Could NBA 2K16 be Implementing College Hoops?

[janmagn]

Quote: Originally Posted by BA2929

I have a feeling this isn't going to have any gameplay involved with the colleges and it'll just be the game referencing where you went to school more in the cutscenes. Right now you pick your school and that's it. The game never references it again outside of the draft cutscene. It'd fit in well with having Clark Kellogg as an analyst too, since he basically only does college games anymore. --- However, I would love to see a small NCAA tournament though, similar to what they had back in NCAA Football when you played the high school football playoffs. For example, the mode starts with your team in the Sweet 16 automatically (They could get around this by calling it something else, if they don't want to get NCAA licensing). You're the star and each game you have to matchup with a guy from this coming draft. You play the 4 games and each game your stock rises in the NBA Draft. If you lose, which is possible, you have to do well in the draft combine. I guess the "combine" would just basically a few scrimmages against other draft people as I think Mini-games to decide overalls in sports games are lazy. Plus I just want to play the game. The "Combine" would be sort of the same thing as the Rising Stars game, but that game is old and tired and needs to go away. They could throw in some NBATV graphics for this. They could also implement this in the Euroleague side too, just swapping out the teams and saying you went to Europe out of High school. They already have the teams and the players, so I wouldn't think it'd be too difficult to have a fake Euroleague playoffs system in place. You could go a lot of ways with the story doing something like this as well. Like agents trying to get to you in cut scenes, random dudes trying to be your friend to get cash from you when you "make it", etc.

Why fake playoff system? Thet have the Euroleague license, which should cover it as well

[iTofu]

Honestly, I'd rather have the option to go to Euroleague or China than go to College. I always wondered why more players didn't do that. Get that cash now!!! Especially given how you never know how small your window is for being lucrative in basketball. I suppose Jennings and Mudiay may have been drafted higher if they had been in the NCAA.

Then get drafted by the 76ers and stay there for a while, so the Sixers can continue being a terrible team acquiring draft picks and assets... lolol Joking about that part.

[Pokes404]

Quote: Originally Posted by iTofu

Honestly, I'd rather have the option to go to Euroleague or China than go to College. I always wondered why more players didn't do that. Get that cash now!!! Especially given how you never know how small your window is for being lucrative in basketball. I suppose Jennings and Mudiay may have been drafted higher if they had been in the NCAA. Then get drafted by the 76ers and stay there for a while, so the Sixers can continue being a terrible team acquiring draft picks and assets... lolol Joking about that part.

Simply picking up and moving to an entirely different country isn't a quick and easy process. You're moving far away from family, you're completely on your own in a foreign culture, and you're playing against professionals in their 30s instead of other 20 year old kids. It's already a big enough jump from high school to college ball, it's even tougher in the Euroleague. You might get buried in the rotation overseas instead of getting to be the main guy on a college campus.

Meanwhile, you could stay in the states, remain close(r) to friends/family, go to school for free, make a name for yourself by being on TV in the US all the time, make it easier on NBA team scouts/executives to come watch you play (Marcus Smart and Markel Brown played at Oklahoma State and there was someone from the Thunder at nearly every game, including Durant a few times), and if you're really good, it's only for a year or two.

Euroleague is definitely a viable option for some people, but there's a little more to that decision than just play for free vs get paid to play.

[BA2929]

Quote: Originally Posted by janmagn

Why fake playoff system? They have the Euroleague license, which should cover it as well

I was thinking they'd just skin the Euroleague over the NCAA portion of the game to make it easier on them. Since the Euroleague doesn't have an NCAA Style tournament and all.

I suppose they could just rig the Euroleague side of it so you only play the Euroleague finals. Wouldn't be that difficult I suppose.

To be honest, I really didn't put much effort or thought into that portion of the post. I'm actually surprised anyone read it lol

[ScoobySnax]

It'd be nice if they just gave us a game full of John Doe's and let us edit the rosters afterwards. That should alleviate all of the "player likeness" issues, but maybe it's not that simple.

[Junior Moe]

Quote: Originally Posted by ScoobySnax

It'd be nice if they just gave us a game full of John Doe's and let us edit the rosters afterwards. That should alleviate all of the "player likeness" issues, but maybe it's not that simple.

Yeah, that has been my thinking with regards to college games. License the the schools, conferences, etc. and then release the game with a completely fictional roster. Sorta like Blitz: The League, I still remember Ron Mexico. That way it's an authentic collegiate game with the schools we love, just with fictional (not similar in anyway to current players) players. It seems so simple, so that leads me to believe that there's more to it that we just don't understand.

[Pokes404]

Quote: Originally Posted by Junior Moe

Yeah, that has been my thinking with regards to college games. License the the schools, conferences, etc. and then release the game with a completely fictional roster. Sorta like Blitz: The League, I still remember Ron Mexico. That way it's an authentic collegiate game with the schools we love, just with fictional (not similar in anyway to current players) players. It seems so simple, so that leads me to believe that there's more to it that we just don't understand.

Something like that could work within NBA 2K because it's part of a larger game. As for the college games themselves, I think their fear is that the games won't sell as well with completely fictional rosters. I also want to say that the EA Locker, or any other system of allowing roster transfers, was still going to open 2K/EA to player likeness lawsuits. Basically, by providing a framework for allowing realistic rosters to be easily transferred (fully knowing that people would create rosters based on the real players and easily share them), they weren't going to be able to get around use of player likeness. I'm not positive on that aspect though.

College games already don't move copies the same way as professional games do. Couple that with fictional rosters driving some people away, there just isn't the money in it to justify the development/licensing costs.

That being said ... I really hope someone gets this stuff figured out because I miss the college games. Well, a couple of them at least.

[Junior Moe]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pokes404

Something like that could work within NBA 2K because it's part of a larger game. As for the college games themselves, I think their fear is that the games won't sell as well with completely fictional rosters. I also want to say that the EA Locker, or any other system of allowing roster transfers, was still going to open 2K/EA to player likeness lawsuits. Basically, by providing a framework for allowing realistic rosters to be easily transferred (fully knowing that people would create rosters based on the real players and easily share them), they weren't going to be able to get around use of player likeness. I'm not positive on that aspect though. College games already don't move copies the same way as professional games do. Couple that with fictional rosters driving some people away, there just isn't the money in it to justify the development/licensing costs. That being said ... I really hope someone gets this stuff figured out because I miss the college games. Well, a couple of them at least.

Yeah, I get that and I do think that the fictional players route would definitely turn many people off. There may be an edit player option but there will be no way of sharing them, at least not through the game itself for obvious reasons. But I do believe (at least hope) that the rise of "MyCareer", "MyTeam" (using NBA players during their college tenures like NCAA Football) and modes like "The Park" potentially open up the game to new fans and revenue. Like you, I hope something materializes because I'm salivating at the prospect of College anything on the XB1 and PS4.