NBA 2K13 News Post

NBA 2K13: How Signature Skills Have Changed the Game

02:55 PM - September 11, 2012 by RaychelSnr

Recently the guys at 2K revealed all 31 Signature Skills found in NBA 2K13 and their descriptions. There were some who were pessimistic about how these skills would affect gameplay, but after having learned the details, I for one am even more excited about their inclusion in 2K13 than I was prior.

The Signature Skills concept has been done before in other sports games such as All-Pro Football 2K8, but the idea lends itself so seamlessly to the basketball genre that it can be a huge evolutionary step in how we play basketball games going forward.

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# 1 d11king @ 09/11/12 03:03 PM

Signature skills will be nice addition. Offline, stars will play like stars, and players will play like themselves i.e. Nick Collison screens, Reggie Evans hustle.

Online people will think just because they have the sig skill, it will automatically be activated, so we might see players forcing the issue, (fine by me, I got that 2002 Ron Artest Defensive Player of the Year defense) without them knowing how the sig skill is truly activated, this causing gamers to possibly play smarter.

When gaurding KD, I might double in the 4th more often, when facing Rondo, I may dribble up the court with my SG, when attacking the rim on the Lakers I will pump fake more, I will make sure Kawai Leonard doesn't find his way to the corner 3 and I will NEVERRRRR leave Ray Allen open. Sig skills are GREAT.

I know one thing though, Oct. 2 - Oct. 6 I will be mastering isomation in the gym and if I ever get anyone with the ankle breaker sig skill, whoevers gaurding me better not have Stephen Curry feet. (That goes for the team-uppers as well)

# 2 Vni @ 09/11/12 03:06 PM

Got me hyped, well put.

# 3 deacon21206 @ 09/11/12 03:08 PM

That actually is a great assessment and out look on how important each player can be.

# 4 Caveman24 @ 09/11/12 03:11 PM

i agree with everything im glad you can play more of a chess style with the sig skills like making this guy check this guy and vise versa

# 5 BezO @ 09/11/12 03:12 PM

Definitely! I was ecstatic to hear about sig skills when they were 1st announced. The basic ratings just weren't cutting it.

I can't wait to play this game. It's been a looooong time since I've counted down to a video game release.

# 6 richmo @ 09/11/12 03:12 PM

Great write-up, Steve. Easily my favorite addition to the game this year. This is so big because it's a feature that will officially become a staple for the 2k franchise for years to come, no doubt. And great point about the Online Association/Franchise drafts. Choosing less "videogame-friendly" players has more incentive more this year than it's ever had.

# 7 youALREADYknow @ 09/11/12 03:22 PM

A large portion of the Signature Skills could have been implemented in other ways through existing means, but there are quite a few that are welcome additions in my eyes. Overall it's a plus for the game and therefore I'll save the debate for implementation and other ways to achieve the same result for another day.

As a primarily offline gamer, the ability to edit them means that we have another tool in the toolbox to try to mimic what we see on the NBA court. Hopefully the tiered Skill levels as displayed in MyPlayer are available to all players.

The concept that these "change the game" is a bit over the top though. The new animations behind some of these Skills will change the game. The impact of the Skills themselves shouldn't be that obvious and in-your-face because that would mean they are overdone and that would be unwelcomed by many.

# 8 ataman5 @ 09/11/12 03:23 PM

Great write-up hopefully what you've said will be realized in gameplay and we simheads will have a great year with this very very good pre-looking nba 2k13.

# 9 Gramps91 @ 09/11/12 03:29 PM

Signiture skills sound really cool. I remember the feature in Live 2006 something like this that was really cool, although not nearly as ind depth. Really looking forward to testing all these out and see hou different players with different abilities paly out.

# 10 mymannemcee @ 09/11/12 03:30 PM

Very glad to see how signature skills were implemented. Seems that all the "real life true to Earth sim heads" who were preaching about how these are arcade-like and not true to life have vanished.

# 11 Optik @ 09/11/12 03:48 PM

Quote:


	Proverbially �cutting off the head of the dragon� might be necessary when facing the Clippers or Celtics and developing a strategy to take a Paul or a Rondo out of the game could be the best path to victory.

That would be great to do, but how would one go about doing that with 2K12's feeble attempt at replicating "Deny Ball"? You can't actually put a body on an offensive player and put an arm to deny the ball. All you can do is spread out your arms, and it means nothing because the offensive player can easily receive any pass. In 2K11, it was better, because if you actually passed the ball to a guarded player, the defender would nick the ball away, especially in the post. 2K10 was EVEN better at replicating this, I remember offensive players would have to make an an aggressive bump to create space to receive the pass safely with one hand or two. Why has the "Deny Ball" function gotten worse after every iteration?

# 12 liodeesxalf @ 09/11/12 04:07 PM

It was inevitable that they would eventually add Signature skills to NBA 2k, other sports games (like winning eleven and skill cards) have been doing it for a while, and usually it is really subtle (not some crazy superhuman boost), and it has worked fine, so from what i've seen, it won't hurt the game at all

When you look at sig skills, what they really are is intangibles, as opposed to normal attributes which just reflect skills, in and of itself. Any player, even those with lower ratings, will still have sig skills. Like Reggie Evans will probably have the scrapper skill, and Jared Jeffries will prob have the charge card skill. This gives such a player more value.

To me, this makes the game more like a chess match, forcing you to look at the players of the other team and to make tweaks to your game plan accordingly. It makes strategy more important.

# 13 rbillan @ 09/11/12 04:51 PM

Does all classic players on classic teams have sig skills as well? I saw that Jordan did just wondering if they all will?

Wondering what Penny Hardaway sig skills will be!! Fave player of all time

# 14 alabamarob @ 09/11/12 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Profit89


	Signature Skills are key to sports gaming. Absolutely vital IMO. Adds to individuality. Konami has been doing it for years with Pro Evolution series and their baseball title MLB Power Pros. The more individuality the better. Key to sports gaming.

Good write up. Additionally, I agree that the NBA 2k series could benefit from many aspects of pro evolution soccer, and vice versa. All of the makers of sports titles should look at the games of other companies, and other sports to make their games better. 2k13 will be a classic if it plays like I think it will.

# 15 scottyp180 @ 09/11/12 05:05 PM

This article has me feeling more excited about signature skills. Hopefully this will fix issues of the past such as players playing true to themselves ( Ex: I don't want players hitting ridiculous shots they shouldn't make or players missing shots that they make in their sleep), being able to use appropriate strategies against a teams weaknesses/strengths (Ex: In 2k12 I would play the matchup of the 94 magic vs the current heat yet I was never able to utilize my size advantage), and lastly needing to play more sim to win (Ex: knowing the strengths and weaknesses of teams and players should work to your advantage. Someone who has basketball IQ and knowledge of players and teams should have a big advantage over a casual basketball/Nba fan. I feel tht in the past anyone could learn how to play the game and have a chance against someone who tries to play more sim.)

# 16 youALREADYknow @ 09/11/12 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottyp180


	This article has me feeling more excited about signature skills. Hopefully this will fix issues of the past such as players playing true to themselves ( Ex: I don't want players hitting ridiculous shots they shouldn't make or players missing shots that they make in their sleep), being able to use appropriate strategies against a teams weaknesses/strengths (Ex: In 2k12 I would play the matchup of the 94 magic vs the current heat yet I was never able to utilize my size advantage), and lastly needing to play more sim to win (Ex: knowing the strengths and weaknesses of teams and players should work to your advantage. Someone who has basketball IQ and knowledge of players and teams should have a big advantage over a casual basketball/Nba fan. I feel tht in the past anyone could learn how to play the game and have a chance against someone who tries to play more sim.)

Quote:


	( Ex: I don't want players hitting ridiculous shots they shouldn't make or players missing shots that they make in their sleep)

Skills have nothing to do with that. If the rosters do not have accurate Attributes, Abilities, Tendencies, etc. then Skills don't correct those problems. They can do a little to mask the problems, but won't fix them.

# 17 gdh5503 @ 09/11/12 05:40 PM

All of this talk about signature skills and all of that, but I have not heard how the CPU AI plays against the user????

How will superstars play against the user? What kind of coaching decisions will be made against the user to exploit the users defenses and or offensive strategy? No talks about this, it just seems like no one wants to know??

# 18 fluent2332 @ 09/11/12 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottyp180


	This article has me feeling more excited about signature skills. Hopefully this will fix issues of the past such as players playing true to themselves ( Ex: I don't want players hitting ridiculous shots they shouldn't make or players missing shots that they make in their sleep), being able to use appropriate strategies against a teams weaknesses/strengths (Ex: In 2k12 I would play the matchup of the 94 magic vs the current heat yet I was never able to utilize my size advantage), and lastly needing to play more sim to win (Ex: knowing the strengths and weaknesses of teams and players should work to your advantage. Someone who has basketball IQ and knowledge of players and teams should have a big advantage over a casual basketball/Nba fan. I feel tht in the past anyone could learn how to play the game and have a chance against someone who tries to play more sim.)

Sorry, but you're living in fantasy land if you think 2K is going to suddenly cater to "smart" players. A huge portion of their sales are from casuals too.

And this is one thing that I don't like about 2K, it doesn't matter how good you are at the game or if you try to play lifelike, the other guy could be a complete noob and still win the game. There's nothing that separates experienced players from inexperienced players. In previous 2K games like 2K8 for example, you could keep tricks up your sleeve and if you played realistically and were good at the game, chances are you would win the game. I went something like 200-4 in "sim style" games in 2K8. Newer 2Ks are like 50/50 games, you have a 50/50 chance that you will win or lose. There is no getting good at the game and dominating weaker competition. That's just 2K basketball and that's how the games are going to be until a company decides to change that.

# 19 Culture Rot @ 09/11/12 05:49 PM

Has it been explained yet how these function any differently than ratings? When I first heard this announced I thought of it in All Pro Football terms. A ratings engine, with +number boosts depending on the special skills and abilities

# 20 youALREADYknow @ 09/11/12 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xlatinoheatx


	Has it been explained yet how these function any differently than ratings? When I first heard this announced I thought of it in All Pro Football terms. A ratings engine, with +number boosts depending on the special skills and abilities

http://2ksports.tumblr.com/

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