What you really want to see in NBA Live 2005...

[Andrew]

The Wishlist is generally an indication of what we all want to see in the new edition of NBA Live. However, it's unrealistic to expect EA to implement every suggestion within the span of one game, so for the most part we're happy with the correction of problems in the previous game, major improvements to our favourite aspects of the game and little tweaks here and there that make the game more realistic while at the same time remaining fun.

So...

Knowing that EA can't grant every wish, what are the improvements or additions you really want to see in NBA Live 2005? Which improvements or additions will make you rate NBA Live 2005 better than NBA Live 2004, even if everything else remains the same?

I'll post mine after a few responses.

[OrlandoMagic]

I really wouldnt mind seeing these features added:
- More computer trades during the course of a dynasty.
- The introduction of Tech fouls.
- an improvement on the fans.(like make them actual people).
- Possibly show up on a screen a famous person is in the building. Sitting courtside. Barracking for their team.
- Camera men on the side of the courts.
- A Tv crew broadcasting the game.

I have lots more but for now ill leave it at that...

[Waz]

i'd really like 2 see retro teams like showtime lakers, bad boy pistions 96 bulls etc and also allowing the teams 2 play in season mode...i no its not as likely as gameplay improvements but i think it would b a great addition 2 the game

[OrlandoMagic]

I agree Webber, and maybe EA could addsituation mode ,where you have to play historic games and try and repeat the history of scoring a remarkable victory, or try and beats a players effort's in a certain game.

[Power And Proud]

Better graphics, details (like seeing sweat drip from players), more features added to Dynasty Mode to make it more realistic. multi team trades, so up to 5 teams can make a deal. So many things could be done to improve NBA Live, but like it was said, not all can be added in one game.

[diafenes]

first post in some time...
What do I want to see in 2005?
the one below are important to me cos' they use to available but EA took them away

* A resizable user interface.
* Seeing all or most of the stats in one go -elimanating all this stupid scrolling.
*A return of the career page -where it shows a player's averages for each year and total averages as well as what teams the player was on, all on one screen. hey it was available before (2000).
*custom teams and moving teams into different divisions.
*the ability to control more than one team.

these are some that I wish for every year:
*an advanced gm mode (realistic salaries, 10 day contracts, mid-level exceptions, veterans minimum etc.)
*realistic stats throughout the game (not just the first year, what were they thinking -we wouldn't go past the first year? ).

anyways like to hear some responses...and maybe, just maybe see some of these in 2005...

[Fresh8]

-This Situation mode sounds good- I was thinking bout that... like have Bulls and Utah and u have to score with MJ to win....or have Lakers/Portland (I think Lakers, Game 7- 2000... 16 behind) fight back to win....etc.

GAMEPLAY:

Please make scores/gameplay more realistic....lower scores but not playing at a ridiculously low speed game...I havent been able to score and limit the opposition under 100 for a while in 2004....

Also- the game should focus on matchups...theres not much of that!

Maybe- make dynasty more like Football Manager (I think thats what its called- no it's FA manager 2004...i think...) but not as extreme....u see- the dynasty mope we've got isn't that great...managing wise...well IMO only!

I would like to see more team managment things like being able to train players...and having players maybe miss games because of illness...or issuing players with suspentions or players playing bad because of fatigue... also players ratings dropping because they aren't practising or are tired from other commitments

Wat I found was that as u go through many seasons...the players of today start retiring and u don't know much about the league that exists in the game... maybe more League coverage in the game (although I don't how thats possible...)

The player of the month awards are rigged!!!!

Have deeper drafts... or second round steals- I still havent see any! basically more realistic dynasty plus some of the little things

Rookies names instead of numbers... it happened ion 03 but not 04

I find it annoying seeing the ref who throw the ball up and then walk one step back and dissapear... more trades would be cool...including comp offering u or amongst themselves!

More coverage of All-star weekend... have a voting system for all-star game....

Wat about being able to ask players to/not to retire or make comebacks (but only very random during the course of the franchise...)

Hiring coaching staff/ head coach, etc. Managing stadium or buildiung new one with money made from games... doing ticket prices, etc....

Play-offs should focus on matchups... also Home-court advantage should do a bit in determining games outcomes!

I have more but... i cant remember all of them- I know all my respones are real random and some arent that important but i'd be happy if anyone would expand on any of my suggestions...

[TonyFromPerth]

this was mentioned in another post, but anyways:

the commentators say the names of created players or rookies if the first and/or last names are in the databases. That should be fairly simple in theory.

another thing that id like to see...seeing as though there is an expansion draft in July that means all teams must say who they are protecting.Live should use this and let the user do an expansion draft of their own for Charlotte...for example, if you go to start a new dynasty it should ask if you want fantasy draft, expansion draft or just default rosters.
that'd be sweet!

Also, when you're playing a game it should show more stats...like a little pop out screen that comes from the side of the score overlay. something that says how many points/rebounds/assists etc. a certain player (the one who has just scored/rebounded/passed) is averaging over the season/career or even the last few games. Now that would make it more authentic and keep people interested. Plus something like that shouldn't be hard to implement...i mean its just simple maths.
But i know that wont happen this year..hopefully by 06.
thanks

[diafenes]

The player of the month awards are rigged!!!!

Rookies names instead of numbers... it happened ion 03 but not 04

two of my biggest gripes of 04. posting better stats and not getting the award and sick of hearing numbers instead of names - you can create Dwight Howard or Shaun Livingtson in 03 and hear their last names, but not in 04, what gives?

Wat about being able to ask players to/not to retire or make comebacks (but only very random during the course of the franchise...)

I like this point. I used to edit the dbf so that I could use a player again like a 12th man, for a certain skill e.g. Glen Rice/Steve Kerr 3pt shooting.
It would be much easier if this was an option instead of dbf editing.

[alevon]

I want a realistic simulation game like "Live 2K". Not an arcade game like 2001, 2003 and 2004.

[Bakerinzee]

Hiring coaching staff/ head coach, etc. Managing stadium or buildiung new one with money made from games... doing ticket prices, etc....

Yeah I was thinking about that, that would be cool.

And I want half time show back like in Live '99

[tempo]

id like to see the custom team feature come back therfore you could create your own historic teams of the past......

stats should be done in the order of live 98/99, weher all the shooting stats were grouped then the defence, rebounds, handling etc etc....

how about bringing the 3pt contest back with also other games, for example 2-ball, 2-on-2, around the world H.O.R.S.E. etc etc, this would stop the game from getting boring so quickly

how about a training mode where you can dribble through cones, pick n roll plays, layup lines, free throw practice etc etc

how about being able to warm up before a game, again lay-up lines etc

how about a halftime analysis screen showing hot players, shot display highlights from the half etc ...

there should be a more comprehensive pre-game set-up screen showing each teams stregths weaknesses etc

there should be more goals to achieve for 2005,

there should be more things to unlock,new tracks, courts, balls, teams, bonus 1-on-1 games with street legend players like jumpin jessy jackson

all star weekend is boring everybody just simulates it, ea needs to sort there head out, how hard could it be to add a half court shot feature or something similar....

dribbling and handling should be different, john stockton rarely turned the ball over therfore he should be 99 at dribbling but in the game this means he can do ill crossovers etc, they should be different....

have a better variety of passes and alley oops, you should be able to choose what type of pass you want to throw, off the glass etc...

have jump ball situations when players get tied up....

bring back the feature of being able to throw the ball behind the back, through the legs etc when the ball is going out of bounds...

why can you no longer pass the ball in the middle of a layup or dunk??

[[Q]]

I agree with Tony from Perth completely. On the issue of created players' last names being said in 2003 but not 2004, I think it might be because of the new commentators Marv Albert and Mike Fratello. They just didn't implement it when they made new sounds for the Marv and Mike.

[sixerfan03]

A Complete Free Agency, with all the rules.

[BC1331]

Pat the Stat Man would like to know if they could please add a little box/make an announcement when a Player reach's a carrier high in points or rebounds as he'd love that very much

and I so agree with the rookies and there names

maybee more interactive coaching too

[Bang]

I would like to see ALL teams from the creation of the NBA. It's probably impossible but I can dream. So you could start a dynasty from around 1984 or so and play the game knowing what is to come. It would be quite fun.

Ratings that should be added
-Clutch rating
-Clutch FT rating?
-Floor Intelligence rating
-Hustling? rating
-Coaches having ratings perhaps?

[Bang]

-Open path to the basket rule
I'm sick of being fouled by human players when I go for a fast break.
-Offensive Foul basket shouldn't count
-Have stamina taken off for excessive steal button mashing and blocking.
-Less blocks. (You can put blocks on 0 on sliders and still get tons and tons of blocks)
-Less FG%

[dnztravis]

Better graphics
More retro teams
More features
A better passing system

[Fresh8]

I want Yao Ming on the cover! lol

[cocobee]

Please ADD Multi-player Dynasty mode! Fix some of the gameplay glitches like the offensive rebound (lack thereof), the charge call--the points count glitch, the weird inbounds/then all of a sudden it's the cpu's ball glitch?

Keep the sliders please! Make dynasty mode deeper and make the game very patchable. Have the announcers say nicknmaes instead of numbers for created players (it was in 2003). In dynasty mode, I could care less about all the extra crap--but it's be nice to have the ability to re-locate your team ala Madden?

Fix the crowd AI in the game, especially in dynasty mode.

And please let us edit the ingame ditties please! Or atleast the abilty to add our own ditties along with the EA original ditties.

[Waz]

I agree Webber, and maybe EA could addsituation mode ,where you have to play historic games and try and repeat the history of scoring a remarkable victory, or try and beats a players effort's in a certain game.

exactly i remember doin that with Shane Warne Cricket it was great

[Andrew]

Time for my list. These are the improvements and additions I would like to see most. For me, anything beyond this list I would consider a bonus.

Dynasty Mode

• Add the option of taking control of more than one team
• Better simulated stats, perhaps bringing back the Dstats. Stats based on player ratings do result in lower stats as players decline, but they are less precise than they were with Dstats. Scoring averages decrease too steeply after the first year.
• Allow as many as 5 players to be traded. Do not count draft picks as players in a deal, ie. allow 5 (or even just 3) players to be traded in addition to draft picks. I'd also like to see a three team trade, but only if you can propose movement between the two CPU teams (which they would both have to agree to).
• Improve free agency. Star players should very rarely accept minimum deals. Though star players do change teams from time to time, it should not happen too often and almost never for less money, especially when they're in their prime.
• Vary the manner in which the CPU drafts players. A team doesn't always take the best player available, as he may not play the position they are weak at. Also, a few more steals and some oddities (6'9" point guards, etc) would be cool too.
• Bring back the dialog box to Confirm or Cancel an accepted trade.
• Improve selection of award winners, especially Player of the Month and Most Improved Player.
• Use secondary position when selecting All NBA teams (eg select KG as a small forward, so that both Duncan and KG can be on the All NBA First Team). Consider this method for selecting All-Star starters as well.
• Training Camp/Player Training should not result in player decline. A little more development in training would be nice.

Roster Management

• Allow trading for an empty roster spot, at least when working with the default rosters.
• Allow the user to disable automatic roster re-ordering.
• Allow selection of different headshapes in Create-a-Player
• Add more hairstyles and facial hair, including some retro ones. Allow colour selection for all styles and beards, and allow the user to match the colour of each.
• Allow editing of headbands and goggles for non-created players from within the game.
• Add Custom Teams, with some generic basketball or NBA themed logos. Allow some basic custom jersey designs.
• Add Create/Edit-a-Coach. Allow the user to replace coaches with created ones.

Gameplay/AI

• Make secondary positions more significant. Have the CPU move a player already on the floor to another position when making a substitution (eg moving Duncan to centre when Malik Rose or Robert Horry enters the game).
• Have CPU teams adjust their lineup so that players are starting at their secondary position if they are a better choice than another player eg if Nesterovic is injured, start Duncan at centre with Rose at power forward rather than starting Kevin Willis at centre.
• Add a few more soft/basic dunks
• Adjust the comeback code so that is not as aggressive or unrealistic. Keep the CPU challenging, but not to the point of being unrealistic (and very frustrating ).
• Don't allow the CPU to catch up quite so easily. Both the human player and the CPU should be able to beat each other with quick players, but don't allow Shaq to easily catch Allen Iverson in the open court.

Odds and Ends

• Bring back the old method of displaying career stats (rows and columns)
• In the database, eliminate the birthtown and nickname dbfs. A text field is so much quicker to edit.
• Have a more realistic sound on dunks
• Fix various little glitches (baskets counting on Offensive Fouls, shooting fouls resulting in no free throws, etc)

That's a longer list than I intended, but those are the things that I'd really like to see. I don't expect that them all to be implemented within the space of a year, and I'm looking forward to NBA Live 2005 regardless. But those are the improvements and additions that I would like to see the most. For me, they are the most pressing issues and my biggest pet peeves with NBA Live 2004, plus a couple of small wishes regarding the game and roster patching.

[c4cpg]

I think more fluid passing is needed. The alley oops and fast break passes look to unreal. The passer stops in the middle of a dead sprint and passes the ball. I think the way the passes in ESPN BAsketball are done really well .You can run the break and lob it off the glass to a trailng teammate for a dunk with the passer stopping and passing or the dunker freezing for a moment and then dunking.

[Andrew]

Good point. I'd also like to see more simple chest passes in the game. The one handed jump pass animation was used a little too often in Live 2004.

[Nel]

I want MID RANGE shooting and better dynasty mode.