NBA 2k8 Preview Thread

[benji]

the white thing near the pc monitor looks like a xbox360 dev kit...

Except Xbox360 dev kits are bluish-gray/black.

[Ryan]

I really don't care what this guys says about the game. I'm buying 2k8 over Live no doubt.

[cheater1034]

I really don't care what this guys says about the game. I'm buying 2k8 over Live no doubt.

lol, how about you just buy whichever game is better :-p, live looks sweet with what we've been given, 2k's screens are less than spectacular.

[Ryan]

Screens don't mean anything to me. The gameplay in the 2k series is miles ahead of EA's and I don't see that trend changing with this years releases.

[jonthefon]

Oh pish posh. How about we wait and see when they are released?

EA could actually be telling the truth. Madden 08 is brilliant. There's a chance Live may be just as good.

[Fresh8]

EA could actually be telling the truth. Madden 08 is brilliant. There's a chance Live may be just as good.

I've always been under the impression that Madden and FIFA have always been a lot better than Live... so I wouldn't pin my hopes on Live being good just because Madden is. But yeh, you can always hope!

Well, just try both games if you're so concerned for which is better.

[Dan's Brain]

Do both games usually come out the same time in the US?


In Oz, we'll probably have months between them.

[jonthefon]

If I can get myself a 360, I'll pick up both. I played Madden 08 at a family friend's house during my trip to California last week. Dang, I've got too many wanted games right now. Right now, I myself am still favouring 2K despite their lack of "promotion" on their new version.

And the thing about Madden being great is, that I am hopeful EA is turning or "re"-turning a new leaf. Or just being really good this year before settling back into their shell. They haven't been particularly brilliant since 2005, where Live, Madden and the final MVP Baseball game were all great, FIFA was good and NHL 2005 was decent.

[Indy]

Do both games usually come out the same time in the US?

Same day usually.

[Fresh8]

In Oz, we'll probably have months between them.

In OZ, I think Madden comes out a week earlier than Live. However, I remember in the past Madden, FIFA, NBA were all advertised to come out at the same time.

[cheater1034]

I love madden 08 ps3, 30fps sucks, and it does lag in areas, but it doesn't affect gameplay, and the game still runs as smooth as you could ever want it.

Madden 08 is great though, much more realistic than 07, but it's all in gameplay, graphics are the same.

EA said of all their 2008 games, live 08 will be the MOST changed from the previous year's version, I think live 08 has some potential.

[ThaLiveKing]

I love madden 08 ps3, 30fps sucks, and it does lag in areas, but it doesn't affect gameplay, and the game still runs as smooth as you could ever want it.

Madden 08 is great though, much more realistic than 07, but it's all in gameplay, graphics are the same.

EA said of all their 2008 games, live 08 will be the MOST changed from the previous year's version, I think live 08 has some potential.

Obviously, the last two years the game sucked

[king2k]

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sports/ ... lt;title;0

LEIPZIG, Germany--In our last look at NBA 2K8, we primarily focused on the new dunk system, which promises to add an entirely new level of fun and challenge to one of the more stylish aspects of the NBA game. Here at the 2007 Games Conference, 2K Sports was on hand to show off an updated build in the game, one that gets to the heart of what most fans of the series have been clamoring to know more about: five-on-five gameplay. Though our time with the game was short, we have a good idea of where the team at 2K is heading when it comes to the fundamental hoops play in 2K8.

Simply put, the focus this year has been on improving defensive controls and giving players more options for running plays while on offense. When defending, a new lock-on defensive system will help you shadow the ball carrier. To initiate it, you simply press and hold the left trigger. A small target icon underneath the player's feet begins to animate and, once it's complete, your controlled defender is locked on to the ball carrier. A player's defensive attributes will affect how long it takes for him to lock on to an opponent, as well as how aggressively he will guard him once locked on to that opponent. When locked on to an opponent, your defender will be able to more tightly cover and stay with a ball carrier--the CPU kicks in a bit to act as a defensive helper--but that isn't to say that you can't get beat. Indeed, should your defender get his ankles broken, or if you switch to another defender, you'll need to lock on to that player as well.

The other big addition to gameplay is the new off-ball controls--as they're known. Here, the idea is to give the player more flexibility with how plays unfold on the court, and the team at 2K is taking the system to a surprising level of depth. Essentially, the system lets you choose a two-man play to run and gives you the ability to choose which players are involved in that play. Here's how it works: As you bring your player (say, your point guard) to the offensive end of the floor, you hold down the left bumper. Immediately, a menu pops up showing four different plays you can call right away with a press of the associated face button: X for get open, A for come off screen, Y for go to post, and B for set screen. Once you've called the play, the highlighted player (indicated by a RB button icon above his head) will move accordingly based on the kind of play you called. Once the player is in position (wherever that may be) a button icon will appear. When you press the corresponding button, you'll pass the ball to him.

Sounds good so far, right? Well, it doesn't end there. Remember that RB button icon that appears over the player's head after you've brought up the menu with the LB button? By pressing the RB button, you can take control of that player. For example, let's say you're playing the Pistons and controlling Chauncey Billups. You can send Rip Hamilton toward the net by pressing the Y button then take control of Rip by pressing the RB button, move Rip toward the net, and press the button to pass the ball from Billups to Hamilton. And because you can select any player on the court with the D pad then take control of that player with the RB button, you could conceivably start the play with Chauncey, send Rip toward the net (controlled by the artificial intelligence), and take control of Richard Jefferson to provide some rebound help or an easy outlet pass.

When playing NBA 2K8, you might notice a small icon underneath a player's feet, one that looks suspiciously like cell phone reception bars. No, NBA 2K8 won't have LeBron asking if you can hear him now; instead, the cell icon represents your player's shot tendencies in the game and throughout different areas of the court. Deriving data from actual NBA games, the team at 2K has devised a system that will illustrate when a player is close to his hot spots on the floor, as well as whether that player is on a hot streak or not. When a player gets close to a hot spot on the floor, the cell phone bars increase; if he moves away from it, the bars will deplete. Hot or cold streaks are noted by the color of the bars in the icon. If you're lighting up J's from all over the floor, you can be sure your cell icon will be bright red before too long.

These features, coupled with a promised new batch of signature style animations, have us once again excited to tackle the next entry in the NBA 2K series. We should be getting a more detailed hands-on look at the game in the coming weeks and will be bringing you much more on NBA 2K8 in the coming weeks.

Don't accuse us of stealing, because hotspots are apart of the NBA, so we just implemented what is in the NBA, not Live.

[Jackal]

Who the fuck is us?

What part of the code did you write?

Asking as a sane 2K fan, by the way.

[el badman]

Who the fuck is us?

What part of the code did you write?

Asking as a sane 2K fan, by the way.

Yeah some people think pretty highly of themselves for whatever reason..and feel they should display it on other forums
Good for you king2k, your parents will be proud of your extensive participation to 2K8's development

[jonthefon]

I applaud the wonderful work you do on this forum. Pity it isn't related.

And how does the hotspot sound cooler? They seem about the same. Neither one will get in the way of the gameplay.

[Jing]

How ironic...

[Scotty]

Who the fuck is us?

What part of the code did you write?

Asking as a sane 2K fan, by the way.

It's from GameSpot: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sports/ ... lt;title;0

and another article:

Behind closed doors at the Leipzig Games Convention, 2K gave us our first look at this year's iteration of its acclaimed basketball franchise. The build we were shown is roughly 75% complete, which is pretty far along for the first time showing a game publicly. The main focus of the demo was the new NBA Black Top, which brings a big change from previous years' 24/7.

The Black Top features four different modes; 21, a 3 point shootout, a street pickup game, and a slam dunk contest. Each of these modes can be played with up to four players online or off to bring a few friends into the mix. The court we saw is located smack in the middle of Las Vegas, with flashy lights, occasional spouts of fire, and big crowds surrounding the darkened black top.

It's called the NBA Black Top for a reason. In each of the contests, you can scroll through the big list and bring your favorite player in to test his skills. We were shown a slam dunk contest between King James, Vince Carter, and Dwayne Wade. The round starts with a spotlight entrance as each entrant gets introduced. From what we saw, pulling off crazy dunks is not as easy as some other games make it out to be.

Nailing the dunk involves some precise timing. First, you'll have to jump from the right spot. Too close or too far and the game flashes a warning that a dunk isn't possible from where you jumped. When jumping, the Left thumbstick is used to choose a launch direction. Flicking it again in the air helps determine your move and the dunk is finished by pulling the right trigger at the right time as a meter fills. Out of six tries, we only saw two successful dunks and only one of them had any flair to it, but we're told the series of button presses can produce a huge number of unique dunks.

The slam is all about timing, but it's also about wowing the crowd. To this end, we all know props are the way to go. Chairs, benches, or even cars can be placed around the court to make you look that much cooler when you clear them for a righteous dunk.

We weren't able to see any of the other street style games as the last part of the demo was used to talk a bit about the main game. On that front, Visual Concepts is looking to expand the number of signature moves from the somewhat limited number in last year's introduction to the feature. As usual, NBA 2K8 will sport online leagues for both PS3 and 360. Additionally, both the PS3 and 360 versions will run at a smooth 60 frames per second.
Blogs Boards Guide FAQs Cheats Reviews Previews News Features

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/815/815255p1.html

I applaud the wonderful work you do on this forum. Pity it isn't related.

And how does the hotspot sound cooler? They seem about the same. Neither one will get in the way of the gameplay.

Because in Live's the have colour coded all areas of the court for the hot spots and it looks really arcadish, where as this is a simple and easier way...

[Ryan]

Who the fuck is us?

What part of the code did you write?

Asking as a sane 2K fan, by the way.

Um yeah, why is this guy trying to act like he is part of the 2k team?

[Jackal]

It's from GameSpot.

You can't be serious.

I was referring to this...

Don't accuse us of stealing, because hotspots are apart of the NBA, so we just implemented what is in the NBA, not Live.

[Scotty]

It's from GameSpot.

You can't be serious.

I was referring to this...

Don't accuse us of stealing, because hotspots are apart of the NBA, so we just implemented what is in the NBA, not Live.

Shit, My bad... I get where your coming from...

[king2k]

Us would refer to the 2k Family.

As for the hotspots, as stated on the article, our hotspots do not need to be activated by pressing a button, which wasted a perfectly good trigger on the controller for more content and control. It automatically appears on the bottom of the player and changes as he moves through the court. We win.

[el badman]

We win.

Kudos to you. See? 5th grade is actually gonna be an exciting year for ya...

[jonthefon]

Conglaturations, you success! You aware we all stupid!

Finding triumph in trivial things must be wonderful to you.

[BigKaboom2]

Us would refer to the 2k Family.

Is that anything like the Manson Family?