NBA Live 08 OTP impressions

by pastapadre
Posted January 20th, 2008 at 4:04 pm

After playing through several games of Online Team Play in NBA Live 08 I’ve been able to form some initial thoughts on the mode. This is really a unique way to play the game and seems to be the natural evolution of online play. It had been a big success in NHL 08 and FIFA 08 and that is definitely the case with Live as well. Controlling a single player in a basketball game is probably the most natural and engaging of all the sports.

Any configuration of up to five on five is allowed. It is nice that the teams don’t have to be balanced or filled up completely. If there is a full five then each user chooses a position to lock into and controls only the player at that position. If there is less than five the choice opens to allow either locking into a position or leaving it open to switch between players. Any not user controlled are taken over by the CPU. So there is a lot of opportunity for variety as the games can be put together in any number of ways.

Communication is isolated to the specific teams. So if headsets are being used it’ll only be with your teammates. This makes it possible to discuss some strategy and make adjustments as the game progresses.

Of course one of the main concerns would be the performance when having numerous people connected into a single game. Up until the recent releases out of EA Canada (NHL, FIFA, Live) there had been struggles to get normal one vs one games to run smooth or avoid disconnect issues. Thus far the experience has been impressive. The games have felt smooth and fluid even with a full 10 users in. There was one game that felt a little sluggish but it was possible to adjust to since it was consistent.

The games are unranked and the standard five minute quarters with fatigue on. In a game where you’re playing with people you know I’d recommend making the quarter length longer otherwise the final scores are probably going to end up in the 50s or 60s. Seven or eight minute quarters would probably be ideal but that does make for a greater time commitment.

I’ve played a couple games that were really fast paced and another that had some more half court play. This really depends on the individuals involved in each game. If you are in a game with people you know or who are trying to play realistically it is going to be a better experience. That’s the case with every online game though.

If playing with randoms there is always the chance you’ll get stuck with a ball hog or someone playing like a jackass but I really haven’t experienced this yet. To me there is a certain pressure that comes with OTP in that you don’t want to let your teammates down. It is a feeling that isn’t really there when you’re only playing for yourself.

I’ve also read comments that the mode wouldn’t work because everyone would want to be a specific player. Again so far I haven’t seen this. There are a lot of people out there who don’t desire to take on that superstar role. I’m one of them. I prefer taking on a secondary role and attempting to help the team in various ways. I’ve played as a SF in most games where scoring points wasn’t my main goal. I was more interested in quality shots if I took them and putting up numbers in other stat columns. There is a certain appeal to taking on the role of a specific player.

A few examples of my stat lines:

Bruce Bowen: 10 pts, 4 rbs, 3 ast, blk, stl, took 2 charges
Steven Jackson: 11pts, 7 rbs, 4 blks, stl, ast
Paul Pierce: 14pts, 4 rbs, 4 asts, blk, stl

Here are some suggestions that came to mind which would make the mode better:

1) Ability to boot out teammates. If you get into a game with random people occasionally you’ll come across someone not playing within the spirit of the game. There should be a way to get rid of them. Maybe a system where if more than one person on your team votes to boot them they are removed.

2) Call for the ball. In playing I’ve found times where I got open but had no way to let it be known. Maybe there could be a button used to “flash” the circle under your player so that the ball handler could recognize it. Some way to visually represent the player calling for the ball would be a nice touch.

3) Setting picks. This is something that has been stated wasn’t implemented only due to time considerations in wanting to get the mode released this year. Hopefully we’ll be seeing it in 09.

4) A way to know approximately where your player is when off screen. When falling back on defense or running ahead on offense there is really no way to have an idea of where your player is because the camera follows the ball. Either a window, arrow, or a “radar” would be nice to have.

5) Direct passing. This isn’t an issue isolated to OTP but needs to be addressed for the game in general and it stands out in this mode. Having to hold the RB to get the icons to come up isn’t responsive enough and leads to opportunities passing by or accidental alley-oop attempts.

6) Track stats for individuals. There should be a section in each person’s profile that shows their OTP stats. It could be isolated to specific positions. It would also be nice to have OTP records included.

7) EA Sports World. Stats could be viewed on the site and also the screenshot/video feature. Being able to recap some OTP games with screenshots and video highlights would be great. There should be game results along with full stats of each game posted on the website.

8 ) Quitters. Have a disconnect % dedicated to OTP and if there are too many instances of quitting be able to prevent them from joining games.

If you have any ideas to add on ways to improve OTP feel free to post them in the comments.

Overall the mode offers a totally unique experience that changes the whole focus of the game and is a lot of fun. It is more suited towards playing with people you know to prevent the possibility of being saddled with someone who tries to ruin the experience for everyone or quits the game early. Online play for sports titles is going to move more towards the cooperative experience (as it has with other games) and it fits really well in a basketball game. This is an impressive start for OTP in both performance and options and it is only going get better.

Tags: online team play

Gabe

i hope this means, maybe one day, a NBA superstar mode in live!
Gabe

i hope this means, maybe one day, a NBA superstar mode in live!
DLane

Being able to post up would be good to.
DLane

Being able to post up would be good to.
rico

hey pasta will you record a game? please…
rico

hey pasta will you record a game? please…
da best live and mm08 playa de

anyone got ps3 tryn to git a team goin wit da heat
da best live and mm08 playa dere iz

anyone got ps3 tryn to git a team goin wit da heat
Groundhog

Nice idea, but I can’t imagine this playing well. You can’t set screens? Can’t post up? What do you do; continually run around and try and get open? It would be the craziest looking game of basketball ever.
Groundhog

Nice idea, but I can’t imagine this playing well. You can’t set screens? Can’t post up? What do you do; continually run around and try and get open? It would be the craziest looking game of basketball ever.
Groundhog

[quote comment="9573"]anyone got ps3 tryn to git a team goin wit da heat[/quote]

Anyone care to translate?
Groundhog

[quote comment="9573"]anyone got ps3 tryn to git a team goin wit da heat[/quote]

Anyone care to translate?
lathrowback

Like you said about knowing where you’re player is, they should add a new camera view like Madden’s superstar mode.
lathrowback

Like you said about knowing where you’re player is, they should add a new camera view like Madden’s superstar mode.
ledzep

Main issues: No way to post up, to set picks.

I wasn’t lucky with my teammates in the only match I tried: Being R.Hamilton with Detroit, I only received the ball 4 or 5 times the whole match

Lots of people in the paint, standing still, like waiting for the bus. Looked terrible.

Direct passing is obviously something to improve.

Another idea quite interesting for me it would be to include an overlay of the plays in the court, like in Madden, so that the PG can call the play and everybody knows more or less what they must do. This would help to minimize the chaos that you can find sometimes
ledzep

Main issues: No way to post up, to set picks.

I wasn’t lucky with my teammates in the only match I tried: Being R.Hamilton with Detroit, I only received the ball 4 or 5 times the whole match

Lots of people in the paint, standing still, like waiting for the bus. Looked terrible.

Direct passing is obviously something to improve.

Another idea quite interesting for me it would be to include an overlay of the plays in the court, like in Madden, so that the PG can call the play and everybody knows more or less what they must do. This would help to minimize the chaos that you can find sometimes
Dr Logic

ANOTHER GIMMICK to distract you from a game that simply doesn’t CUT IT. By the way, you can play 2v2 online with NBA 2k7 and NBA2k8. Maybe not 3v3, 4v4, or 5v5 but probably because that wouldn’t make sense.

Its a nice idea but an after thought as far as playability goes(seems like the EA way). Like Pasta said, they only way to play to its potential is to play with 9 other people you know. I don’t even know 9 people who bought NBA live08 and even if I did they would all have to be playing at the same time. It asks too much of the individual player and too much of a time commitment for an experience that will probably be more frustrating then anything else.

The only thing 5v5 or 4v4 would be useful for (and thats once they added all of Pasta’s changes) is to let people that are already part of a real basketball team practice, and even then its a bit of a stretch.

Once again EA throws another gimmick to its once vast but now fleeting NBA fan base.

Please EA, Fix Madden, Make NBA live an honest competitor, keep Fifa the way it is(finally got it right)and stop with all of the gimmicks already. The games will prove themselves.
Dr Logic

ANOTHER GIMMICK to distract you from a game that simply doesn’t CUT IT. By the way, you can play 2v2 online with NBA 2k7 and NBA2k8. Maybe not 3v3, 4v4, or 5v5 but probably because that wouldn’t make sense.

Its a nice idea but an after thought as far as playability goes(seems like the EA way). Like Pasta said, they only way to play to its potential is to play with 9 other people you know. I don’t even know 9 people who bought NBA live08 and even if I did they would all have to be playing at the same time. It asks too much of the individual player and too much of a time commitment for an experience that will probably be more frustrating then anything else.

The only thing 5v5 or 4v4 would be useful for (and thats once they added all of Pasta’s changes) is to let people that are already part of a real basketball team practice, and even then its a bit of a stretch.

Once again EA throws another gimmick to its once vast but now fleeting NBA fan base.

Please EA, Fix Madden, Make NBA live an honest competitor, keep Fifa the way it is(finally got it right)and stop with all of the gimmicks already. The games will prove themselves.
chiahatesyou

lol @ the team play being a gimmick .. it is a good heap of fun

I got in a quick match where my side had the Nuggets and I was the last to pick my position so I ended up with Kenyon Martin. I went 22pt and 20 reb mostly off of ball hogging Iverson misses. It was a fun game. I think it plays pretty well now and really has a good chance to play well in the future.
chiahatesyou

lol @ the team play being a gimmick .. it is a good heap of fun

I got in a quick match where my side had the Nuggets and I was the last to pick my position so I ended up with Kenyon Martin. I went 22pt and 20 reb mostly off of ball hogging Iverson misses. It was a fun game. I think it plays pretty well now and really has a good chance to play well in the future.
jeff

yea they should make the dnf% go up cuz when one person quits then more people quit everytime, also u should be able to make cuts when playing off the ball and set screens and the captain can set plays
jeff

yea they should make the dnf% go up cuz when one person quits then more people quit everytime, also u should be able to make cuts when playing off the ball and set screens and the captain can set plays
zygiuxas

neblogai visai cia gavos
http://gfd zygiuxas

neblogai visai cia gavos
lococo

OTP is a great addition to Live. You may see immature actions such as ball hogging and quitting because normally a certain percentage of online video game players are children. When you have 10 players, chances are you will get a few kids that screw around too much.

Overall, OTP is amazing. I advise everyone to pick “ANY” instead of C, PF, SF… That way, when someone decides to quit, you can switch from your original player to the player the quitter was using.
lococo

OTP is a great addition to Live. You may see immature actions such as ball hogging and quitting because normally a certain percentage of online video game players are children. When you have 10 players, chances are you will get a few kids that screw around too much.

Overall, OTP is amazing. I advise everyone to pick “ANY” instead of C, PF, SF… That way, when someone decides to quit, you can switch from your original player to the player the quitter was using.
http://www.nba-live.com/ PDub

1)Ability to boot out teammates.

This would make sense if the game were on a dedicated server run by an end-user, but I think EA wants people to be able to actually play their games. Besides, this is what team play is all about. Sometimes your on team that has chemistry and work together, other times your playing with selfish players.

2)This is a good idea, maybe an animation where the open player waves or claps his hands, but I don’t like the icon idea. Seeing open players is a skill of the user and it should remain a skill.

3)I completely agree.

4)A radar is a great idea, or an arrow that gets bigger or smaller depending on how far you are from the ball. It could also flash or something if your player is out of bounds.

5)I completely agree.

6)This would be a great feature. Maybe they could record stats similar to Battlefield 2 like how long you play at a certain position and what percentage of offensive possessions that you get the ball. It could also be a great way of scouting teammates or opponents.

7)This would be a great feature, but I’m not sure they would be able to implement such a big feature that might only be used by a hand full of people. Maybe a dedicated server that records games or something.

8)EA will never prevent users from joining games, once again they want people to play it. How do you penalize players without knowing if their disconnections have a good reason? Some people have bad connections, some people have to stop playing in order to take care of something more important. This could make sense with a dedicated host run by a user, though.

I am enjoying OTP so far. I have similar stats to yours, pastapadre. I decide not to use superstars because I have lag when I play with OTP, but I don’t have lag when playing one on one. Other users say they don’t have lag, so I assume it’s the connection I am using through my computer’s wireless.

One thing about the game is things happen too slowly, and improving the base game can probably improve the OTP and all online play. Say you see an open player, fromt he time you decide to pass it, to the time the animation actually occurs and the ball finally gets to the player, they are no longer open. It doesn’t happen always, but I have noticed it during offline play as well, and speeding the animations up can give the player more sense of control and improve responsiveness.
http://www.nba-live.com PDub

1)Ability to boot out teammates.

This would make sense if the game were on a dedicated server run by an end-user, but I think EA wants people to be able to actually play their games. Besides, this is what team play is all about. Sometimes your on team that has chemistry and work together, other times your playing with selfish players.

2)This is a good idea, maybe an animation where the open player waves or claps his hands, but I don’t like the icon idea. Seeing open players is a skill of the user and it should remain a skill.

3)I completely agree.

4)A radar is a great idea, or an arrow that gets bigger or smaller depending on how far you are from the ball. It could also flash or something if your player is out of bounds.

5)I completely agree.

6)This would be a great feature. Maybe they could record stats similar to Battlefield 2 like how long you play at a certain position and what percentage of offensive possessions that you get the ball. It could also be a great way of scouting teammates or opponents.

7)This would be a great feature, but I’m not sure they would be able to implement such a big feature that might only be used by a hand full of people. Maybe a dedicated server that records games or something.

8)EA will never prevent users from joining games, once again they want people to play it. How do you penalize players without knowing if their disconnections have a good reason? Some people have bad connections, some people have to stop playing in order to take care of something more important. This could make sense with a dedicated host run by a user, though.

I am enjoying OTP so far. I have similar stats to yours, pastapadre. I decide not to use superstars because I have lag when I play with OTP, but I don’t have lag when playing one on one. Other users say they don’t have lag, so I assume it’s the connection I am using through my computer’s wireless.

One thing about the game is things happen too slowly, and improving the base game can probably improve the OTP and all online play. Say you see an open player, fromt he time you decide to pass it, to the time the animation actually occurs and the ball finally gets to the player, they are no longer open. It doesn’t happen always, but I have noticed it during offline play as well, and speeding the animations up can give the player more sense of control and improve responsiveness.
http://www.nba-lithuania.tk/ nbanba

http://www.nba-lithuania.tk
http://www.nba-lithuania.tk nbanba

http://www.nba-lithuania.tk
Sunset Ridge EX

I think the OTP is really fun. First thing I will say is that if they started keeping records it should be separate from your actual record. Im not taking a loss because people on my team stink. The rest of it cant really be fixed. Immature people, technology and time will improve it, but I do enjoy the game mode though. I always play as the pg and only score when absolutely necessary. I had one really fun game where I was the wizards and talked to two funny guys on my team that werent bad. We trailed by 15 going into the 4th qtr when I started chucking it with Arenas and led a comeback victory capped by a last second turnaround three to win at the buzzer. All of us agreed it was the most fun we have ever had playing that game. And I have played almost 300 games of 08. Im a nerd
Sunset Ridge EX

I think the OTP is really fun. First thing I will say is that if they started keeping records it should be separate from your actual record. Im not taking a loss because people on my team stink. The rest of it cant really be fixed. Immature people, technology and time will improve it, but I do enjoy the game mode though. I always play as the pg and only score when absolutely necessary. I had one really fun game where I was the wizards and talked to two funny guys on my team that werent bad. We trailed by 15 going into the 4th qtr when I started chucking it with Arenas and led a comeback victory capped by a last second turnaround three to win at the buzzer. All of us agreed it was the most fun we have ever had playing that game. And I have played almost 300 games of 08. Im a nerd
http://www.pastapadre.com/ pastapadre

[quote comment="14082"]First thing I will say is that if they started keeping records it should be separate from your actual record. Im not taking a loss because people on my team stink.[/quote]

I’d like to see a seperate OTP record in a person’s profile. It’d be interesting to see and evaluate how much effect a good player has on the team vs one that isn’t as good. Would someone with a great OTP record be a better individual player or better team player than someone with a poor record? Maybe, maybe not. I’d like to see those recorded though, just separately from the general record.

I’d also like position specific stats. Give averages for each position you’ve played. Would be cool to see how effective you are at certain positions vs others.
http://www.pastapadre.com pastapadre

[quote comment="14082"]First thing I will say is that if they started keeping records it should be separate from your actual record. Im not taking a loss because people on my team stink.[/quote]

I’d like to see a seperate OTP record in a person’s profile. It’d be interesting to see and evaluate how much effect a good player has on the team vs one that isn’t as good. Would someone with a great OTP record be a better individual player or better team player than someone with a poor record? Maybe, maybe not. I’d like to see those recorded though, just separately from the general record.

I’d also like position specific stats. Give averages for each position you’ve played. Would be cool to see how effective you are at certain positions vs others.