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Interview with NBA Live 13 Developer Scott O'Gallagher
 
When Andrew Bynum made his debut as the Lord and Savior, the future of EA Sports basketball was in immediate danger. The backlash of the YouTube video and NBA Elite 11 demo led to the series being shut down for two years.
 
When Scott O’Gallagher tore his hamstring last June, his wife asked him what he wanted to do if he couldn’t play professional basketball anymore. He responded with what he considers, a joke.
 
“I told her I wanted to make video games,” O’Gallagher said.
 
Within months EA Sports turned that joke into something more. O’Gallagher became NBA Live 13’s newest gameplay designer.
 
O’Gallagher has more than just his gaming experience at his disposal. The 6-foot-1 developer used to play point guard. Between having interest from the Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz, O’Gallagher took his talents everywhere from Portland State University, Bulgaria, New Zealand, Australia to Macedonia. But his injury led him to focus on his other hobbies: gaming.
 
Hitting the sticks has always been one of O’Gallagher’s pastimes. He created his own website, OGSports, where he focused on NBA games. He earned the respect of simulation gamers and made his stamp on Sim Nation.
 
His involvement in the community earned him one of seven spots on EA’s NBA Live 13 Advisory Council. Back in April he flew down to Orlando where he hit it off the development team.
 
“I really liked the direction EA was going with the game,” said O’Gallagher. “I loved their ideas and concepts.”
 
O’Gallagher is confident that his experience playing the sport will help him take NBA Live to new heights.
 
“I think it’s huge that I’ve played in every system overseas,” he said. “You know every nuance, how the players sync, how they play. The game in Europe as a whole – they’re more fundamentally sound over there.”
 
After an unimpressive showing of a way too early build of NBA Live 13 at E3, EA received backlash from all corners of the Internet. The community wasn’t necessarily outraged, but you could sense that 2K Sports' NBA 2K series was slowly pulling away from the competition.
 
By deciding to bring in someone directly from the community, EA is hoping to show that they mean business when it comes to putting out the No. 1 NBA simulation game on store shelves. O’Gallagher is first and foremost a gamer, so he knows what the community is looking to see. 
 
“I know exactly what the community wants,” he said. “I am the voice of the community and will never for get where I came from. I know how important it for them to feel involved. That’s what it’s all about.”
 
O’Gallagher, known as OGSports on Operation Sports, is already putting in more than 40 hours a week creating Live 13. His connection to the sports gaming community is no joke: he is well-known by Operation Sports, EA’s Game Changers, Dynasty League Gaming and even everyone’s favorite Sim Nation Leader, Da_Czar. And, he is just as nit picky as the worst of us.
 
"Scott ... is a die hard sim gamer," Da_Czar said. "He brings with him the shared passion and enthusiasm that any of us would have given the same opportunity. That energy and passion can only mean good things for the Sim Nation as well as for EA and Live."
 
So with the well-deserved backing from the community, and the experience he has garnered playing overseas, O'Gallagher is poised to make big changes for NBA Live 13.
 
EA Sports just might have found their new savior.
 
You can follow Scott on Twitter at @ScottOGallagher.

NBA Live 13 Videos
Member Comments
# 121 fluent2332 @ 08/26/12 09:11 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by 13.
This is to Jerzey as well, but I know what he is saying.

2k does do these types of things. Maybe not to the extent of which they are described but there are very frustrating things that occur in 2k that can't be explained nor fixed with sliders.

Another reason why I think at the time, Live 10 was received so well. It contained more free flowing control, something that 2k admittedly didn't have. The isomotion feature was very clunky and unresponsive and plenty of remnants of that system still remain. Something personally that I think is still holding 2k back. Obviously there are a lot of other minor issues, but this isn't the thread for that.

I think one of the most frustrating things for me, is the inability for the control scheme in 2k to recognize when and how to move, and to do it responsively. More specifically on the perimeter. If I want to just take two steps backward, or back it out. You can't walk backwards. Your player literally tries to turn around, and then you get caught in the middle of this momentum animation which takes you somewhere you don't want go, or you will get caught in this step back animation instead of literally just taking 2 steps back.

Collision detection is also really bad, and the force field effect is present at pretty much every difficulty level.

I have seen the layup issue many times. It is not user error. The AI will detect someone within range and it will try to change the path of where you take the layup, often resulting in a missed layup or a block.

Even with those issues, there are still ALOT, and I mean ALOT of things 2k get's absolutely right and the foundation they have built is built for success. Obviously with all games, there will be flaws and things to improve upon and 2k12 is way far from perfect, but at the moment it's the closest thing to simulation that we have. Is it simulation? Some aspects are, and some are not. You have to expect that though. It's a video game.

Does that mean that 2k can never be dethroned? Absolutely not, but at this point after recent history, am I'm relying on EA to do that in one year, or at all? Not a chance.

At the end of the day, we all might have different visions, but we all want the same thing. Basketball represented the right way, and a competition to make each brand push each other to produce the best representation we can get. At this point, I don't care what brand does it, as long as it is done right. Currently 2k is a lot closer than EA is. Just the fact of the matter, whether you like the game or not.
I disagree. I think Live 10 was a better representation of the sport than 2K has been in recent years. It may not have had a million flashy animations, 2 million dunk packages etc, but it had sound fundamentals that made it a blast to play, and very realistic when you factor in DNA (which was incredible, hopefully EA brings it back for future games). I still believe Live 10 was the best basketball game I've probably ever played, right up there with NBA 2K8.

I do believe the 2K series has been in decline since 2K8. It's still a fun game though, don't get me wrong.

Not only do I think Live 10 was a better representation of the sport, but the excellent controls made it so much fun to play. I had some incredible, epic matchups against my buddies online in that game. I've had some great games with the 2K series too, but I honestly still prefer Live 10 over the recent 2K games. In Live 10 you could create a strategy and pick apart the defense with precision, whereas in 2K it's much more clunky when you factor in all the animations, you end up doing things you didn't want to do, and that happens all the time. I could go on and on but I'd be writing a novel at that point, so I'll just stop.

Anyway, I'm excited for Live 13 and Scott O' Gallagher seems like he makes a good addition to the team. Looking forward to what EA comes with!
 
# 122 bigeastbumrush @ 08/26/12 09:40 PM
I can't wait until EA makes their announcement official.

There's gonna be a whole lot of moonwalking in this forum.
 
# 123 Whaaaazuuuuup @ 08/27/12 07:49 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigeastbumrush
I can't wait until EA makes their announcement official.

There's gonna be a whole lot of moonwalking in this forum.
yeah, there's gotta be some sort "method to their madness" as to what theyre doing to this game. if theyre idea is to keep it under the blanket and then reveal an incredible game, just to watch 2k follwers jump their band wagon to theirs (EA) its a risky plan. if so, they must feel very confident.
 
# 124 KyotoCarl @ 08/27/12 01:48 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigeastbumrush
I can't wait until EA makes their announcement official.

There's gonna be a whole lot of moonwalking in this forum.
I wouldn't take that statement to the bank but I am looking forward to some official gameplay footage and information.
 


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