NLSC's Q&A with the NBA LIVE 06 Production Team

[Jugs]

But if you can save the game, you can play it later, it's more convenient

Other people have lives, not like you

[Rokas[LTU]]

Hah, i like your jokes..

[Sauru]

he is right, why should we be forced to play 5 min quarters cause we have other things to do? maybe you can sit on the computer for an hour at a time for each game of the season but i cant. i like playing 12 min quarters and i should be able to save the damn game. play a half at a time or something. imo its just plain out lazy to not add it to the game

[mvpofthegame]

haha @ all the people sayin your not buyin the game.

once 9/27 comes around u guys will be rushing to the nearest store for it.

stop acting all hard online hahaha

[gifted]

The Q&A left me wanting more. At least some of the the new statements from the new CBA agreement should have been updated, most notabley the change to a maximum of 6 years in a contract. Simple things left non-implemented like in-gave saving, replay saving, unique team playbooks, playbook saving, sorting statistics, a PC interface, daily boxscores, etc. really dissapointed me. Along with that, EA decided to go with their regular annual gimmick instead of adding on to what they need to. Freestyle Superstars might help the game a bit, but it could have made leaps and bounds if they instead added player/team tendencies. Dynasty mode is very lacking. Logic, trading, money issues are all things that could improve, but especially the offseason. It's too linear. They should change the approach to the one of the 2K series, whereas you can choose what you want to do every single day, whether it's to trade, sign, release, or scout. I was happy about was the fastbreak logic, teamplays, defensive rotations, fixed blocking, and the new learning and work ethic ratings. In my opinion, people need to start realizing that Live's graphics aren't the problem -- all these gameplay issues are where the game is lacking. With that said, i'm going to continue to support Live, and buy the PC version when it's out. I'll probably buy 2K6 as well for PS2.

PS: Another feature i'd want in the PC version is widescreen support. A 1280x1024 resolution just doesn't look as pretty on a widescreen monitor running a 1680x1050 resolution.

[Sauru]

haha @ all the people sayin your not buyin the game.

once 9/27 comes around u guys will be rushing to the nearest store for it.

stop acting all hard online hahaha

dont get me wrong, i will have the game, i just wont pay for it til they make it worth my money

[Andrew]

Glad to know the Q&A was worth the effort.

Nice interview, although you could have been a little more "aggressive" Andrew.

Perhaps, but I don't think they'd be able to give in-depth answers to those questions (eg explaining why a certain feature isn't in there, etc). But for better or worse, they did answer our questions.

I was a little disappointed that some of the small touches won't be in the game, but at the same time I was happy to get clarification on those points as well as gain a little more perspective on other elements of the game. As I said, for better or worse we got some answers to questions that most video gaming website probably wouldn't ask as we tend to be more enthusiastic (and critical) of the games.

While "No" was a popular answer, some of the answers did hint at smaller tweaks and fixes that might be at the very least satisfactory, at least in terms of my expectations of NBA Live 06.

[Blazers]

i know andrew that the ea guy was giving the answer no a lot, but you aked a lot of good questions and i was wishing to see a lot of "Yes" but it didn't happen.

we all are in some ways disappointed at the dynasty mode, but ea has a good reason. the answer is they made most of their efforts on xbox 360. now we know why.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Nice Q&A Andrew... I'm undecided about this year's version. I get it just for the dynasty mode and if there aren't any significant improvements in this area I may give it a miss. The ones mentioned are nice additions, but I was gunning for more changes to the end of season madness. Also I was hoping for changes to stats and layout for the PC. My guess is the previous Live that had the good rez on the PC will be the last.... (I sure hope that they've fixed the sorting of stats at the end of the game...) The boxscores for all the season sorta annoys me because of the amount you can store on a PC, but oh well I guess its mostly for consoles nowadays.

[cocobee]

But if you can save the game, you can play it later, it's more convenient

Other people have lives, not like you

Exactly. That's why I love Madden for PC! I can play a realistic game and save it if I need to and come back to it later.

I just don't understand how one feature can be in an old NBA Live (2000) and they just take it out and act like it's hard to put it back in.

[cyanide]

Andrew, those are some excellent questions!

There was some concern about the realism of NBA LIVE 06 after a couple of earlier videos showed guys like Tim Duncan and Shaquille O'Neal attempting windmills and other flashy dunks. How realistic is the gameplay this year?

They totally avoided answering the questions in a straightforward manner. I mean, "most authentic" .. "ability to lead fast breaks, dunk over top of defenders, fake out defenders with passes, shoot runners and floaters"

The game is balanced in the sense that no one player is unstoppable

Thank god! At least, we'll see, because I know Peja was unstoppable in Live 2005.

We have implemented a brand new fast break system that will allow players to get out and run with numbered advantages (2 on 1, 3 on 1, and 3 on 2). Users will be able to capitalize on these situations.

Excellent!

Have blocks been toned down this year?

Yes.

lol, that's more like it!

Replays and in game saves are not available at this time but is something we are always considering implementing.

Always consider, my ass. That's probably the most requested wish, and you've been "overlooking" this feature for what, 5 years now?

Continuously pressing the steal button will cause you player to commit a hard foul. These can be executed both from a stationary position and while on the move which is useful in trying to prevent an easy basket.

That's actually a very useful feature that I would use

I like the little changes, but it doesn't seem much was changed from last year's version.

[Sauru]

just to comment futher on number 5 and 6 in your quote list

5. they say every year that blocks have been toned down yet there is always far to many of them

6. it is easily the most requested thing to add/readd to the game. if they would atleast give me 1 good, or even half way good, reason why they dont have this in the game anymore i will stop complaining about it. they fail to add it and fail to explain why.

[beau_boy04]

I like the fact that whenever they asked them a question they said "NO!NO!NO!" it's always the same shit. In-game saves was in Live 2000 why is the reason they took it out? I really don't comprehend. And I like how they tried to ignore the question and tried to shift it around. That's tacky! for real brothas

[Blazers]

i know that in nba live 1999 or 2000 and fifa 2001 and fifa 2002 - of course pc version - you could do a lot of stuff that you cannot do in the recent version of both nba live and fifa series. in fifa 2002, it had all the international teams and the creation centre where you could create your team, player and tournament, where as in fifa 2003-2004-2005 -not sure about 06 - you cannot do that.

i don't know why since xbox came out, ea took away a lot of things that we could do in nba live or fifa. i just don't get this!!!

[Andrew]

Andrew, those are some excellent questions

Thanks, glad I did the right thing by the community.

I'm sure the problem with a lot of those features that were gone after NBA Live 2000 is simply that the PC version is a port of the current generation of consoles, which can't support saving of replays as movie files, in-game saves or higher resolution/PC-style interfaces.

[The X]

I'm not sure if I'm correct here, but in-game saves were in Live 2000 because Live 2000 for PC was stand-alone and not a port from console version....since then all Lives for PC have been ports from the console versions and because the consoles have memory limitations, that is probably the reason why they squeezed out this feature....maybe it will come in when the PC version is a port of the XBOX360/PS3 versions....

until then, it sucks

[alexboom]

I just don't understand how one feature can be in an old NBA Live (2000) and they just take it out and act like it's hard to put it back in.

If only they had removed only one feature since Live 2000... There are so many I can't remember all

[jaywill]

I hope in the future. The next NBA Live games would have a feature wherein you can create and design your own plays.

[The Hitman]

Yes, Andrew. Thanks for the Q@A. I greatly appreciate the fact that you did the Q@A. It gave everyone a chance to get a sneek preview of the game before it is released. Although I'm a little disappointed with the answers he gave, your efforts are recognized, thank you for always giving us your opinions, updates, interviews and everything else you do on the site. Because of the Q@A, I'm now getting a little excited about the Player Evolution, even though the Dynasty is still similar to last years. I still, however, don't know if I'm going to buy the game. Maybe as more information comes out, it will help me decide. Thanks Andrew.

[Sauru]

i have not played madden much in recent years but dont they allow in game saves? even on the consoles? i mean if madden can handle them i am sure live could

[Kobe101]

This was very informing and answer ALOT of my questions.

[Voxel]

i have not played madden much in recent years but dont they allow in game saves? even on the consoles? i mean if madden can handle them i am sure live could

yes, madden does have in-game saves. well it actually has so many things live doesn't have, that the only positive thing for me about live is that it's based on a sport i enjoy better.

[Blazers]

me too! if i didn't like basketball, i would never buy nba games, and would probably buy madden every year! but as a hardcore nba fan, i am buying nba live each year!!!

[Andrew]

You're welcome Hitman, thanks for your kind words too. I only wish I could have got some new media to go along with it.

i have not played madden much in recent years but dont they allow in game saves? even on the consoles? i mean if madden can handle them i am sure live could

There goes my theory.

me too! if i didn't like basketball, i would never buy nba games, and would probably buy madden every year! but as a hardcore nba fan, i am buying nba live each year!!!

That's one area where NBA Live is definitely better than Madden. Madden makes a pretty poor basketball sim.

[fgrep15]

I wish the part of the CBA where their's only 1 IL player was added, that's something I wanted in the game, and doesn't seem like it's too hard to add. The only thing is that it would make them likely have to change how the AI does rotations or something....