The concept is fun. Walter Payton, Ronnie Lott and Bart Starr _ how's that for your first three player selections? But the overall execution leaves too much to be desired. The graphics and animation are problematic, the controls are beset with hiccups and the use of fictional, computer-generated players as teammates for the former pros is ungainly.

Here's the statement e-mailed by a "2K8" spokesman when I asked for the thinking behind the Simpson decision: "'All-Pro Football 2K8' is a game that celebrates many of the great football legends in the history of the sport. Naturally, football players inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame easily fit into this criteria. The game is about the achievements of these players when they played the game and despite Mr. Simpson's off-field history, it is the achievements on the football field that made him one of the celebrated running backs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and it is these same achievements that are represented in 'All-Pro Football 2K8.'"

Maybe, just maybe, there's a marginal justification to be made based on Simpson's football history. Ultimately, though, I lean strongly toward this analysis from Peter Roby, director of athletics and recreation at Northeastern University and former director of the school's Center for the Study of Sport in Society:

"I do take issue with O.J. being included because the game targets young kids," Roby wrote via e-mail. "It is difficult for them to put context around difficult social issues. There are numerous players that the company could feature without the controversy that surrounds O.J. The question is, does the company want the controversy so they can sell more games?"

Indeed, "2K8" comes from 2K Sports, which is a subset of Take-Two Interactive Software, the publisher whose signature is controversy, a la "Grand Theft Auto" and "Manhunt." That alone breeds cynicism about why Simpson was included.

There also has been a flurry of attention given to game-play video that shows Simpson scoring a touchdown for the Assassins team, in a stadium that features the image of a giant cloaked figure who celebrates by making a stabbing motion with a knife. GameTrailers.com (part of the MTV Networks Entertainment Group) purposely generated that particular game sequence for its Web site.

If nothing else, that exemplifies how ugly the ramifications are of any association with Simpson. But it's not a reflection of the game's basic format. Gamers don't have to pick Simpson for their team, and if they do, they can make him part of teams whose names don't have a distasteful double meaning (the Americans, the Cyclones, the Knights, the Legends or many more). The stabbing animation isn't explicitly linked to Simpson; I generated it by scoring a touchdown for the Assassins with a completely fictional player.

The Simpson factor aside, "2K8" came up short in my test of the PS3 version for a long list of reasons: Famous players' faces look grotesquely distorted instead of remotely photo-realistic; the game animation has a conspicuous stiffness, with the players generally moving like they're on ice skates, and the controls are sluggish when initiating some kinds of movements (like rushing a linebacker after the snap) but jumpy in other situations (when you skid over the line of scrimmage before a snap). And that's only a partial list of complaints.

At 2K Sports, they quickly point to the detail of some of their graphics work - the almost tangible textures of the jerseys and helmets, for instance. That's as good as they say, but it doesn't compensate for the more fundamental problems.

It couldn't have been easy to get "2K8" off the ground. The game has "over 240" players from football history, and 2K Sports says licensing rights were obtained individually. "We also had some help from (talent management company) IMG in tracking a lot of these players down," noted the 2K spokesman, "but as you can imagine, it was a very long process."

A well-placed industry veteran estimates that top stars received as much as $250,000, and that even third or fourth-tier players got $50,000.

For that kind of investment, 2K Sports needs a game with far more polish. As disappointing as "2K8" is, the concept remains enticing and hints at tremendous potential for a "2K9."