NBA LIVE 09 Pres Blog - iminurbase's Blog

iminurbase's Blog

NBA LIVE 09 Pres Blog

Posted on November 12, 2008 at 04:28 AM.

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Hi Everyone,

Welcome to the next installment of the NBA Live 09 producer blog. I'm Garreth Reeder and I will be walking you through all of the presentation features in this year's game. Presentation essentially covers the broadcast elements of an NBA game: cameras, crowd audio, speech commentary, broadcast overlays, post-whistle action and, new to this year, a replay editor. Let's get into it.

EDIT REPLAY

With the rise of 'Web 2.0' and the number of connected users, we really wanted to provide a way to make cool videos and screenshots from your games to both save and share. NCAA 08 was once of the first sports titles to truly allow saving and unloadable replays, instead of just being able to check something out in instant replay. Skate was another big influence; we loved the viral aspect of fans sharing links to their favorite tricks and bails.

The edit replay feature in NBA LIVE 09 can be seen as an evolution of both Skate and NCAA. Our first goal was a deep editor that allowed for multiple camera angles (including a free cam), as well as multiple playback speeds. The second was saving to a playable movie format that would allow for instant upload to the internet, as well as easy viewing later on in the game. For this aspect, we built the 'Career Highlights' screen which sorts all your saved videos and photos for viewing at any time. You can even tag individual clips or photos as 'Favorites' to view on their own. Any video or photo can be uploaded to www.easportsworld.com during a game, or later on in the Career Highlights screen.

When you first pop in NBA LIVE 09, you'll notice some highlights playing on the big screens. These are clips I made using edit replay before the game shipped. As soon as you start saving your own highlights, mine will go away, and yours will start streaming on the big screens. Essentially, you will be customizing your own practice gym with your own highlights.

Let's move on to editing itself. After a play you want to edit or save, jump into Instant Replay. On this screen you can cut up your replay into sections using the 'set marker' button. Any spot during your play that you want a camera cut or speed change, simply put down a marker. The first and last markers are the beginning and the end of your highlight.

Next, find a section between two markers that you want to change the camera or playback speed for, and press the 'edit clip' button. Now your timeline is only showing that clip. You can then choose what camera you like (either one of the pre-set or free cams), the target of the camera (either the ball, player, or spot on the floor), and the zoom/height of the camera. In 'free cam' you can drive around the target anywhere you want. Move it onto a player or ball to lock onto them. If you are using a pre-set camera, use the 'target' buttons to switch between players and the ball. Finally, change the playback speed to what you want. Once you have everything the way you want, press the 'apply' button to save your changes.

When you return back to the main timeline, your section is now blue to show that it is saved. You can continue set markers and edit as many sections as you wish. To see your final replay, click the 'preview' button; this will play back your highlight with all your camera transitions and playback speeds. If you like what you see, upload right to www.easportsworld.com or save to look at later.

Have fun with planning out your highlights; with a keen eye and careful placement of markers you can create some really cinematic replays:

http://www.easportsworld.com/en_US/video/777457

http://www.easportsworld.com/en_US/video/1184012

The game has only been out for a short time, but I'm already loving the highlights! Have a look at the most viewed here:

http://www.easportsworld.com/en_US/v...w/all?game=nba

A shout-out to SEs Andrew Pojar and Karl Jensen for all their work on edit replay this year.

AUDIO - SPEECH

NBA LIVE 09 features the talents of Marv Albert and Steve Kerr in the booth. This is now the fourth year the outstanding duo has been in NBA LIVE. Marv is really the voice of basketball, with his signature 'Yes!' etched into some of the greatest highlights of the last thirty years. Of course now Steve is the GM of the Phoenix Suns, but his years in broadcasting with Marv made them, in my opinion, the best combination of play-by-play and color in NBA broadcasting.

With Steve no longer in the booth, the question can be asked, why doesn't NBA LIVE go with a new color commentator? There are really two answers for this. The first is simply that we feel Steve is a great color guy; he knows the game inside and out, and has great chemistry with Marv. Having the insight of someone who played on championship squads, while also having the inside knowledge of a GM, is amazing.

Secondly, every year we have the benefit of adding to the depth of our speech. By using the same talent, we add layer upon layer to what you eventually hear in the game. Instead of adding variety, constantly switching commentators reduces the depth of the speech feature-set in other sports games. I'm confident that the commentary in NBA LIVE is some of the best in any sports game period.

This year we were able to add the following to an already excellent speech package:

- ESPN Live Stats - This is probably my favorite audio feature this year. As you may know from last year, we download and integrate the latest ESPN stats into NBA LIVE when you connect online. Therefore, as the real 2008-09 season progresses, the player and team stats will be reflected in the game. The cool tie-in with audio is that Marv and Steve dynamically recognize who the player and team leaders are in any given stat category. Let's say D-Wade comes off of his strong Olympic showing hard, and is the number two scorer in the league by January. When you take on the Heat in NBA LIVE after Christmas, Steve will let you know you're facing one of the top scorers in the league and what you should do strategy-wise. The best part is that all the ESPN Live Stats speech will update depending on what happens in real life. It works in Dynasty Mode too.

- Player Specifics - We updated and added to a lot of the player specific speech you hear in the game, either pre-game, or during free-throws.

- Player Tendencies - Steve comments on individual player tendencies. As Dynamic DNA updates throughout the year, Steve's commentary will match.

- Hot/Cold Streaks - Once the season starts, Dynamic DNA will update players' hot and cold streaks on a nightly basis. Marv and Steve will dynamically talk about players and their streaks throughout the year.

- Pick and Roll - When you use the new Pick and Roll feature, Steve will break down your success (or failure), based on how you attack the defense and how the defense plays you.

- Ankle-Breakers - The Quickstrike Ankle-Breakers feature is a great way to take your man off the dribble in 09. It's rare, but if you manage to actually make your defender fall ( http://www.easportsworld.com/en_US/video/926214 ), Marv and Steve have some great commentary to match.

Of course there were lots of other speech additions, but the features above should stand out as great new content for 09.

We also had Ernie Johnson and Greg Anthony back in the booth to record new All-Star Weekend content. The All-Star Weekend speech from seasons past was already a solid base, so we decided to mix it up this year and focus on player specific commentary. This year Ernie and Greg will talk about the contestants in the dunk contest and 3pt shootout; we really gave them full reign to say what was on their mind (no scripts!). Overall it resulted in a lot of insight and hilarious back and forth between the two of them. Ernie and Greg have a lot of fun together in the studio, and the results are in the game (well, not all of them... the out-takes that couldn't be put in the game are pure gold!).

Big thanks to Terry Calico, the audio artist, and Hagen Tham, the audio SE for all the hard work on speech this year.

CAMERAS

The broadcast cameras in LIVE 08 were pretty solid, so we didn't want to mess with them too much. However, there were some key changes for 09. First, we tilted our broadcast cam up and over a little to capture the front row of near-side crowd. This really lends to a more 'TV' feel by making the area around the court feel more alive and dynamic. In 'Be a Pro' and OTP online modes, we created a new camera to be more intuitive with off-ball play. The camera adjusts to keep both your player and the ball in view, which means you can keep an eye on your player and the man you are guarding, even before the ball is inbounded. Finally, The NBA LIVE Academy needed all new cameras to show off the huge gym. With one person playing we focus right in, switching cameras as you move between courts. With more controllers plugged in, we zoom out to better keep everyone on the screen.

AUDIO - SOUND EFFECTS AND ENVIRONMENT

Our crowd and ambient sound was good last year, but it has been revamped for 09. The NBA LIVE Academy is front and center this year, and we wanted to do something special for the audio. We recorded some real basketball practices and scrimmages to capture the 'feel' of twelve guys and coaches all interacting. There is something about the sound of a gym when you walk in the doors for practice that we wanted to capture, and I'm really happy with the results.

As for the 5 on 5 game experience, we added a lot of depth by recording six new NBA games for reference. Our sound artist extraordinaire (Zabi Khan) chopped up all the crowd noise, chants, ditties, etc. from those NBA games and sprinkled them all over NBA LIVE 09. See if you recognize sounds from your favorite NBA arena in the game. One of my favorite additions was a Kobe MVP chant we captured in L.A. Only a select few players in NBA LIVE 09 will get this chant, and it will change throughout the real 2008-09 season.

OTHER NOTABLES

Every year we seek to update the emotion and post-whistle animations. Animator Simon Unger spent countless hours updating and adding these for 09. Most of what you see in 09 is completely re-done from 08. For all you 'Sheed fans, fire up a game with Detroit at home and check out the pre-game routine.

Anyway, that's it. Enjoy the game, and let us know what you think!

Garreth

Comments

# 1 TJdaSportsGuy @ Nov 12

You guys did a great job with this year's game. I was a 2K hoops guy through and through and you've converted me. Also, kudos on the pic you use for your OS card. That was a great version of the game. I had it for the PC.