Five Steps for an 'NBA Live' Comeback (ESPN)

[Andrew]

Interesting read to jump start some discussion: Five Steps for an 'NBA Live' Comeback

It's a mistake to take on the same identity as "NBA 2K," which is as pure (and challenging) as sports sim as you're likely to find. The pure sim hoops game already exists. No one needs an alternative to that, because 2K has just about perfected things. Instead, "Live" needs to embrace a different philosophy: A hoops game must be fun, first and foremost. The gameplay, AI, and features are about showing the beauty and passion of NBA players without feeling like a grind.

See, I don't entirely agree with that. I think there are things that NBA Live should do differently, but that's kind of implying that NBA 2K is perfect and that there's no call for a pure sim that takes a different approach to controls or whatever. I don't think NBA Live should copy what 2K's done per se, but as far as creating their own authentic NBA sim in their own style, I believe that is indeed what they should be going for.

I think the rest is fairly on point, though.

[[Q]]

wasn't that the biggest complaint about NBA Live towards the end? that it was a sim that was a "bit too arcade-y"? that all you need to do in Live 06 was spin move, spin move, dunk?

[Andrew]

Both series have received criticism here and there for various exploits but yeah, that was definitely a common one in previous Lives.

[BD1899]

Anyone who has played NBA 2K12 for several hours knows that the game was far from the perfect pure sports simulation experience.

Sites like ESPN and even gaming journalist sites like IGN can't be expected to give a 100% accurate review of an NBA game because they don't play the game the same way that true simulation fans do. Most of us sim fans like playing games with 12 minute quarters and expect to see the game stats to be as close to a real life boxscore as possible. Review sites often only play on quick 5 minute quarter and don't look for the same things (bug fixes for starters) that I'll be looking for when 2K hits the shelves in October. Also, keep in mind that review websites probably don't get to play the game nearly enough to pick out the flaws in the gameplay. Usually, these gameplay flaws can't be found until you play about 10-20 matches and start noticing a pattern. I'm sure that reviewers won't have the time to play this many games and will be more focused on covering as many aspects as they can over that time.

With that said, if you truly want to know whether to buy 2K13/Live 13, then get your opinions from sites like this one or OperationSports. Chances are if someone is complaining about a gameplay problem on one of these websites, it'll be something that will also affect you.

[Andrew]

Completely agree. I'd say there'll be a decent amount of folks around these parts ready and willing to give a fair-handed and detailed overview of both games come October. I tend to be more interested in what my fellow gamers have to say for all games in general.

[22cedric]

If the NBA Live team sticks to one vision & stays simulation without changing direction then fans will be satisfied.

[Andrew]

Video game fans are never satisfied. That's just the way we are.

I do agree though. Get on the right track and build upon what they've got each year rather than scrapping it all and starting over. Take the best elements from previous games, trim the fat by dropping what didn't work.