakers that have cool attributes, such as +2 to speed. The best Jordan feature in the game in my opinion is once you complete every Jordan challenge you have the ability to bring Michael Jordan into the current NBA league as a rookie. This gives you the ability to see how he fairs against the leagues best like Kobe, Lebron, or Dwayne Wade. The amazing Jordan experience is alone enough to warrant the purchase of this game but that’s just the surface of this title.

The presentation of the game is phenomenal with great character models except for a few like Kobe Bryant for some reason he looks like he is from another world. This is the first basketball game that truly feels like you are at home watching a real NBA game 2K really nailed the simulation this year. The commentating is top notch and where there is a little repetition its not enough to take away from the great feel of the game. The player animations and player specific reactions like Kobe Bryant’s fist in the air after a great dunk are spot on.

Now earlier when I said this is a basketball lover’s dream that is exactly what this game is. The weird player mechanics and horrible AI of past NBA titles are long gone with 2K11 there is a new standard. The AI is amazing in this game they make the right defensive switches on their own and challenge you on defense at every turn. The ability to throw a lob pass and dunk every time down the court is long gone. The AI in this game is too smart. You have to think your way down the court this year and be aggressive. You can call plays for each position, picks, and alley oops with ease. The end of every game is just as much a treat as it was playing the game. The player of the game highlight is amazing to watch and intelligent. There is a photo reel that is full of close up snap shots of the action that you can upload to the 2K servers. You can also record replays this year and make your own high light reels.

The franchise mode is amazing and the best I have ever seen with the ability to be in a sixth or seventh season and the league not be in total shambles. It also is smart enough to keep things realistic as well. The Miami Heat will not be giving you Lebron James for a couple early draft picks so you can create a monster team. This is where I will talk about the few aspects of the game that keep it from a perfect grade. This title is the most realistic sports game experience I have ever had. That aspect actually holds it back a little because the level of the difficulty can be a little frustrating. This really is apparent in the weakest part of the title the My Player mode. This create your own player mode is detailed and fun its just too darn hard and it takes FOREVER to up your skills enough to just get drafted into the NBA. I would say most players would start this mode and probably give up. Which is a shame because it is a lot of fun playing in the NBA and seeing your player rise to be a star. You actually hold press conferences after each game and decide whether you want to be loved or hated by the fans. The last aspect that needs improvement is the passing in this game. The passing won’t hinder your fun with this title too much but sometimes you will end up chucking a ball down court when you just wanted to toss the rock to the man five feet in front of you.

The Blast Factor: In closing this game was an amazing surprise and is the best sports game to hit the shelves in years. The people at 2K really put in the hard work and attention to detail that warrants having a legend of the NBA like Jordan on the cover. This is an NBA lovers dream game and will keep you hooked with the Jordan challenges alone. If you are looking for a fun wacky arcade basketball experience pick up NBA Jam, but if you want the most realistic sports experience out there pick up NBA 2K11.

At E3 this year, 2K Games and 2K Sports will be previewing a number of brand new titles behind the closed doors of the conference.

On the list include: Borderlands (PC/360/PS3), BioShock (PS3), NBA 2K9 (360/PS3/PS2), NHL 2K9 (360/Wii/PS3/PS2), and Civilization IV: Colonization (PC).

We’ve booked an hour and a half with these guys, so expect something hot and juicy.

One of the best computer golf games is still Links LS 98 and subsequent versions for Windows, released 11 years ago by Access Software.

Access made some very good games in the 80s and 90s, including the Tex Murphy series, before they lost their identity — and eventually their existence.

Links: The Challenge of Golf was released in 1990 for Amiga and DOS. When you think of computer golf, and how far we’ve come with an amazingly popular genre from Links to Tiger Woods 08, “The Challenge of Golf” is nothing less than a piece of history. Until recently, it was a lost piece of history.

“The Challenge of Golf” was the first realistic golf sim. It had amazing graphics and based itself on real professional courses. It was the kind of game that took a lot of machine to run 18 years ago.

In the DOS days, it was an art-form to increase your amount of free system memory so that you could run games like Links and later Doom and Wolfenstein and many other golden aged titles. Access actually included a letter to its players in the “readme.bat” file:

LINKS-The Challenge of Golf
echo INFORMATION ON HOW TO INCREASE FREE AVAILABLE MEMORY
echo Last update 11-10-90
echo .
echo Dear LINKS owner,
echo .
echo We believe LINKS is the most realistic and most technically advanced golf
echo simulator ever developed. In creating such a sophisticated program, however,
echo we have had to push your computer to its limits. LINKS requires a large
echo amount of memory to manipulate terrain data and to reproduce accurately
echo all of the intricate details of the game. At least 530K bytes are needed to
echo run the program. Player comments require another 8K bytes and wildlife
echo sounds require an additional 17K bytes. Thus, 555K bytes are needed to see
echo and hear all that LINKS has to offer.
echo .
echo To verify the amount of free memory on your computer, run the DOS utility
echo called CHKDSK. The last number displayed is the amount of free memory. If
echo the number is less than 555000, then some of LINKS’ digitized sounds will
echo not be heard. If the number is less than 530000, you will not be able to
echo run LINKS.
echo .
pause
cls
echo .
echo Your 640K machine actually has 655360 bytes available. When your computer
echo boots, it loads DOS (which takes about 55,000 bytes) and then uses a file
echo called CONFIG.SYS to automatically set aside memory for file buffers and
echo other things. It also uses a file called AUTOEXEC.BAT to AUTOmatically
echo EXECute user defined instructions. Both CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT can (and
echo usually do) contain programs known as TSR’s. TSR stands for Terminate and
echo Stay Resident. These programs install themselves and then stay in memory
echo to be used when needed. A mouse driver, print spooler, keyboard enhancer,
echo disk cacher, memory manager and DOS shell are all examples of such programs.
echo THESE PROGRAMS USE MEMORY. If there are too many of them resident at one
echo time, there won’t be room for LINKS or other large programs. TO INCREASE
echo FREE AVAILABLE MEMORY, YOU MUST REMOVE OR DISABLE SOME OF YOUR TSR’S.
echo .
echo If you have more than 640K (1Meg, 2Meg, or more) this can be used as extra
echo memory for preloading sound and graphics, but not for DOS. LINKS still
echo requires at least 530K free of your first 640K.
echo .
echo LINKS AND WINDOWS
echo You must exit completely from Windows to run LINKS. Do not exit Windows by
echo way of the DOS PROMPT icon.
echo .

Microsoft bought Access games in 1999 and kept it in sort of a protected status for a few years. Access was renamed Salt Lake Games Studio and put out golf games and expansion packs, including Links 2004 for Xbox. They also repackaged their excellent DOS Links 386 game into a Windows version.

Take-Two Interactive bought the Access/Salt Lake studio in 2004. They built a few console games including the Top Spin tennis series. They also split the Amped Xbox/Xbox 360 snowboarding series between MS Games and Take-Two. Take-Two renamed the studio to Indie Built but closed the shop in 2006.

Links resurfaced in the July 2000 issue of PC Gamer, one of the best magazine CD’s ever released. The “Classic Games Collection Volume One” contained full version of Duke Nukem II, King’s Quest, Descent, Terminal Velocity, Alone in the Dark, Wing Commander, X-COM, Links, Monkey Island, Ultima Underworld, Ultima I, and Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed. It was a stacked collection of classic games.

Download Links: The Challenge of Golf free from Blast