OS interview with Creative Director David Littman

http://www.operationsports.com/feature. ... um=twitter

Not much for info, but yea

Good read. My major concern was that they have a 3 year plan similar to NHL series did. I remember buying NHL 07 (or was it 08). Either way, it was a terrible game. It was bare bones on features, it was cool to deke the goalie out but it didn't feel fun. Same thing with FIFA 08. I returned both games within a week (in the case of NHL within a day), that's how poorly I thought the games were executed.

Fast forward a couple of years & I've been playing FIFA 10 since I bought it last September, & will continue to play it. It is a lot more complete & fun & feels more like football. I imagine the NHL game has taken the same strides. My issue is I've been waiting so long for Live to get its act back together (since current "next" gen started) & I don't think I can bear waiting until Elite 13 for a great bball title. I am bored by 2k games as they all feel the same. I feel like the changes they are making will be worthwhile, I just don't know why they weren't done 2 years ago

I'm really hopeful that the Live (sorry Elite) demo proves me wrong & warrants a day one purchase. I know when I played FIFA 10 demo I realised that the game had finally made the leap.

Good read. My major concern was that they have a 3 year plan similar to NHL series did. I remember buying NHL 07 (or was it 08). Either way, it was a terrible game. It was bare bones on features, it was cool to deke the goalie out but it didn't feel fun. Same thing with FIFA 08. I returned both games within a week (in the case of NHL within a day), that's how poorly I thought the games were executed.

Fast forward a couple of years & I've been playing FIFA 10 since I bought it last September, & will continue to play it. It is a lot more complete & fun & feels more like football. I imagine the NHL game has taken the same strides. My issue is I've been waiting so long for Live to get its act back together (since current "next" gen started) & I don't think I can bear waiting until Elite 13 for a great bball title. I am bored by 2k games as they all feel the same. I feel like the changes they are making will be worthwhile, I just don't know why they weren't done 2 years ago

I'm really hopeful that the Live (sorry Elite) demo proves me wrong & warrants a day one purchase. I know when I played FIFA 10 demo I realised that the game had finally made the leap.

I agree in alot of ways but you'll like what they have planned for NBA Elite 12 so it won't be so bad of a wait. What I think plays in Elites advantage here is since other titles have already gone through this maybe the transition for Elite won't be as bad in ways because with the previous titles the mistakes have been learnt and the shared tech is better/improved and their not learning as they go there is bit of muscle memory as some of the lucasarts development/PR team for Force Unleashed II have said with regards to their staff that developed game 1 working on game 2.

Well worth a read for the backstory and to understand their approach to revitalising the series. I know I harp on this a bit and I don't mean to downplay the importance of the changes to the gameplay, but the fact that game modes have received attention too will hopefully go a long way in making NBA Elite 11 a quality product. The interview noted NHL 07 being bare bones (I didn't play it so I wasn't aware of that) and NBA Live 06, EA's first NBA game on the current generation, suffered from the same thing without an innovation that was unique to the platform since Freestyle Superstars was identical on the 360 and last gen consoles (along with the PC version).

The product needs to be well-rounded for the richest, deepest experience possible so I'm glad they learned from their mistakes there, though as David noted they are at an advantage having NBA Live 10 to tweak and build upon. Hopefully they've built on the stuff that works and scrapped the stuff that hasn't as need be.

glad they kept the live 10 control scheme because me personally i do not like shooting the ball on any basketball game with a thumbstic

It'll all come down to the demo. If it's good, then the lure of a free NBA Jam demo could tip me over the line. If it is not, maybe next year.

Hopefully the classic control scheme is available in the demo. I intend to get used to the new controls but it'll be handy for anyone who's a bit iffy and wants to see if they'll like the game with more familiar controls.