The annual E3 Media and Business Summit had come and gone with little to no details about this year’s NBA release from 2K Sports. The sports video gaming community was miffed, to say the least. Everyone was clamoring for some in-depth information on NBA 2K9, especially in light of the EA Sports announcement of NBA 365 with daily updates according to a player’s virtual game-specific DNA.

So what happened? Could it be that NBA 2K9 is coming with something to blow NBA 365 out of the water? Mark Thomas, the VP of sports development at Visual Concepts, made some recent remarks that could hint toward this possibility. The NBA 2K series has always had solid gameplay so the lack of information and the sly remarks must mean that there is something big brewing, right?

It was originally thought that a few more weeks would pass before we had any answers. We were enamored by the screenshots that had been released. The attention to detail was amazing and truly took a leap forward -- though some complained about the glare around the players; but, others argued that the so-called glare adds to the ambiance of the game. Either way, the visuals looked great overall.

Then it happened: The latest features for NBA 2K9 were released, and computer keyboards across the country were smoking! Some posters were happy and felt like kids on Christmas Eve. Others were pleased but wondered where some of the other features were, and also speculated that there were some copycat issues. How were the rest of the announced features received? Let’s take a look.

NBA 2k9 looks to expand it's dominance in terms of quality upon the pro basketball genre.

Gameplay Features

An advanced shot-stick feature was announced, allowing the user to change shots in mid-air. Gamers far and wide were hoping for this one because changing the shot or passing out of the shot in mid-air was sketchy at best -- not to mention this feature used to be in old NBA 2K games. With this feature back intact, the freedom to create has opened up, and now you may just be able to modify your shot and avoid swat city.

Adaptive AI will now allow the CPU to adjust to your tendencies and strategies. The general consensus on this is that most people want to see this in action before passing judgment.

The AI was also revamped to make the game more realistic. Adaptive AI will now allow the CPU to adjust to your tendencies and strategies. The general consensus on this is that most people want to see this in action before passing judgment. Will the AI adjust and shut down the lane on the pick-and-roll now? Will computer-controlled teammates run the floor harder and cut quicker to the basket if the game tempo is faster? Time will tell my friends.

Association 2.0 was almost taken for granted I believe. With no further in-depth information provided on the customizable options and player roles I think the jury is still out. It is always nice to hear that improvements have been made to an already great product, but the general public wants more.

Presentation Features

Clark Kellogg has now been added to the announcing team, which has been greeted by mixed fan reviews. Kellogg replaces Kenny Smith who has apparently moved on to Sony's NBA game. Cheryl Miller has also been added as a sideline reporter. Kellogg is known more for his work in the college hoop ranks, so the addition of his voice to the game piques my interest to say the least.

End-of-quarter highlights displaying the quarter’s best plays have been added as well. This feature adds more of a TV-presentation style to the fold, similar to what you would see during an ESPN or TNT broadcast. The championship celebration is said to be better as well. Do we get cut-scenes of the guys standing on the podium accepting the trophy from the commissioner? How about the presentation of the MVP trophy? And is Cheryl Miller going to have cut-scenes showing her interviewing the top performer of the half?

Online Features

Here is where things get a little hairy. As most of you already know, NBA Live 09 announced that it will have a featured called “365” that will update player tendencies and ratings daily based on current performance. There will also be player-specific DNA that takes into account the different styles of NBA players and that will be reflected in the 365 updates as well.

The community is starting to wonder if the NBA 2K9 development team copied the idea from the NBA Live folks or if it was the other way around.

Now we get a chance to look at the features list for NBA 2K9 and we see that it too has a feature with player-specific DNA. The community is starting to wonder if the NBA 2K9 development team copied the idea from the NBA Live folks or if it was the other way around. Some skeptics think that EA Sports decided to capitalize on the well-known fact that 2K Sports does not release many early details about the upcoming NBA 2K game. So by holding an event and press conference before 2K Sports at E3, NBA Live 09 could announce the feature first and make it appear that NBA 2K9 is copying the idea.

The common theme seems to be that the die-hard NBA 2K fans know the series is light-years ahead of NBA Live so the thinking is that Live is piggy backing off of NBA 2K. The sentiment is that NBA 2K is always the best basketball game on the market so naturally the player-specific DNA was 2K Sports’ idea in the beginning. Some are optimistic and truly feel that NBA 2K9 development team listened to the cries and provided a way to update things daily. In actuality we may never know who came up with the concept first. The only thing that's clear is that NBA Live's DNA feature has a real-life license that feeds the game the real NBA data, whereas 2K's feature probably works via its own engine and doesn't take into account real-life happenings.

There are still users sounding off about what changes they hope to see in the upcoming game. The banter back and forth becomes mundane because 2K Sports has usually done a good job at making the NBA 2K series a thing of beauty. You will always see users complaining about the accuracy of the passes through the lane to cutters or the effectiveness of the pick-and-roll, but for the most part there really isn’t anything gameplay-related that should make you raise a stink.

I too hoped for NBA Live to overthrow the ruler but I have now come to my senses.

The humorous thing about the previous lack of information is found when perusing the message boards at Operation Sports and the forums over at the 2K Sports site. There are always people claiming to love the previous installment of NBA 2K, but those same people are always saying that they heard NBA Live was working to close the gap. I have to laugh when I read those posts because they are reminiscent of my glory days long ago. I too hoped for NBA Live to overthrow the ruler (if you don’t believe me then check my open letter to 2K Sports) but I have now come to my senses.

Everyone has heard the saying that there are no sure things. Most people believe that there are no absolutes in life; and those of us that do, know that when the dust settles and the smoke clears NBA 2K9 will absolutely be the last one standing. I know that regardless of the amount of information that is presented beforehand, there is no need to lose patience and start resigning yourself to only purchasing NBA Live when the season rolls around. I know which game reigns supreme, so stand firm and know that 2K Sports will not let everyone down.