NBA 2K12 News Post

NBA 2K12 Will Not Have 66 Game Schedule, It Will Only Be Implemented in NBA Today

10:45 AM - December 16, 2011 by Steve_OS

NBA 2K12 will not have a 66 game schedule patched into the game. It will be available for NBA Today only, no other mode will be touched.

Here are Ronnie's tweets on the topic.

Quote:


	No there will not be a 66 game season in My Player/OA. Only in NBA Today

Quote:


	The 66 game schedule will be implemented for NBA Today. It is impossible to implement for My Player/Online Association

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# 21 EccentricMeat @ 12/16/11 05:37 PM

He says it's not possible for "My Player and Online Association", does that mean that it is possible for OFFLINE Association? Did he leave Offline Association out on purpose?

Maybe something is in the works as we speak.

Color me hopeful.

# 22 qpc123 @ 12/16/11 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EccentricMeat


	He says it's not possible for "My Player and Online Association", does that mean that it is possible for OFFLINE Association? Did he leave Offline Association out on purpose? Maybe something is in the works as we speak. Color me hopeful.

Re-Read the title. The key word is "only".

# 23 EccentricMeat @ 12/16/11 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by qpc123


	Re-Read the title. The key word is "only".

Yes but things can change. Seeing as he never mentioned that it couldn't be added to Offline Association, and the fact that many people are asking for it to be added there, could definitely leave a chance that it could be added.

# 24 Sundown @ 12/16/11 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by youALREADYknow


	Was this really a huge deal though in the grand scheme of things? The only mode that is seriously hurt by this is Season Mode. Other modes go back to normal within one season.

It's kind of a big deal immersion wise for any mode that has to do with a full season: season, association, and my player. For some folks it's the fantasy of playing what if: what if I ran a team starting this season? What if I was drafted this year? Etc. it puts a damper on any simulation of this year, which I think is the most relevant year in simulated sports games.

# 25 Sundown @ 12/16/11 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rangerrick012


	How was 2K supposed to know that once everything was settled the season would be exactly 66 games? This was not something that you could just plan for. It's like people are ignoring the fact that there was a lockout and expecting everything to be perfect. I know sim people might be upset, but realistically speaking I don't see how people could think that this would be something that could just be patched in. So you have a 66 gm season, then every other season is 82 games? Association has never allowed you to change season length for different seasons first of all, and there's always been the standard of 29, 58, and 82 games. Again I understand why this may be a letdown for some but to make the jump and call 2K lazy for not being able to add this is just unnecessary.

You can plan for this in code. You can allow schedules and season length updates to be modular and downloadable through patch or roster updates, and logic to switch between on season length and another isn't that difficult, depending on how the code is structured. I was simply taking 2k somewhat seriously when they said they had contingencies for the lockout

I'm glad the rookies are in, though I haven't heard any commenter about them. But I also expected season/CBA parameters to be updatable. I guess it was too much to expect.

# 26 Pared @ 12/16/11 07:50 PM

Considering no other game in the history of sports video games has ever done this, I agree it was a bit much to expect.

# 27 mike24forever @ 12/16/11 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pared


	Considering no other game in the history of sports video games has ever done this, I agree it was a bit much to expect.

Not trying to play devils advocate here, however didn't High Heat (sorry i do not remember the year) put out the "real" roster after the season began? The game shipped with a fiction schedule and then in one of the gaming magazines they released a disk with the actual schedule.

What did the NHL do in their strike shortened season? Did the game ship with a shorter schedule? I cannot remember exactly.

# 28 Sundown @ 12/16/11 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pared


	Considering no other game in the history of sports video games has ever done this, I agree it was a bit much to expect.

Shrug. For some reason I held out hope for 2K to handle it right. The technical challenges aren't that difficult, and 2K seems to be tenacious about authenticity. They also have plenty of framework in place to update aspects of the game through download. I would have thought a correct season schedule after roster update or patch was more plausible than a ridiculous amount of love lavished on legends, a three man play-calling crew, HORSE, dynamic download of graphical changes, and having Michael Jordan in the game. All of those have either been rarely or never done in a sports video game before 2K did it.

Whether past games have done things doesn't play that much into my consideration when it comes to 2K (that's a good thing). Updated, correct schedules falls in line (and seems to be the least work) of what they appear to be going for this year. I would argue it might be more important than some of the other features, with an incorrect number of games and schedule staring at you all year as you go through the season's games.

A part of the fun of going through a season is connecting it with real games that were actually played this year, thinking "oh, I remember that game," and trying to change or reproduce recent history. Oh well.

# 29 Sundown @ 12/16/11 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rangerrick012


	Again I understand why this may be a letdown for some but to make the jump and call 2K lazy for not being able to add this is just unnecessary.

I just read my post again. I understand why I'm getting some of the responses I'm getting.

I didn't mean to say that 2K not patching the schedule is making me skeptical of 2K13. I'm disappointed but willing to let it go, or will just mutter under my breath through the year. That's dissappionting but understandable. It's how they've released the game, handled the DLC and the patch that makes me a bit wary of 2K13. At least I'm not going to be as amped as I was about 2K12. 2K isn't lazy. I just don't think they have their priorities and focus well managed this year as resources seem to have shifted from things that make the main game better to gambling on things that would bring in quick additional revenue. You gotta admit that taking twice as long to provide half the amount of fixes for a game that has twice as many issues as its predecessor is somewhat disappointing. It's the year I felt 2K stopped loving us as much. Hah.

If my reaction sounded more extreme than it was meant to be, that's what you get when you hammer out a post half asleep in bed.

# 30 rangerrick012 @ 12/16/11 09:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sundown


	Shrug. For some reason I held out hope for 2K to handle it right. The technical challenges aren't that difficult, and 2K seems to be tenacious about authenticity. They also have plenty of framework in place to update aspects of the game through download. I would have thought a correct season schedule after roster update or patch was more plausible than a ridiculous amount of love lavished on legends, a three man play-calling crew, HORSE, dynamic download of graphical changes, and having Michael Jordan in the game. All of those have either been rarely or never done in a sports video game before 2K did it. Whether past games have done things doesn't play that much into my consideration when it comes to 2K (that's a good thing). Updated, correct schedules falls in line (and seems to be the least work) of what they appear to be going for this year. I would argue it might be more important than some of the other features, with an incorrect number of games and schedule staring at you all year as you go through the season's games. A part of the fun of going through a season is connecting it with real games that were actually played this year, thinking "oh, I remember that game," and trying to change or reproduce recent history. Oh well.

I don't get how you can say the technical challenges aren't that difficult. No offense, but are you a programmer? Do you know first hand specifically what tech that 2K uses in association mode that would allow this to be so easy? And if so, do you know that changing to allow for 66 gm schedule wouldn't cause a problem in another area of the game.

To me it seems pretty cut and dry. Thinking logically, it's not feasable to say that 2K should have known the specifics of when the lockout would end, how the schedule would be made, and allow for programming to call for this. If you notice even when you choose to make a season 14 games in offline association, it still starts in November, which tells me that there's a specific algorithm that would probably be hard to change with a simple patch which states that associations must start in November and end in April. I'm not a programmer, but to me it seems like it would be harder than you're making it seem for 2K to compensate for this.

# 31 Sundown @ 12/16/11 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rangerrick012


	I don't get how you can say the technical challenges aren't that difficult. No offense, but are you a programmer? Do you know first hand specifically what tech that 2K uses in association mode that would allow this to be so easy? And if so, do you know that changing to allow for 66 gm schedule wouldn't cause a problem in another area of the game. To me it seems pretty cut and dry. Thinking logically, it's not feasable to say that 2K should have known the specifics of when the lockout would end, how the schedule would be made, and allow for programming to call for this. If you notice even when you choose to make a season 14 games in offline association, it still starts in November, which tells me that there's a specific algorithm that would probably be hard to change with a simple patch which states that associations must start in November and end in April. I'm not a programmer, but to me it seems like it would be harder than you're making it seem for 2K to compensate for this.

Yes I am a programmer/software engineer. If you had to adjust for a shortened lockout season, you don't do it algorithmically, since it would start late at a specific date. You would use a hand crafted schedule, which 2K likely already does for the first full year. Do the shortened season games happen on the same days as they do in the full season? Does the schedule stay the same each year? If yes to both, then the other shortened seasons may be hand crafted as well. Or the game may just algorithmically drop games from the handcrafted 82 game season data. If you planned ahead, you would have season schedules be patchable or downloadable, with the 66 game schedule used only for the first year, and the normal schedule used for the rest if you're playing an 82 game season. It would be a special case for full seasons and you don't need to muck with shortened seasons as they function correctly or wouldn't be accurate to the real NBA anyway.

I'm not saying I know the code, and it might not be worth it if the code is not well structured for this sort of modular updating, but swapping out data sets and tables is not a huge technical hurdle given all the things 2K is able to accomplish that are much more difficult. It is not a monumental technical undertaking, at least not if you're doing it right. At worst it shouldn't take more than a man week to hammer this out, but it might not be a week they have available. Depending on their code base, I can understand if they feel it to be not worth the time or effort, but I do feel that this should have been factored in when planning their contingencies. At the very least new CBA rules should have been updated post patch, as that doesn't change year to year and affects every year from now on. I would have even accepted a 66 game first season with incorrect schedules for association-- at least career and franchise states would sort of resemble real life.

Obviously they had limited time, so this might have been dropped or deemed not worthwhile. But maybe they would have a bit more time for that and other things if they didn't divert resources on what sounds like months on the DLC. Stop working on HORSE and 3 on 3 AI and fix cpu double teaming.

# 32 nonnel @ 12/16/11 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pared


	Considering no other game in the history of sports video games has ever done this, I agree it was a bit much to expect.

Right.

Now... when exactly since patches have existed was there a circumstance where a professional sport had their season shortened?

I mean... why WOULD any "other game in the the history of sports video games" do this before now?

# 33 Pared @ 12/16/11 10:57 PM

And why would any game do this now?

Again, it is one season. Your expectations are ridiculous to expect this - they really are. To make the game take ALL the factors into consideration and continue with "business" as usual thereafter...

I hope you understand your ridiculous expectations are met with ridiculous questions and answers for a reason. You're throwing out common sense here looking for the only answer that would appease you. There's no room for reason when you do that, so why act as if this is a discussion with valid points being presented when you're responding in kind?

For the comment about High Heat, the only thing they ever corrected on the console side is an incorrect schedule through a roster update, not a shortened season.

# 34 nonnel @ 12/16/11 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pared


	And why would any game do this now?

To simulate real life. You really didn't know the answer to that question?

As for the rest of your rant... just realize that you're speaking your opinion, and not fact. I'm not saying it's possible, or reasonable, or anything like that either. I was just simply pointing out that your reasoning of "it's never been done before" made literally ZERO sense.

# 35 Pared @ 12/17/11 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nonnel


	I'm not saying it's possible, or reasonable

I'm glad you finally realize this.

# 36 victorsena13 @ 12/17/11 03:22 PM

I think someone will make a mod i guess

# 37 Detroitfan4life1993 @ 12/17/11 08:12 PM

I did not expect them to put it in the game and its not really that big of a deal, it's only for 1 season any way. Atleast it will be in nba today.

# 38 nonnel @ 12/17/11 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pared


	I'm glad you finally realize this.

Was there a time that I didn't? You seem to have a real chip on your shoulder and I'm not sure why. You always this randomly angry? All I did was tell you how nonsensical your point was about it "never being done before". Sorry if that ruffled your feathers, but a simple "yeah, I guess you're right" would have sufficed.

# 39 LiveAllDaWay @ 12/17/11 09:57 PM

Can't anybody just edit the 66 season game schedule and put upload it on 2K Share? Is that possible?

# 40 Sundown @ 12/17/11 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thugnificant


	66 game schedule is a issue ? smh this is 100% likely to never happen again but people want it in the game as a option. Get off the game and watch some preseason games

It won't happen for years but it happened this year-- and is relevant immersion-wise the entire time we'll be playing this year's game, unless you play many seasons. I only made it through the majority of the first last year in MyPlayer.

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NBA 2K12 Will Not Have 66 Game Schedule, It Will Only Be Implemented in NBA Today