We are proud to present our interview with Mike Wang, Lead Gameplay Designer of NBA 2K7.

Operation Sports: Have there been any significant changes to the controls (specifically regarding the Shot Stick/IsoMotion)?

Mike Wang: Fans of NBA 2k6 will immediately be able to pick up and play 2k7 as the controls are similar to last year’s game for the most part. The right analog stick has undergone some changes on defense however. Rather than just controlling steals, the user can now use the right stick to cutoff the ballhandler, swipe at the ball, put hands up on defense, shade from side to side, and block shots. The Shot Stick is now rim-relative to make wrapping layups to either side much more intuitive. Also, we’ve added the ability to manually control reverse layups, tear drops, and bank shots. The biggest change to Isomotion is the addition of the sizeup move. By tapping LT or RT with the left analog stick in a neutral position, the user can perform a quick sizeup dribble move to try and get his defender off balance. It’s great for setting up a drive or crossover move. The other big change to the controls is with the on-the-fly coaching. With the D-Pad, the user can now make coaching changes and substitutions without going into the pause menu.

Operation Sports: Have you done anything to create a more realistic off-season atmosphere (Draft Day, Free Agency, Press Conferences)?

Mike Wang: Unfortunately, our focus this year was really to get the on court and arena experience up to what we believe is the next generation level with Signature Style, truly dynamic crowds, and realistic player and team tendencies. Off-season atmosphere is something we’re definitely investigating for 2K8.

Operation Sports: Does the CPU utilize finesse big men like Dirk and Rasheed better?

Mike Wang: Yes. We changed our AI playcalling system so that the AI coach now accounts for each players’ tendencies when choosing a play rather than just basing it on playing position like last year. That means that guys like Dirk or Sheed who can step out and hit a 3 will do so this year whereas last year they would play just like any other prototypical power forward.

Operation Sports: Are there more authentic team offense/defense playbooks this year, and will the CPU defensive AI actually switch the defense to zone or other schemes depending on the situation of the game?

Mike Wang: We ended up overhauling just about every play in the game to be more authentic to what teams actually use in real life. On top of that, we made the AI much more flexible within a given play to get rid of the scripted feel of 2k6. These changes, in addition to the new playcalling logic I mentioned above, really makes 2k7’s offensive AI much more intelligent than it’s ever been in the past and really makes each game feel unique and challenging. On the defensive end of the floor, each coach has a zone usage tendency. Based on where the opposition is being the most effective, the AI attempts to throw different defensive schemes at you to try and make you change up your attack. Obviously, the coaches that have an affinity for zone, will throw more zones at you throughout the course of a game.

Operation Sports: What has been done to improve the perimeter defense?

Mike Wang: For the AI’s perimeter defense, the focus this year was making it more realistic. In 2k6, the on-ball defender would be able to recover unrealistically fast. In 2k7, you’ll notice the perimeter defenders will have a much better sense of momentum and more realistic reaction times. On the user-controlled side, we wanted to make it much easier to stay in front of the ballhandler. Playing on-ball defense in 2k6 was a liability and many people would resort to switching to their big man and just camping out by the basket while the AI did all the perimeter work. This year, playing on-ball defense is no longer frustrating and user-controlled on-ball defenders can do a much better job at locking down the opposition. NBA 2k7 is really a fun game to play on both ends of the floor this year.

Operation Sports: How effective will running plays be this year? How many plays can we access on the fly?

Mike Wang: You can access up to 8 plays this year, and they are definitely effective. The users who know their teams’ plays and go to their players’ strengths will definitely have an advantage over the users who just improv on every possession. Dual Player Control is also back this year, so you can send out individual commands to specific players while you’re running point.

Operation Sports: Do player ratings fluctuate more?

Mike Wang: The hot/cold streak system remains intact this year, so yes, player ratings fluctuate based on their performance in the game.

Operation Sports: Will playbooks follow coaches? Will coaches adapt to their roster?

Mike Wang: Yes and no. We don’t dynamically re-generate playbooks when coaches move from team to team. However, an individual coach’s tendencies do have a big impact on a team’s offensive style. I don’t want to get into the guts of the system, but I’ll just say that you won’t have to manually change a team’s playbook in order to get them to run the right plays. We really wanted the AI to be smarter this year in how it attacks without the user having to go in and hack in some kind of fix every time they start a new game. So to accommodate an Association or Season where players and coaches are moving around, we implemented a scalable system that factors those types of things in so that in any given game, you see the right guys taking the right kinds of shots and playing within the coach’s system.

Operation Sports: Has the defense rotation been improved?

Mike Wang: It’s been improved from the standpoint of being more true to life. In 2k6, perimeter defensive rotation and recovery was so quick that it was nearly impossible to get an open jumpshot, no matter how well you worked the ball around. Also, it was too easy to get to the basket due to lackluster help defense. In 2k7, users will have the ability to collapse the defense and kick to open shooters which is something we really wanted to work correctly this year. Also, the defensive rotations have improved so that if you draw the defense on a drive, you can kick to an open shooter and then quickly reverse the ball around to the other side for an open jumpshot. That’s something you see in the NBA all the time, and something you’ll now see in 2k7. When the AI does it to you, it’s a thing of beauty.

Operation Sports: How has the post game been improved? Are there more post moves and animations?

Mike Wang: Definitely. We added quite a bit of content to the post game this year. About a dozen post packages which can be assigned to your created players or re-assigned among your NBA players. The packages consist of all of the fadeaway shots and hooks you can do from the post. We also added a great number of post shot animations. While backing down an opponent with LT held, if you pull RT and hit the Shot Stick you’ll see some very nice dropstep dunks and layups. The up & under mechanic has been refined and we’ve also given users the ability to do the butt bump, face-up to triple threat, and Kobe-like lean back move. Post defense got an upgrade as well. Now you can shade from side to side, flop, and strip the ball as the offensive player makes his move to neutralize him or to try and cause a turnover.

Operation Sports: What new animations have been added and how many? Are there new pass, rebound, dunk, and lay up animations this year?

Mike Wang: The 360 version is very content heavy with hundreds and hundreds of new animations. We added over 200 new pass animations, around 60 new rebounds, and a couple of hundred new dunks and layups. Not to mention 200+ signature jumpshots. The PS2 and Xbox versions got refreshed pass animations, Isomotion moves, dunks, and about 20 new signature shots.

Operation Sports: Will the legends also have signature shots?

Mike Wang: Some do, but most of them are using generic jumpshots that maybe 2 or 3 other guys share. We give you the ability to re-assign anybody’s jumpshot though, so even the pickiest users should be able to find a good one that fits their favorite legend.

Operation Sports: Have you included inbound pass plays? If so, have there been any additions or possibly a reworking of last years player tendencies to better replicate real life tendencies?

Mike Wang: Yes, there are around 30 inbounds plays… 16 of which are available to the user. They show up in the playcall menu automatically when you’re inbounding in the frontcourt. Tendencies were a big focus for us this year as well. Last year, we only had time to hook up shooting tendencies, but in 2k7 we were able to extend the system to cover every major offensive category as well as the major defensive ones. Users will also be glad to hear that the tendencies in general are much more integrated into our AI systems so changing them will show obvious effects as opposed to how they were handled in 2k6. On top of the player tendencies, we’re also introducing the concept of team tendencies which is a first in basketball games. With team tendencies, users can go in and customize how each individual team plays in a matter of seconds. Out of the box, our fans shouldn’t have to do any editing to get a great basketball experience… but we realize that it’s impossible to predict accurately how each and every player and team is going to perform in the upcoming season. The sliders we’re offering this year will allow the hardest of hardcore fans to customize the game exactly the way they want it to play.

Operation Sports: An earlier preview mentioned accurate signature jumpshots and dunks? I haven't heard much about dunks. Is this interviewer mistaken or are there in fact specific dunks for different player types?

Mike Wang: A handful of elite dunkers have signature dunks that only they can perform. Most of these are dunk contest type dunks that you’ll see in the open court. For everyone else, we tried to create dunk packages that fit their real life dunk style. The dunk system was re-written from scratch this year so you’ll see that a lot of the problems that have plagued past 2k games (floaty jumping, popping off the ground, etc.), have been ironed out. The dunks look really nice this year.

Operation Sports: What kind of downloadable content (if any) will be available for Xbox live users (besides themes and gamerpics).

Mike Wang: Well of course you’ll get your regular downloadable rosters and the themes and gamerpics that you mentioned. But we also have an exciting downloadable feature planned that we’re not quite ready to announce. It is a very cool feature though and we think our fans are going to have a lot of fun with it.

Operation Sports: How does the new passing mechanic work? (I read you can choose to do a chest, bounce and lob pass on command)

Mike Wang: Pressing the regular Pass button will yield a normal chest pass or whatever pass is contextually correct for the situation. If the user holds LT and presses the Pass button, he can force a bounce pass. It’s a little bit slower than a regular pass but useful for threading the needle if used at the proper time. There’s also a Lead Pass button which will attempt to lead the receiver in the direction that he’s currently moving. So if you see a teammate cutting to the rim off a backdoor cut, hit the Lead Pass button and you should be able to get an easy assist. If you hold LT while throwing a Lead Pass you’ll attempt an alley-oop pass if the receiver is in position to catch one. Also, Directional Icon Passing returns in 2k7. Hit RB to pull up your pass icons and then press the left analog stick in the direction you want to lead your receiver while hitting the receiver’s corresponding icon. Also regarding passing, you can no longer lead your receiver in a way that will cause him to just barrel right through the defense. That was a huge exploit in NBA 2k6 and something we stomped out early on in development.

Operation Sports: We've read that the collision detection is better, which may help against over-zealous drivers, but could this be overpowered in the hands of zone-only players? Will those types of players be able to rely on simply jamming up the lane with bodies and relying on collision detect to play their defense?

Mike Wang: Definitely not. While we designed it to be a bit more difficult to get to the basket this year for users who just try to wiggle their way in, skilled Isomotion users who learn how to read the defense should be able to break down zones with good ballhandlers. Also, we reward open jumpshots more this year than we have in the past. So against a zone, just make sure to get your good shooters some open looks and keep on crashing the boards.

Operation Sports: Will we have the ability to change a player's primary and secondary position?

Mike Wang: Yep.

Operation Sports: Will the CPU AI recognize player substitutions better in 2k7 and adjust the playcalling to the personnel that is on the floor?

Mike Wang: Yes. This was one of the top 3 issues we heard from OS and was one of the first things we addressed. Now that the AI coach factors in each players’ tendencies, you’ll see much better personnel recognition in the AI’s offensive attack. Kobe’s backup will no longer try to put up 50 points on you. 

Operation Sports: We would like to thank you for your time with this interview, is there anything else you would like to add?

Mike Wang: I think I speak for the team when I say that OS is a tremendous resource for us during design and development. The NBA2k board is one of the first places we go to look for new ideas and suggestions for future products and one of the places we count on to go to get constructive feedback from our fans. So thanks for helping to make what we feel is the best NBA game that’s ever come out of VC and probably the best basketball sim to ever grace a console. We’re looking forward to what you all have to say when you finally get your hands on the final game next week!