R.I.P NBA Live/NBA Elite - shadthedad's Blog

shadthedad's Blog

R.I.P NBA Live/NBA Elite

Posted on September 27, 2010 at 10:53 PM.

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To say I was shocked when EA delayed Elite is an understatement. Although this isn't the first time EA has delayed a high profile sports title (remember Madden 96 on the original playstation), it doesn't come often. If you remember: EA and Visual Concepts made the decision to cancel Madden 96; after 989 studio's-NFL Gameday's-3D polygon based models embarrassed Visual Concepts outdated 2D sprite based engine! Madden would later bounce back and annihilate Gameday with Tiburon as the main developer, with Visual Concepts leaving to develop a new football title called NFL 2K! Fast forward to 2010, and you see EA killing off an established franchise in Live, to relaunch with Elite, but to kill it off with an indefinite cancelation of the series! Although 2K basketball looks like something Leonardo Da Vinci crafted and EA's title resembles something the cat threw up, I firmly believe this is the most ridiculous thing I've seen, not only in the video gaming business, but any business in general!

When I look at the decision to let Mike Wang walk and go on to make the greatest basketball game in history...... I say to EA, why didn't you hold off on the Elite project then and keep one of the top free agents in sports gaming....

When I look at the decision to make Durant the face of Elite..... I say to EA, "what a waste!" could you imagine the PR nightmare if Durant has a fantastic season only to sign as the cover athlete for NBA 2K12!

When I look at the decision to package an incomplete NBA Jam with Elite, only to cancel it and make it a stand alone release..... I say, "Are you kidding me EA!" Even if you include all the features from the Wii exclusive (which all of a sudden isn't an exclusive anymore), PS3 gamers /360 gamers will still think they are getting the short end of the stick. Also, what happens to the sales of the Wii version, now that the HD versions have been officially announced- minus the release date....smh

To wrap things up, EA doesn't have any clue to what they are doing in regards to basketball. I fully expect this thing to bomb furthermore in 2012, or whenever it's released, with EA officially quitting basketball video game development. But to bring it back to Madden....... I believe this is a blessing in disguise because it will allow EA to run a more streamlined operation, which means more money for Its established sports franchises. EA can not compete with Sony's baseball title and Sega's basketball masterpiece, and I believe they will recognize this and request a friendly quit. I rest hope that as a result of losing multiple wars on multiple fronts, they will adopt a policy of isolation and pour a ton more resources into the console versions of Madden.

But is it wishful thinking......

Comments

# 1 chadeo23 @ Sep 27

So you'd rather EA release a far inferior/embarassing game and let people waste their money on it? This is a great move for EA. The demo proved that the game clearly isn't ready yet. It looks like a ps 2 game and the way the players move just doesn't look or feel like basketball. They're not cancelling the series they're just holding off until 2011 to make the game respectable. I have no problem with that.

# 2 YUNGMONEY GAME @ Sep 28

@chadeo; my question to you is, Why would they do it when they know what 2k was bringing to the table with Mike Wang coming back? I mean that Demo is a almost done reflection of the final product; why would EA do that to themselves and put of a game thats not even almost done? if you were the head of that company would you allow that and wait to see if your sells drop or what? thats not a good move on their part. but thats me.

# 3 YUNGMONEY GAME @ Sep 28

honestly to me thats what EA had as a final product. because i dont see them fixing everything that was wrong wit it in 2 weeks.

# 4 welcome2jungle @ Sep 28

Yes i would of like to see a release of nba elite 11 failure is part of sucess.. EA been strong arming the sports game industry for a long time now and i believe after this move they just handed 2k the crown... 2k is what EA used to be premier status.. 2k11 is gonna break sales records prolly. This is arguably the biggest nba season of all time ahead of us and EA say no game.. They truely dont care about this customers nor they fans.. I dont look at them the same no more.. 2k is king now..