Report from Vancouver (Updated w/Gameplay Info)

[ThisizaJackMove]

. Another example is the proness to get a foul when a player takes a 3. On the replay, it's clear, the defending player, never hit the shooter. However, the shooter's animation makes it seem like the defender really hit him...and a foul is called.

It happens in real life, hence the "flop"

[Metsis]

Well, Shane... You got the goods...

It actually does seem that they are reading these boards atleast some bits and pieces of them... Many "new" features that the people on these boards have been craving for seem to be in the game... We'll just have to wait and see how many of them.

The off-season calendar thing is straigth from the boards...

Box-scores have been mentioned here...

Obviously you can offer contract length and money separated from each other, also have been an issue on these boards.

Real cash, has been mentioned.

Scouting... Not especially this kind of scouting, but there have been many gripes about the scouting system...

I think all the PC users have griped about the frontend at some point... I just hope that this time the PC higher resolutions will be used on PDA and stuff... Who wants to look at those 640x480 graphics on PC???

--------

On a more personal note... Player happiness is something I would have wanted to see in the game, but maybe it's just too much work to add to all this. But in Shane's report and others there have been some mentions about it etc. Or atleast of the fact that the game is heading in that direction in the future.

Wondering if we can hire our coaches and scouts etc. yet... Probably not, but hey it's worth mentioning.

But it sounds really great... I can't wait.

[DB]

thanks for the post shane.
I was also wondering how the training camp
looked like?

[Incubus]

Great news! I especially like the chance to sign rookies from Asia, Europe, Africa...Can`t wait until the game comes out!

[Wall St. Peon]

In all seriousness though, are you allowed to answer questions? If so...

Of course! I want everyone to ask questions...I'm trying to be thorough to avoid stupid ones, but I'll forget a lot of stuff because I was an idiot and didn't take notes.

Do they actually have a better foul/contact detection system? So if I go up for a layup and here comes Lamar Odom behind me, somehow he can block my layup without a foul?? Also, a lot of times, I go for a layup, and a guy jumps and there's huge contact, my guy changes his shot, it misses, but there's no foul called? If you don't know what I'm talking about...then nevermind

Yeah, the freestyle air is basically that. You know how there are always collisions in the post in real life? Well, they're there, and they're great. Right now they need to be tweaked, as fouls aren't called and it usually results in a turnover, but they said they were tweaking that so it's almost always some sort of foul. I'm talking the full-bore collisions. As for the dunks and fouls, well, I don't think I noticed that at all. I did notice in previous versions...also, if you mean on a fast break, that won't happen anymore unless you're running it with Shaq and the computer has Allen Ierson. The catch-up logic (ie superfast players no matter who) is gone, gone gone! This also means the defense doesn't rotate as fast, so ball movement is possible. The three point thing I haven't noticed, but what I have noticed is that it's almost impossible to hit a three with someone in your face (just like in real life) but the likelihood increases drastically if you're open...and you get open looks by swinging the ball around the horn from corner to corner because the defense doesn't rotate inhumanly fast.

Tell me I'm not dreaming

You're not dreaming. It's there. Oh! This reminds me...there's an all-european team and all-international team that you can play with from the front screen. I didn't look at it, but it's there, and I'm assuming it'll have the best NBA players from all over the world and Europe. I doubt there will be European players who aren't in the NBA, for contractual reasons. But the teams are there, and it's if you want to do Team USA vs Europe to see who wins.

Thanks Shane for the info but who's the coverboy and what new game modes they put in. Do they have create a play just what new things do they have tell us.

No one asked because that's minor. I'm fairly sure it's Carmelo Anthony, as he's the first player to appear at the front end. And the front end is high res, by the look of it. No, there is no create-a-play.

From what I've read, it seems like this year's Dynasty mode is very similar to Madden's, which is

The thing is, it isn't. It's still good, but it's the only thing that has me kind of leary. Oh, I'll play it, as opposed to 2004's horrible dynasty, but it still won't be as good as Madden. It has features that Madden doesn't, however, and it's totally great...but it'll be next year that it'll have the total polish of Madden. But I did play a pre-beta version, so we all have to remember that everything I say will probably be BETTER than what I say. Correcting player ratings alone will change gameplay immensely (and for the better).

Cocobee,

I didn't ask about the PC version. I'm assuming they won't change anything...the guy in charge of the salary and what not was like "I love seeing how you guys crack open the game files and change them and blah blah blah" which is surprising, as most game producers freak out when you break open the code and modify them. Anyway, as t he rookies are available for scouting at the beginning of the year, I'm guessing they probably will be in the DBF file. It also wouldn't surprise me if some of the rookies had the attributes at least of top prospects for next year.

This was a question answering post...I'm going to just edit the first post.

Ask questions, please, I encourage it, but I won't answer it if I already said something about it (and I won't call attention to the fact I said it) and I'll delete PMs and emails, and I won't talk about it on MSN unless you're a close friend. Basically, keep my inboxes clear and only ask questions in the posts. I want to help the community as much as possible, but I want to do it in the community...not in my personal time. Thank you.

[th3answer]

tnx for this news.. but what about freestyle ,mid range shoot and gameplay in general? tnx

[cocobee]

Thanks Shane!

How were the crowds? especially in dynasty mode, in 2004 you could never get a sell out unless during the all star game and playoffs. Did they change or enhance any crowd logic?

What was the best thing about the game "so far" that has stood out in your mind? That you can't wait to try or play or use?

Thanks for the great responses.

[Dave C.]

Hey Mr. Shane big thanks for your reports - i have a couple of quick Q's

Gameplay :
Did you already noticed an improved mid-range game by the CPU ?

Graphics :
I know it's an early version but are the arena looks improved ?
Meaning a more different look from the arenas (lighter , darker looks).
Last year they looked not really different imo.

Misc:
Any news about Custom Team feature ?
Is the Team select like last year or improved like older Live's (Rank in Overall , Shooting , Defense and Offense) ?

Again Thanks Shane !!!

[Sauru]

"You have to have a player invited to the All-Star weekend in order to participate in All-Star weekend. I'll specify: you can only compete in the slam dunk contest if you're Boston and Ricky Davis is invited. You can go to the All-Star Game if Paul Pierce is invited, the rookie game if Marcus Banks is invited, and the three point shootout if...uh, Walter McCarty is invited. Get the idea? If you don't have a player invited, you can't play the All-Star game, rookie challenge, or three point shootout. And it IS the whole weekend."


I kinda expected it to be like this but i had a couple questions.

1. Will we still be shown the results of each compitition that we are not particapateing in?

2. For all star/rookie game do we have to use the team that our player was selected to? if so what if we have both a rookie and sophmore get invited?

3. Does the dunk contest/3 point shoot out go like the real nba in which they only have 6 dunkers and 8 shooters?

4. Can you reject invitations(probably no one will so if you cant not a big deal it just happens alot in nba)?

5. Can you watch a event that you were not invited to? i may not get into a dunk/3 point contest but i probably would want to watch one(specially first couple dynasty years).


Anyway that is all, thanks for all the info so far and thanks in advance for any answers you might have for these questions here.

[dc1314]

Hi Shane so if you can recruit players at the beginning of the year they ask you do you want to export the rosters at the beginning of the year or wat. Did they say they were getting create a play or they new plays. What new game modes are ther shane and if anything what is better or different about create a player. Do they have create a team. Tell us some stuff.

[Wall St. Peon]

Hold your horses on gameplay, guys, I'll get to that as soon as I have more time...it'll be a nice long writeup. Plus I want to make sure the questions for the dynasty mode is done before I move into the other stuff...it's easier for me.

1. Will we still be shown the results of each compitition that we are not particapateing in?

Probably...I didn't think to check, or I didn't have time. Probably a combo of both. :embarassed:

2. For all star/rookie game do we have to use the team that our player was selected to? if so what if we have both a rookie and sophmore get invited?

Great question...and I have no answer. I'm sure the one of the producers will read that question and give you an answer. As far as I could tell (I inadvertedly simmed the all-star weekends for both season in the dynasty I was messing with), you could probably pick which team if you had a rookie and a sophomore invited.

3. Does the dunk contest/3 point shoot out go like the real nba in which they only have 6 dunkers and 8 shooters?

Again, I didn't try it during the actual all-star weekend in the dynasty, but in the mode, it's 4 dunkers and 8 three point shooters. The dunkers is cut down, probably because it doesn't move as fast or something. I really couldn't tell you why they only have 4 dunkers.

4. Can you reject invitations(probably no one will so if you cant not a big deal it just happens alot in nba)?

I doubt it, I didn't see anywhere where I could reject the offers (I was the Raptors, so VC got invited every year to the dunk contest and all-star game). It does seem to differentiate between fan voting and invitations (ie, bench player), though.

5. Can you watch a event that you were not invited to? i may not get into a dunk/3 point contest but i probably would want to watch one(specially first couple dynasty years).

I'm not sure, but probably. The producers told us that it was fun to watch the computer do the dunk contest on superstar mode, as they just whip out crazy stuff.

I'll continue onto gameplay unless anyone has questions about what I've already laid out. Sorry if I can't answer in depth, or if I remember something kinda wrong, but I only played for about 3 1/2 hours total, so it's hard to judge the game completely. However, improvements are easy. I'll be much much more critical when it comes to the gameplay. Lunch time...

[Wall St. Peon]

Hi Shane so if you can recruit players at the beginning of the year they ask you do you want to export the rosters at the beginning of the year or wat. Did they say they were getting create a play or they new plays. What new game modes are ther shane and if anything what is better or different about create a player. Do they have create a team. Tell us some stuff.

If you're referring to draft classes from march madness, not that I know of. But I was playing an incomplete build, so I don't know. No create a play that I could see, the only new game modes are all-star weekend, slam dunk contest, three point shootout.

I'll talk about create-a-player. Basically, they stole the Tiger Woods Golf 2004 create a player. It's great, there's individual options for each facial feature (eyes, nose, mouth, brow, jaw, chin, etc etc) and body feature (probably, didn't get that far). The create a player is very, very good. Create a team? not that I know of. And I've told you plenty of stuff...

[dc1314]

Okay alk about it though and ask them what I am talking about. But we want to have create a team. Ask can have summer league during the offseason duuring franchise and have it where you can have players get picked to the olympics. Ask can they make it where they have create a play and tell them to have more shoes.

[Andre]

Hey Shane, while I wait for your report on gameplay, can you tell us more on international rookies scouting?

- how many players are available for scouting in each area of the world?

- what kind of information is available before you actually send your people to scout them?

Also, if a rookie has the same last name of a NBA player (lets say Williams)...will it be announced by Marv and Fratello as opposed to a generic "number 34"? (that should be easy to implement...and yet adds much more realism....)

Thanks!

[th3answer]

the most problem last year.. AI offensive rebounding is improved??

[PRoPuLsiOnDJ]

Thanks for the info Shane

One question ... are we able to save in game?

[StevenK]

Thanks for doing this, Shane. I have a few questions:

So does every computer team you play against still use a zone D? I HATED that about the last game.

What about the infamous comeback code? Did you sense any of that when you played?

Can you feel the difference in team offenses? I mean, does Dallas's style of play differ from SA's or Detroit's? I've played Live since 2003 and we all know the game doesn't accurately reflect the playing styles of the teams.

[Jackal]

I'll just take the time to say what everyone has said already, thanks for taking the time etc to do this for the community. Ofcourse a thanks to the folks at EA for organising this thing, it rocks.

Anywho, onto a question:

telling you why you're fired, telling you if you've been offered other jobs (your dynasty doesn't end if you're fired, and teams try to hire you away from your current team...in theory, didn't happen to me, but that's what they said).

You said your dynasty doesn't end if you're fired...in the mean while (whilst you don't have a job) what exactly do you get to do? Or am I not understanding it properly?

I mean like in the NBA, say Jerry West is fired from LA (ye ye, just pretend)...will he still be around...and say Memphis hires him 2 weeks later? I hope you're getting what I'm trying to say, if not... I'll try explaining it on MSN, perhaps I can explain it better then.

Oh, second question...there was that thing about creation zone or something? Is that around or was the german EA site off track?

And did you try create a player? Was it any different?

Sorry for so many questions, but answer em!!

[BIG GREEN]

Excellent stuff shane.

[Micchy_boy]

First of all thanks for the great job you have done. it only make us gamelivers to wait for the release of Live 05.

well i have some few questions and i hope you can answer.
1. about trading, can we make a 3 or 4 team trade.
2. also can we trade draft picks, during draft day? ,can we trade future draft picks like (like draft picks for 2007)
3. draft picks can traded anytime not just like live 04 that you can almost or always can trade picks at trade deadline.

about gameplay
1. can we see away from the ball foul??? (imposible i guess lol)

1. about the generated rookies, do they suck like this year,
2. can we see high school players going to the draft?
3. also if i play with them and his name was Shaquille Payton will marv and mike call him payton or like players no. 11.

again thanks again for sharing what you have learned about our favorite game and thanks in advance for the answer for my (many) questions.

again GREAT JOB Mr. Shane and GrEAt JOB EA

[Riot]

this makes me want the game even more!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Wall St. Peon]

This is not a request thread, and I can't ask them to do anything. Please do not spam with wishes and requests; make a separate thread for that. If you have questions about things I already went over, I'll answer those. If you're asking me to tell the development team something, I can't because I am NOT there, and I don't have any way of contacting them. Just because I went there does not mean I have any sort of pull with them, ok? (this is specifically for DC1314 or whatever, and for anyone else who wants to make this a wishlist thread)

Please keep the gameplay questions to a minimum, save them for when I make the long post about gameplay. I am very busy, and this is taking a lot of time in itself. Most of your questions will be answered when I make that post. Patience...it's only been a day since I've been back, and the game doesn't come out for two months. We have plenty of time for debriefing.

Alright, now to answer the legitimate questions about the dynasty mode:

- how many players are available for scouting in each area of the world?

It varied in the two years I played. One year, there was probably 20 from Europe, 10-15 from Asia, Africa, and then a ton from the US's 4 regions. All in all, probably around 75-80 prospects. It was kind of cool, in Africa, there were the freakishly tall players who were just athletes with no real skills, much like the trend has been for African players, and then the European were more all around with more of an emphasis on offense...of course, I'm generalizing from the 2-3 players I scouted from each region. Keep that in mind, I haven't played the game THAT much.

what kind of information is available before you actually send your people to scout them?

Age, heigh, weight, college (I think), if applicable. Um, there's some other basic info as well. Again, I should have taken notes.

One question ... are we able to save in game?

No, but if you don't have time, you can sim the first couple quarters and jump in to finish the game.

You said your dynasty doesn't end if you're fired...in the mean while (whilst you don't have a job) what exactly do you get to do? Or am I not understanding it properly?

I really couldn't tell you what you do, but I'm sure the game automatically offers you a job...it'd be kind of cool if you were unemployed for half a season and came into a shitty team that canned their coach. Like I said, that's what they told me...I never experienced it.

Oh, second question...there was that thing about creation zone or something? Is that around or was the german EA site off track?

I have no idea what you're talking about.

And did you try create a player? Was it any different?

I talked about create a player a few posts up.

1. about trading, can we make a 3 or 4 team trade.
2. also can we trade draft picks, during draft day? ,can we trade future draft picks like (like draft picks for 2007)
3. draft picks can traded anytime not just like live 04 that you can almost or always can trade picks at trade deadline.

To number 1, no, and to the other 2, I don't really know...like I said, trading was one of the things I didn't try. Sorry.

1. about the generated rookies, do they suck like this year,
2. can we see high school players going to the draft?
3. also if i play with them and his name was Shaquille Payton will marv and mike call him payton or like players no. 11.

No, the generated rookies seem much better this year. The high school players can be scouted (I think I scouted a 17 year old, but it might have been 18). There's quite a few 19 year olds in the draft, though, which may be high school or college. As for Marv and Mike calling them the right name, well, I didn't play after I drafted the rooks.

I'll post the gameplay and maybe the slam dunk stuff tonight after I get off work. If you have questions about those, write 'em down, and after I post my impressions, ask them then. Otherwise, keep on the topic at hand: dynasty mode. Thanks.

[Jackal]

Whoops, didn't see that one.

Nevermind the creation zone thingie.

I agree, it would be pretty cool to sim up the part where you're un-employed until you get another job.

Thanks for answering.

[th3answer]

We Want the GamePlay!! gameplay gameplay.. hihihi

[th3answer]

We want the gameplay!! gameplay gameplay!!!!!!!!!!! hihihih