We are proud to present part 1 of our 2 part interview with the NBA Live 2005 team. We'll cover the Franchise and Game Modes tonight. Tomorrows interview will cover the Presentation and Gameplay departments.

FRANCHISE

Operation Sports: Can you use multiple teams during 'Franchise Mode'?

NBA Live 2005 Team: No, this year’s Dynasty Mode is a single-user experience. Having said that, we'll look into expanding this to a multi-user experience for the future.

Operation Sports: Will the Franchise Mode be more in-depth, like Madden's? Can you tell us about some of the big changes that were made?

NBA Live 2005 Team: This year, NBA LIVE’s Dynasty Mode is bigger than ever with year-round Scouting, Box scores, pre-draft workouts of prospects and a brand-new Free Agency model. Each of these areas of Dynasty Mode is brought to you through the new calendar and PDA system which incorporates time into the Dynasty Mode.

Year-round Scouting will allow you to scout the upcoming draft class. You will pay for one of your three scouts to go out into 7 different regions of the world and scout up to 5 players per trip. When the scout has completed his scouting he will report back giving you a letter grade on each of the attributes that he got a good feel for.

After scouting the upcoming rookie class you will have the opportunity to also bring the players that interest you into town for a private workout the week prior to the draft. You will have the opportunity to bring a player each day for a total of 7 players and have them go thru their paces in a 1 on 1 game against a member of your team. You can choose to play as or against the prospect.

Box scores are an extension of our Sim engine and will allow you to see why you lost that close one to the bottom dweller of the league. There won’t be anymore doubt - you will be able to see it on screen just as you would on any sports website.

This year’s free agency model has been rewritten and has been modeled after the NBA system. You can offer contracts to players by manipulating the salary, contract length and annual raises. You can also front load or back load the contract. Once you have determined how much you would like to offer a free agent you will send a message thru the PDA and wait a couple of days for a response. In the meantime the other teams in the league might be offering him a contract to try and get him for their team. The player will then take all offers into account and decide which team they would like to play for. You will receive a message stating what the player has decided. Sometimes the player will decide to wait a bit longer on the market to see if any better offers come in. Each team is looking at its own strengths and weaknesses when deciding who to sign.

Operation Sports: Will the Playoffs and Finals have greater atmosphere then a regular season game?

NBA Live 2005 Team: Yes. The attendance level during the Playoffs and Finals is usually higher than during the regular season which is accentuated by the crowd audio and the commentating style.

Operation Sports: How many players can we create this year?

NBA Live 2005 Team: For the console versions you can create over 40 players and add them to your rosters. For the PC version you can create over 150 players.

Operation Sports: Can you trade draft picks during the off-season?

NBA Live 2005 Team: You can trade draft picks during the Off-season but due to some technical limitations trading is not available during the Off-season until after the draft. We're currently looking into ways around this for the future.

Operation Sports: With the Salary Cap, will there be the option to turn it off?

NBA Live 2005 Team: You will not be able to turn off the salary cap as per NBA rules. Season mode will allow you to play without any salary cap restrictions.

Operation Sports: Will we actually be able to break records?

NBA Live 2005 Team: Yes, you will be able to break NBA game records and see them in the EA SPORTS Hall of Fame that resides in My NBA LIVE.

Operation Sports: Do they have High School phenoms enter the draft?

NBA Live 2005 Team: Due to NBA limitations there are no High School players amongst the generated rookies, but there is the chance that a youngster can become a phenom. The odds of one of these phenoms coming out of the draft is far and few between. We also made it so some great looking first-rounders can be busts and 2nd round picks can turn into good NBA players.

Operation Sports: Do they have summer league?

NBA Live 2005 Team: NBA LIVE 2005 doesn't have a Summer League but it is something that we have discussed and we will look into for the future.

GAME MODES

Operation Sports: Will there be 'Historical Teams', 'All-Time Teams', 'All-Decade Teams'?

NBA Live 2005 Team: Due to licensing limitations there are no Historical and All-Time teams, but we do have All-Decade Teams. There are All-Star teams from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. We have included all of the great players from the past such as Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Dr. J, Moses Malone, Spud Webb and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to name a few.

Operation Sports: Will there be in-game saves?

NBA Live 2005 Team: Unfortunately we didn't have time to implement an in-game saves feature this year. This is something that we are looking at doing next year with NBA LIVE 2006.

Operation Sports: How often will the roster updates be available?

NBA Live 2005 Team: Online Roster Updates for PS2 and Xbox will be available at key points during the season and also when there are major player movements. The key points include once the game is in stores, the beginning of the Season, after the Rookie, Sophomore and NBA All-Star teams have been announced, after the Trade deadline and at the beginning of the Playoffs.

Operation Sports: Will there be mini-camp workouts/games to improve players during the off-season? If so, what are they?

NBA Live 2005 Team: We have added Interactive Rookie Scouting to the Off-season which allows you user to take potential draft picks into a game of 1-on-1 and test their skills. The rookie scouting period lasts a week in the Off-season and it enables you to test up to 7 different rookies. NBA LIVE 2005 is the first game to offer this feature that gives you a hands-on experience on how a potential rookie plays when taking into game. We have also updated Pre-Season Training Camp to allow for more realistic numbers when training your team in the Off-season.

Operation Sports: What new additions were made to the NBA store?

NBA Live 2005 Team: The NBA Store is fully 3D this year. It is modeled after the real NBA Store located in New York City. We have added in over 30 brand new Hardwood Classic Jerseys and 60 new Nike/Jordan Basketball shoes. There are also new socks and headbands to outfit your players with.

Operation Sports: How is “Create a Player”? Are there a lot of additions this year?

NBA Live 2005 Team: Create Player uses all-new morphing technology and slider bars to allow you to create thousands of possible faces. You can tweak almost any aspect of your face from the tip of your nose to the height of your ears to the strength of your jaw line. Or, if you’re not big on tweaking your own player, just randomize the facial features and get a different face every time. There are also lots of new tattoos and accessories such as the double rubberband or Kareem’s goggles. And of course, there’s also all the new shoes from Nike, Reebok and Adidas that you can outfit your player with.

Operation Sports: Can we create a team?

NBA Live 2005 Team: We would've loved to include a Custom Team feature this year but unfortunately we ran out of time. There's only so much available time during the Development cycle and - as painful as it is - sometimes things end up on the cutting room floor.