NBA 2k One Step Away from Greatness - ACarr's Blog

ACarr's Blog

NBA 2k One Step Away from Greatness

Posted on May 12, 2011 at 12:58 PM.

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NBA 2k11 was arguably the best basketball title ever made. NBA 2k11 has the best simulation gameplay, a deep association (franchise) mode, my player mode, and of course the greatest basketball to ever live is on the cover. It is one of the few sports games where it very hard to find huge flaws in the game. With all those positives there is still one feature that all gamers in this generation demand to be great. That feature is great online play.
NBA 2k has struggled with online play since its inception and still struggles with it today. Here are some suggestions that would make NBA2k's online experience better.

Better Servers- NBA 2k still has yet to get the fundamental backbone of online gaming down. The servers are often inconsistent and it sometimes takes gamers 20 minutes or more to find a game. When someone gets into a game it runs smooth until you guessed it; a network problem has occurred taking both players back to the main menu. If 2k can fix its servers, gamers will be more willing to hop online and compete against one another, thus giving the game more longevity.

Hacking of Myplayers for Crew Games- Online crew is one of the best features in all of sports gaming. The problem is when a user spends hours to get his guy to a 99 overall, just to get crushed by a team of hacked players that can almost jump over the backboard. People hacking my player turns people away that try to run a crew with (real) created players. If 2k could get rid of the hackers, then more people will enjoy the mode to its fullest.

Online Association- With NCAA Football and Madden having online dynasty and online franchise, 2k must answer the bell and create online association. Offline association is great, make it online and it would be absolutely ****. NBA2k gamers would love to try out their inner Danny Ainge skills against others to try and build the best team possible.

NBA 2k11 is so fundamentally sound as game that 2k can afford to focus most of its attention to online gameplay. It is the missing piece to the puzzle for the series. Fixing and improving its online would make the best basketball game ever created, turn into the greatest sports game ever.

Comments

# 1 RUFFNREADY @ May 12

Great blog, and nice insight on what 2K should do; but i wont say they are the best yet; lets fix up alot of the gameplay (offline/online), sliders, and bugs in the game first and then give them the title "King of the Hill". 2k12 is going to very interesting as they raised the bar so high. Good luck.
cheers

# 2 ACarr @ May 13

In terms of gameplay it's arguably the best basketball game ever. When you look at the game yes it has bugs just like every game but they are not a problem that hurts gameplay. With the way 2k has kept improving its gameplay year after year there is no doubt it will continue to get better. For the game to be legendary I think improving and adding the features mentioned in the blog would take this game to a unprecedented level.

# 3 DGMikeBarker @ May 13

Great post. Here's my "Must Haves" for NBA 2k12

1). Online - As for online, my problem isn't getting into a game or staying in a game. My problem with online play is the responsiveness. I would really like it if I could play the same way online as I do offline. I have to change my release and my overall game timing when I play online. Just wish the responsiveness was like a FPS.

2). My Player - They have to keep building on My Player. The mode is fun but they have to expand on the longevity of it. Adding contracts, agents, more endorsements, and more RPS elements like they did with press conferences (maybe cribs and a highlight show).

3). Franchise - Just need to add a weekly or monthly highlight show similar to College Hoops 2k8.

4). Accessories - Need more accessories. More shoes from not just the Jordan brand, but please keep all those Jordan's in the game. Give us more customization with shoe colors (customize every part of the shoe color wise). More hairstyles. And please have the socks go over the calf sleeves, or at least keep player's socks when we select calf sleeves. Also CAP models have to change. Would like to have one similar to Madden's CAP where you edit different part of the body. There's more than 3 player models in the NBA. And just because you're 200lbs doesn't mean you're huge.

# 4 ACarr @ May 13

@DGMikeBarker-That is a very great point about the responsiveness. I think this plagues almost all sports games unfortunately. MLB the Show and MLB 2k have also had huge responsiveness problems as well. I completely agree especially for NBA 2k because there is no online practice mode online. You do not even know if you have the players shot timing right because timings are different online then they are offline.