Mike Wang Returns to 2K Sports: NBA 2K Series (ESPN)

[videobastard]

I hope mike brings back the dribble system of live to the 2k series... 2k badly needs it.

[CX1329]

I think it was made pretty clear that Live will try to reinvent the wheel again. I don't think they will go arcade, I believe they will try and stay sim, but they will most likely attempt to innovate when said innovation isn't necessary. It's one of NBA Live's problems, in that they always try to revolutionize the series as opposed to establishing a solid groundwork and building upon it.

[DaveDQ]

This thread is beginning to prove that some have zero interest in there being two or more competitive sports games. We can give a good talk about how exclusive licenses ruin the industry and that it's only better when you have multiple representations of the sport in a game. However, the reality is most want "their" game to win.

I don't know why really, but some are so jaded by things that I think they literally get mad and can't celebrate the success and efforts of the product that is not "their" game.

[rspencer86]

Quote: Originally Posted by DaveDQ

This thread is beginning to prove that some have zero interest in there being two or more competitive sports games. We can give a good talk about how exclusive licenses ruin the industry and that it's only better when you have multiple representations of the sport in a game. However, the reality is most want "their" game to win. I don't know why really, but some are so jaded by things that I think they literally get mad and can't celebrate the success and efforts of the product that is not "their" game.

Agreed. This is really a good news/bad news situation because although I believe this reunion of the 2K7/8 development team could potentially produce an outstanding game, if NBA Live falls off the map we would lose that competitive force that will push the 2K team to keep making a solid product.

Someone posted that the comparison between 2K and Live is now like a muscle car and a hybrid. Using that analogy, wouldn't the dude driving the muscle car look in his rearview and see the Prius just barely getting off the line when he is already halfway home and decide to ease off the pedal and coast to victory?

It's just human nature to let your guard down and take it a bit easy when there isn't competitive pressure. Ultimately, that's bad for us gamers, no matter which game is the top dog.

[23]

spense, while I understand what you're saying, its all EA's fault for not being competetive. Im all for having the most basketball I can have, period.

Hate to say it but EA doesnt seem to be driven by competition either. I really dont know what they're doing.

If its anything like my company, corporate decisions almost never make sense, and they never seem to to be made off of whats really needed. All of the red tape you have to go through makes it not only difficult but takes an extra long time to get anything done. Corporate processes sucks hard, but whats turning me off is the look of no stability.

Change is good but not when you are constantly changing things on top of changing things.

[Gotmadskillzson]

EA isn't going to stop making NBA games, they have way too much money to burn. They can sell 600K copies a year and they won't care. They can afford it being that EA doesn't rely on their sports division as nearly as hard as they use to back in the 90s. People forget EA publishes Dragion Age and the Mass Effect series, both million copies sellers.

That being said, it will always be competition in NBA games. Don't matter how arcadey Live gets or whatever direction it goes, Live will always be around.

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by videobastard

I hope mike brings back the dribble system of live to the 2k series... 2k badly needs it.

"Brings back" the dribble system of Live...? When did 2K ever have the system Live had in place? And why would 2K want to make their game more like Live when they've clearly established their [methods overall] are preferred? There are reasons 2K's been able to extend itself as the dominant basketball game and it's not all because of Live's "incompentence". If that's in fact what people are blaming the disparity on.

I'm happy to have Mike Wang back and all, but I don't think it's realistic to expect some best of both worlds/now I expect perfection scenario from 2K/VC. It seems what's going on w/some now is what I see in the Madden forum - people wanting to place a product's success/failure solely on one individual. With Madden, David Ortiz was supposed the be the cause of all of Madden's ills, and Ian Cummings it's savior. Despite the fact by Ian's own admission he was integral to the development of Maddens '08 & '09. Still you had people going off w/the "Ian is god" and "I'm going to name my first born after Ian" posts. And the sad thing is the game still hasn't put to rest talk of NFL2K5/2K8/last gen Madden lol. But that's a whole 'nother story.

A year ago some here were predicting 2K was going to fold without Mike Wang's guidance. They didn't. Seems the same people are now predicting Live going into some sort of tailspin without him. Again, doubt it. And this is coming from a person that's not a fan of Live. I think Synergy was probably Live's biggest innovation of the past few years, and that's something the Live devs were working on before Beluba joined their team. Or at least I don't recall him being solely responsibly for it's implementation. I could be wrong though. Either way, last year was "There's no way 2K can do anything to match what Live's doing w/Synergy; with Mike Wang's involvement it means Live will be back on top" blah blah blah. Without Mike Wang, 2K/VC developed a system of tendencies that showed itself to be definitively better in it's first year than what Synergy was in it's second year of implementation. Just think back to last year; there were all types of Synergy talk on this forum. This year we haven't heard a peep. While I like the discussions Beluba's move is generating, it needs to be kept in perspective.

[DaReapa]

Considering the poor offerings of the last two bball outings, this is a great move for 2K Sports. I haven't fully enjoyed 2K Sports basketball since CH 2K8/NBA 2K8, which was probably Wang's last work before leaving the company.