LIVE Pro-Am: Hands-On Impressions; Ask Me Questions

[Andrew]

For those who are unaware - and I haven't really been able to mention anything "officially" until now, so unless you follow us on Twitter you might have missed it - I had an opportunity to attend an NBA Live 16 community event back in July. With the announcement of LIVE Pro-Am featuring the Summer Circuit and LIVE Run, I've been given the green light to post some impressions of the mode.

You can check those out here: NBA Live 16 Pro-Am: Hands-On Impressions

I'll also see if I can put together a video for our YouTube channel, for those who would prefer to listen and watch to read. I might also be able to answer some follow-up questions in said video.

Which leads me to...

Questions about Pro-Am

I've also been given the green light to answer questions you may have about Pro-Am, which I'll try to do to the best of my ability. Just a couple of things to keep in mind:

1. Questions about Pro-Am/Summer Circuit/LIVE Run only, for now. That's all I have clearance to discuss at this time, and I'm not going to violate the NDA I signed.
2. To that end, I might have to run a couple of questions by my EA contacts first, if there's likely to be some NDA-related issue.
3. Our world is split up into different timezones (as I well know, after 18 hour flights to Orlando and back!), so I'm not around 24/7. I'll answer questions when I can get to them.
4. Again, I only have clearance to discuss Pro-Am. Everything else will have to wait, but I'll talk about it when I can.

With that said, I hope you enjoy the impressions, and if you do have any questions, I'll be happy to try and provide further insight.

[[Q]]

I enjoyed being able to play online with my friend on the same console in previous versions of Live (Live 08). Will Live 16 allow you to play these modes online and have local players join your team to connect with others? In Live 08 I was able to play with my friend on the same console against others online.

So is the only difference between Summer circuit & Live Run the opponent? (CPU or other humans)

[beegees]

Thanks for the ultimate look onto new modes!

Are there dinamic weathers on outdoor courts? Could make the rain fall or come sunset?

How fast a generic player will be increasing himself rating? I have been just playing 5-6 games in Live 15's My Rising Star mode and ~75 rating is more than comfortable for me, I guess that very shortly after start so many core players this modes will be ~85+ overall.

Kinect 2.0 functionality will be used? How to chat and filter mature lyrics?
Users' music on the background or only EA' rap/hip-hop playlists?

[[Q]]

Oh yeah chat functionality should be enabled so you can communicate with teammates

[Andrew]

I enjoyed being able to play online with my friend on the same console in previous versions of Live (Live 08). Will Live 16 allow you to play these modes online and have local players join your team to connect with others? In Live 08 I was able to play with my friend on the same console against others online.

I'm pretty sure Pro-Am doesn't support local multiplayer, I don't recall seeing that option. I can double-check that, though.

So is the only difference between Summer circuit & Live Run the opponent? (CPU or other humans)

That's the main difference. LIVE Run is basically pick up and play with your friends; there's no set structure like Summer Circuit's challenges and goals, or any unlockables.

Are there dinamic weathers on outdoor courts? Could make the rain fall or come sunset?

Nope.

How fast a generic player will be increasing himself rating? I have been just playing 5-6 games in Live 15's My Rising Star mode and ~75 rating is more than comfortable for me, I guess that very shortly after start so many core players this modes will be ~85+ overall.

I'm not sure if they're going to tweak it, but we worked out that it'd probably take about 40 hours to max out your player at 99 overall. I'd say you'll be able to level up at a fairly reasonable pace, to a point where your player is good enough to at least hold their own in the tougher games.

You'll start out around 74-76 overall, and will definitely need to level up to have success on the later levels. As I said, functioning as a well-oiled machine and playing team basketball is going to get you a fair way, and will be crucial to succeeding, but at a certain point not being talented enough is going to hurt you against the tougher squads the CPU throws at you in Summer Circuit.

Kinect 2.0 functionality will be used? How to chat and filter mature lyrics?
Users' music on the background or only EA' rap/hip-hop playlists?[/quote]

Oh yeah chat functionality should be enabled so you can communicate with teammates

There is chat functionality in the PS4 version, and I assume X1 as well. I didn't use it much, because it's kind of distracting when you're in the same room as everyone else, so you're hearing them in person and then a split second later through the game. We did try it out at the event though, and obviously that won't be an issue when you aren't ten people together in one room in a testing environment.

[[Q]]

Is chat limited to your team only? Just like on the court, the other team should be able to hear what you say

[Andrew]

I'll have to double-check, but I think it's everyone who's joined the game session. I remember hearing chatter from both sides.

As I said, I wasn't using the chat much, because it was a bit distracting and disorientating to hear people talking in the room and through the game a split second later as well.

[itr_k1lo5]

In regards to the online experience, will there be some kind of lobby system where you can get your team of friends together then hit the courts and or just meet on the court with randoms?

[Andrew]

There's a Play With Friends option in LIVE Pro-Am, so you can create a private lobby to squad up with each other.

[itr_k1lo5]

What console did you get to play on with?

Is there truth to (ipodkingcarter)'s youtube video about Live 16 graphically looking better on XB1 than PS4??

[Andrew]

Briefly on X1, but PS4 for most of the event. I wouldn't say one was better than the other myself. PS4 version certainly didn't look bad.

[itr_k1lo5]

Just to confirm, Live Run 5v5 online, are we limited to a particular court or can we choose to play at any of the others available?

[Andrew]

All the same courts as Summer Circuit, but randomly chosen (as far as I could see).

[Andrew]

For those who may have missed it, I offered up some more impressions in this week's episode of the NLSC Podcast: http://www.nba-live.com/nlsc-podcast-episode-125/

[Phreak50]

Q. Do EA realise that players in Australia simply have no hope of taking part in anything online related? (Unless they enjoy pressing shoot and seeing the ball release a second later...)

[Andrew]

That hasn't been my experience with NBA Live 15. I've played some online games against Q and others that ran almost as smoothly as offline games.

[Phreak50]

I have about 10 or 12 PSN friends who played 14 and 15 and we could never get anything other than a laggy mess. Hundreds, if not thousands of Aussie 2K players say the same. Online modes are next to worthless if you aren't in the US.

[[Q]]

Yeah I don't remember having any issues playing against Andrew. Except for the bug where my guy wouldn't inbound the ball and the fact that I lost to him

[Andrew]

I have about 10 or 12 PSN friends who played 14 and 15 and we could never get anything other than a laggy mess. Hundreds, if not thousands of Aussie 2K players say the same. Online modes are next to worthless if you aren't in the US.

I'd believe it, given how far behind we are when it comes to Internet speed. I'm also not sure about the situation with local servers, but I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't have any, which doesn't help matters. Nevertheless, I was personally pleasantly surprised by online play in NBA Live 15; NBA Jam OFE was great, but Live being five on five, I'd expected more lag than I experienced.

What kind of speeds do you usually get on your connection? I'm pretty lucky in that my ADSL2 connection is generally close to the 20 Mbps maximum that can be expected from the copper wire infrastructure. Usually ISPs can only promise at least 6 Mbps on ADSL2, with speeds "up to 20 Mbps" depending on where you are. A lot of people around my way get 8-12, which is why I feel quite lucky to get 18-20 most of the time.

[mp3]

Damm I get 8 on a good day!

20 would be great but to be fair I don't pay that much for my interweb