What Needs to Stay in NBA Live 11

Feature Article

Submitted on: 04/23/2010 by Dustin Toms

After looking through NBA 2K10 and writing about what needs to stay, NBA Live 10 is next on the list.

1. Dynamic Season

For all those franchise lovers out there, the Dynamic Season feature gave a whole new meaning to the word realistic. Sure, it is fun simply taking control of your team, making trades and signing veterans, but when you get to play exactly like your team did during an entire 82-game schedule it gets me all giddy inside. Let’s hope this feature is back next year -- this time without all those pesky rotation issues.

2. Play Calling

Every year the majority of hoops fans seem to prefer the 2K series over Live. But, you also always hear comments like “why can’t 2K use Live’s play-calling system?” This year Live stepped it up big time and came out with a solid game, but even before Live 10 was released, the past few games still had a decent play-calling system.

3. Jersey Selection

If you have read some of my articles in the past, then you should know by now how much it kills me to see the Thunder playing so well. I will admit that the only reason I originally wanted to even play Live was so I could use the Seattle SuperSonics jerseys. I kid you not, the Sonics jerseys made this game 10 times more enjoyable in my household. In addition, having multiple jerseys for each team was a great move by Live. Certain other basketball games get knocked for having clothing/accessory problems, but Live really did a great job by having so many jerseys in the game.

4. Controls

I felt the controls in this game were superb. Having the ability to choose how you want to shoot, dribble and pass really made this game turn into something I thought it would not be. The more you practice in the game, the better it really becomes. Once you have all the moves down, the game feels near flawless at times.

5. A Solid Product

Everyone has to admit one thing: NBA Live 10 stepped up its game this year. A lot of people believe this was at least in part due to Mike Wang getting them to the top, and I am one of those people. With Wang returning to NBA 2K for NBA 2K11, Live 11 all of a sudden has a huge void to fill. I am sure the developers can fill it, but there is also still a chance they will revert back to their old ways. Regardless, they need to stick with what they have right now and not revamp the game or change it into something it should not be.

What do you think needs to stay in NBA Live 11?

Member Comments

# 1 carnalnirvana @ 04/23/10 07:36 PM

honestly we dont have anything to loose...

everything here needs to get deeper.

parts of the dna experiment needs to go such as dna shooting and dna teddencies....player dna can stay

IMO dna tendencies leads the game to feel scripted way too much ex dirk has a 54% shoot with no dribble so when he gets it he's jacking, no jab step, no pump fake nothing even if a double comes he's shooting. if you jab steped a guy then shoot its still a no dribble jumper, even sizing up the court or something not just catch and pull with 18 sec on the clock

replace it with player tendencies, ok dirk likes to shoot off the pick and roll thats dna now how does the player like to shoot: a fadeaway, hook shot, leaner, runner etc

dynamic season should be changed IMO to a dynamic match up. i would rather team and player stats vs each other, maybe get the guys to talk about that during the game like mlb 2k10, this way because stats change the commentary will vary a bit

# 2 TreyIM2 @ 04/23/10 08:11 PM

I can agree that all those need to stay, especially control, playcalling and dynamic season. If anything, they should continue to fix what's there and not necessarily add anything new. I had created a whole list of fixes/improvements/additions/whathaveyous and posted it on their site that they had up for such things.

# 3 TreyIM2 @ 04/23/10 08:17 PM

Oh, and truth be told, I don't think they need Mike Wang, anymore. He gave them a jumpstart and now it's time for EA to drive the car. I was initially upset as anyone who supported Live 10 and loved what Mike Wang contributed to a much better playing game but now that THAT emotion is over, I am confident that EA wants to do the right thing with this franchise regardless of what MW said in his posting about EA after he left.
I see what they are doing with ALL their sports franchises WITHOUT even having Mike Wang having even touched them from Madden to the new NCAA 11 to NHL to Fifa. He's not exactly a savior like many of us gave him so much cred for being and it's not like they can't get their sports games together without him.

Live 11 WON'T drop the ball and I expect it to get even more competitive.

# 4 sportyguyfl31 @ 04/23/10 08:34 PM

Everything is there. They just need to flesh it out more, and give it all a little flavor.

The game lacks personality. thats all that is really missing.

# 5 blues rocker @ 04/23/10 08:42 PM

the player control in Live 10 was masterful and that aspect of the game should remain untouched. the shooting control and dribbling control were superb and player locomotion was exceptional and way ahead of 2k. I also loved the addition of direct pass receiver control. That feature alone has added so much to the game for me and I don't think I would play a basketball game again that didn't offer direct pass receiver control. They need to keep the things that work and build on them, rather than revamping the entire game and making it worse. As of now, player control and direct pass receiver control are the 2 things that made Live the best basketball game of 2010.

# 6 lgxjames @ 04/23/10 09:13 PM

thought i heard they were goin in a different direction with this game>>>???

# 7 sroz39 @ 04/23/10 09:52 PM

What needed to stay in NBA Live 11 has already gone back to 2K, Mike Wang. I'm sorry, but you can't take anything away from the guy. Before he got there, the game was average at best, bordering on terrible at times. He's there for ONE full dev cycle, NBA Live 10, and the game almost supplanted the 2K series. With him gone, these lists don't matter for Live. They've lost before the game has even started.

# 8 GaryT531 @ 04/23/10 10:17 PM

I'll tell you what doesn't need to stay, and that's the CAP system. That needs a major overhaul. Being able to create more than 50 players needs to go too. You should be able to create at least 100 cap's

# 9 carnalnirvana @ 04/24/10 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jkgrindz


	I agree with that list. The main thing that Live needs to improve is animations. There aren't enough animations in Live. 2K kills Live in the amount of smooth animations which is what gives 2K the edge over Live. If Live can build on last year & add hundreds of more animations then Live would be worthy competition.

i keep hearing this statement, IMO its completely false this game is not lacking THAT BAD in the animations department.

what this game needs is A DIFFERENCE IN ANIMATION SPPED. thats what the competition does so well a guy like chri paul dribbles and moves smoother than a guy like fisher. but they have the same 6 options such as in & out, double cross, hes cross, behind the back etc just that the animations is slower and less effective.

live can do this if players are rated differentely which they are not out the box. when you look closely jason kidd is the exact clone of jameer nelson with a different shot that is just stupidity. shaq and dampeir, d howard and K perkins it goes on and on, its BAD....

# 10 sportyguyfl31 @ 04/24/10 09:30 AM

The whole Mike Wang thing is really overblown.

The things that were in NBA Live 09: Dynamic DNA, DNA %'s, DNA hot/cold zones, signature fadeaways, and step backs, quick strike dribbling..were implemented before Mike Wang and some of them were actually removed or neutered in '10 (DNA hot/cold/zones, signature post moves).

IMO Dynamic DNA absolutely has to stay. It's the main thing that makes it different from the other game.

It makes playing vs another user really fun and strategic. I absolutely love when I see someone taking off the dribble mid range shots with Lebron.

The DNA shooting %'s arent the problem, but the DNA TENDENCIES need a tweak, big time.

They are simply too high across the board, and it causes isssues when playing the CPU.

You'll see DJ Mbenga take a18 foot jump shot, because he has a DNA Tendency to shoot a mid range shot..and the game says "okay, the tendency says he needs to hoist up a J, right now...situation be damned"

# 11 rockchisler @ 04/24/10 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sroz39


	What needed to stay in NBA Live 11 has already gone back to 2K, Mike Wang. I'm sorry, but you can't take anything away from the guy. Before he got there, the game was average at best, bordering on terrible at times. He's there for ONE full dev cycle, NBA Live 10, and the game almost supplanted the 2K series. With him gone, these lists don't matter for Live. They've lost before the game has even started.

No dude, you made that up, Mike Wang was Huge for Nba Live 10 being back on track No Doubt, but with the foundation laid they can move forward, Perfect example Dave Jaffe moved on after God of War 1, people were concerned then, Cory Balrog replaces him for God of war 2, That game was better then 1, He leaves and They move Stig Asmussen to lead developer, people were worried again, Well God of War 3 is just easily Top 3 Game of All time...

# 12 dexvex @ 04/24/10 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carnalnirvava


	i keep hearing this statement, IMO its completely false this game is not lacking THAT BAD in the animations department. what this game needs is A DIFFERENCE IN ANIMATION SPPED. thats what the competition does so well a guy like chri paul dribbles and moves smoother than a guy like fisher. but they have the same 6 options such as in & out, double cross, hes cross, behind the back etc just that the animations is slower and less effective. live can do this if players are rated differentely which they are not out the box. when you look closely jason kidd is the exact clone of jameer nelson with a different shot that is just stupidity. shaq and dampeir, d howard and K perkins it goes on and on, its BAD....

While I agree with the speed part the thing about animations are spot on. The animations are not deep at all in live. I mean just looking at the highlight thread you can see that there are alot of the same animations where as in the 2k thread there is much more variety. I think the depth of just about everything is a major advantage of 2k and it is not something correctable in one dev cycle so I would love to see live close the gap some this year.

# 13 23 @ 04/24/10 03:05 PM

@ rock, its not a foundation if they've decided to go in a new direction

The DNA is still messed up, and I wouldn't call it groundbreaking since it clashes with the ratings system

Animations, Im sorry but everything from movement, to basic fundamentals like blocking, head tracking, and rebounding are screwed up.

Not only that but the lack of animations either makes the game do dumb stuff on the court or just makes it stale.

For 2 years in a row now with DNA the animations have been severely lacking, no real variety in the sig stuff... you guys arent being honest.

Animations dont follow through so they're all stiff, and alot of times it still seems like frames are missing in between transistions.

Doesn't matter what needs to stay in which is funny that the list is so short, but this game needs some major work.

# 14 rockchisler @ 04/24/10 03:08 PM

Yeah you right 23, I keep hearing new direction from departed members of Live Staff, but current staff seem to be saying something different, we will find out soon enough.

# 15 23 @ 04/24/10 03:18 PM

It has nothing to do with old staff members, thats been the history of this series all of this gen

# 16 sroz39 @ 04/24/10 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockchisler


	No dude, you made that up, Mike Wang was Huge for Nba Live 10 being back on track No Doubt, but with the foundation laid they can move forward, Perfect example Dave Jaffe moved on after God of War 1, people were concerned then, Cory Balrog replaces him for God of war 2, That game was better then 1, He leaves and They move Stig Asmussen to lead developer, people were worried again, Well God of War 3 is just easily Top 3 Game of All time...

I get what you're saying but the God of War games weren't going to fundamentally change with new lead developers. If the higher-ups at EA hadn't decided on a new direction for the series, Mike Wang would never have left. His absence and quick resignation lead me to believe this new direction has very little to do with sim-style ball. Of course it's all speculation on my part but it's no more speculative than anyone saying that the game will still be sim.

Fact is, Mike Wang leading that development team led to the best NBA Live game since Live 2005. Him leaving because of a new vision for the game that he wants nothing to do with leads me to believe all the work they did for 10 will be for nothing. Think about how much pride Mike had to swallow to go back to the 2K series? It couldn't have been an easy decision and short of a total 180 on EA's part, I don't think he would have left. But he did, which makes me think the game is going away from a sim baller in a big way.

# 17 TreyIM2 @ 04/24/10 06:26 PM

sroz39 - I honestly have a hard time believing that EA is going away from sim and going in a completely new direction especially if they plan to keep trying to compete with NBA 2K. MW said some disparaging things against 2K and it's limited tech but guess what? He went back. Couldn't have been as bad as he made it seem over at 2K after going to EA.
What I seem to gather from what he said as a parting shot at EA is that, basically, he can't do what he wants like he thought. I've said a while ago that I believe devs at 2K have had more range to do things than devs at EA. EA seems like they have stricter structure, not giving devs as much freedom to do what they do because of EA's huge corporate mentality. Devs, designers and game engineers want to show their stuff but they have to bow down to whatever the brass wants.

I could be wrong but that's the sense I get about EA vs 2K. I even look at game like GTA IV and the Liberty City Eps, which is under the Take Two umbrella with 2KSports, and I think," The amount of minute detail and graphic fidelity is RIDICULOUSLY INSANE!!!" Take Two has these guys putting in WORK as if to say, "Damn yo corporate strictness, EA!!" Those devs over there get to show there behinds off! Unfortunately, that same level of praise I can't give to EA games, as a whole.

# 18 23 @ 04/24/10 06:30 PM

Then explain the lack of fixing fundamentals in the game for years?

Rebounding, shot blocking, movement?

Dismiss that as corporate restriction and I wont ever take another post of yours serious.

# 19 rockchisler @ 04/24/10 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 23


	Then explain the lack of fixing fundamentals in the game for years? Rebounding, shot blocking, movement? Dismiss that as corporate restriction and I wont ever take another post of yours serious.

You can say the same thing About 2k, the movement is terrible, and when they shoot jumpers they shrug their shoulders, very unnatural and it has been like that for years.

# 20 23 @ 04/24/10 08:39 PM

Man stop making excuses

Aint nobody even talking about 2k, I asked the man a specific question about NBA Live.

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