Gamedaily’s take on the NBA 2K8 event
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The impressions from Gamedaily regarding NBA 2K8 were interesting. As opposed to the majority of the sites that attended the recent media event, Gamedaily didn't just talk about the new dunk contest but they actually shared their opinion of what it meant in the big picture. They were disappointed that 2K didn't actually show off the game, which is what most people had hoped or expected going in. You can read their impressions in full here.
NBA Live 08 is already a great sports game, and EA’s demoed it multiple times. Last night, 2K Sports mentioned that it’s not resting on its laurels. If that’s true, then it needs to show us more than an unpolished dunk contest. We don’t mean to hate. We love 2K7 and want 2K8 immediately, but unlike years past, 2K Sports has some serious basketball competition. Time to deliver.
I mentioned in one of my previous writeups that it was curious that 2K's first reveal of NBA 2K8 would be an event to show off a dunk contest addition, which is being touted as their big feature this year. That goes along with the disappointing screenshots they released. In the past a ton would've already be out there about the game. Lots of developers have altered strategies with the changing of E3 so that in itself isn't concerning.
Though here we are, now only a little over 2 months away from release, and all we have are details on a dunk contest and a handful of screens. E3 used to take place in May just to give perspective to when the game was generally first shown off. Heck, GamePro mentioned the lack of anything for 2K8 back on June 18th and we're now a month and a half later and not much has changed.
Meanwhile Live has been made available for hands-on time, a bunch of videos and a ton of screens are out there, the community event took place in June, and many feature additions have been discussed. Yet there is even more to Live that hasn't been made public yet.
I've also stated before that 2K8 was in a position where they didn't have to prove themselves to hardcore gamers, which is true, but the longer they let it drag on with little to no info on the actual game the stronger NBA Live 08 is going to appear.
The big concern comes with the recent M.O. of 2K Sports not releasing much on a title until another that is out before it actually hits stores. That would mean the turn to focus on NBA 2K8 may not come until the first or second week of September (NHL 2K8 9/4). They came into this year in a strong position with an opportunity to capitalize on it. Thus far they haven't done so. Looking ahead I'm not sure they can afford to wait until September to talk about the real info on the game and show off videos. Live is making a strong push this year in the eyes of many and momentum is on its side. The longer 2K takes to step into the race, the tougher it will be to counteract that. This is especially so if the main addition to the game is really a dunk contest.
July 28, 2007 at 7:09 pm
I agree pasta. I would really like to get some relevant info on 2k8. I’ve played the 2k basketball games since getting my 360 and have really enjoyed them, however I didn’t feel there was hardly any difference between 2k6 and 2k7 graphically or gameplay wise.
Graphically, 2k8 already doesn’t look like much improvement over 2k7, although I would say the difference is bigger than it was from 2k6 to 2k7. But it certainly doesn’t look as good as Live does so far.
Gameplay wise, where 2k has had the huge advantage over Live, also hasn’t had any significant upgrades since it hit the next-gen consoles. If the same is true for this year I feel that Live will make up some serious ground and probably would get my purchase this year. Since graphically, 2k is somewhat disappointing with the released screens, I really hope they make up for it with some good upgrades to the gameplay.
July 28, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Well what did you expect, Padre? 2k is not known as marketing experts. Except for Rakim and his rhymes, what did 2k do for APF? And The Bigs was a baseball offering that not only was used to justify them buying the MLB license, it was better than the simulation. I remember seeing no commercials for it. I just wonder why can’t 2k even try to do what EA does for it’s games marketing-wise.
July 28, 2007 at 9:37 pm
The 2K fans will never admit it but 2k is treading some dangour waters with this attitude that minual adjustments will do. If and it’s been a big if for some time now EA can come through with solid gameplay 2K could be in for a big fight. With the lack of advertising they just might get trampled where sales are concerned.
I personally think it’s about time for some real competition between the two companies instead of one company stumbing to deliver.
After watching the video of the quick strike moves for live I was impressed with there attitude towards giving us a more simulation style game. They finally got that it’s not all about the glitz and glam and moved towards the basics. Now if we can only be sure we won’t see any dunking through backboards.
July 28, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Padre,
I love the feature in NCAA football that lets you save highlights. Do you think Live has included that feature? I’m looking forward to seeing all the features of the game.
July 28, 2007 at 9:58 pm
I buy both games every year. I have every edition of Live and 2K, but I must adimit, 2K is indeed in danger. Can’t keep up with EA using tha “no show” strategy.
July 28, 2007 at 10:01 pm
Art- there are still some features for Live that haven’t been announced and are under embargo. However to my knowledge the EA Sports World screen/video uploading isn’t one of them.
July 29, 2007 at 7:12 am
Thanks Padre,
That would be a hell of feature for live. Lets face it evertone like to make a poster out of there opponent. If they can get this in next year that will push the fun factor over the top, epecially if the snapshots are in poster form, LOL.
July 29, 2007 at 7:17 am
Padre,
One more thing (well two really). Do you know if EA resolved the substitution issue. One of the things that killed last years for me was players not being subed in when they were supposed to. The other crazy thing I couldn’t believe went unnoticed was at the end of your Dynasty you didn’t have the chance to resign your playes, if you didn’t have the money. This is wrong, you still should be able to resign existing player it may jus cause cap issue (like putting you over). Thats when i traded the game in, I couldn’t believe it.
July 29, 2007 at 7:40 am
They talked about completely re-writing the substitution logic. In the handful of games we played, on 5 minute quarters, I wouldn’t be able to tell you how good it is though. One thing they mentioned is that they made sure the right players would be on the court late in games. So Kobe, even if tired, wouldn’t be subbed out in a close game.
July 29, 2007 at 8:22 pm
Okay cool, I like the idea of key players returning to the court even if they are tired at the end. I guess we’ll have to se how well they did with re-writing the substitutions. I’m dying to know the rest of the features.
see ya 2K!
July 30, 2007 at 7:48 am
yeah i also like that feature….i saw a demo for Live08 on gametrailers…some game between gstate/spurs and it looked pretty damn good…i was impressed…got to like EA’s ballsy move of putting the demo out a month early
July 30, 2007 at 9:09 am
the live video is okay, but the dunk at the end still shows that they don’t care about details like the rim moving, along with the entire backboard from the shock. also the ball looks like it’s sticking to the players hands, looked like street ball, people using fakes to get into the lane, then no help comes, there is no collapse!
as far as the comment from someone saying 2k6-2k7 was no change, they are out of it, …to me personally that was one of the bigger jumps in gameplay/art/animation for 2k in recent history.
In general most sports games have hit a plateau where their yearly releases don’t add a WHOLE LOT, like madden for example. The industry needs a whole new company or something like a game running off natural motion to stir it up and give us something ‘next-gen’ Time to WOW us again.