NBA Live 10 Top Rookie DNA

This week’s blog posting for NBA Live 10 goes into great detail on the DNA that Blake Griffin, Hasheem Thabeet, and Stephen Curry will be starting the season with. The article also shows how those particular players are expected to affect their team’s DNA. You can check out the full posting here.

The luxury of having Dynamic DNA is that each year when you have new rookies in the NBA, as a NBA video game, you don’t start from scratch with made up / subjective ratings and tendencies.

This is a really interesting read as how player acquisitions affected team DNA was something that I attempted to analyze last year. No matter if someone even plays Live this is fascinating information for any NBA fan.

The overall rating for these three players was also revealed. Live is following in Madden’s footsteps stretching out the ratings. Griffin begins as a 75, Thabeet a 69, and Curry a 70.

Latest NBA Free Agent Moves

In the earlier posting the focus was on the first big names to commit to new teams. Those were Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva to the Pistons and Hedo Turkoglu to the Trailblazers (which has earlier been confirmed – and updating has now apparently fallen apart). Yesterday a new wave of news came with agreements coming in from Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza. Continue on to check out the most recent developments and leave your thoughts on them in the comments.

Read more

Early NBA Free Agency Moves

Even though players can’t officially sign with teams until July 8th some have already agreed to terms with new teams. While next offseason is the one everyone is waiting for there are still some impact players available this year. Here is a look at the biggest names to commit or appear to be on their way to doing so thus far this offseason and what it means for the teams involved.

Read more

NBA 2K10 Anniversary Edition

Though it has yet to be officially announced TeamXbox has the details on an Anniversary Edition of NBA 2K10. Available in limited supply for $100 it will include a game storage locker, Kobe Bryant McFarlane and poster, video chronicling the history of the NBA 2K franchise, and access to the “Gold Room” which is a VIP online lobby.

The most significant piece of news out of the Anniversary Edition is the reference to a VIP lobby. 2K9 removed lobbies in favor of the unpopular Team 2K competition which resulted in a major disruption to the community. Given that there will be access to a special lobby for AE owners it would seem to reason that the regular lobbies will be returning as well.

First NBA 2K10 Screenshot

2K Sports has released the first screenshot for NBA 2K10 and it features the new Cleveland Cavalier Shaquille O’Neal. Lebron James is also visible in the background doing his pre-game chalk routine. Both NBA games have now featured that as part of their initial campaign. Check out the full screen in the gallery and leave your thoughts on in the comments!

NBA 2009 Pre-Draft Trades

With the NBA Draft taking place this evening many teams looked to position themselves for the future by making trades in the last few days. Here is a look at some of the bigger names that have moved and how they may impact the video games this year. Leave your thoughts on the trades in the comments!

Read more

First NCAA Basketball 10 Details

The press releases that accompany cover announcements generally include a brief description of the game. For announcing Blake Griffin as the cover athlete of NCAA Basketball 10, EA Sports has included some details on what to expect this year. Nothing in the way of new modes have been revealed but it does present some of what has been worked on and enhanced for 10.

NCAA Basketball 10 brings the emotion, intensity, and spirit of college basketball by capturing every detail in the stadium, from cheerleaders and mascots to wild crowds and real NCAA Basketball announcers. NCAA Basketball 10 builds on a new game engine introduced last year, refining and improving core gameplay functions, and adding more depth to the popular ‘styles of play’ and ‘set your tempo’ features, making NCAA Basketball 10 a strategic and entirely unique basketball gameplay experience.

I’ve added the first two screenshots for NCAA Basketball 10 which feature Griffin. You can check them out along with the cover art in the screenshot gallery.

Blake Griffin Gets NCAA Basketball 10 Cover

USA Today has revealed that Blake Griffin will be the cover athlete for EA Sports NCAA Basketball 10. Griffin is expected to be taken first in the NBA Draft this week by the LA Clippers and was considered to be the clear cut best college player in the nation. In my preview article I had Griffin listed as the third most likely candidate. Along with Dwight Howard on NBA Live 10 they represent a big step up over the covers from 09.

NCAA Basketball 10 Top Cover Candidates

The cover athlete for NCAA Basketball 10 is set to be announced on Tuesday June 23rd, just one day before the NBA Draft. Last year EA clearly didn’t put much importance into their cover, likely because there was no need to once 2K dropped out as competition. The selection was Kevin Love making for one of the most boring and uninspired cover choices in recent years.

This year there are a handful of names that could make sense as the potential cover athletes. Continue on to check out the top cover candidates.

Read more

First Look Into NBA Live 10

Even though it had been stated that Fridays would be the official day for NBA Live 10 postings on the Inside EA Blog, the first one has arrived today. In what is basically an introduction to the game and the people working on it there is some sense of the direction for this year as well as the first screenshot featuring Lebron James (which can be viewed full size in the gallery). You can check out the full article here.

The direction this year has been about making LIVE a great playing basketball game again, while focusing on improving our in game presentation, visuals and atmosphere, getting to a never seen before level of authenticity with our players, providing you with a brand new way of playing OTP and taking Dynamic DNA to an entirely new level, both with how it impacts players and gameplay throughout the NBA season as well as how you as a connected user use it to change the way to play NBA LIVE.

Even though I’ve soured on the NBA in the past few years I’ve continued to enjoy the games, especially with the introduction of Online Team Play and having a full-fledged Be a Pro mode on the way. The introduction of 365/DNA last year was revolutionary although I didn’t feel it impacted the game to the extent that it probably could going forward. This should be a really interesting year for Live as they have had the unique features but with the right advancements to gameplay and presentation could really make a charge.