5 Things NBA Live 14 Needs to Do or Have

A couple of months back, I wrote a Friday Five piece on the five things that I feel NBA Live 14 needs to do or have, which I'm shamelessly plugging again here:
http://www.nba-live.com/the-friday-five ... o-or-have/

However, since we're still waiting for the explosion of news and previews, I thought it might be fun to talk about our expectations and the stuff we consider vital.

To that end...what are the five things that you believe NBA Live 14 needs to do or have to be at least satisfactory and/or encourage you to check it out?

it needs to come out on PC lol

Well, it certainly does, but it's not going to happen. Given that fact, what else does the game need to do or have?

As broad as this statement is; Realistic, fluid 5 on 5 game-play. That's the most important thing Live needs to get right to get me sold.

In addition to the above, for live to be a critical and commercial success (imo) it needs:

1) Great online experience.

2) Good commentary. Adding a bunch of phrases for the same message makes it seem less repetitive.

3) Unique player specific animations. Adding their own voices in game would be a nice touch.

4) Next-Gen level graphics. (Given).

5) Current Superstar player endorsement(s). I don't know what happened with Kevin Durant, but I wish Live could've gotten him on board for their comeback, and I hope they work with each other in the future.

1. •Give players signature shots, moves and dribbling styles so that they not only play and perform like their real life counterparts, but look and move like them as well.
2. •Full ESPN Integration with commentary and accurate TV-style presentation. Include player intros ( make it realistic). Add a brief halftime show that highlights key performers and shows an assortment of highlights. Add a sideline reporter.
3. NBA All Star Weekend include Skills Challenge
4. Realistic, simulation game with players who look, play and perform like their real life counterparts, with real team strategies and playcalling in effect.
5. smooth, fluid animations with responsive controls

EASBA, fill that true Crew void
Multiplayer shootarounds with HORSE/Knockout/mini-games
Live 10's audio system/quality
Some sort of other team's game highlights in career/dynasty modes
Truly update the game hourly/daily

I can only base from Live 10 so based off that

1. A First step rather than just a jog, sprint by or having to cross over every time. It's an every play part of basketball. (includes triple threat swing-throughs, jabs, ect.) You're not going to be able to tight rope pass defenders in real life unless you got a full running start -(at least not every time and unless you're blindingly quick)-, you got to go around them... Or juke them out their spot. An animation that makes it look like the player is trying to get around/by just looks realistic and dope.

Offensive player should get low when trying to get by, bugged me seeing games doing this. 2k and live does this. YOU KNOW you've seen times where you're defending and the dribbler jogs by you in a upright position-taking a gentle stroll as if you weren't even there. Shit, at least make it look like you were trying to get by me if your going to. A bit dispiriting man.

2. Manual post button. (along with all the post move necessities, ability to pumpfake, dropstep and all that enchilada.)

3. Paint defense. Let CPU's get hands up in the paint automatically. One of these days a basketball game will make taking a charge a factor again. Specifically in the paint. (I like my points in the paint to feel like I earned them, and I want that physical paint defense. I don't like it coming easy! If I get a dunk I want to get hyped because it's not easy to get dunks, I don't want to be like "Damn bro, scored 50 on you with Melo." and have 6 to 10+ of my fieldgoals dunking. Dunking should feel rewarding.

If I do get that many dunks and it's hard to come by - A STRUGGLE to come by it's going to feel authentic. Realistically though I doubt even the bobcats would allow that to happen. But I also don't like those garbage animation-contact shots-that always miss. If you throw in contact shots which I hope you guys do, let us still be able to: change our shots, pass / take a charge, jump, intentional foul.) Make there be a point to having to adjust your dunks and layups. If you've noticed - we haven't had circus shots/layups in a Nba game in quite some years. I actually don't think there's ever been a game with circus layups.

4. Blocking shots. My main issue from the previous games of any Nba live game ever made was that the defender ALWAYS jumps straight up. Even if your chasing somebody on a break.

Turn the ball over in the nba finals up 1 with 9 seconds left - "Chris Duhan's on the break! Josh Smith is right on his tail! Duhan takes it all the way-- Josh Smith gets ready to meet him at the rim and-- he jumps to say hi to the crowd! Duhan WINS THE GAME! I've never seen a finish like this!".. And you should never see a finish like this. Let us have some type of momentum on these situations EA. (and again give a reason to have to change a shot, it makes it competitive, fun and rewarding.)

5. You guys are covering dribbling already, hopefully your passing is what it was said to be from 13. But I emphasize on The Crowd.

What makes basketball fun to watch is the crowd. They give off the emotion for the classic finishes, they bring EMOTION to the game and in turn the players give it back and makes me start jumping and dancing like a delirious maniac when an amazing play happens. There's nothing better than a crowd that gets INTO it! If a team is taking an eliminating loss to end a hard fought season, in the arena you should feel that through the crowd. You should be able to taste the tears of weeping in the stands and have moral victories. "We got our ass kicked but.. at least we scored the last basket." you know, cheering the home defeated team into the off-season and what not.

If a player is playing out of his mind the crowd should reflect their unbelief or anticipation. If they see Kobe in the groove in a away game- The crowd is on their seats, just waiting for him to get the ball. If they see someone they know for dunking on the break, they're awing and anticipating the finish, If its an intense game (Playoff time) The crowd should be booing the opponents every chance they get. It should be loud and have climax moments where audio is drowned because of them. Cheering and booing.

It should feel like we're going to war in the playoffs. Watch Vince carter vs raptors in the 07 playoffs in Toronto. Every second they were booing, coming up with chants sounding like roars, like a gladiator stadium rooting for death, hearing their footsteps stomping and banging. That's how it should feel! The crowd should only be silent in blow out games and if it's so bad a blow-out then they're probably booing their own team. I stand by using the camera shake like the college games it adds to those "This is real" moments when the crowd gets into it. Posted about that in the sticky top 10 thread.

You guy's live 10 crowd audio was one of the best in basketball games ever. If not the best. I think it's still the best. But you can still take that up a notch. And just the crowd alone will give a fun factor, emotion, replay value. Posted more about that in top 10 thread.. Peace. Hope the game is solid, looking forward to it.

I'd like a crowd hype system (not momentum) just specifically for the crowd. Where: you do good the meter-(shown through the crowd's actions and noises, not actually an on screen meter)-fills and when it reaches the max the crowd explodes as loud as it can drowning noise. Some plays/scenarios that increase the crowd faster and of course the opponents decreasing the crowd in the same way. Just a cool undercover battle thing to keep going on.

Just because there's different stages of cheers. The "We scored" cheer and then there's the "We actually might win this" cheer and then there's the "HOLY SHIT! did you just see that?!" cheer.
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I want to keep going on like how the AI opponents with superstar players should be trying to score, be the main focus. I hate how in games if you make a slight focus on a scorer the cpu just gives up on them. NO! Scorers are going to get theirs no matter what! You'll never see a game where Melo, Kobe, Durant, Westbrook, hell Rudy Gay just settle for 11 fga. If they do I bet they were working relentlessly throughout the process, getting to the line a grip, majorly involved, and or injured.

And this may just be me but I think it's time to up the difficulty in general. Making the CPU defenders predict some of your moves depending on the defender's rating. I'm sorry, I like my games hard. I don't like pick n rolls confusing the defense every time, sometimes I like having to struggle and rough it out with amazing plays.

So if you read this - throw in like a "Super Hall of Fame" difficulty mode (Where the Ai is built to beat the user and not cheat by making every basket.) Fun and extremely challenging games last forever.
I didn't plan on making this so long, practicing writing is an unforgettable habit.

All I need to see from Live is solid, realistic game play. As a basketball fan I have 30,000 things I could mention but thats the broadest way I can say it. Make it feel like I'm playing basketball rather than a video game. I like being outcoached, not outgamed.

5 things I'd love to see NBA Live have

1) Multiplayer dynasty- why didn't they have that on NBA Live 10 on XBOX 360 when 2K does. I'd love the opportunity to be able to dynasty against my friends to see who is the better GM.


2) Draft List- this is a new idea and 2K hasn't done this. In your dynasty from season one to the current season you are on you see a draft list like this

2015 Draft List

1) Portland - Roger Downs- PF- 6'10" 245 LBS- Kansas
2) Charlotte- Kevin Jackson- PG- 6'3" 188 LBS- UCLA
3) Utah- Anthony Rogers- SG- 6'4" 200 LBS- Oklahoma



thats just an example yes there are 27 more teams to be listed but you get the idea. the table List could go like this

Pick, Team, Player Name, Player Position, Height, Weight, College, Player Comparison.

this idea isn't necessarily but a cool idea to have into the game.


3) My Career- can create your own player and play out an NBA Career. Kinda like myplayer in 2K or you can play as an NBA Player.


4) ESPN Announcing- ESPN announces games that have been played, You see ESPN Sportscenter Studio. You have Chris Broussard (sorry if i spelled his name wrong) announcing deals that have been done. Announcing their predictions during the offseason. ETC ETC ETC.


5) Summer League- a chance for rookies and young players to play and try to upgrade their game.


what do you think about these five ideas. yes other ideas would include making the game play more like a game instead of arcade like.

1. Balanced abilities. This is HUGE. If they pull a "dribbling is a feature so it's overpowered because we want you to like it" crap like they did with older features, there is going to be a problem. I don't care if the NBA doesn't have as many great post players as they have had in the past. There are still good big men with versatile and unique skills. There are teams that work the post and kick out for 3's, teams that pick and roll, teams that isolate, teams that penetrate, teams that push the ball, teams that slow it down, teams that trap, teams that zone, teams that just wait to get the ball back, and teams that do all of those things. The balance of offense and defense is incredibly important and it is one of the main things that has made 2K a great game(with solid fair sliders).

2. Variety of animations. 2K has been winning in this department. EA needs to win this somehow with their technology. They have the branching animations tech to pull it off including the ignite engine, they just need the proper context, variety, and signature animations for all aspects of the game to make people forget 2KSports makes a game. This also counts for number 3 in a way.

3. Visual/Audio quality. Authentic looking world both in geometry, texture, and animation for everything in the game. No super-high polycount and texture players with 2D sprite crowds. No 60 frame player animations along side 10 frame crowd animations and low res textures. Moving cloth physics for all court entities from on court players to refs to coaches and bench players. EA has done great in the past combining the in-arena sound experience with the tv broadcast announcer experience. They need to pay attention to what their fans have been wanting and doing to their game for years. Let us play our own music, and set our own arena sounds like 2K.

4. Depth. Game modes need to be deep. Whether they are single player or multiplayer, there needs to be reasons to continue playing them. Don't tell me unlocks and basic character progression. There has to be some random variability and surprises that keeps me interested, while encouraging me to focus on staying competitive whether it is strategic adjustments, "respeccing a career mode player" at a cost(reset ratings points like games with variable skill trees), player/staff movement/management, media/fans/endorsement/teammate interaction risk/reward, etc. Make me want to come back for more.

5. Innovation. What is really going to make your game so enticing that I will want it over 2K14? There has to be something if Live 14 is to succeed. Bouncetek probably isn't it.

1. Realistic player models in game, meaning, proper lighting on player in-game to prevent players from looking like plastic figures
2. Not sure if they would have it this year, but that Rag Doll collision tool that they're using for NHL 14, that could potentially solve a lot of in the paint collisions
3. NBA Live 10 Chants, Audio was perfect and each arena had their own organs, in game music etc
4. Falling down animations, this would go along with my rag doll tool, but in past games players in Live would rarely fall down,
5. The ability to switch speeds with point guards like Chris Paul and Kyrie, and you see the legs actually move faster once triggered instead of feeling like the player has a bat-mobile flame behind him to speed up lol
6. Create A Player (In Depth) and have a deep create a player mode, while being able to control what your team does on the floor, similar to what 2K11 had before they messed it up with the patch
7. No Robotic Animations, this is new Gen, players should be moving fluid like real people, the game should fool the eye and be an overall realistic experience

It's more than 5, but those are some points that came to mind!!!

Being a big live 10 fan..

1. Keep the control scheme from live 10. It was perfect.

2. Online franchise supporting multiplie users and seasons with lots of customizable options.

3. Keep the ability for multiple users to play online via one console. So much fun playing together and if they could add more modes to do this in like team up, franchise, etc.

4. The little things from live 10. Refs confirming last sec shots, signature arena sounds and sideline stuff like Nash laying down when not playing.

5. Focus on defense, paint D and getting out as much cheese as possible, animation layups that always go in, over use of ally ops. Hail Mary fast breaks to the PF. High percentage 3 after ridiculous dribbling moves and momentum.