NBA Live 10 News Post

NBA Live 10 Blog: Gameplay Defense

02:31 PM - August 21, 2009 by Beluba

Check out the new NBA Live 10 blog. This one featuring defense.

Quote:


	"So what happens if you have a mental lapse or you get crossed up and your first line of defense gets beat? That�s when your second line of defense comes to the rescue. I�ve always felt that the NBA Live series featured strong help defense logic. But Live 10�s help defense is really something special. Our AI engineer who works on defense (who shall remain nameless to keep away the headhunters) worked closely with Novell Thomas (one of our resident basketball strategy experts, who should probably be playing ball somewhere for lots of money by the way) to beef up our AI in that area. Now when the onball defender gets beat, you�ll see some textbook help coming to protect the basket and some beautiful rotations off the ball. These guys worked tirelessly, constantly tweaking and tuning the system to ensure that the right guys rotate over to help, that they come at the right time, and that everything happens in a realistic manner. Not an easy feat by any means, but take my word for it� dribble penetration takes quite a bit of skill in Live this year when you�re playing the higher difficulty levels."

Game: NBA Live 10Reader Score: 7.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PSP / Xbox 360Votes for game: 48 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 Stumbleweed @ 08/21/09 02:41 PM

"Our AI engineer who works on defense (who shall remain nameless to keep away the headhunters)"

LOL

Good stuff Mike, I'm happy to hear about the defensive assist tweaks so it's not a crutch for people but can still be useful in certain situations (especially OTP, where it's definitely needed).

Can you say yet if you can deny the ball and other things in OTP? That was the biggest issue with the mode last year (aside from the near-unstoppable alley-oops) because offensive players could basically just run around like headless chickens at will and pop jumpers or cut to the hoop for dunks. Being able to body them up or use defensive assist to stay between your man and the ball would do wonders for that mode.

# 2 shadox @ 08/21/09 02:45 PM

Quote:


	So at the start of Live 10�s dev cycle, we encouraged all of the guys to incorporate difficulty level tunables in a meaningful way for every gameplay bucket that we touched� which basically ended up being all of them. So this year, you�ll see and feel some very noticeable differences between the various levels, that really make playing each one a different experience.

So this is the second (or first->debatable) EA Sports game where the difficulty is not (only) determined by AI stats boost?

Nice read, thx for the info.
Sounds real great!

But acutally...I would love to see some paint drawings

# 3 RayDog253 @ 08/21/09 02:48 PM

Great blog Mike....

"We really got sick of seeing people actively trying to switch away from the ball when playing defense, feeling that the AI could do a better job at guarding the ball than they could. Instead, we wanted to encourage users to stay active and not run away from the play, so to speak."

I hated this, would always talk ish to my friends because I was the only one that played on ball D.

Overall Live 10 seems to be shaping up real well, can't wait to get my hands on the demo.

# 4 23 @ 08/21/09 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beluba


	Not like you guys need anymore info today. But here it is: http://www.easports.com/blogs/nbaliv...meplay-defense

Of course we do!!!!...

Matter of fact, feel more than free to write yet another blog today on GP

# 5 shadox @ 08/21/09 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 23


	Of course we do!!!!... Matter of fact, feel more than free to write yet another blog today on GP

+1

of course after you've left the plane

# 6 poster @ 08/21/09 03:09 PM

Thanks Mike for the blog. Defense is sounding good. The information on the difficulty level tuning is nice as well.

# 7 HoosierDaddy @ 08/21/09 03:17 PM

I feel so overwhelmed! LOL!

# 8 Pared @ 08/21/09 03:21 PM

Simple question:

Are you happy with the defense and is it where you want it to be this year?

# 9 wbranson1 @ 08/21/09 04:08 PM

a lot of info today and most of it is all positive! Niceeeee!

# 10 23 @ 08/21/09 04:39 PM

Beluba

In Live 08 and 09 you could body up on defense as the ballhandler guarded/dribbled the ball away from you (Think Magic Johnson as he looked for someone to pass to and kept the defender on his off hip)

You could lunge at the ball for a steal, it was gambling but not always successful because you'd get burned

Is this still in the game?

# 11 Bornindamecca @ 08/21/09 06:23 PM

Thanks, Mike!

Good write up. That helps to more clearly define the difficulty levels.

# 12 FlyRice @ 08/21/09 07:11 PM

I've always been used to holding down a 'defensive stance' button in basketball games in order to play on-ball defense. Will that be unnecessary this year? I guess it just feels weird not holding down anything. Also, what other controls are there for defense? For stealing, intercepting, blocking, taking a charge, etc.

# 13 23 @ 08/22/09 01:24 PM

bump for those who didnt get to read

# 14 RayDog253 @ 08/22/09 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 23


	bump for those who didnt get to read

Everybody's still stuck on those Gamescom videos.

# 15 23 @ 08/22/09 02:33 PM

I know but their questions would be answered if they read instead of jumping in threads head first just to troll or assume

# 16 krazyboy225 @ 08/22/09 03:11 PM

Cool to see how the difficulty levels vary so vastly between every one of them.

Not the most entertaining blog...but it answers alot of our questions.

# 17 23 @ 08/22/09 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krazyboy225


	Cool to see how the difficulty levels vary so vastly between every one of them. Not the most entertaining blog...but it answers alot of our questions.

That pretty much sums up your online experience. Cheesers cant cheese if you're playing on a higher difficulty level

# 18 krazyboy225 @ 08/22/09 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 23


	That pretty much sums up your online experience. Cheesers cant cheese if you're playing on a higher difficulty level

Mhm....agreed.....iminurbase even made a "no cheese" lobby for the sim ballers to have their fun

# 19 DaWolf @ 08/22/09 03:33 PM

Wished I read the part about the Lock On Defense before I played the game. I tried to hold it down all the time

# 20 slvicick @ 08/23/09 01:15 AM

sounds good

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NBA Live 10 Blog: Gameplay Defense