NBA 2K11 News Post

Mike Wang Returns to 2K Sports: NBA 2K Series (ESPN)

01:17 AM - February 2, 2010 by iamemmittsmith

It's official. Mike Wang has returned to 2K Sports as Lead Gameplay Designer for NBA 2K11. ESPN has some of the details.

Quote:


	"When I went over there (to EA), a lot of it was for personal reasons. I wanted to try something new, try a new challenge. But after being there and spending some time over at EA, it was clear that they do things a different way, and in a way it's just inefficient and just not the place to be to make the best games," said Wang in a recent conference call with ESPN to announce his return. "When I went there, I immediately missed VC (Visual Concepts), and it's just one of those things where I tried to stick it out as long as I could, but I wanted to come back. With some of the creative decisions over at EA, it just made it difficult to stay there. They just want to make a different game than I had a vision for. So I reached out to (2K's senior vice president of sports development) Greg Thomas and he was gracious enough to have me back."

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Member Comments

# 1 iamemmittsmith @ 02/02/10 01:18 AM

Story also says 2K10 sold 2 million copies worldwide already.

# 2 BlueNGold @ 02/02/10 01:22 AM

Holy ****. Great news for us 2K fans. Welcome back Beluba.

# 3 DirtyJerz32 @ 02/02/10 01:22 AM

Woooooooow!!! That's some HUGE news. Great job CV! Lol.

# 4 BlueNGold @ 02/02/10 01:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Court_vision


	Wow...that's brutal. Is that a real link? If so, wow. "I don't want to get too much into specifics for '2K11,' but the focus over here has always been to make the best basketball sim," said Wang. "That's something that the guys over at EA, they don't always have that same focus. They want to make a different kind of game this year."

Yeah it's legit. I just opened up a new tab, went to ESPN and it's there. Wow @ what you quoted. This has me worried big time about Madden 11 now.

# 5 jlbrown143 @ 02/02/10 01:25 AM

wow it's a done deal...Mike Wang you are the truth!!! yall got my money already...no questions asked...the only thing I ask right up front is don't play us with that sad marketing scheme you all did this year on us...please don't pull that crap again!!! we need info early and a demo early would be great!.....oh yea baby...the wang is hangin again!!!..lol

# 6 Tomba @ 02/02/10 01:26 AM

huh...

# 7 youvalss @ 02/02/10 01:26 AM

Every time Wang goes another place the 2K forum goes nuts. Why all this fuss? It's only one guy, as good as he is, he's only one. He doesn't make the game wonderfull or awful himself.

# 8 SageInfinite @ 02/02/10 01:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Court_vision


	Wow...that's brutal. Is that a real link? If so, wow. "I don't want to get too much into specifics for '2K11,' but the focus over here has always been to make the best basketball sim," said Wang. "That's something that the guys over at EA, they don't always have that same focus. They want to make a different kind of game this year."

I thought the same thing CV. I couldn't believe this was a real article. Wow.

# 9 dickey1331 @ 02/02/10 01:35 AM

Wow. Is all I can say.

# 10 BlueNGold @ 02/02/10 01:37 AM

I think it's safe to say Mike Wang just destroyed these boards for about a week.

# 11 spankdatazz22 @ 02/02/10 01:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by youvalss


	Every time Wang goes another place the 2K forum goes nuts. Why all this fuss? It's only one guy, as good as he is, he's only one. He doesn't make the game wonderfull or awful himself.

I have to agree. It's great to have him back and I respect him of course, given his interaction back when he was originally w/VC. But just last year the forums were up in arms because of what he said negative about the supposed limitations of the 2K engine. We shouldn't be so prone to overreacting. Still, was an interesting article on what was said. And I'm sure his added talent will help make 2K11 (and whatever other projects) that much better

I wanted Michael Jordan

# 12 coolcras7 @ 02/02/10 01:57 AM

The thing is Mike gave legitimacy to Live as a sim based game, since the inception of next gen system live was always been thought of as an arcade game.

# 13 rspencer86 @ 02/02/10 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DickDalewood


	"But after being there and spending some time over at EA, it was clear that they do things a different way, and in a way it's just inefficient and just not the place to be to make the best games." Ouch...

Man, there are some extremely damning statements by Mike in that article. At what point does EA realize that racking their brains trying to come up with the next cool back-of-the-box marketing tool isn't working, while 2K is succeeding with a focus on making a solid sim?

That's not to say 2K10 is the pinnacle of basketball simulation. There are some pretty serious issues, including the horrendous online play, bad player control and movement, bugs both new and old, horrible trade logic in Association mode, and tendencies that really don't work too well.

Beluba can really help fix all of the issues above though. No doubt about it, Mike knows what it takes to build a hell of a basketball game. Huge win for 2K and needless to say it will be interesting to see what approach NBA Live takes in order to combat this.

# 14 Rocky @ 02/02/10 02:01 AM

Hopefully this frees up some members of the VC team to work on a CH game.

# 15 PVarck31 @ 02/02/10 02:02 AM

So EA says Mike Wang is moving on to bigger and better things! HAHA Who says EA isn't honest? lol

He straight up blasted EA. Just makes you wonder what is going on with some of these development studios.

# 16 blacboy @ 02/02/10 02:04 AM

Me thinks the footplanting blueprint has been swiped. hee..hee

# 17 rspencer86 @ 02/02/10 02:07 AM

The expectations for 2K11 are going to be very, very high. Not only does 2K have the return of a very talented lead man, they now have someone who knows what works well in NBA Live and exactly how to implement it.

# 18 spankdatazz22 @ 02/02/10 02:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcxiv


	EA may have more money to invest in new engines and what not, but that doesnt mean everything else is better.

That's why I said "supposed". There were a ton of people predicting 2K10's downfall just a year ago based on what he was saying. Again, nice to have him back and I'm sure there will be a lot of talk about what he said in the interview. But ultimately I think it'll be typical forum speak where we collectively make an issue bigger than it is. His move to EA was supposed to signal the Age of Live - it didn't. I'd guess his return likely isn't going to be as huge as some will make it out to be. HE'S ONE PERSON, part of a team. But is nice to have him back; as Rocky said I'd like to see it free up/add resources to take on other projects. We need a football game.

And I still would've rather had Michael Jordan

# 19 kmart2180 @ 02/02/10 02:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjv31


	So EA says Mike Wang is moving on to bigger and better things! HAHA Who says EA isn't honest? lol He straight up blasted EA. Just makes you wonder what is going on with some of these development studios.

This guy blasted 2k when he left there aswell. The " 2k has reached its ceiling" comment was the a great shot at 2k. Hmmmm I wonder what he's gonna say now that he's back......."Ummm I never meant that" ....lololol good stuff. Sadly he loses respect in my eyes because he dogged both companies. He should of said I thank 2k/Ea for being able to work for both of em.

Edit: Mis-read your post . Mine is pertaining to Mike Wang.

# 20 jsg @ 02/02/10 02:24 AM

its like a soap opera, lol. better this than 2k getting the exclusive nba license. i would of been depressed if that happened.

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