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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

Dwight Howard NBA Live 10 Cover Athlete

Dwight Howard has been chosen as the cover athlete for EA Sports NBA Live 10. Howard put up over 20ppg and nearly 14rpg during the regular season and in the postseason has averaged 21ppg and 15rpg. He has helped lead the Magic to an unlikely Eastern Conference Championship and is now fighting for the NBA title.

Featuring several innovations to the core gameplay experience and online game modes, NBA LIVE 10 is bringing a renewed focus to the long-running EA SPORTS basketball franchise. The groundbreaking Dynamic DNA service, driven by Synergy Sports Technology, will make a return in NBA LIVE 10, with significant improvements that will allow players to connect their game to the NBA season like never before.

After a year where EA went with boring basketball cover athletes in Tony Parker and Kevin Love, Howard brings back some of the excitement that used to be had with Live’s cover. In recent years Live has featured marketable and on-the-rise superstars such as Tracy McGrady, Gilbert Arenas and Dwayne Wade. Continue on for the announcement trailer and leave your thoughts in the comments.

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Kobe Bryant NBA 2K10 Cover Athlete

The cover of NBA 2K10 is set to be announced tonight with Kobe Bryant taking the honors. Bryant has been on the cover of numerous other NBA games in the past most recently on SCEA’s NBA series. He averaged 26.8 ppg this season and nearly 30 ppg in the playoffs and has helped to lead the Lakers to the NBA Finals.

There is another angle to the cover announcement. There are four different versions of the cover to choose from and 2K Sports is going to let the public vote to decide which one ultimately becomes the cover beginning tomorrow. While that is a nice way to get people involved with the game it does go a step further with the options.

Recently Spike Lee did the Kobe Doin’ Work documentary and they are together again here as he will help to promote the game. However that also means that Kobe as a Knick is one of the options. If I was a Lakers fan the idea of that would probably be offensive and I suspect they won’t be happy to find out he signed off on this idea even though it has no shot of being used. Even if it were to win the vote 2K would undoubtably go with the runner-up.

NBA Live 10 To Have Custom Shot Arcs

It is still somewhat startling to have the first info on games start to make their way out 6+ months out from release. Such is the case today when I came across the NBA Live 10 development team seeking out feedback for a new element to signature shots that will be included in the game. The goal being worked towards is to provide each player with their own custom shot arc based on how they shoot the ball in real life. You can read all about it on the Inside EA Blog here.

We’ve heard in the past from the community that our shots all look the same in NBA LIVE. Well, we’re changing that. As previously announced by NBA LIVE Designer Mike Wang we’ll have signature shot arcs in NBA LIVE 10. Our goal this year is to have every single player in the NBA with their signature shot arc type. The best example I can give you is Kobe’s low, flat shot arc. With signature shot arcs, we believe that it’ll show some real variety between different players and their jump shots.

This will be interesting cause I’m sure there are a lot of people who have grown to identify arcs that are “off” as a sign a shot is going to be missed. Now an awkward arc won’t necessarily be that indicator. I remember playing Online Team Play against the devs a while back and one discussion on our side during the game was how we could tell if the shot was going to be good or not just based on the arc. So it’s a relief to hear they have identified that as an area for improvement, taking it even a step further than we had imagined by providing players with their own custom arcs.

The Live team has stated they’ll be checking comments and postings in various places for feedback and suggestions on the shot arcs of specific players. So go ahead and leave your thoughts and examples in the comments.