NBA 2K14 Impressions, Videos and Q&A From the Vegas EXPO (JasonWilliams55)

[JasonWilliams55]

On occasion, we tag Forum posts for the homepage at OS. This NBA 2K14 impressions, videos and Q&A thread is a prime example. See below to read JasonWilliams55 impressions, then continue into the comments for Q&A from him, as well as Lid, based off of their hands-on at the Vegas EXPO.

Sup y'all?

Let me start with some background then I'll dive into the questions from my original Vegas thread.

So I arrived at the EXPO with the other billions of people and finally made it over to the 2K booth were they had 8 stations setup with 2K14, all first quarter 6 minutes long and only Spurs v Heat, you could switch between teams though. The build itself was extremely basic, no PnR action, no Playcalling, broadcast cam, pro settings.

So I get there at 11am, play until 1230-1'ish when Ronnie and LD2K arrived, so I stopped playing (somewhat) and talked to them for the most part until PG arrived (115ish until 230ish iirc) PG thoroughly whipped Ronnie. After PG left, Ronnie was floating around the booth, LD2K was sitting in a chair where Lids (OS) and I had surrounded him and was picking his brain and just general chatting about all things 2K/NBA, future of, visions, etc... Very enlightening talk, Chris and Ronnie are both standup peeps, very down to earth (as Lids said), they believe in the product (not just business belief either) but truly want the best basketball sim (yes SIM) possible, but alas they are not the makers nor the directors. They both want to be as transparent as possible but they still have strings attached (so to speak) to them. Don't look into the 'strings' part, its the best wording I can think of this morning.

So back to the chatting, from 230 - 4ish it was LD2K (Chris), Lids and I, straight up, no one else. At 4-415ish, they had to get ready to leave, and so, by the graces of all things 2K, Lids and I were both invited to come hang while they spent their free time before having to leave for PAX (oh yeah, some info will be dropped there, so be ready for that). So from 415ish until 715, I was able to talk to Ronnie and Chris (unfiltered) (Lids had to bounce for a bit but made it back around 7) so it was literally Ronnie, Chris and me for roughly 3 hours. Alot of things were discussed, some I can talk about some I can't, so much intertwined that I feel for how the Czar has to choose his words when he posts.

On that 3 hours... we talked/discussed current gen, next gen, future of both, marketing for both, gameplay ideas, whats doable, what not, etc etc etc... but let me get straight to next gen since its very easy to talk about. I got no info on it, they would not discuss it, period, but, let me say, they were bursting at the seams wanting to talk about it, more so than a 300lb man at an all you can eat.

They were honestly giddy about next gen and what its gonna do, but at the same time they had that childish fever about it, they also didn't want to dismiss want current gen has to offer.

Man, there is a lot I want to say, but just can't quite say outright and will wait until after some more official things are said.

Current Gen (CG)

CG is the culmination of 2k11 - 2k13, the best of each one mashed together, ironed out, tuned and balanced on both sides of the ball. Even with the lame demo build that was there, it was smoother, cleaner and more polished feeling than 13, yes that noticeable even on the demo build.

The build Ronnie and PG played on, made the demo feel a year old, it was 10x smoother/cleaner than the demo build. It was played on PS3 throughout the EXPO, with no noticeable jaggies anywhere, that is how smooth it looked. I was surprised by that, since the PS3 versions have always had that noticeable lack of graphical quality than the Xbox versions, that was no longer apparent. But I also did not get to see a Xbox version either, so take that for what it is. Just know that 14 is not a 10x increase on graphics (they are maxed out of memory on CG) but it is cleaner and more polished looking.

Graphic wise I guess one COULD say 14 is NBA2K13.5, but I wouldn't worry about that aspect, 14 gameplay wise is >>>> 13.

So while 14 might look like 13, it definitely does not play like it.

Not gonna get into details quite yet, but will when I go through and answer the questions, that's where you'll find the meat and potatoes. And at the end of the q/a section, I will leave y'all with one MAJOR TEASE. Yes... yes... hate me now.

[JasonWilliams55]

Live ball? (passing in paint, up n unders, steals, strips on dunks/lays) Yes and no for live ball, its noticeable in certain situation types. For example; driving, you can no longer dribble drive your way around the court and get what we are used to. The ball with contact will fall to the side, meaning that if you crowd a driver with 2-3 guys more than likely that ball is gonna be on the floor.

Hand coordination/contact with the ball is way better, during post moves or in traffic I had the ball poked/stripped by the CPU numerous times. The CPU will be tough this year, especially with the new 'learning AI', in the build it was not full on, but you could see it even being a stripped out learning AI. From what I am to believe is that the CPU will learn and counter your tendencies if you're beating them with a certain strategy/move/spot on the floor/player. I specifically asked if it was tied to the VIP profiles and it is. So the CPU will know what you do, where you do it, then calculate out what are the possible choices you will make and then calculate what its best strategy is to counter those possilbe choices and then selects one and goes with it.

Points in Paint? (Contact on drives, lays, dunks, collisions mid-air) As I said in my quick impressions last night, SOLID. The game feels SOLID, and by that I mean, weight, I mean, contact, I mean, you cannot go thru the D with ease, you will have to fight off the contact, have to fight the bounces, have to fight for position. YES the defense can push back, but at the same time, you can push off on offense (not just that shoulder lean in animation out of triple threat) I mean off the drive, you can forearm shove (not sure if its contextual or controllable) more than likely its gonna be controllable/contextual meaning that when a riding animation starts, (LD2K made it sound controllable but it has to be in the right circumstances, so to me a combo control/context) if you push for the step back jumper/dribble move you will see the forearm come out and extend giving that separation and even with that, the defense has a counter for that, to flop and draw the offensive charge foul call. So there are definitely levels upon levels of strategy in the gameplay. As said, 11, 12 and 13, mashed, re-tuned and balanced out.

(Think back to 11, when we had that defensive ride out animation where you could get the charge call and extend out that strategy aspect two more levels). So no longer is the offensive player locked into that rideout and no longer can the defensive player force the charge, now, you can fall back and try and get the call, you can break out the rideout on offense with the push off.

Rebounding, Offensive? (Superman jumps) Rebounding felt alright, there were a few instances where the offensive player skied for the Oreb. But really I didn't notice too much of a difference in this aspect. Don't expect a huge change, hopefully thru ratings it will be better, as in 13, I didnt think it was that huge of an issue (in general, now maybe certain modes it may be worse, myplayer?).

Blocks (Spikes to the rafters, sounds, over/under powered, feel) I saw a few blocks, nothing at the rim as it wasn't easy to get there. I saw one block that went to the bench (LBJ on Parker iirc), but you could see the tracking system, you could see the defensive players hand going at the ball and not just swinging wildly in the air. I did have one nice goaltend (I thought otherwise) but Bosh pinned a lay from Bellineli.

Signature walk ups animations? Are they In? (those animations that plays when PG or SF bring the ball to the other side) Signature as in each individual (or certain individuals) having their own animations? Not sure... with only having the Heat/Spurs, its hard to say. As for the Heat/Spurs, there are now more walk up animations, Norris Cole has his little ball to the side skip, (AND YES HIS FLAT TOP LOOKS AWESOME, SO DOES HIS FACE, and YES SHUMPERT HAS HIS TOO). I dont want to say sig animations but there are definitely more types of walk ups even with just the Heat/Spurs.

Game speed definitely feels a tad bit slower than 13, which IMO is AWESOME as that is one of the things I did with my slider set. So it feels much more weighted and that makes the look and feel, feel realistic.

Speed between players is noticeable, by that I mean, Parker, is fast as ****. Quite a few times while guarding him 1-1 with Chalmers, I got blown by just purely by his speed off the dribble, and by the time you react, he is in the paint and starting the layup animation, and let me say, those new animations are FREAKING NICE.

Signature dribbling animations? Are they in? Not that I could tell, could be build, I just dunno, I did forget to ask this question tho. BOOO MYSELF.

Will player jumpshot be contextual to the game situation? YES and NO, it felt like the right animation would play out (contextual) but I also felt that if I wanted to do something that shouldn't happen (realistically) I could still do it.

For example; Say I'm driving right wing to baseline, I could get a drifter if I just went with LS towards baseline with RS towards baseline. But if I took LS went back towards 3pt line I would either get a step back or a spin jumper (so contextual in that sense), but I could also manually pull off the spin jumper by rotating the RS (controllable).

I did not have any problems with the way the game chose the jumper types in context to gameplay at all, while still maintaining user controllability (is this even a word?).

Player Introduction with the PA? Will be back for 2k14? Not in the build. So I will RED the Q out and do that for further questions that I cannot answer (either cause I don't know or can't say due to w/e reason)

General presentation: will look like a broadcast or still Jay-Z style? JayZ presence is no longer there. The color scheme seems to be Silver/Blueish. All I got to see was a wipe and the basic menu. But the gold speakers and flashy lights, swirls are gone.

Calling plays? Any changes? Yes but it was not playable in the build. But L1 tap will call best play, L1 hold will bring up play types, L1 press again after hold will go to another option. (All I can say, but info is forthcoming)

Play execution? How does guard uses the screens, movement around screens, defense reaction? What about changing defense from man-to-man to zone, does change break the play? We brought this cheat up, man zone man ish, Chris had not heard about it, but from what he was saying with the defensive changes this year, is that, if someone did this on 14, it would cause the defensive players to lose all ability to guard anyone and so it wouldnt break the offense but the defense.

Play execution? No plays, the CPU did run some, and they looked smooth. On one of the videos you' see the CPU run Wade from the baseline up to the elbow for a handoff (horns set) get the ball continue across court to the other elbow take the screen, turn the corner and find LBJ on a back cut, it was nice and smooth. Looked hella realistic, and I recall seeing MIA do this exact play this exact way during the playoffs against Indiana iirc.

Pick and fade play? Does teammate fade properly out of screen?

Play branching? Is it possibile to execute hand-offs? For example: play High Iso (High Post) where PF comes on the top of the key and receive the ball from ballhandler. The ballhandler then curbs around PF and uses PF's body to loose his matchup. Do the play break/finish, when PF receives the ball? Handoffs are in, I couldnt get one to work cause I had no plays, but I seen the CPU do it, so I dunno if its gonna be in, I was told that you can tho.

Initiating steals; is it as hard as last year or easier and does it seem balanced? You can steal, granted it was on Pro, but it felt much more balanced. I was able to body the offensive player and poke around causing unwarranted dribbles from TP, Manu, etc

Video of blocked dunk. I only seen a few dunks while I was playing... no blocked dunks tho, I did make sure to ask if you can specifically block standing dunks and the answer was an emphatic YES.

How is the post offense? Has it been improved and does it feel more varied than last year? Felt similar. Seen a few new animations down there. Alot more contact, I mean alot. As said, think SOLID, think defense has the same ability the offense has in creating the outcome.

Up n Unders - toned down, you can still pull them off, but now if the defender is there, a contact animation happens, and the shot looks hella contested. Even seen players collide and fall from the lean the offensive player took to get the shot up.

Mid-Air collisions, unfortunately I did not see any, and that is cause I rarely got to see a player with an open lane, the defense is back (and I mean its back all around the court). Player speed differential comes into effect here, when a lane did open up, the CPU was quick to take advantage and got to the rim fast. I was also able to make use of openings in the defense to get to the rim, fast enough to where bigs (who were out of position/ out of the paint) could not make it back in time to contest properly).

Offensive fouls? (1. Are charges called? 2. Can you take a charge while in hands up animation. 3. Do you have to hold draw charge button to draw charge?) 1. Cant say, not enough time w/ game. Plus pro settings, probably casual sliders so fouls woulda been on 50. 2. Didn't try, hands up is now RS away from defender, RS towards is the new one hand up defensive animation and you can move around in that stance, and switch stances (l/r). 3. Hold.

Defensive fouls? (1. Do they call fouls when defensive players closeout and jump into shooters while they are shooting or just finished shooting? 2. Can you prevent a dunk or layup by aggressive block fouling?) 1. YES YES YES, can do it on command too, if you run out and press Y you will jump (that long jump out animation) and if you hit the offensive player (whether they are dribbling or shooting) you will collide, and will be called a blocking foul. 2. You can stop a dunk by just standing in the way... I had a fastbreak one time, LBJ with TP back on defense, but his back was turned away, I went beast mode (RT + RS at TP, not even the rim ... LOL) and LBJ went up and in mid air, he hit TP (back still turned, on the ground and turning to contest) and they both fell over and LBJ tried to throw up some wild shot. But I also had another instance where I powered up on Kawhi with LBJ and the resulting contact animation was beautiful, Kawhi took LBJs weight and he leaned back and LBJ extended out to finish the dunk. Looked real good and didnt feel like I pushed Kawhi out the way, Kawhi definitely stayed where he was, he just leaned back w/ the upper body.

Standing dunk blocked pls

Setting offball screens breaks plays?

I just want to know how responsive the dribble stick is and how smooth a transition is when taking a shot. Can you provide a detailed take on how you feel about the new control scheme with the pro stick, and how it feels compared to 2k13 controls? Controls fell real good, took me a few quarters to stop pressing LT when going at the rim, which resulted in some funny looking flashy passes (that somehow still connected) which I brought up and was assured that 'that' was not possible and that it was due to the build.

Taps for dribbling is nice, it makes it quick, I mean, you can go, tap left, tap right, tap right, hold right and get cross left, cross right, hezi into a pull. Smooth, no, herk and jerk feelings. Very intuitive, seriously, I thought that wording was kinda gimmicky, but it really is pick up and go, I am no ISOmotion master anyway, but there are some nice moves that can be pulled off.

Are there still a ton of missed dunks? I did see one missed dunk, kinda contested, not by a jumping defender, but a grounded defender with both hands up which forced the offensive player to extend out to try and finish, which was missed. But as said, there wasn't alot of dunking.

Can you do some tests to see how the CPU responds to players getting hot? Say like Knicks vs a Nuggets go like two quarters trying to go off with Melo. Want to see what the new adaptive AI is doing.

Can you detail if any new settings exist for defensive adjustments

Can you pick any of these 3 teams and see if it is a struggle to score (Pacers, Chicago, Memphis) You should be able to lock players down with these teams. As said, defense is solid feeling.

In the ratings are there any new attributes or individual ratings.

**NOW FOR THE TEASE**

--------------------------------------------------------
WHAT IF I TOLD YOU THERE WAS A MODE THAT WILL MAKE YOU FORGET ABOUT MYPLAYER + CREW? SO MINDSHATTERING THAT THOSE MODES WOULD DROP OFF THE MAP (so to speak).

--------------------------------------------------------

[JasonWilliams55]

FIRST VIDEO, RANDOM GUY, THE FIRST GAME I SAW HIM PLAY IT WAS SEMI REALISTIC COMPARED TO EVERYONE ELSE THERE (AT THE TIME), COOL CAT, YOU CAN SEE THAT HE WAS STILL TESTING CONTROLS OUT AT THE BEGINNING, THIS IS ALSO THE VID WHERE I GET SQUASHED BY 2K FOR FILMING. IVE EDITED THAT LAST 5 SECONDS OUT.



WILL UPDATE THIS POST WITH THE 2ND VID WHEN ITS READY, THIS VID IS OF OS USER LIDS PLAYING AS THE SPURS AGAINST THE HEAT.

[Goffs]

Great read! I hope this gamespot expo is a yearly thing so I can get some nice write ups from you JWill!

[JasonWilliams55]

Some questions updated.

What I will do, is update questions with answers and then post a new post in this thread to bump the thread notifying everyone that the OP has been updated.

[Seidowskyy]

thanks man

good insights

[Optik]

[the_future420]

Excellent insight man, looking forward to more!