*NEW GAME* NBA Live - The 90s and Beyond

I realize this isn't an entirely new idea, in fact, this has probably been brought up many times before... but here goes anyways.

So you begin a franchise just like you normally would in NBA Live, only the year is 1990. Hightops are cool and Derrick Coleman still has potential. At the end of the season, rookies from 1991 are in the draft (Larry Johnson, Dikembe Mutumbo, Steve Smith, Dale Davis, etc).

You complete the 1991 season and rookies from the 92 class are available to draft (Shaq, Zo, Sprewell, etc).

Complete this process with real rookies all the way up until present day, where the default fictional NBA Live rookies can begin to be created.

Now, I understand that there are previous year patches available for download on the NLSC website. What I'm talking about here is a comprehensive, from 1990 to present day, EA officially created game.

In '95 along would come the fun involved in introducing the Grizzlies and Raptors. In '04 the joy of the Bobcats would be bestowed upon us. Just really try to emulate what happened in the real NBA from these years. Also throughout the years certain players would become available as coaches. This would insure that even as players retire they still remain part of the experience. So even in the 2012 season big Shaq could still be around .

Maybe even have short lengths increase as years go by . Also have new uniforms introduced for the teams as years go by. Nike is already contracted buddies with EA, so shoe fashions could also be integrated. Now, while we're talking about contracts, let's bring up Jordan.

When EA included Michael in Live 2000, it was huge. I remember they marketed it as one of the key features of the game. NBA Live was the only video game you could play as Michael Jordan in.

Well, seeing as how MJ nearly literally owned the '90s, imagine if EA and Jordan could reach another agreement. Put Jordan on the cover of this game and you're nearly guaranteed success. Maybe even have Michael leave to go play baseball and come back. This wouldn't be team dependent, if Jordan was traded to the Magic, the entire baseball theme could still be followed out, through simple notices in your PDA.

I realize Jordan isn't the only player with legal issues that isn't usually in games (Barkley, who else am I missing?), but Jordan is really the only one that would make or break this concept for a game.

Guys like Rodman would flirt with un-retiring too . Basically all the cool things we'd like to see done in current Live games, could happen in this game because random/computer logic wouldn't have to be involved, it would be history, and it could all be scripted into the game. The only real life aspect I wouldn't bring into the game is injuries. Image playing as Penny or Hill and seeing what could have been...

There would be enhanced team/player stat tracking so you can see how teams/stars develop over the years. This would be a joyous trip down memory lane for those of us who lived through these years as NBA fanatics, and a great history lesson for those newer NBA fans. To further this, there could be cinema scenes of hype of the rookies, real commercials for shoes, etc. Really capture everything that was the NBA vibe during the 90s. Imagine the soundtrack to this game .

I know I'd be more than willing to spend $40 to $50 on this, and I know if done correctly, just about NBA fan who plays video games would too. This would be an undeniable product that even 2k series fanboys would be nearly forced to buy. Seriously, EA and the league could market the crap out of something like this.

I know I've heard talk about something like this before, which means I didn't invent this, but it also means I'm not alone. This IS a cool idea, right?

I'm just wondering, what would have to happen to prove to EA that this is something, if marketed correctly (like NBA Street, or NFL Blitz), would be a big hit? Perhaps if the NLSC really adopted this idea and fleshed it out?

Does anyone else get really excited just even thinking about a game like this? Even though there's a 99.7% chance it would be in vain, if enough people are interested in this, I wouldn't mind spending some time and energy fleshing out the details of how it would work, and even putting together a website to try and get EA's attention.

Because in reality, EA is a business out to make money. If we can prove that enough people are interested in this, they might just listen. I know the wishlists we send each year aren't exactly implemented perfectly, but they DO listen sometimes. Some of the features we send don't get implemented because they would be very time consuming to program/develop and wouldn't result in any direct income for EA. This idea would. This could be another big game/series/idea/concept for EA to develop. I don't know, does anyone agree?

Last edited by Silky Smooth Vlade on Sun Jul 02, 2006 3:01 am, edited 2 times in total.

I realize this isn't an entirely new idea, in
Does anyone else get really excited just even thinking about a game like this?

I do. Frankly, this is the first time I'm hearing of such an idea and it sounds simply amazing to me. I'll definitely buy it if EA actually got to implementing it. Excellent post.

It's been suggested in years past...but it's not possible due to licensing issues with retired players. It's nice to dream about though.

How many retired players currently wouldn't make it due to licensing issues?

-- MJ
-- Barkley
-- I noticed stockton wasn't on the 90s team anymore in Live 05 (right? or was it Live 06?)
-- Ewing?

There's not some overarching license issue, right? I mean there are the 60s, 70s, and 80s all star teams in Live already... how many would be missing from the 90s?

or couldn't they start it with live 95... the licensing stuff.... since they would have those players avaliable as u know that was the first year of live... and that since they made the game that year wouldn't they have the ability to use those players as they were licensed this year?

No doubt it would be awesome, but it just wouldn't be feasible. As the version of NBA Live 95 that was available on the NTSC release of NBA Live 06 for the PS2 demonstrated, they can't just take the rosters from NBA Live 95 and use them today since those players are no longer under contract with an NBA team, save for a select few who are still in the league.

I don't think the idea would be particularly effective with dummy players either, since the whole idea is to simulate an era of NBA history and rewrite it as real players come along. It'd be an awesome concept but it's just not feasible.

Yea andrew has a point but still nice to think that they could actually do that would be awesome =). Plus i still have NBA Live 95 and i play it just the beginning of a great legacy =)

well I tihnk it would be cool to be able to start dynasty mode in the next year (2007-2008) to accomodate for added rookie players.

I would LOVE to see this happen. I'd probably buy the game instead of NBA Live.

Though by the sounds of it, it aint happenin..

I'd probably buy the game instead of NBA Live.

Same . EA probably wouldn't want to split a product / target audience like that. Hmmm... I guy can still dream though .

It's an awesome idea, but it's too bad there are all these licensing problems.

Well i think EA should finally make a game which has not only NBA teams but also spanish,italian,greek,turkish and other basketball leagues available, with their legends like walter berry or david rivers... It's a shame you only find it in fifa and there are great teams around the world which deserve to be added to a game. I dunno why EA didn't make an effort to merge NBA with FIBA or even create a game called FIBA... I'm tired of reamking every time my nba to euroleague but I have no other choice since I would deffinitely buy a FIBA game (Excuse me but nowadays NBA doesn't seem to amaze me at all).

Just download the Euroleague patch, if you have it on the computer.

That's what I'm saying! I'm tired of updating the nba live. EA should make an effort to make a FIBA game or even better a Basketball game with many basketball leagues including nba!