NBA Live 08 demo coming “very soon”

Update 9/5: The demo has officially passed MS certification and can now literally be expected to be released very soon. 

I have received word from EA that the demo for NBA Live 08 is expected to be out "very soon" and to check out the official website for more upon its release.

The details of the demo are currently unknown as well as whether it will only arrive for the Xbox 360 or if it will also be available on the PS3. 

First true NBA 2K8 hands-on preview

IGN has posted a detailed look at along with impressions of NBA 2K8's new features and improvements. There are also a handful of new screenshots. I've pulled the main points and added my thoughts on each. 

It begins with the rebuilt AI. The new AI is deadly against those who have zero hoops knowledge. If your idea of a basketball game is constantly driving to the hole, no matter who's handling the rock and who's standing in their way, then you're in for a rude awakening. NBA 2K8 will punish those who make foolish plays. Play smart hoops and you will be rewarded.

Pretty much every sports game touts improved AI on a year to year basis. Sometimes that turns out to be true, other times it doesn't pan out quite as good as advertised. However 2K7 already felt much like a real simulation so claiming that they've improved in that regard wouldn't be surprising. It'll remain to be seen how effective and realistic the AI will be.  

The 2K team realized that there are some players who can drive into traffic and will the ball into the hoops. Kobe, KG, Agent Zero. Whether it's pushing through and slamming a dunk over a defender or finding a way to teardrop the ball through the hoop, some players just have a knack for draining clutch shots in traffic. Those players now have a specific rating in NBA 2K8, so that once impossible shots can sometimes be possible.

Things are a little more sophisticated away from the paint as well. Each player now has a rating judging how good they are shooting off the dribble.

These are good additions and should improve the feel and realism of the game. However Live has similar ratings taken to an even more extreme level as 07 had 75 different player ratings categories. NBA 2K7 had only 20. So 2K has a long way to go in this area. 

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NBA Live 08 will offer online leagues

NHL 08 won't be the only upcoming EA Sports title to include online leagues. For the first time it will be introduced into the NBA Live series as well. They will be available on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

It appears for this first attempt at leagues the system will be somewhat limited. There can be 2-32 teams, 1-11 games in a season, quarter length of 2-12 minutes, and owners can have the same teams within a league (which means there will probably be no trading of players). One good aspect is that it is an open structure. There is no strict schedule which is one of the main reasons the majority of leagues end prematurely. It is uncertain whether player stats will be tracked, what the playoff setup will be, or if there will be a web site to view updated league info.

EA Canada seems to be putting a lot of effort into the online area and from my understanding it is a completely different set of circumstances for their games when it comes to online performance as opposed to those produced at Tiburon. Where widespread problems have been seen with the 08 versions of NCAA Football , Nascar, Madden, and now Tiger…those same issues may not arise with NHL 08 and NBA Live 08. They are working towards making sure they don't.

Fortunately they seem to understand that if the online experience is plagued by lag, disconnects, non-functioning features, or simply being light on options then adding in features such as online leagues would ultimately be pointless. So lets hope that they deliver and build on that for the future.  

Update on the status of EA Sports World

As I addressed on Tuesday with this article, the EA Sports World site has not been functioning ever since the launch of Tiger Woods 08. This has meant that consumers who purchased the game have not been able to utilize advertised and highly promoted features such as Game Face.

I received word early on Wednesday that EA was aware of the problems (how could they not be) and that they were working to get them fixed. Despite that there was no indication of how long it could possibly take. Later in the day the following message was posted on the Tiger Woods 08 website and the EASportsWorld site (which has since been taken offline).

Due to overwhelming response, we are currently having issues with the EA Sports World website which is preventing customers to upload their photos for Photo Game Face in Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 08. The feature demand has exceeded our server capacity, we are in the process on fixing this issue and expect to have the site running properly very soon. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience - we will have this problem resolved as soon as possible. In the meantime, players can start a career with a regular game face golfer and still add photo face head later. Please check back for updates.

The question becomes why they were unprepared to meet the demand on this feature when there was no question it was going to be extremely popular. There are also problems such as online lag and a bug that freezes the game in career mode that they are apparently going to address in the near future.

Shawn over @ 5WG posted an article on Wednesday evening regarding the same topic I’ve addressed in recent weeks, which is the apparent inability of EA (although 2K is guilty as well when it comes to online leagues) to have all their game’s features functioning properly on and around release day. Whether it be online lag and disconnects or the disaster that has been EASportsWorld, it is completely unacceptable to have features unavailable when people get the game home. The excuses just don’t fly and they are irrelevant to the consumer who purchased in good faith expecting what was promised to be delivered.

Demo for NHL 08 now available

The demo for NHL 08 has gone up on the Xbox 360 Live Marketplace. There is still no indication when to expect it out for the PS3 although it is likely it won't be seen until well after release of the game (September 11th).

It comes in at a relatively slim 593.20 MB. The details of the demo were discussed earlier and can be found here.

NBA Live 08 team and top player ratings

Gametap has posted up the ratings for the top 20 players at each position as well as the team overall ratings for NBA Live 08.

The highest rated players in the game are Kobe Bryant and Lebron James who both come in with 96. Kevin Durant is the highest rated rookie at 78 and Greg Oden follows with a 75. Overall the numbers for both the teams and the individuals seem low but as long as they are all relative and balanced that is what matters.

Teams

1. Mavericks: 87
2. Suns: 87
3. Rockets: 84
4. Spurs: 83
5. Pistons: 82
6. Nets: 82
7. Nuggets: 81
8. Bulls: 80
9. Heat: 80
10. Celtics: 80
11. Cavaliers: 77
12. Lakers: 77
13. Clippers: 77
14. Kings: 77
15. Jazz: 76
16. Bobcats: 76
17. Hawks: 75
18. Knicks: 75
19. Warriors: 74
20. Wizards: 72
21. Hornets: 72
22. Bucks: 72
23. Timberwolves: 71
24. Blazers: 70
25. 76ers: 70
26. Grizzlies: 70
27. Sonics: 69
28. Raptors: 69
29. Magic: 69
30. Pacers: 67

Continue on to see the top 20 rated players for each position. 

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Problems with EA Sports World persist

One of the most significant additions to the future of sports gaming has been through the new EA Sports World site. While this appears to be the hub for all sorts of new online features (uploading videos/photos, statistical tracking, leagues and more) it has been plagued by problems since launching alongside NCAA Football 08 back in July.

Some of the issues faced thus far have been login problems, users unable to match their EA names to their EASportsWorld account, the site being down/slow, and aspects of the site not fully implemented or working.

With NCAA the biggest problems came from how many people (especially on the PS3) had login or account matching issues. With Madden the online play stats have not transferred onto the profiles on the site as they are supposed to. In addition to those things the site has proven to be unreliable. Even simple things like having direct links to profiles or a password reminder/reset were omitted.

Today it seems the site is not logging anyone in. It just hangs on “processing please wait” message. Not coincidentally it is Tiger Woods 08 release day. That means currently those people who are hoping to use their photo to create a Game Face are out of luck. I have contacted EA and hope to have some sort of response to this situation shortly.

Obviously with “BETA” slapped on the banner this is still a work in progress and EA doesn’t want to guarantee anything about it. However that doesn’t abolish them from the responsibility to have features that have been advertised for their titles available and working properly.

Update 8/29: I have received word that EA is aware that the site is not functioning and that they are working to get it back up and running. Unfortunately there is no word on when to expect it to be fixed.

And another day goes by that those who purchased Tiger Woods 08 can’t utilize advertised functions of the game…

Tiger Woods 08 demo now available

The demo for Tiger Woods 08 has been released onto the Xbox 360 Live Marketplace. As of 8/30 it was also released for the PS3.

The demo includes the ability to play 3 holes and try out the Gamernet feature.

Take on the world in Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 08 with the all new EA SPORTS GamerNet. Show off your golf skills by uploading your best shot or by taking on challenges posted by other golfers.

NBA Live 08 achievements list

The full list of Xbox 360 achievements for NBA Live 08 has been revealed.

All of the achievements are offline and single player based. There are 26 of them making up the 1000 points.

Personally I feel that achievements in sports titles should come through the natural course of playing the games. That should include some that are specific to different game modes. However I am frustrated when there are several that I know I'll never get before the game has even been released. These are the ones which require you to play the game differently, basically as it isn't intended to be, in order to have any chance to get them.  

For example from this list I know I'll never get the ones based on breaking individual records. And that isn't because of skill, its because I'm not going to turn the quarter length to 15 minutes, put the difficulty on Rookie, and spend 2 hours trying to shoot with only one player (101 points) or take bad shots so that I can try and get a specific player more rebounds (56 rebounds). I don't see how people would find that anything but a waste of time except that now you're being rewarded with an achievement.

There should have been some online/multiplayer achievements along with being more about rewarding accomplishments through the natural course of playing instead of trying to cheat the stats.  

You can check out the full list of achievements here. 

Details on planned demo for NHL 08

In a posting from NHL 08 Producer David Littman on the game's official website he goes over the details of the upcoming demo. Although it isn't specified when the demo will be out, in all likelihood it will be about one week before release for the 360 and not until sometime after release for the PS3.

Demo Logistics

- 5 on 5
- Ottawa vs. Anaheim - 3rd period (If tied, will go to a shootout) - Pro Difficulty (Default difficulty in NHL 08) We decided to make it Pro so the most amount of people can play and have fun with it Don't worry though…the pro mode A.I. is 10x better than 07's Superstar mode A.I.

Differences between Pro and All-Star / Superstar are:
1.) Easier to score goals
2.) CPU won't attack as much / you'll be able to skate into the slot more than in All-Star or Superstar
3.) Stick on stick collisions are turned off meaning that you can stick handle in traffic better
4.) The A.I. will still play good position and still have a pretty good offense, but I do expect you guys to be winning this period, so by the time we ship you're ready for All-Star

- You can start practicing setting up in the offensive zone, slap passes, screen shots, 1 on 1 dekes, and playing positional defense.
- No online, no create plays, or goalie mode