Harsh words. NBA 2K11 isn't perfect by any means, but it is, along with MLB the Show, one of the top 2 sports games to date. When you look how flawed Madden is, how thin the Dynasty Mode in NHL 11 is & how so many games change so little year on year, 2K deserve to be applauded for the efforts on 2K11.
At the end of the day there comes a point where a developer as to say, okay we're satisfied with what we've done here, it's now time to work on next years game.
Imagine the uproar if NBA 2K12 was released as an half arsed update. Do you think the community would say, that's okay, 2K spent so much time tweaking 2K11 we're not bothered that 2K12 isn't all that. Of course not.
With so many improvements made from 2K10 to 2K11 those guys at 2K have given themselves one hell of a mountain to climb to satisfy the gamer for next years iteration.
Enjoy NBA 2K11 for all the things it does right. Games of this quality are all too rare.

highly disappointed by this news but Dazraz makes valid points and i am a loyal consumer of the 2k series no matter what

Dazraz is right on point with his reply.

Yeah the "bad business" practice would actually be to keep tweaking a game that's been out for a while and has probably sold as much as it's going to when you could be bettering next year's game and ensuring that it sells well at launch (when the majority of game sales happen).

Daraz told you and he's right nba 2k11 is the best nba game to date and as seeing it through the developers eye's why would you continue to work on the game when you have next yr. game to start on a yearly cycle is a lot shorter than you think for developers

Yeah the "yearly" development cycle is really more like 8 - 9 months.

@Dazraz
I see your points on the other titles and their lack of... But i really wanted to focus on 2K. They did a great job with the game presentation and gameplay this year; why send out a patch in the first place? telling everybody about the things they fixed which were limited. I am not looking at what they are going to do with 2K12; because they already have their vision on that. I am cheesed off that they sent out one patch; and left it like that. Why wouldn't they just tell us the customers, that they will only release one patch and end the project. At least at this point we (gamers) could vote on what we really needed fixing from a list; and if they wanted to surprise us and have additional patches. The bottom line is, if there are too many fixes, how GREAT is this game really? Hey, i do like where (2K) is headed, but i have played 2K8 until now, and i see alot of the same issues from all the games, and i am not even a game tester! yes; they have produced a rare game this year; but bars are set to be reached and broken. Just because M.J has graced the cover does not mean that this is the be-all-end-all for b-ball games. So i would like to see if most 2K11 fans are going to be keeping their copy of this years version and purchasing the 2K12 product, since this one is so rare? i just feel we should be getting a little bit more; for purchasing the only b-ball game on the market. What other basketball choice do we have...? There is no need for patches to be rolling out in mid-Feb, and March; but there should have been something at least early Jan.2011; i am sorry, but it doesn't take a whole dev-team to fix some/few bugs!
@DaggerSwagger -I know 2K11 wasn't just created from scratch over night; this was a yearly process; and 2K12 will be under the same restrains as other titles; unless they have confirmed that they are installing a brand new gaming engine! Most stuff will be added just like before, to achieve the 2K11 status GOTY. Remember, they threw alot of stuff into 2K11, and not all of it worked properly now or even at first. Seriously, what other competition do they have to fight against? They could have tweaked at least one more patch for gameplay.

cheers

I love basketball, played it my entire life at every level exept the nba and I so wanted NBA 2k11 to be the great basketball sim everyone touts it to be, but honestly it is the most over rated sports game and one of the most over rated games I have ever played. The player IQ is dumb, they stand around, crowd your space, big men like bynum go stand on the 3 point line, don't move to create space when you penenetrate, run to the corners of the court on a fast break instead of creating lanes for layups. The passing is still rediculous, they still have canned animations for most everything, still no 1-1 ball handeling. Yeah the game looks cool, but come on people, greatest sports game of all time, that makes me want to vomit. The pick and roll isn't even half as good as the super slick version in nba live 10, which I think if i played I would probably perfer it. At least with all of that games flaws after you get the game down it feels like you are controlling the game which I can rarely say for 2k11. I am not whining because I suck at the game either cause I am pretty good but the more time I invest the more frustrated I get with the game. I am sticking to the fight night series and gran turismo where game play is tight. Peace

I'M SORRY BQ32 OUT OF EVERYTHING U SAID U LEFT OUT ALL THE GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE GAME. I DO THINK NBA 2K11 IS THE BASKETBALL GAME EVER MADE. AND REALLY THE WAY YOU TALKING IT SOUNDS LIKE U DONT KNOW HOW TO PLAY THE GAME AND IF YOU CHOOSED TO PROVE ME WRONG MY GAMERTAG IS SALVAGETRAPP

Easily the best basketball game I've played. The more I play it the more I like it. Of course, I have a wife and 2 kids so I play maybe 3 or 4 games a week if I'm lucky so I don't have the run time that some of you do.

Most folks don't understand how sophisticated this game is. I don't take lightly that 2K said they're done making changes as they don't want to break something else. So they are saying they'll 'leave well enough alone' as opposed to jeopardizing the whole gaming experience.

2K knows very well whether their game can withstand more changes. 2K also knows, if they release an update and it doesn't work, they are toast. 2K would be forced to have an update to fix an update. So they've packed it up and said all worthwhile updates need to be in the next version, 2K 12. So be it.... I'm satisfied.

Overall to me this game is great!!!

I can remember when you decided if you wanted a game and then you bought it. If you ended up loving it, liking it or just plain hating it, it was what it was and you moved on. I still approach my purchases the same way today. I think it's pretty ridiculous for us to think game developers are supposed to follow us around like a pet owner with a pooper scooper. Just because the technology is there does not mean that we should EXPECT constant patches or minute by minute roster tweaks. Anything like that is icing to me. My suggestion for those who can accept nothing less than absolute perfection in their games is to stop making day one purchases. Keep reading the forums and scouring the internet until you get the all clear that every complaint has been addressed and solved and then buy the game. If the all clear never comes, just don't make the purchase. This probably means you'll never buy another video game but it sounds like a lot of you have lost your love for video games anyway. You love minutia. You look at a glazed donut and can only see the hole in the center. The other update already made the game less playable for the general public. Further updates to address things that are really non-issues to people who actually play the game just to have fun would have only run the game into the ground.

It's not the best NBA 2k game to date.

That would be 2k8.

Every year the game has actually gotten worse. 2k9 was the previous low point and this version is worse than 2k9. The online portion of this game doesn't work. Just like the show one year did not work online.

Even though online didn't work and the box said it had an online version none of you complained that the online version didn't work.
You were just so happy to play a playable baseball game you overlooked that the online part of the game was a a complete failure.

The game got a 9 ranking on this site and a major part of the game didn't work. How can a game get a 9 when an advertised feature doesn't work.

Here is a portion of that review.

"Online

If playing by yourself bores you, there's a robust online feature set with The Show. Online leagues - oddly enough you need to have a name for two weeks to be the commissioner of one, so leagues are on hold for now, SportsConnect Online User Tracking (Think of it as a match-making feature), user-shared sliders, up-to-date rosters and in-game MLB box scores are all at the top of the list, but unfortunately the lag issues seen in '07 are still somewhat prevalent in '08.

Sometimes you'll be able to get through a game without any problems but other times the game will stutter to a standstill and freeze. The smallest thing like having pitchers warm-up might slow the game down and it makes hitting and pitching nearly impossible. If you're lucky enough to find an opponent with a good connection the game is quite smooth and a blast to play, but it's really hit or miss at this point. Last year SCE Studios San Diego had to issue a patch to fix the online portion of the game and if things don't improve there might be a need for another one this year.

Final Thoughts

So in the end, MLB 08: The Show is a great sports title that suffers from some small bugs that annoy but are easily over-looked when you take in the awesome graphics and gameplay."

Overlook. I guess that's what's happening now.

There are two types of people in this world. Some will go to a restaurant that's supposed to be the best in the city and receive slop for food and say it's the greatest food in the world when it's slop.

Then there are those who really know great food and wonder what is all the hub bub about because the place is serving slop.

2k served slop this year people and they will continue to because most of you loved it.

There is a reason the poster of this post continues to play 2k8.

He knows a great basketball game when he sees it plays it.

It was the last game 2k released with out a bunch of bugs and things that just don't work.