NBA Live 14 Is Barely Updating Its Players

[blackceasar]

Quote: Originally Posted by King_B_Mack

Can't vibe with you on this man. The devs are not lazy or lacking of work ethic. I don't believe that. I think that these guys are talented, they do have a passion for what they're doing and they do want to make a good basketball game. The problem I think is that they're also full of ego, arrogance and a certain level of stubborness. Over the summer just like every other team at EA since Live 10 and like the team's on Madden, these guys were talking about being up for the challenge of saving/changing the franchises and they understood people being skeptical and so on. Then as soon as the first sign of criticism comes their way they're making excuses and getting upset and blaming review sites and calling people that didn't buy the game "non-hardcore" basketball fans and all this stuff. Every opportunity they've gotten they've made it about us not knowing how to play their game or not playing their game the way they envisioned the game to be played as opposed to making the game the fans have wanted. That to me screams ego and pride more than a lack of work ethic or vision. They know the game they want to make, the problem is it's really not the same game that it should be.

I would have to partially agree with you on this. I think you have to look deeper at the dev team on games. Every video game either should tell a great story than invokes emotion with the gamer OR it captures the true to life essence of what it's trying to replicate. Depending on the title, your criteria and bar is either one of these, and for some titles it's both.

Since we are talking about a sports title though, the later of the two is the most important thing. CAPTURING THE TRUE TO LIFE ESSENCE OF WHAT IT"S TRYING TO REPLICATE. In this case, it's NBA Basketball...and Live fails hard... true some of it more EGO than a lack of work ethic... but when I say look deeper what I mean is... you could have a team full of super talented coders, animators, artists, etc.. but if THEY truly do not understand the sport they are supposed to be replicating, they will always fail no matter how many hours they put in and no matter how great of a coder these guys are.

If you were to post an EA job description for the Live team it currently would read something like this: EA Sports is looking for talented coders and artists and animators to work on the upcoming Live 14 title.

What EA's job posting SHOULD say is... : EA Sports is currently looking for talented coders, artists and animators who TRULY have a passion and love and understanding of NBA basketball to come and work on the upcoming Live 14 title.

See the difference there? You could be awesome at your actual job function, but if you don't have a just as awesome understanding of the subject matter at which you are pumping out MIT grad worthy code, etc then it doesn't really matter.

I cant help but feel that there are too many people at EA Sports on that Live team that are coders, artists and animators that just HAPPEN to be working on the Live team, and that my friends is not the same as being a coder, animator, or artist that was hand picked to work on Live because they eat sleep and breathe the sport in which they are trying to replicate in a video game. This is the reason why Live 14 is a steaming pile of poop with a Kyrie Irving jersey sitting on top to mask the smell (poor Kyrie).

But with all of that I just said, you are right that it is EGO as well.. and the EGO comes into play that their ego is become to big for them to admit or understand that you cant just throw great devs on Live.. you need the RIGHT devs on live...but who are we to tell them what to do? They are EA Sports.. they can write a check big enough to just eliminate the need to evolve if a sports oragnization's license was up for grabs.

[thatdudetoo]

I agree with the vast majority of that post. Great points being made there. I think at some point even if you have people who don't cme in as basketball fans during the course of development you would think they would get to love the sport and learn more about it to replicate it. If you see someone just not giving a damn then it might be prudent to put them on another project

BUT, when we get to this I can't back you on this man.

Quote: Originally Posted by blackceasar

This is the reason why Live 14 is a steaming pile of poop with a Kyrie Irving jersey sitting on top to mask the smell (poor Kyrie).

Live 14 is hardly a steaming pile of poop. There have been plenty of games that have earned that title with no resistance but this ain't one. Does it have GLARING issues that need to be addressed? Most certainly. But poop I have to disagree.

I still have alot of fun with this game in my franchise. Am I irate that the online multiplayer is trash. You bet. Am I irate that the baseline camera is a FPS joke? Indeed. But the fact that games don't feel pre-determined to me alone makes this game far from poop like other games feel.

[The 24th Letter]

It may not be poop', but the CPU falling on its sword in the 4th quarter smells pretty damn bad, lol


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[DIRK41NOWITZKI]

Played the Lebron live season mode challenge and he did not have his mask on. Disappointing....


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[Eddie1967]

Quote: Originally Posted by thatdudetoo

I've been reading through the threads here and really can't argue for or against any opinions here except the extremes of "it's unplayable" and "the game is the best game on planet". But the part highlighted above kinda doesn't make sense. I don't understand that argument at all. Live's devs are lazy because they didn't update their rosters yet the other devs aren't lazy because they didn't update their rosters but somebody else did? That selection implies that the other game's roster update wasn't all that great either but users made it better, ie making up for the devs "laziness". Just an observation.

You interpreted that wrong, the other game definitely updates its rosters after trades and injuries, what he was saying was that unlike EA, 2k provides USERS the OPTION to edit rosters to make them even more enjoyable.

[tbook24]

its amazing how one post enacted change by EA. The rosters seem to be updating daily now minus little details like the lebron mask but thats not important to me. i just like having the roster changes. it may not be perfection but it is definitly a step forward. i think live 15 with be a much better product. still i'm not dissappointed in this year anymore i like the lighting changes and the rising star mode has me hooked

[jyoung]

Quote: Originally Posted by DIRK41NOWITZKI

Played the Lebron live season mode challenge and he did not have his mask on. Disappointing....

Better late than never:

Spoiler

[jyoung]

It also looks like EA posted a press release yesterday explaining the differences between their Synergy updates and their roster updates:

http://www.easports.com/nba-live/new...osters-march-7

Quote: Originally Posted by EA

SYNERGY SPORTS VS. RATINGS UPDATES We also understand that there has been some confusion around Synergy Sports updates and how it relates to ratings. The important thing to know is that while Synergy Sports contributes to player tendencies and AI – as well as driving our LIVE Season challenges – roster updates are still manually done by our development team. We do, and will continue to, use Synergy Sports to inform all of our ratings decisions and input, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle. Think of the player ratings as a modifier to all of the Synergy Sports data that’s coming down the pipe in real time. HOW SYNERGY SPORTS WORKS Now, let’s dive into how Synergy Sports actually works and what’s being updated immediately after each NBA contest. Synergy Sports automatically updates player tendencies, which directly affects gameplay, so players on the virtual court behave as realistically as possible. For example, Synergy Sports sets the shooting percentages for distances for each player, which are then modified by the player rating. Additionally, every frame, it uses the tendency updates to help the player evaluate what direction they want to drive, what shoulder they shoot over and more. As mentioned before, this evaluation is constant, using the data updated within an hour of a game’s completion. This is just a small sample of all that Synergy Sports drives for individual players. Synergy Sports also powers our LIVE Season mode, both NBA Rewind and BIG Moments. After each game, Synergy Sports pulls data on some of the best performances, which we then review and feed into the challenges. This is a bit of a hybrid manual/automated process, as we want to make sure the challenges offered are entertaining and fun for players. Between the challenges, and the tendency data, Synergy Sports has allowed us to make over 13,000 updates and 1,300 challenges during the first half of the NBA season, and we won’t be slowing down. The process is only getting faster and more efficient as we work with it, and we’re completely committed to offering fans the most accurate reflection of the NBA possible. We will continue to support NBA LIVE 14 and are working hard to finish the season strong. Work on the next game is already well underway and we’re happy with the progress thus far, but it is important to us that we balance our resources to continue to improve your NBA LIVE 14 experience through updates that will keep the game that’s already in your hands relevant. Thank you for your continued support, and enjoy all of the changes you just received today!