Chris' Blog: Playing the blame game with NBA Elite 11

[IV THA UNITY]

But on topic I blame The Lead Gameplay designer because it seems they went into development thinking Controls and physics then tacking on the other stuff later.

[rickmitchell22]

i guess I was naive, but I thought that Elite would at least be an improvement on NBA Live 10. Insted it seems like they are building from scratch and therefore it will be a few years before it has a chance at competing with 2k, similar to Live's firs t few years on next gen

[Self313]

Quote: Originally Posted by Eski33

I think the developers are going the right way with the controls. 2K's has a scroll with all of the buttons you have to push (i.e. a layup is X, X, A, B, RS, RS, LS, RS3, R1, L1, L2)...It's like trying to get fatality in Mortal Kombat.

on the other game a lay up is done by simply moving the right analog to the side you wish to finish on... left for left handed lay ins, right for right hand, back for floaters, up for simple finishes

its honestly easier than Elite by far...

[CJBEeZy]

Elite is a BAD game period! If u cant see that, u might wanna stop by your local eye doctor. Ive noticed that everyone who tries to defend it all say the samething "the Controls are great" as if "Gamplay and Graphics" dont matter. What really "grinds my gears" is the way they buttered us up with the Elite demo trailer,adding all these features "asking us is it too much for a demo" than we get the demo only to be Dissappointed. Live 10 demo/game is way better than this mistake Nba Elite 11, even Ray Charles could see that. $60 to play NBA Jams Lol i think not...

[blues rocker]

EA is going to be kicking themselves for driving Mike Wang away...they had the key person to make a successful game and they let him get away.

Their HUGE mistake was in thinking that Live 10's poor sales were because of the game itself...WRONG, EA. The game itself was good and was a huge step in the right direction, and it's scores were good as well...on par with 2k 10's scores.

The reason no one bought Live 10 was because the NBA Live brand name and reputation had already been too damaged by consecutive years of bad releases...EA blamed the current game, when they should've been blaming previous Live's for destroying the Live brand name. The current game (which was good) got lumped in with the previous games (which were bad).

There was really no way to solve this problem other than time...put out a good game for 2-3 years in a row and win people back slowly over time. once the public sees your product as inferior, you can't fix that in one year...it's going to take at least 3-4 consecutive years of stellar releases to win everyone back. Letting Mike Wang go certainly wasn't the solution...the only way they were going to fix their sales was to keep Mike Wang and let him do his thing for 3-4 years and build an amazing game the right way...then maybe after a few years and a 90+ Metacritic score, people would buy the game again.

[Tomba]

Chris i commend you. great blog/article. Too the point and something i really hope is seen.
You touched on alot of things and it is clear now that the sadness that is elite is real.
you've also restored my faith in OperationSports because I thought this would never be brought up.
if you report the good you have to also report the not so good. thank you Chris!

[Blak_Baki_Hanma]

Quote: Originally Posted by cuzzo

never heard a ea dev say this is gonna be the best gamr ever. my question for chris is why is 2k even making a game after this year. if its so good bet me 2k will never release a patch for there game also they will not need to make a 2k12,13,14,15,16,17,18 because it REAL basketball n 2k11 is perfect. i wish ea would give chris his wish (cause it matters to the stock holders) n not make a game for 3yrs until he ok's it's ready. stop chasing tornados n go work for ea n show them how it's suppose to be done. i'll bet anyone chris will not say anything about how bad 2k servers have been since next-gen came out. if 2k sells 5 mil. copies n elite sells 2mil. copies does that mean ea should stop giving us a choice? and if you want a REAL nba game tryout for the thunder. all this complaining reminds me of someone. adam's rib maybe? just keep wishing my friend and soon 2k will be the only game to buy. sounds alot like madden.

Even if EA doesn't make another hoops title, it will have no impact on the quality of NBA 2k... THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN COMPETITORS.

Live is rated E... 2K is rated M

The demographics don't even understand one another... hence the vitriol.

2K isn't hyper-realistic because of ANY pressure from EA sports
EA isn't actively trying to recreate Double Dribble because of ANY pressue from 2K.
Their respective targets are COMPLETELY different.

Those with no affinity for authenticity and get pleasure from casually breaking ankles and fantasy dunking have a game to play.

Those who, above all, want to recreate the NBA experience also have a game to play.

2K isn't taking customers away from NBA Live... NBA Jams is (because it's the same game as NBA Elite... just 2 on 2)... and that's fine with EA because the money stays home.
rEAnimator said it himself, "the goal is 70% ARCADE / 30% SIM"... and the 30% is just the NBA license so gamers can have familiarity with the teams/rosters.
So if we would all just LISTEN (including me), we would understand that EA has never had any intention of competing in the SIM market... they have their niche.

[oOausarOo]

It's a tough time for EA and NBA gaming, but the truth must be told so they can learn from it and move forward.