NBA 2K16 News Post

NBA 2K16 Gameplay Blog With Mike Wang

11:01 AM - September 2, 2015 by Steve_OS

After watching the NBA 2K16 gameplay enhancements video, make sure you read the gameplay blog, written by Mike Wang, Gameplay Director for NBA 2K16.

Quote:


	Hey 2K fans! It�s time to talk gameplay! It�s been a whirlwind year for us and the game has seen a ton of improvements. In fact, it�s tough to even name an area of the oncourt experience that didn�t get upgraded in one way or another. We�ve been playing the game til our fingers bleed and loving every minute of it. There�s a lot to cover so let�s jump right in. First off, I want to congratulate and thank the gameplay team. This is the hardest working group of guys in the industry with an insatiable drive to be the best. No one has ever said, �ehh� that�s good enough.� We�re our own biggest critics and it�s cool to work with a team of guys who constantly strive to outperform themselves and genuinely love the game of basketball. Like I said, there�s a lot to cover, way too much to write about in just one blog, so I�m going to try and highlight some of the things we�re proudest of in NBA 2K16.

Read More - NBA 2K16 Gameplay Blog with Mike Wang

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Member Comments

# 161 Toaster @ 09/03/15 07:49 AM

I just hope that the AI will utilize the different new animations for bringing the ball up court and force a slower pace when appropriate \ for the correct teams.
IMHO this is one of the things that mess up the pace in the former version and somewhat throws off the realism and immersion. many teams are very deliberate when bringing the ball up court, allowing the more lumbering players to join the offense in due time and set it up. you wont see Marc Gasol, for example, sprinting like mad after every conceded basket just to catch up with Conely.

Keeping my fingers crossed.
Also for defense to be a real tool.
Really hoping that scores in the low 80's for 11-12 min quarters will be a regular occurrence for the proper matchups, and even for USER vs. USER.

I'll reserve some judgement until I get my hands on the game, but I have high expectations. Well played, Mr. Wang!

# 162 Boilerbuzz @ 09/03/15 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The 24th Letter


	Question for Mike about on ball defense if your checking out the thread... Is LT PURELY for defensive assistance now? If we are trying to stay in front of someone, will we automatically strafe? or "feathering" LT, then holding it down when we anticipate a move?

I can see it staying. No need to take that away. I would hate to see strafing on demand removed. More control for the user and I don't want to be completely at the mercy of the AI in determining when I open up or not. That would suck.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toaster


	Really hoping that scores in the low 80's for 11-12 min quarters will be a regular occurrence for the proper matchups, and even for USER vs. USER.!

That's WAY too low there man. Something is wrong if that were to happen.

# 163 Junior Moe @ 09/03/15 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boilerbuzz


	Agreed. But I doubt you see wedgies. He definitely would have mentioned that. Do you mean Jerson? There are SO many changes this year. All sound great. Solid foundation. I'm sure there will be hiccups with all this new stuff, but even so, the fact that pretty much every gripe I know of was touched in some substantial way just shows how much the team pays attention to the community. The effort is clearly there. Every major change was asked for by community. Some games like to add a handful of features requested by the fanbase, but the rest is geared toward some schmucks vision that no one cares about. I'm still waiting for a certain football game to add features that were in another game since 2004. If that team was like this one, I'd still be heavy into football games. But that's another story. I'm just saying, I love how the community is a primary driver for this team.

Not to get off topic, but blogs like this are the reason why I think NBA2K has sales comparable with Madden even though the NFL is easily more popular than the NBA. One is an inspired product where the passion shines through and it has something for everyone, it really is a labor of love for these guys. The other is a decent product that is steadily improving, but it just lacks that certain something that hooks you.

# 164 Sundown @ 09/03/15 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bornindamecca


	This is a false dichotomy. NBA athletes can stop on a dime, and they also can't. It depends on the situation. This is why we need both and the varying levels of commitment to give us a broad range of results after players commit. In 2k15, there is no representation of any NBA athleticism that translates to an honest balance of offensive and defensive movement. People are talking about "trusting" or seeing that it's "just hype." I think this is the wrong attitude. This is all information. When Ronnie2k speaks, please, dismiss it. He's a hype man. When the people who actually MAKE the game speak, it's the first part of the conversation. They're telling us what they're attempting to do. We'll know the failure or success of these attempts after we spend hours learning and testing the game. If you're not a hardcore 2k player, you can just wait. If you ARE a hardcore player, this is the first tool you need to give reliable feedback to help this team continue to improve this game. Now we have a standard to measure the product up against. My FRIENDS are making this game and I don't trust them. It's not about trust. It's about them taking on a difficult challenge, setting lofty goals and losing sleep trying to meet them. Trust or mistrust clouds the vision we need for accurate and clear feedback.

I don't think it's a false dichotomy to say that NBA players can't stop on a dime, but that they can stop pretty fast depending on their level of athleticism and explosiveness. That range of athleticism and situational explosiveness needs to be modelled correctly.

What I meant to express was that I "trust" the dev team to understand the responsiveness issue-- but whether they actually execute it to satisfaction is a different matter, because to achieve physically based, responsive, mo-cap quality movement and controls is one of the holy grails in real-time graphics and gaming.

# 165 blues rocker @ 09/03/15 09:35 AM

I REALLY love the part about how you can change the pass settings so that pass receiver is based either on directional press OR OPENNESS! this is so cool. because of this option, I might actually use regular passing sometimes (as of now i only use icon passing because it's too frustrating having the ball go the wrong receiver).

# 166 Rockie_Fresh88 @ 09/03/15 09:40 AM

This got me so excited for the game

# 167 Bexthelegend @ 09/03/15 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Junior Moe


	Not to get off topic, but blogs like this are the reason why I think NBA2K has sales comparable with Madden even though the NFL is easily more popular than the NBA. One is an inspired product where the passion shines through and it has something for everyone, it really is a labor of love for these guys. The other is a decent product that is steadily improving, but it just lacks that certain something that hooks you.

Remember football is more popular in the states, but basketball is more popular outside of it. That's why 2k has French, German ext covers

# 168 Junior Moe @ 09/03/15 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bexthelegend


	Remember football is more popular in the states, but basketball is more popular outside of it. That's why 2k has French, German ext covers

Yeah. Basketball may be a more globally popular game. But here in the states, the NFL is king. Probably the equivalent to soccer on a global level. Combined sales for NBA games (even when there were 3 or 4 good choices to choose from) never touched Madden. It was understandable considering the NFL's popularity and Madden being a good game. Now, we have a single NBA game right there. That's insane. I firmly believe that's the case because of the sheer quality of NBA2K. These guys at 2K deserve it.

# 169 RandomPerson @ 09/03/15 12:16 PM

Quote:


	Loads of passing improvements: faster ball speeds, better pass animation selection, completely re-written pass lane selection, ability to immediately break out of catches, step in catches around the rim, step out catches when crowded, less sliding on standing catches, boat loads of new content, and much much more. We�ve even added a new option to allow you to pick what�s most important when using directional passing. So you can go with the default tuning or you can bias it more toward stick direction or receiver openness. New passing controls: A/CROSS = Best Pass (gives you the best pass for the situation you�re in) B/CIRCLE = Tap for Bounce Pass, Double Tap for Flashy Pass, Hold for dribble pitch/handoff (hold to bring the selected receiver toward the ball, release to pass or handoff if close enough) Y/TRIANGLE = Tap for Lob/Overhead Pass, Double Tap for Alley-Oop, Hold for Lead to Basket pass (hold to make the receiver cut toward the hoop, release to pass� awesome addition!)

Sold. Although my gaming time is occupied with Metal Gear Solid V for the foreseeable future, but I will definitely buy this eventually.

# 170 Da_Czar @ 09/03/15 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bornindamecca


	This is a false dichotomy. NBA athletes can stop on a dime, and they also can't. It depends on the situation. This is why we need both and the varying levels of commitment to give us a broad range of results after players commit. In 2k15, there is no representation of any NBA athleticism that translates to an honest balance of offensive and defensive movement. People are talking about "trusting" or seeing that it's "just hype." I think this is the wrong attitude. This is all information. When Ronnie2k speaks, please, dismiss it. He's a hype man. When the people who actually MAKE the game speak, it's the first part of the conversation. They're telling us what they're attempting to do. We'll know the failure or success of these attempts after we spend hours learning and testing the game. If you're not a hardcore 2k player, you can just wait. If you ARE a hardcore player, this is the first tool you need to give reliable feedback to help this team continue to improve this game. Now we have a standard to measure the product up against. My FRIENDS are making this game and I don't trust them. It's not about trust. It's about them taking on a difficult challenge, setting lofty goals and losing sleep trying to meet them. Trust or mistrust clouds the vision we need for accurate and clear feedback.

SOOO much right in this post!!!

# 171 Jrocc23 @ 09/03/15 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daymankarate


	I agree with the fact players have off nights like and the example provided was valid im just stating I hope overall for the most part superstars play like their suppose to and if they hav an off night im fine with that the how real basket ball goes I just dont want to see them superstar players be passive and defer to me a 75 ovr nobody rookie

Yes. This has me concerned. I like how it is, I could be playing with Durant and even MyPlayer and he'll just be off some games but it feels more like my fault because I am missing the release or could be taking a better shot or etc.

I don't want to go into a game and be predetermined to miss layups and shots a lot more often and etc. I just don't want it to be obvious where I can be like "Damn, 2K got it where I am supposed to be off this game."

# 172 lakers24 @ 09/03/15 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jrocc23


	Yes. This has me concerned. I like how it is, I could be playing with Durant and even MyPlayer and he'll just be off some games but it feels more like my fault because I am missing the release or could be taking a better shot or etc. I don't want to go into a game and be predetermined to miss layups and shots a lot more often and etc. I just don't want it to be obvious where I can be like "Damn, 2K got it where I am supposed to be off this game."

Tbh MyCareer is the worst mode to use when comparing this stuff as that mode as I believe that the AI is programmed in a way that it forces your hand at taking over games, otherwise your team will lose.

# 173 Jrocc23 @ 09/03/15 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakers24


	Tbh MyCareer is the worst mode to use when comparing this stuff as that mode as I believe that the AI is programmed in a way that it forces your hand at taking over games, otherwise your team will lose.

I am talking about period. MyPark, MC games, and with regular teams. Sometimes it seemed like you were naturally just off. I am just hoping with this it's not predetermined where the player or MyPlayer has to be off.

It's something that I kind of wish wasn't said because I'll be off and in the back of my head be like "Is this predetermined to happen so someone else can step up."

But for MC, your teammate AI isn't on the same level as the CPU AI you are playing against for some reason. Hopefully, that changes in 2K16 where you don't have to be the focal point of everything. But you can still be broke in MC.

EDIT: I think you're talking about something different than I am. I am strictly talking about where 2K talked about the off nights or something like that and other players having to step up. So gameplay in general.

I am not talking about MC AI deferring to me or anything like that. Just about being off some games because it's predetermined whether it's KD, MyPlayer, LeBron or anyone else in any mode.

# 174 Bornindamecca @ 09/03/15 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakers24


	Tbh MyCareer is the worst mode to use when comparing this stuff as that mode as I believe that the AI is programmed in a way that it forces your hand at taking over games, otherwise your team will lose.

Very true. If the MyCareer mode is tuned the same way this year, it'll be the first year I don't complete a season since 2k12, which wasn't so much about that game(though it is a pretty bad 2k, imo) but my own personal schedule at the time.

That's the scary thing about MyCareer when news first drops. You just don't know how many of these great additions are going to apply to the mode, and it's a shame that someone at 2k is making that decision.

For a lot of new players, MyCareer is a less demanding entry into the game, or a way to focus on how to play one player type. Tuning the mode for hero ball is a questionable philosophy that makes me want to say rude things.

# 175 lakers24 @ 09/03/15 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jrocc23


	I am talking about period. MyPark, MC games, and with regular teams. Sometimes it seemed like you were naturally just off. I am just hoping with this it's not predetermined where the player or MyPlayer has to be off. It's something that I kind of wish wasn't said because I'll be off and in the back of my head be like "Is this predetermined to happen so someone else can step up." But for MC, your teammate AI isn't on the same level as the CPU AI you are playing against for some reason. Hopefully, that changes in 2K16 where you don't have to be the focal point of everything. But you can still be broke in MC.

I was referring exclusively to teammate AI. The storylines stuff they mentioned seemed like it was more geared for a mode like MyGM/MyLeague since that's more of a natural setting for CPU AI. MyCareer already has everyone off on your team pretty much all the time which is why I haven't reached beyond the first round of the playoffs in this mode since 2k11.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bornindamecca


	Very true. If the MyCareer mode is tuned the same way this year, it'll be the first year I don't complete a season since 2k12, which wasn't so much about that game(though it is a pretty bad 2k, imo) but my own personal schedule at the time. That's the scary thing about MyCareer when news first drops. You just don't know how many of these great additions are going to apply to the mode, and it's a shame that someone at 2k is making that decision. For a lot of new players, MyCareer is a less demanding entry into the game, or a way to focus on how to play one player type. Tuning the mode for hero ball is a questionable philosophy that makes me want to say rude things.

I swear I hate it. I don't want my team to be OP with me but at the same time I don't want to have to be OP just to beat teams. This doesn't even include how much I've hated the cpu trade logic even in the franchise modes so playing MyCareer is dreadful for a accuracy nut like myself. Back when CAP was the exact same as you MyPlayer I used to just create the exact same character and start an association. I got a lot more enjoyment from that experience since it seemed I played a lot more within the flow of the offense when controlling the whole team.

Funny story, my favorite MyPlayer/MyCareer experience was when it was its most barebones. In 2k10 it felt like my teammates played how they were supposed to and I felt I had a choice. I could be a bench player or try to be a star and I actually got stuck in the D-League for months with the RGV Vipers. After about another month I started getting my stats up and started beasting down there and I got called up, it just felt real.

# 176 Jrocc23 @ 09/03/15 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakers24


	I was referring exclusively to teammate AI. The storylines stuff they mentioned seemed like it was more geared for a mode like MyGM/MyLeague since that's more of a natural setting for CPU AI. MyCareer already has everyone off on your team pretty much all the time which is why I haven't reached beyond the first round of the playoffs in this mode since 2k11.

Yeah, that's what threw me off. I was talking about simply about the storyline part. And you're right, it will most likely be more for MyGM/MyLeague. Maybe also MyCareer as well though.

From my experience, 2K15 teammate AI is a huge improvement from 2K11 where they literally could almost make nothing. My CPU on 15 can definitely make shots and some players can consistently put up 15-20 pts a night and sometimes I've had players like Ariza and etc go off for 30+. So, the CPU can make shots for me, but my problem with them is they cannot create their own shot, a lot more silly things with the ball vs HOF CPU and they pass the ball back to you too much.

They are worlds ahead of 2K11 CPU. But it still needs a lot of work because if you don't drop that 30-40 points, you'll be close to losing more times than not.

# 177 lakers24 @ 09/03/15 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jrocc23


	Yeah, that's what threw me off. I was talking about simply about the storyline part. And you're right, it will most likely be more for MyGM/MyLeague. Maybe also MyCareer as well though. From my experience, 2K15 teammate AI is a huge improvement from 2K11 where they literally could almost make nothing. My CPU on 15 can definitely make shots and some players can consistently put up 15-20 pts a night and sometimes I've had players like Ariza and etc go off for 30+. So, the CPU can make shots for me, but my problem with them is they cannot create their own shot, a lot more silly things with the ball vs HOF CPU and they pass the ball back to you too much. They are worlds ahead of 2K11 CPU. But it still needs a lot of work because if you don't drop that 30-40 points, you'll be close to losing more times than not.

Yeah the CPU is better than 2k11, I just haven't put much time into the mode since then.
The pass back stuff has been one of my biggest issues with MyCareer for years. If I'm playing with another star scorer why the hell is he passing it back to me, go one on one and get a bucket or create for another guy. Another thing I hated was I'd create a wide open look for a teammate and they'd miss the shot, but my teammate could get the rebound and pass it right back to them and they'd make the shot CONTESTED no less and in turn snatching my assist

# 178 STLRams @ 09/03/15 04:22 PM

Well, I just reserved my copy at gamestop. Looks like I maybe getting off work a lil early on Sept 25th to play this game....

# 179 vannwolfhawk @ 09/03/15 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STLRams


	Well, I just reserved my copy at gamestop. Looks like I maybe getting off work a lil early on Sept 25th to play this game....

Work on a 2k holiday? Oh no, that's a sick day if I've ever heard of one! Lol

# 180 Cowboy008 @ 09/03/15 09:20 PM

I'm really liking what I'm hearing about this years game.

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