He's Back Again - Oren Nathan's Blog

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Oren Nathan's Blog

He's Back Again Stuck

Posted on August 11, 2011 at 07:08 AM.

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He�s back, again, and this time he brought friends.

Yes, Michael Jordan (alongside Larry Bird and Magic Johnson) will grace the cover of NBA 2K12, and yes, there is a new NBA's Greatest mode to tie into the legends of the NBA.

But before the most recent announcement about NBA's Greatest, many were probably wondering what was left for 2K and Michael to do. We�ve seen The Jordan Challenge, we�ve seen the transformations of style, we�ve seen the Bulls in all their glory, and we�ve also seen Jordan vs. LeBron, so what was left?

Well, now we have a general idea. Nevertheless, even if this new mode had not been created, it still would have been paramount to get Jordan back into the game. On a very simplistic level, we need Jordan in the game. It's almost like he owes a lot of gamers. Last year's version brought back MJ after a long hiatus from being in NBA video games, and it was actually the first time we�ve seen an actual matchup between the classic teams from the past. While some of you might jump and say, we already had these back in the '90s in various NBA titles, I can say that most games didn�t feature Jordan. You couldn�t play with the Bulls in their prime unless you wanted to play with generic player number 24 or something like that. It wasn't the same. And even if he was in that game, Jordan deserves to be found in a franchise like NBA 2K; he deserves to be seen in all his HD glory; and we deserve the opportunity to play like the true Michael Jordan for more than one year.

Quite frankly, those classic matchups between the Bulls and other great teams from the '80s and '90s, all with the excellent 2K engine backing them, went beyond my wildest expectations, and I do want to see more. Last year, we didn�t get to see Hakeem, Reggie Miller, and most importantly, Charles Barkley being featured in the game -- who didn't love the Suns versus Bulls Finals? I don�t know if we�re going to see Sir Charles in 2K12 (my gut feeling is that we won�t see him), but with Magic and Larry having larger roles, along with a host of other legends, we know we're going to see some Celtics versus Lakers action at the bare minimum.

Marketing wise, this whole sequence of events has been unquestionably smart. I do agree with TD, a writer here at OS, who wrote that Jordan didn�t contribute much to the commercials/brand, and that a player like Blake Griffin could do more appearances and promotions. But there is a big reason I wouldn�t want any current player featured on the cover of NBA 2K12, and that�s the NBA lockout. The current lockout, which looks to be much more dramatic than the one we lived through in 1999, could mean that we won�t see any professional basketball being played in the US next year. Unlike the NFL, basketball players do have an option to go overseas. Can you just imagine a situation where Griffin is playing for Barcelona during the launch of NBA 2K12?

In conclusion, I�m not saying that Jordan and these other legends should be on the cover from now on, but I�m definitely saying that associating Jordan with NBA 2K isn�t a bad thing, it�s a good thing. I do think 2K12 can top 2K11, and that�s the challenge for the developers. Jordan knew how to step up his game each and every season, let�s hope the folks working on NBA 2K can do the same.

Oren Nathan.

Comments

# 1 DoubleJMix965 @ Aug 11

2k11 brought back many great memories of playing Tecmo NBA Basketball on my NES during the Bulls run in the early 90's. I sure would love to see Barkley in the game for that **** matchup as well. Great article! Here's to hoping that 2k12 ups the ante for basketball gaming!

# 2 BigBlue @ Aug 11

We desperately need the ability to play with these old-school classic teams online in ranked and unranked games. This is the one feature that has not yet been announced.

BigBlue

# 3 Rauchgmax2 @ Aug 11

Adding Jordan in 2K11 was really what longtime NBA video gamer's like myself had been waiting for. I'm almost 40 and have been playing NBA games for over 20 years. I must say that 2K11 was easily the best ever as with the HD quality we had the legendary teams and players with authentic arena floors and uniforms. Everyone seems to agree we NEED to have Sir Charles Barkley included (hopefully with the '93 Suns who were arguably the most entertaining Bulls finals opponent). There is a long list of other hopefuls ('94/95 Rockets, '94 or '99 Pacers, '95 Magic and '99 Spurs to name a very few must have teams). It would be great to have the entire rosters as opposed to just the starting 5s so we can play online (which you cannot do with created players). Adding to the wish list would be a custom season/playoffs/all-time championship so we can use any era teams we want (imagine that playoff bracket). Hopefully this format would spill over to NFL, NHL & MLB video game franchises as well. I do not see this a taking away from current teams and players. Sports fans will always watch today's teams as well. Great article (love the Jordan and Barley photo!)