Both Demos Released - Post Impressions Here!

[cellington77]

Nba live 09 demo in the marketplace now

[cro_2pac]

there is nothing on PSN why is already on LIVE AND ON NOT PSN!

[cellington77]

i dont know its on xbox live i already downloaded it and played it

[BodyBump]

its around 690+mb (marketplace).. downloading it right now

[buzzy]

Woot, already?

Ima download this right now!

[cro_2pac]

Cmon PSN put live09 for download. I have us account.

[cam]

no luck on the PSN?

What about in AUS? Any aussie able to DL the demo on XBOX or PSN?

[Andrew]

Thanks for the heads up, downloading it now.

[JaoSming]

So first off, I am loving the new shoot around facilities, great job IMO with that.

I played the 6/8/08 roster game (limited to first half only, 2 minute quarters) and won by 4. My worries are somewhat founded, I had some definite jerkiness in the animations but this game so far is fun to me. I actually had fun with it, shit.

There is a better feeling of explosiveness on offense but my main concern is that the blocking is waaaay too unresponsive. I didn't get one user block and it seemed like I'd press the button, wait a second, then the player attempts the block. So booty to that.

I gotta get to work, but as it shapes up from that demo, this will be at the very least a good replacement for no PC version this year.

[Kbryant8]

Downloading it also right now

[nowitzkihater]

is there a way to get the demo without internet connection on my xbox?

[Andrew]

No, you need to download it from the Xbox Live Marketplace.

[SHAFT23]

my impressions on 3 games played all Celtics vs Lakers

Game looks a lot sharper and better to me. The movements are not stiff like last years live players, but i still don't fully have control of my dribbling moves however the ankle breakers are easy to pull out. Overall much more uptemp than last year.

i had a lot of user blocks and saw some new blocks from behind too on my own players by cpu.
I also saw the ball being blocked without it hitting anyones hand. The nice plays are not yet replayable, cause there is no instant replay available in the demo.

Guys are more explosive and animations are much much better and have a nice variety to them, but collisions and interaction between players in the air is not yet polished and movements are often jerky. Guys make traveling violations all the time, but no calls.

playcalling looks nice but i gotta get used to it. Scoring seemed really easy to me on starter level.

overall a good fun game but not polished yet and i dont think it iwll be untill next year or the year after that. One thing i was dissapointed with is that the shooting is again just a button pusher, while i remember them saying you could time your shots this year. I guess they didn't implement it this year.

[Kbryant8]

The game is pretty good, i like the player movement. Also the gameplay is improved very well, now i just cant run and dunk all the time, defense does his own part.
Also the practice gym is sick, nice to see other teammates shooting around and dunking.
I will buy the game for sure, now i`ll wait for 2K9 demo.

[Andy92_man]

On PSN, do you have to have a US account. If yes, how do I get one??

[cro_2pac]

PSN didnt put the game yet we should expect it soon today. i dont know about the account

[Andrew]

One thing i was dissapointed with is that the shooting is again just a button pusher, while i remember them saying you could time your shots this year. I guess they didn't implement it this year.

That's not the case, they've brought it back this year. If you just tap the button, you'll perform a fake and the release point does vary. You'll notice a second indicator beneath your player when you're shooting around in the Academy; when you start a shot, it begins to light up red and goes green at the optimum release point. The game does seem quite generous in its good release/poor release system though in 5 on 5 play it's not quite as easy going and Starter is really too easy for an experienced Live player, so I'd say that contributes to it as well.

I'll post some more impressions later today but so far I'm seeing the good things that I saw back in June. Still getting used to that first step with the turbo button though.

[SHAFT23]

i 've played on superstar again so far these are some additional impressions:

Andrew it's true they have the indicator, but in 5 on 5 like you said your release is always the same regardles o how you press the button. I meant to say that a quick release doesn;t result in a quick release animation....long hold of the button doesn't trigger a lae release by the player. Superstar seemed a bit harder for the jumpers , though.

Inside play is still really easy on superstar mode. You can drive and score at will with some players. I've gotten used to some plays and running them and they seem nice.

Animations are really choppy and jerky and they skip certain movements......you will see a lot of traveling going on.

The bumpanimations are nice but they are not polished , you always knock guys back somehow which looks really stupid in replays. A lot of bumpshots tend to go in.

i really like some blocking in the game, they put in a lot of those and rebounding animtations int here. Boxing out does not work for me somehow.

[SHAFT23]

i just recorded a demo game on my phone camera and will upload it to dailymotion for some guys who want to see what happened. And how the gameplay is on the demo.

it's CPU vs CPU so it may not be representative on how it is when you play it yourself, but it's better than nothing.

[cro_2pac]

nothing on PSN yet!!!!!!!!!

[SHAFT23]

http://www.dailymotion.com/shaft23/vide ... videogames

[fjccommish]

One thing to consider with offense vs. defense is vision. A big part of the greatness of a guy like Jason Kidd, Magic Johnson, is their vision, their ability to see the floor and all the players. When you play NBA Live, at least from the vision standpoint, every player you control is Magic Johnson.

How many points do you think a real NBA team full of Magic Johnson vision guys would score in a game?

EA might try a 1st person view, especially for the mode where you play as one guy. Or EA could come up with some other way to simulate vision for each player. It would likely not be possible when two players play on the same screen.

[ThaLiveKing]

I checked this morning, I don't have a GOLD Account, so I have to wait. Thanks SHAFT For the Video. I'm gonna post HQ Ones for the peoples when I play the game. I see some of the jerkyness in the animations, hopefully I can iron them out when I tweak up the game. I love how it plays tho. A LOT BETTER THAN LAST YEAR from what I'm Seein'

[Pdub]

Tony Parker's face on the loading screen is scary. The videos on the wall screen are a nice touch, and they show you what kind of results you can get with the replay editor. It's unfortunate that Instant Replay wasn't available to try out in the demo. I like that once the buzzer sounds after the first half you can just pause the game and choose rematch and start it all over.

I already hate the freethrows. I am getting lag between the release of the button and the actual stopping of the meter. This is the same lag I have noticed in NBA Live 08 in general controller response. I notice it in 09, also.

Overall it's definitely more fun than 08. I'm loving the animations around the rim.

I'm not sure about this lockdown defense, though. I didn't seem to have any control over it. Sometimes my player would just stick to his man, and other times he would get up on him and try to lockdown. I tried pressing the left analog in several directions trying to get him to back off, or even close out, but it just seemed to happen on it's own.

[NJNETSFANFORLIFE]

Tony Parker's face on the loading screen is scary.

Lol, most defnitely, I love the rewind feature its pretty cool, like i wish
there was a "madden moments" type of mode on here just like madden 09.

[ThaLiveKing]

Can someone tell me, if you can play player Vs player or is it just 1 player

[Pdub]

I just loaded up the game with two controllers and player one is Paul Pierce, player two is KG. The camera angle is at an angle, but player one controls what court it is pointed towards, so player two can go off screen.

The direct answer to your question is yes, you can play a two player game, either ont he same team or versus each other.

I can record good quality videos from the demo. Would anyone who can't download the demo like to see anything specific about the gameplay?

[ThaLiveKing]

If you want you can post some of the academy. I'm interested to see what's up with that

[Toaster]

I would like to see a game where you deliberatly try to play "ugly" and dominate with a less skilled big-man like perkins in the paint.

To see if at last there is a possibility for a LIVE version where it is rewarding to play bball and not slam-fest.


thanks in advance

[hawkfan2311]

Crap........i cant wait to get home from work now!! I was expecting this demo in 2 weeks, and now its here. I am still playing a lot of Live 08!! I know its not perfect, but its just a lot of fun to me......really looking forward to OTP this year and joining a club. I just download NHL 09 and played that a few times last night........now its NBA Live 09 time! Look forward to reading more impressions as i sit here at work........staring at the clock.

[Apollo_33]

I was very impressed by the demo.
NBA Academy is great. We can go from one court to another. We see our teammates (KG, Allen...) playing around, shootings dunking.

The gameplay doesn't feel jerky no more. No more high-elevating dunks. The animations are great. I liked the new ball physics, they don't feel unrealistic anymore.

I'll buy both NBA Live 09 and 2k9

[SHAFT23]

i didnt have any lag with the free throws at all........you need to time your blocks rigth and the jumping cause you can't go straight up from running, you gotta be in position.

it is possible to dominate with perkins but he will do retarded stuff if you try too hard.

with KG you can outplay anyone ....he can dribble and does not miss near the rim or from paint area.

paul pierce has made all of his bump/ugly /double clutch shots so far.

[Toaster]

oh deary me, might just have to cave in and resort to importing a 360 (prices here are ridicolous)..... sigh

[eastsidaz]

anything about the ps3 demo somebody????

[ThaLiveKing]

I just think it's funny how EA releases a demo and doesn't tell anybody lol

[SHAFT23]

they wanted to be ahead of 2k9 hahahahaha last year they did the same thing.

2k9 doesnt promote the game like live does, they spend all their cash to make the game better.

last year 2k8 demo came out a couple of days after live did. this year it will be the same probably.

[eastsidaz]

i guess ill have to wait to tomorrow and see what's up

[Tyler]

AHHHH....
I want to play demo.
But my 360 is in toronto being fixed.

[Elbeen]

Well, I never played NBA Live 08 before so I can't compare the two.

After playing a few games, I could say the game plays smoothly however I do feel sometimes that I don't have full control of my player like I did with NBA 2K8.

I'll wait for the 2k9 demo and I'll decide from there what to get.

[Andrew]

Andrew it's true they have the indicator, but in 5 on 5 like you said your release is always the same regardles o how you press the button.

You mean the shooting form? It doesn't vary but it's like that by design, to preserve signature shooting styles. The shot's likelihood of going in and the ball's trajectory on the other hand do vary.

I've posted my full impressions here if anyone's interested. Pastapadre is also going to be posting a Community Day/Demo comparison at some point.

[ps3owner]

xbox got a first crack on the demo

[Ryan]

Well it is actually pretty fun. I played about 10 game so far and no real big gripes. I still gotta wait to check out 2k9 before I choose one, but it's gonna be a lot tougher or choice now with everything Live has implemented in 09.

[ps3owner]

do you guys have any idea when the demo version for the ps3 would be released?

[Cool2Fool]

cmon playstation!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cro_2pac]

nothing on PSN yet!!!!!!!!

[wjoeyu]

pdub, can you post some quickstrike and signature moves with kobe and garnett? that be cool to see thanks.

[ericem]

PSN demo might be released next thursday as it wasn't included in the weekly PSN updates. too bad, i wanna try live to see if it even comes close to 2k.

[Andrew]

Quite likely, the second week of September was the original projected release after all.

[Clue?]

Shame he never used the pick and roll control that whole demo or even activate the hot spots button(Pastapadre)

[POLISH_BOY]

http://www.xboxzone.sk/Forums/viewtopic/t=5482/highlight=nba+demo.html

Here are the links for NBA Live 09 Demo... Unfortunately it's on Rapidshare. You have to unpack this and burn it on CD/DVD disc.