The Future of NBA Video Games (MyNBALivePad.com)

[Andrew]

I'm re-posting this in both the NBA 2K13 and NBA Live 13 sections as I figured it could make for an interesting discussion from both game's perspectives.

Corey has posted an article titled The Future of NBA Video Games over on MyNBALivePad.com, examining some of the key things he feels both titles should be striving for moving forward. In my opinion, it's definitely worth checking out and bringing up some of these points in future Wishlists.

This year marks a very special time for NBA basketball gaming. With the return of NBA Live, basketball is really the only sport other than soccer that has two games competing for the spotlight in a competitive market. The league is flush with talent and next generation consoles are just around the corner, making the next few years some of the most important in basketball gaming history.

For the past few years, NBA 2K has been a giant in the landscape. There is no doubt that it is one of the very top sports titles available, but with that said, it is starting to show some age in areas. NBA Live on the other hand, is coming back after a two season hiatus after NBA Elite 11 was cancelled. The Live team has promised to focus on gameplay and a simulation experience.

Instead of trying to compare or differ the titles apart from each other, I thought I’d share my thoughts on what I think BOTH basketball games need to do to take the sport to the next level on consoles. There are areas I feel no basketball game has done properly so my goal is to focus in on those areas. Keep in mind that these are gameplay related, so you’ll see nothing in the areas of online or feature sets. Like my man Czar says – it’s all about gameplay first people. Features should always be secondary to the game experience.

I think he's hit the nail on the head in terms of gameplay enhancements. Although modes like Association and My Player are not perfect and do need some attention, they are a long way ahead of their NBA Live equivalents and could still be engaging and enjoyable experiences in NBA 2K13 with mere bug fixes, tweaks and minor additions. While I'm still more of an offline gamer, online stability remains the area where NBA 2K really has to improve this year and beyond.

[Leftos]

Great article overall, although focused solely on gameplay. He uses good examples on which games 2K and EA can learn from if they want to advance their games.

As we've said a multitude of times, and you've just said as well, there are other things to improve, such as game modes and online, but gameplay should always be priority #1. If the core game mechanics don't work, there's pretty much no point to the game.

Then again, if 2K13 had no or a totally broken Association, I probably wouldn't bother at all, no matter how good the gameplay was. Quick games with friends over don't happen that often, and I need the Association to be good and working, so that I have a goal to reach, besides getting random wins, and that I get a full experience (handling injuries, trades, contracts, the draft).

I just sincerely hope 2K13 is better all around. Tweaks and fixes in gameplay, deeper game-modes without immersion-breaking bugs.

[Andrew]

Given the popularity of online play, crews and leagues, NBA 2K13 will probably be well received with a focus on gameplay and online support online. However, I do hope that some attention is paid to the offline modes as they still comprise a large part of the game's appeal and replay value. I believe that Association can be solid and survive at least one more year without a major overhaul, so long as bugs are ironed out, logic is tweaked and perhaps a little extra flavour is added. It is already a pretty deep and solid mode, especially compared to NBA Live's Dynasty Mode which really needs to be brought up to speed.

Similarly, My Player is not without its problems but clean up the bugs, make a few tweaks here and there, and it remains a very playable and immersive experience.