NBA 2k8 (360 version) preview

[Rich1033]

damnit, the postman better bring me my game tomorrow. or else.

[Galaxy]

College looks good:

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/spor...2k8/index.html

[Groundhog]

College looks GREAT. Now that I can actually play it thanks to my PS3, I can't wait till the 19th...

I should have my copy of NBA 2K8 in the mail today or Monday.. FINALLY.

[Galaxy]

The legacy mode looks mind-boggling.

[Neuqua]

I knew there was no way for me to afford both NCAA and Mass Effect in the same month so today I found NCAA 2k7 in the bargain bin and picked it up for $15. I remember people here really enjoying it and so figured since I don't use real players anyway, that 2k7 could suffice until next year and I can pay full price for Mass Effect.

I need to resist temptation of clicking on anything NCAA 2k8 related though.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

The legacy mode looks mind-boggling.

Agreed. I can't wait to dig into it.

[MrBug708]

I bought the game and have been playing as the Lakers and have had mixed feelings on it. I can't seem to find a good set of sliders that I like. Plus the game seems to go at a much slower pace then I like. I do like the potential of my first two round picks though.

[bhlloy]

Honestly I'm not sure if I really like the direction recruiting and scouting is going in. More points for playing out the fictional AAU games than simming them? Are they still going to have players that don't play in these leagues that we have to go watch their tape and use in-home visits to figure out how good they are? Or is every recruit in the game including 1 star Joe Schmoe from Wyoming going to be on a team and I have to play out all his ABL games for him to even take a look at me?

I'm cautiously optimistic that this is meant to replace the camps in 2k7 and the usual recruiting process will still be the same, but if not I think it's going to take a lot away from the realism of small school recruiting. Plus a season takes long enough to play through anyway, if I'm forced to play a ton of games before the season even starts to have enough recruiting points to stay competitive, ugh...

Love the move to dynamic player progression though. Definitely allows for much more control over my team (usually I find myself with soft, skilled big men that I really wish I could make work on their defense and rebounding - now I'll be able to)

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Honestly I'm not sure if I really like the direction recruiting and scouting is going in. More points for playing out the fictional AAU games than simming them? Are they still going to have players that don't play in these leagues that we have to go watch their tape and use in-home visits to figure out how good they are? Or is every recruit in the game including 1 star Joe Schmoe from Wyoming going to be on a team and I have to play out all his ABL games for him to even take a look at me?

I'm cautiously optimistic that this is meant to replace the camps in 2k7 and the usual recruiting process will still be the same, but if not I think it's going to take a lot away from the realism of small school recruiting. Plus a season takes long enough to play through anyway, if I'm forced to play a ton of games before the season even starts to have enough recruiting points to stay competitive, ugh...

Love the move to dynamic player progression though. Definitely allows for much more control over my team (usually I find myself with soft, skilled big men that I really wish I could make work on their defense and rebounding - now I'll be able to)

The idea of getting more points to play instead of simming does seem kind of dumb.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

The idea of getting more points to play instead of simming does seem kind of dumb.

I agree, unless this can be used as a built-in additional difficulty "setting" for people who choose not to watch or play the games.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

thanks for the 411.


dammit, had i known that i woulda traded Kwame Brown at the trade deadline. he went from a 66/67 to a 73, from a bum to a guy who could finish around the basket. best game was when he scored 19 off the bench.

Kobe is gonna wind up on my team tonite, i'm not budging until it happens. and when it does i'm winning 2 out of the next 3 championships. fwiw, trading in this game is ultra realistic. i have to work for every single trade i make.

Did you ever get Kobe?

[Groundhog]

The game was sitting in my mailbox yesterday, so I've finally been able to play this sucka!

Man, this is waaaaay harder than 2k7 (so far). For some reason I thought I'd put it on the hardest difficulty level straight away, and I got hammered by the Grizzlies (I was the Cavs). Knocked it down a notch and still got blown out. Knocked it down another notch and the games are close now.

I've found it much more difficult to score with perimeter players, especially the athletic "attack the basket" guys, which is a good thing, because in 2k7 you could make Trevor Ariza look like Michael Jordan without too much difficulty.

Do most of you guys run your own plays, or just run generic sets?

[Eaglesfan27]

I run my own plays with the animations on. I agree that it is much more challenging. I'm still getting a very good challenge on Pro level difficulty whereas last year All-Star was a bit too easy for me after I played it for a week or two.

[Ironhead]

Something really seems off with the athleticism of the players in the draft classes. I did some quick averages and after seeing this I might have to go through and do some hand editing to all rookies.

Average Speed for:
Starting Point Guard (Default Roster): 89
Draft Created Point Guard: 76

Starting Shooting Guard (Default Roster): 86
Draft Created Shooting Guard: 79

Average Quickness for:
Starting Point Guard (Default Roster): 90
Draft Created Point Guard: 78

Starting Shooting Guard (Default Roster): 87
Draft Created Shooting Guard: 78

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Ironhead

Something really seems off with the athleticism of the players in the draft classes. I did some quick averages and after seeing this I might have to go through and do some hand editing to all rookies.

Average Speed for:
Starting Point Guard (Default Roster): 89
Draft Created Point Guard: 76

Starting Shooting Guard (Default Roster): 86
Draft Created Shooting Guard: 79

Average Quickness for:
Starting Point Guard (Default Roster): 90
Draft Created Point Guard: 78

Starting Shooting Guard (Default Roster): 87
Draft Created Shooting Guard: 78

Since you mentioned this, I'm just checking this in my career and I'm seeing the same thing. I wonder if their quickness and speed are going to go up (even though it shouldn't) as they develop or if they stay low.

[Galaxy]

Is it just at the PG position?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Is it just at the PG position?

Looks like PG and SG from what I've seen so far. Big men seem to be fine, although a lot of them have low dunking ratings it seems. At least, I know that attribute goes up.

[Ironhead]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Since you mentioned this, I'm just checking this in my career and I'm seeing the same thing. I wonder if their quickness and speed are going to go up (even though it shouldn't) as they develop or if they stay low.

I could run a quick sim dynasty and track the top 5 guards drafted the first year and check these ratings two years later.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Ironhead

I could run a quick sim dynasty and taken the top 5 guards drafted the first year and check these ratings two years later.

That would be great! Let me know what you find. I'll edit all of the top guard prospects in my dynasty if they don't progress in speed or quickness.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Did you ever get Kobe?

no. please don't bring this up again. it was a frustrating nite, i didn't go to bed until 2am cuz i was trying to pull off the megablockbuster trade.




fwiw, i've set my sights on Tracy McGrady. this one is actually closer to getting done. i need to get Eddie Curry off my team, my dynamite 7'1" center is leading all rookies in blocks. went from a 79 overall to an 83. he needs to be starting.

3 way trades are friggin hard to pull off. so much so that i would say that it's not a very worthwhile option. i'm not saying it's broken - far from it. i really have to work HARD to aquire a 95+ rated uber stud. at least this is realistic. also, i have to give up so much this really reminds me of Kobe threatening to veto any trade that leaves his new team depleted and uncompetitive - i need to weigh if it's worthwhile for me to give up all these pieces just to aquire a Kobe/McGrady. i'm tied for 1st in my division (2nd season), theoretically i shouldn't be making such a huge move. i don't care, i want an uberstud.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

no. please don't bring this up again. it was a frustrating nite, i didn't go to bed until 2am cuz i was trying to pull off the megablockbuster trade.




fwiw, i've set my sights on Tracy McGrady. this one is actually closer to getting done. i need to get Eddie Curry off my team, my dynamite 7'1" center is leading all rookies in blocks. went from a 79 overall to an 83. he needs to be starting.

3 way trades are friggin hard to pull off. so much so that i would say that it's not a very worthwhile option. i'm not saying it's broken - far from it. i really have to work HARD to aquire a 95+ rated uber stud. at least this is realistic. also, i have to give up so much this really reminds me of Kobe threatening to veto any trade that leaves his new team depleted and uncompetitive - i need to weigh if it's worthwhile for me to give up all these pieces just to aquire a Kobe/McGrady. i'm tied for 1st in my division (2nd season), theoretically i shouldn't be making such a huge move. i don't care, i want an uberstud.

Can you acquire players and picks from any team (and vice versa) in a 3-way trade? Say I send player x team b, who sends team c a pf and pg, yet both teams send me draft picks and player c sends a sg?

[MrBug708]

Yes you can. But it's difficult because everything needs to line up perfectly and the two other teams need to sign off on it

[Ironhead]

Here is a quick look at progression of the speed & quickness ratings over the first 7 years of these draft pick's careers. These were all 1st rounders with good potential. Unfortunately I should have done this test with chemistry off as that had some unwanted impact on the numbers (i.e. fluctuations in the numbers including two huge drops to quickness for Pierce & Page). Most of these players are 27 to 30 at this point and I would imagine their ratings growth should pretty much be over.




I also went through the league and recorded the average ratings and tendencies for starting players at all positions. I then compared those numbers to the original roster file. Overall things look pretty good but I see a few trends emerging in the data that I also might want to edit. I am going to go go through and sim another 7 years so that I am left with pretty much only fictional players in the league and then check those averages as well. I will post all that information as well.

[Eaglesfan27]

Thanks for sharing this info Ironhead. It seems like they are starting too low for some of the top players in the draft. I'm probably going to edit the 1st round guards and give them a moderate boost to those attributes.

[Ironhead]

Anyone know a place to do quick hosting for an excel file?

[Galaxy]

Has this been reported over at the 2k forums?

[Ironhead]

I posted a document with the data from the comparison I did over at Operation Sports. You probably have to be a member there to download this:

http://forums.operationsports.com/vB...1&d=1194206405

I am not out to jbmagic the game for anyone. I will leave conclusions up to anyone who wants to look at the data.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Ironhead

I posted a document with the data from the comparison I did over at Operation Sports. You probably have to be a member there to download this:

http://forums.operationsports.com/vB...1&d=1194206405

I am not out to jbmagic the game for anyone. I will leave conclusions up to anyone who wants to look at the data.

Very interesting data. The game plays well enough and I just edited a bit of a rookie class quickly enough that I'll use it to manually edit each rookie class a fair bit unless importing from College Hoops fixes these issues. Thanks for posting this, it will be very helpful in deciding what to edit if importing classes doesn't fix the issue.

[Galaxy]

I love how people get all worked up over little crap at the 2k forums, like the color of shoes. Is it a nice detail to have? Of course. Do I really care? Not really. As long as the gameplay is good, the graphics take advantage of the system's potential (arenas/courts and the player models, Kobe should look like Kobe), and the dynasty/franchise mode is as good as it can be.

http://www.2ksports.com/forums/showt...68#post1465368

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Ironhead

I posted a document with the data from the comparison I did over at Operation Sports. You probably have to be a member there to download this:

http://forums.operationsports.com/vB...1&d=1194206405

I am not out to jbmagic the game for anyone. I will leave conclusions up to anyone who wants to look at the data.

Sorry, not a member at that site.

[Ironhead]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Very interesting data. The game plays well enough and I just edited a bit of a rookie class quickly enough that I'll use it to manually edit each rookie class a fair bit unless importing from College Hoops fixes these issues. Thanks for posting this, it will be very helpful in deciding what to edit if importing classes doesn't fix the issue.

No problem. Thankfully there are only 2 rounds in the draft which means fewer players need to be edited.

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Sorry, not a member at that site.

I could e-mail it to you if you want a copy.

[Galaxy]

Interesting.

Seems like speed and quickness were low for the guards, but they all went down by year 7 at all positions.

[Anthony]

i finally got the Rockets to agree on a 3 way trade to send me McGrady. salaries all worked out, their interest bar was maxed. i go to offer the trade and i get a message that "Tracy McGrady declined to waive his no-trade clause".

BASTARDO!!!

i then decided aquiring a 95+ rated player is too much trouble, so i sent Eddie Curry and Jamal Crawford to Detroit for Richard Hamilton and Nazr Mohammed. i get the big 90+ rated guard i wanted, i get to start my #2 overall pick Center (the second coming of Bill Russell), and i get a very nice backup Center. i shaved about $3million off my cap. worked out for the Pistons cuz they got younger at 2 positions and were in big need of a Center. everyone goes home happy.

McGrady is a lazy-eyed punk.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

i finally got the Rockets to agree on a 3 way trade to send me McGrady. salaries all worked out, their interest bar was maxed. i go to offer the trade and i get a message that "Tracy McGrady declined to waive his no-trade clause".

BASTARDO!!!

i then decided aquiring a 95+ rated player is too much trouble, so i sent Eddie Curry and Jamal Crawford to Detroit for Richard Hamilton and Nazr Mohammed. i get the big 90+ rated guard i wanted, i get to start my #2 overall pick Center (the second coming of Bill Russell), and i get a very nice backup Center. i shaved about $3million off my cap. worked out for the Pistons cuz they got younger at 2 positions and were in big need of a Center. everyone goes home happy.

McGrady is a lazy-eyed punk.

As much as it sucks for you, I like the no trade clause. I wonder what the factors are for a player waiving it.

[Anthony]

i thought it was realistic, but yeah, i would've like to hear his reasoning. has 2 years left on his contract. i'm sure Kobe would've pulled the same stunt with me had i got the Lakers to agree on something.

[Groundhog]

I REALLY suck at this game. Going to have to bump the difficulty down another notch me thinks. I was getting beaten 67-32 as the Sixers vs the Mavs at one point.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

I REALLY suck at this game. Going to have to bump the difficulty down another notch me thinks. I was getting beaten 67-32 as the Sixers vs the Mavs at one point.

I think it just has the best AI of any version. I had to swallow pride and drop from All-Star level too, but the Pro level is a great challenge and I'm having fun with it.

[Ironhead]

So far I feel like I get a pretty fair game on Pro. Still really enjoying the on the court action.

As far as Association I am going to hold off on continuing my current Magic career until College Hoops comes out. If the draft exports from college hoops are solid then I will probably start a new Association with a lower ranked team.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

i thought it was realistic, but yeah, i would've like to hear his reasoning. has 2 years left on his contract. i'm sure Kobe would've pulled the same stunt with me had i got the Lakers to agree on something.

Just out of curiousity, what would it had taken to make the McGrady deal?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Just out of curiousity, what would it had taken to make the McGrady deal?

McGrady and some scrub named Harris (not sure if he was game-generated or already on their real life roster) for Eddie Curry, Lamar Odom, my 2 1st round picks, Rockets would have sent some guy named Luther Head to a 3rd team (forgot who) for a 1st rounder. so essentially 3 1st round picks, Curry and Odom. what was holding this up was i was trying to land Shane Battier also cuz i want more defensive oriented guys on the team, but they wanted more in order to get them to move Battier. by the time i decided i was gonna give them whatever they wanted Battier was injured (injured players can't be traded) so it was either i wanted McGrady or not. too bad he mindfucked me.

Odom is in his last year of his deal and i don't know if i'll be allowed to resign him under the Larry Bird rule. Knicks are currently in 1st in our division so i basically will either try to go for it all (i haven't won a video game sports championship in 15 years) or move him at the trade deadline. no way i risk not being able to resign him if the Knicks fall out of contention.

this game is ultra awesome.

[JetsIn06]

Picked up this game two days ago and have been so addicted that I haven't been online in a while.

This is by far, one of the best sports games I've ever played. The funny thing is, I HATE basketball. I've never even watched more than 10 minutes of an NBA game. I do enjoy watching the the end of the NCAA tournament (I'll be picking that one up as well), but I would normally be the last person to consider playing an NBA game.

After reading this thread and some NBA2K8 dynasty threads, I decided to pick this one up.

The Association mode is rediculously fun. I love balancing out the player roles and setting their rotation. It makes it tough to put together a team of all stars, as you can really only have 5 starters or else they get mega-pissed off. I love how it effects their ratings heavily too, otherwise you could just ignore the team chemistry.

I'm playing on Pro with the Mavericks and am winning most of the games, but still losing a few to tough teams. I'm waiting till NCAA comes out to start my real association, but this is just a really, really fun game to play.

[Anthony]

i love this game, i just don't like how no one (on my team, least) cuts to the basket. i've never seen so many guys just stand around while one person handles the ball. i wish there was more movement. if there was, i wouldn't have to run any plays. as it is it's hard for me to play offense since it's one guy moving around with the ball and the other 4 standing around waiting for me to follow the in-game play diagram.

oh, and i was able to get the Lakers to agree to send me Kobe (i would have completely depleted my team), but as i guessed he declined to waive his no-trade clause. i still don't know the reason why they do it. happened twice already.

[Ironhead]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

i love this game, i just don't like how no one (on my team, least) cuts to the basket. i've never seen so many guys just stand around while one person handles the ball. i wish there was more movement. if there was, i wouldn't have to run any plays. as it is it's hard for me to play offense since it's one guy moving around with the ball and the other 4 standing around waiting for me to follow the in-game play diagram.

oh, and i was able to get the Lakers to agree to send me Kobe (i would have completely depleted my team), but as i guessed he declined to waive his no-trade clause. i still don't know the reason why they do it. happened twice already.

If you are getting irritated with players just standing around you can tell them to get open. On the default control setting it is the B button.

[Ironhead]

While waiting for College Hoops to come out I have finally got around to playing the game on Xbox Live. The 5 minute ranked games go by so much quicker than a full association game and can be a ton of fun against the right person.

Surprisingly after about 20 games the ratio of fun player to dickhead seems to be leaning in the right direction. That said expect to run into some random acts of asshattery - such as the person who quit the game before it started and then rated me as verbally abusive without me ever saying a word to him.

My gamertag is Ironhead34 if anyone wants to get a game in. Just be prepared to handle the mighty Boston Minnesota Timberwolves.

[Groundhog]

I played online last night for the first time on the PS3. I picked a random team (Bulls) against a guy who picked the Nets. For the whole duration of the game the guy didn't shoot with anybody except Vince Carter, except for a brief period where he sat on the bench.

Unfortunately, even with that being the case, I still lost.

[Groundhog]

Single player has been a blast. I've been playing with the Sixers and have moved Jason Smith in to the starting 5 because my PF Reggie Evans came down with an injury that will sideline him for 6 weeks.

With Jason Smith in the lineup I've discovered that my favourite play, the Motion Clear Out (1-4 High Set) gets another dimension added to it. I usually use the play to get Korver to run off the two baseline screens and try and get a good shot from the wing. If the shot wasn't there, I usually gave up on the play because the continuation of the play from that point gets the ball to the PF at the high post and then down low to the C, and on the Sixers that is Reggie Evans and Dalembert. So, yeah, not a high percentage play.

But with Jason Smith in the lineup I've been reversing the ball back to Smith at the high post, and usually his defender backs off him because he's a big, and I straight away fire up a J from about the FT. 3 times outta 5 he nails it.

I'm finally starting to string wins together on Pro as well, but still suffer the occasional blowout defeat. Last night I had my most satisfying victory yet when I blew out the full-strength Celtics 97-77. The Big 3 all struggled as Allen was 6-21 and never got an open look, Garnett was 5-15 and struggled with fouls, and Pierce was just 3-13. We, on the other hand, couldn't miss in the second half, and Louis Williams just killed it off the bench in the 3rd Q to give us the lead for good, with some great drives (and amazing animations for the finishing layups), and 3 break away slams.

Just an awesome, awesome game... I'm going to struggle to find the time to play both this and college hoops in the near future.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

I played online last night for the first time on the PS3. I picked a random team (Bulls) against a guy who picked the Nets. For the whole duration of the game the guy didn't shoot with anybody except Vince Carter, except for a brief period where he sat on the bench.

Unfortunately, even with that being the case, I still lost.

Couldn't you double team him or use a tatic to force him to switch off? That's a cheeser of a player.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Couldn't you double team him or use a tatic to force him to switch off? That's a cheeser of a player.

Yup, I tried to double teamed him constantly. The problem was that the guy knew how to play. He'd bring it up court with Kidd, get Vince open, and get him the ball and attack the basket before I was able to do much about it. He missed shots with Vince and turned it over a ton, but he was good enough on defense to stop me from scoring too much, and ended up winning by 4 or 5 points.

It wasn't nearly as bad as one cheeser I played in 2K7. He picked the Suns and shot a 3 with Nash literally every time down the court. I beat the guy quite soundly, but Nash ended up with 40 or 50 points - all on 3s. I didn't bother with the double team because he missed often enough and I had no difficulty scoring on the guy.

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Single player has been a blast. I've been playing with the Sixers and have moved Jason Smith in to the starting 5 because my PF Reggie Evans came down with an injury that will sideline him for 6 weeks.

With Jason Smith in the lineup I've discovered that my favourite play, the Motion Clear Out (1-4 High Set) gets another dimension added to it. I usually use the play to get Korver to run off the two baseline screens and try and get a good shot from the wing. If the shot wasn't there, I usually gave up on the play because the continuation of the play from that point gets the ball to the PF at the high post and then down low to the C, and on the Sixers that is Reggie Evans and Dalembert. So, yeah, not a high percentage play.

But with Jason Smith in the lineup I've been reversing the ball back to Smith at the high post, and usually his defender backs off him because he's a big, and I straight away fire up a J from about the FT. 3 times outta 5 he nails it.

I'm finally starting to string wins together on Pro as well, but still suffer the occasional blowout defeat. Last night I had my most satisfying victory yet when I blew out the full-strength Celtics 97-77. The Big 3 all struggled as Allen was 6-21 and never got an open look, Garnett was 5-15 and struggled with fouls, and Pierce was just 3-13. We, on the other hand, couldn't miss in the second half, and Louis Williams just killed it off the bench in the 3rd Q to give us the lead for good, with some great drives (and amazing animations for the finishing layups), and 3 break away slams.

Just an awesome, awesome game... I'm going to struggle to find the time to play both this and college hoops in the near future.

That's funny, I blew out the Celtics as well. I was playing as the Mavericks though, so it's a bit different, but I expected it to be a close game... those three guys played terrible.

Just as a heads up for anyone looking to pick this up....word on the street is you can get this at target for $30 on Black Friday.

[korme]

Ok. Just got this for the PS3. Anyone want to quickly let me know which sliders I ought to adjust?