Curious, but hugely interesting news: Spike Lee, the man who directed Malcolm X, Inside Man, and He Got Game, is directing the story in NBA 2K16. Yes, a sports game with a plot. Having already written the script, Lee has started shooting scenes for the latest version of the hugely popular MyCareer mode. And that's a pretty big deal.
Dig deeper into Lee's background, and you get a feel for what we can expect from this year's MyCareer mode. Given his passion for showcasing harsh reality over idealised depictions of life, I wouldn't be surprised if Lee takes the mode much further back than previous games (which start at the draft), letting us experience the tough, tough road to the NBA that thousands of teenagers face as they fight to excel in the US school / college system. Think Hoop Dreams: The Game, with all the difficult choices, sacrifices, and cruel life-changing events that come with it. If he manages to capture even a fraction of this fascinating real-world scenario, NBA 2K16 could be one of the most important games of the generation. Yes, I know it's a yearly sports game, please remain calm.
Post-draft, we're likely to see more honest, realistic storylines too. Lee's rather mixed documentary Kobe Doin' Work made a decent attempt to highlight the brutal work ethic that top NBA players subject themselves to, and it's easy to see how this could be translated into MyCareer mode. Sure, we've played through some tricky scenarios in previous games that forced us to choose between personal excellence, team dynamic, or popularity, but Lee's insider insight can take this to a whole new level. How far are you willing to push your on-screen persona, and at what cost to their personal life? And will the glory be all the sweeter for it? Maybe not. It'd take a bold director to make players feel like they've lost, even when they've won, a trick few have dared to attempt since Silent Hill 2 famously made you (yes YOU) the villain of the piece. Modern games are too eager to please, too keen to reward. Spike Lee - if anyone - would be someone who could kick against that.
Obviously, 2K is keeping the content of the story a well-guarded secret. It's both unique and rather thrilling to see narrative (and the desire to know more about it) as the talking point of a 'traditional' sports game. While many will summarily dismiss this as a “publicity stunt” and the game itself as “another lazy update yawn, lol, when can I play Fallout?”, it could represent a significant moment for the genre, and video games as a whole. Sports titles are perhaps the best placed to really allow video games to hold a mirror up to our own reality, without becoming too dull or sim-like. They are - after all - realistic representations of activities, in which the majority of players can actually partake and take an interest in, outside the game itself (albeit with a focus on the superstar than the everyday). And who better to hold that mirror than the man who gave us He Got Game? If Lee manages to tell a relatable, human story via the medium of a sports title... that's big news for games.
