On the Conan show, MLB 2K12 cover athlete Justin Verlander announced a change in the annual $1 million Perfect Game Challenge. 2K Sports will rate the Top 8 perfect games and those players will face off in a tourney for the $1 million.

The National Basketball Association is no closer to working out its labor issues. Instead, things have actually taken a major turn for the worse.

NBA players are planning to dissolve their union which will pave the way for an antitrust lawsuit. Going to court not only jeopardizes the current season but could possibly drag into 2012 and endanger next year’s licensed basketball games.

Sports gamers are used to publishers shutting down servers after a couple of years. When Madden 12 hits stores, I soon expect a gentle nudge to stop playing Madden 10 online. EA shut that server down in August 2011, right before Madden 12′s release. 2K Sports earned the ire of its online community by announcing it would shut down NBA 2K11 servers this month. Yes, the game that released this time last year. The timing couldn’t be worse, as NBA 2K12 is under fire for a substandard online experience. After much outcry, 2K Sports announced it would extend the NBA 2K11 server life until April 2012.

The NBA 2K games have become the standard in basketball sims. That’s through innovations including the Jordan Challenges and also because EA can’t get a product out consistently.

2K’s Achilles heel has been online play. It takes a long time to get matches and disconnects and lags are a frequent problem. A patch on the 360 that was supposed to iron these problems out didn’t and seems to have created more. Game invites aren’t working properly. Finding a random match already is difficult, with the inability to invite friends to games online is an even bigger mess.

Reports that NBA 2K12 wouldn’t allow historic basketball squads to be played online didn’t sound like much fun. That’s especially the case during an NBA lockout that may force the game to launch with the same rosters from last season. Some copies of the game are in the wild now, and players have uncovered DLC called The Legends Showcase. It allows you to play games such as 21 and H.O.R.S.E, as well as 2 vs 2 and 3 vs 3 matchups with legendary players. It will also allow you to play superstars from the past such as Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson online.

Real world labor negotiations have been playing havoc on sports video games in 2011. Madden NFL 12 had the National Football League lockout to deal with. The National Basketball Association has locked its players out as well. NBA 2K12 won’t be able to include rookies drafted in 2011 until the league’s labor problems are fixed. Once the lockout is done with, the rookies can enter the game through a roster update. 2K Sports has the players, their season starting ratings and commentary about them ready to go for that update. The only thing holding 2K up is the lockout. Right now, there’s little progress on that front.

NBA 2K11 was a huge critical and commercial success for 2K Sports, due in no small part to the inclusion of Michael Jordan. His involvement wasn’t just in name. The game also featured the Jordan Challenges, which asked players to recreate some of the greatest moments in his career. 2K Sports has announced three separate covers for NBA 2K12, featuring Jordan, Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Larry Bird. The Jordan Challenges concept has now expanded to the NBA’s Greatest Mode. You’ll have to relive great achievements from the careers of 15 basketball legends including Julius Erving and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. After doing those challenges, you unlock the players and teams to use in other modes.

Kobe Bryant made an appearance at the Sony press conference to demo 2K Sports’ NBA 2K12.

The latest installment in the 2K franchise will be implementing motion control with the Playstation Move. This will allow Move users to point at a given teammate and with the push of a button, allow them to pass, steal, rebound and defend against their opponents.

A perfect game is one of baseball’s most difficult feats to accomplish. MLB 2K players are making it look super easy in 2K Sports’ $1 Million Perfect Game Contest. Brian Kingrey won the prize only two hours after the contest launched April 1, 2011. This was the second year of the contest and the second time someone won it on the first day. Kingrey even obliged 2K Sports by using the game’s cover boy, Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay. He performed the feat against the hapless Houston Astros. If nothing else, 2K11 appears to have captured that team’s essence.

During its quarterly financial webcast May 24, 2011, 2K Sports’ parent company Take-Two Interactive announced it will not produce a hockey game in 2011.

NHL 2K11 didn’t appear on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, releasing only on mobile platforms and the Nintendo Wii. It looks like a situation that’s the reverse of what’s happening with EA and 2K Sports’ basketball games. EA’s hockey efforts are drawing rave reviews, leaving 2K Sports having a difficult time turning a profit on NHL 2K.