Why is PC not part of the "Next Gen" Live?

[spreeul8r]

Why is the PC version still stuck in the darkage with the PS2 and XBOX?

The screenshots look piss poor, but was willing to let that slide, since im not that picky about jersey textures, sweat, arenas etc. All i care about is the realism of the gameplay, and the depth and challenge in Dynasty mode.

For the life of me, i cant understand why PC users didnt get the "next gen" player ratings...surely PC hardware is not the issue? I just read the German review and he mentions a few positives of the dynasty mode but also adds its still easy to assemble an allstar team in a season or two. Why do they make it so damn easy? Why isnt there 2 seperate difficulty levels. One for gameplay, and the other for Dynasty.

Anyways thats my brief rant. Basically i just want to know why they decided to cheat PC users out of the next gen Live, when PC hardware is more than capable of handling it?

[---]

not all PC's are capable of a nextgen version of Live. Don't worry, itl be next gen in a few years

[Sauru]

thats not a good enough excuse imo as to why the pc is not nextgen. if EA came out and simply said "we have no compitition on the pc so why should we bother putting the extra effort into it" i would believe it a bit more. making a pc capable of running almost any game now is really cheap, if you could afford a ps3 you can easily upgrade a pc.

[spreeul8r]

not all PC's are capable of a nextgen version of Live. Don't worry, itl be next gen in a few years

Maybe not in terms of graphics...but thats what the graphics options are for right?

But there is absolutely no reason why they cant handle the ratings. Take a look at games like FIFA and PES/Winning Eleven. They have plenty of ratings that give depth to each player. There is absolutely no reason to skimp on the gameplay, ratings or options.

Looking forward to the "players on rollerskates too"

[hipn]

Maybe becuase not everybody has a computer that can run a game like that at ease.

[---]

If you don't like it, don't buy it. If you can afford to have a computer that can handle next gen then why don't you just go buy an XBOX 360 or a PS3... problem solved

[spreeul8r]

Maybe becuase not everybody has a computer that can run a game like that at ease.

If you can run Live 06, then you could run live 07 with all the new ratings, no icescating etc. If your pc cant handle the graphics turned up on high, just lower it.

Im not running a super computer myself.

Ive got an Athlon 1.5gig with 512mb RAM and a Radeon 9600 128mb graphics card. I last upgraded FOUR YEARS AGO...hardly state of the art. Yet i run Live 06 with ease. And run other Sports games such as madden, FIFA, etc with in depth player ratings etc with ease. I might not be able to run next gen graphics full ball. So what? Just scale them down in the GRAPHICS OPTIONS menu. Thats what they're for right?

[Wayansfan]

not everyone has the money for that, in my part live 06 and 05 run pretty good for me, just without the lighting option since i can't enable it. Moving the pc version to next gen would definetly be a killer for me since i can't really spend that much money on hardly anything, so yes if the pc stayed current gen i wouldn't give a fuck i jus want the game to play like the nba, i don't give a crap about the sweating and shit, that's y its called an NBA SIM and not a half life 2. A sim should focus on gameplay not graphics

[spreeul8r]

not everyone has the money for that, in my part live 06 and 05 run pretty good for me, just without the lighting option since i can't enable it. Moving the pc version to next gen would definetly be a killer for me since i can't really spend that much money on hardly anything, so yes if the pc stayed current gen i wouldn't give a fuck i jus want the game to play like the nba, i don't give a crap about the sweating and shit, that's y its called an NBA SIM and not a half life 2. A sim should focus on gameplay not graphics

Yeah i totally agree. I wouldn't care if they kept the same graphics (minus skating) and just gave us all the other options that would make gameplay more realistic and complex.

[koberulz]

not all pcs can run a next-gen quality game. just saying to downgrade/have options for the graphics won't work. the footplanting and oter extra features all use memory and cpu power. graphics isn't the end of the line.

[Andrew]

The Next Gen version was built from scratch, which was the reason why the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 06 didn't have Dynasty Mode or All-Star Weekend. The production team wanted to start fresh and not just port Current Gen code across. The advantage of such an approach is that they can eliminate problems and restrictions of the Current Gen version and utilise the new console's capabilities from the start. The disadvantage of course is that it's more time consuming (hence the lack of the aforementioned features) and opens up the possibility of creating new problems that might have already been ironed out in Current Gen.

It seems with these first two NBA Lives on Next Gen, EA has been laying the foundation as much as they're adding new features. To that end, the Current Gen version is probably the more stable game since its been built on the same foundation for at least a few years now and while there are still bugs and other issues, it's code is a few years in the making. The Next Gen version likely has a few more kinks that need to be worked out; using FSS as an example, this is the second year of FSS on Current Gen and EA has had the benefit of our feedback and have made some changes to it. This is the first year for FSS on Next Gen and while my initial impressions were positive, chances are tweaks will be needed in NBA Live 08.

Aside from that, while high end PCs could probably handle the Next Gen version not everyone has a high end PC. I'm sure if they ported the Next Gen version to PC there'd be just as much fuss from people whose systems couldn't handle it and don't want to upgrade...or can't afford to upgrade. I'm sure sales figures have a hand in the decision as well, the same as the decision not to release NBA Live 07 on the Gamecube.

[bigh0rt]

not everyone has the money for that, in my part live 06 and 05 run pretty good for me, just without the lighting option since i can't enable it. Moving the pc version to next gen would definetly be a killer for me since i can't really spend that much money on hardly anything, so yes if the pc stayed current gen i wouldn't give a fuck i jus want the game to play like the nba, i don't give a crap about the sweating and shit, that's y its called an NBA SIM and not a half life 2. A sim should focus on gameplay not graphics

NBA Live is not a sim, nor has it ever claimed to be.

[el badman]

Aside from that, while high end PCs could probably handle the Next Gen version not everyone has a high end PC. I'm sure if they ported the Next Gen version to PC there'd be just as much fuss from people whose systems couldn't handle it and don't want to upgrade...or can't afford to upgrade. I'm sure sales figures have a hand in the decision as well, the same as the decision not to release NBA Live 07 on the Gamecube.

Agreed, potential sales are obviously the main factor here. Still, as the #1 game developer in the world, I do think that EA should then create two versions for PC, each with their specific requirements. It's just very frustrating to see any other type of PC game evolving faster and faster when it comes to physics and visuals (way ahead of consoles), but a particular category such as sports games not following the same trend at all...
Not everybody could run the next-gen version, but as far as I'm concerned, I could. EA would certainly maximize its benefits by releasing what people would like to play (I'd be willing to pay more for a better-looking version), not what EA wants the gaming market to become. That's called marketing.

NBA Live is not a sim, nor has it ever claimed to be.

Hmmm, what would you describe as a basketball sim then?

[koberulz]

2k series.

[ovasuen]

to claim that many pc users wouldnt be able to handle the requirements fo the next gen version is pure bullshit.
There are so many games with even more stunning graphics and objects to handle at the same time, just look at some of the new shooters, like half-life 2, stalker, crysis and so on, and how do you think their sales are doing? This is really no excuse! EA must be able just like in Tomb Raider Legends to offer an option in the game where you can switch new gen on and off. It is really frustrating to play the current gen version of 07 while theres a much better version for console users, with better graphics, footplanting and great animations and emotions. I mean what are they thinking?! Should i go out now and buy console even though my pc is able to run the next gen game. This is just ridiculous and disappointing, and the pc users get punished for nothing.

[el badman]

2nd that
There's just no excuse for a company as big as EA not to make additional efforts for this.

[Qmx323]

especially on PC, where graphics practically make or break a game. Live 06 had decent graphics, but for 07, EA should have like, made a middleground to next and current gen. i know its a lot of work to make a new engine, but having crowds with square heads standing up and clapping hands that look like wooden sticks just dont cut it in 2006 anymore.

[wicked waway]

TRUE

[cyanide]

If you don't like it, don't buy it. If you can afford to have a computer that can handle next gen then why don't you just go buy an XBOX 360 or a PS3... problem solved

My computer can handle next gen, but I can't afford to buy an XBOX 360

[jesusfrancosiles]

Even if my computer couldn't handle next gen graphics, i wouldn't buy a PS3 or any other console... In my opinion (i repeat: IN MY OPINION), a console is useless as it's only a games device... i mean, with a PC you will always be able to do the same things that a console and much much more...

I played with computers since the Spectrum era... today i'm a able to use computers in a high level (and not only for games), which have helped me even in my profesional career. I mean.. working, playing, being a PC user can help you in some ways... playing with your PS3?? ... well, you will learn how to change from one DVD to other!!

[Voxel]

you forget 2 huge facts:

1. the PC game doesn't sell shit compared to the console versions. why put so much effort on the least profitable version?

2. the NBA live team is HORRIBLE at optimizing the game. there are reported frame-rate issues on NBA live 07 @ xbox 360 (that has higher technical specs than every PC to date, all this running at 30 FPS). if it can't run steady @ 30 FPS on a 3ghz triple core processor... how would it run on a common PC?

[ImDuncanOnYou]

It can't run on a common pc. But the xbox 360 does not out-do high-end computers.

It will probably go next gen once computers that could be able to play with next-gen graphics, at least on lower settings, become relatively common.

[el badman]

xbox 360 (that has higher technical specs than every PC to date, all this running at 30 FPS)

I dunno where u got that but this is certainly not true. The 360 is a freaking NES compared to some of the best PCs, which at least don't have any fps limit...Any current console just can't handle recent shaders, HDR, AF or AA like the lastest video cards do.

[zfod]

A few things:

The XBOX 360 or any gaming console has very specific development interfaces, APIs, etc and in general those things keep the development process strict.

The same isn't true when developing a game for the PC.

My only guess is that the better developers are working on the XBOX 360 stuff, because you're absolutely right that it is incredibly pure bullshit that the XBOX 360 outclasses any gaming PC.

What blows me away is that it couldn't be a setting you could toggle. If you have a machine that is on its last leg so-to-speak you could toggle the next-gen features off one-by-one ( even a good development process could detect and recommend settings for you ).

I will still play NBA Live 2007 of course for the PC, but I'm like a lot of people -- disappointed that features that clearly could be added for the PC version are being left out. If anything, the PC version should have so much more leverage than any console-based system and thusly more features.

[el badman]

What blows me away is that it couldn't be a setting you could toggle. If you have a machine that is on its last leg so-to-speak you could toggle the next-gen features off one-by-one ( even a good development process could detect and recommend settings for you ).

Exactly! After record earnings once again, you'd hope EA would make an effort to customize its games on PC so that the latest machines can use EA's latest technology...
They're pretty much exploiting the fact that NBA Live users are typically loyal customers who've been buying the game for a while, especially PC users, so that most of them (including me) won't bother trying something else even if they're disappointed...