NBA 2k8 Preview Thread

Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:13 am

Getting "25 points with him with 90% FG percentage" makes you want to buy the game?

Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:32 am

nah he said it doesn't appeal to him so he might buy live. that anecdote was referencing 2k8. it happens in 2k7 a lot too.

Fri Sep 28, 2007 12:21 pm

Yea I was pretty unimpressed by the demo also. But hopefully the real game itself is alot better. Graphics in particular were a big let down, usually I don't really care much about graphics, but I think they've gotten worse since last year. Most of the players faces and models look better than last year, but all around I don't see much improvement, escpecially after looking at NBA 08's crowd (which is amazing).

Gameplay seems basically the same, Lock Down D while looks good on paper, and helps a little, just doesn't sit too well with me imo Live's system for defense is better (except the player auto switch). Defense should be about being in the right place, not about struggling to stay in front of a defender (like 2k7), and while Lock on D tried to help this, I don't think it did much overall to help the defense be more fun. AI does seem a bit better so far, no more stupid 1/100 chance passes. Offensively the only difference I can see is the isomotion moves and afew new animations. I don't really know whats different with the isomotion moves, but I don't like it. While others found the old control scheme complicated or confusing, I thought it gave you more control, and felt fairly natural.

Overall the players seemed to have more weight to them, players don't burst into full sprint every time they move, and while there is still some skating (which I didn't mind too much anyways) it's been toned down quite abit.

Sum up all three NBA Demos
NBA Live 08 - Best overall graphics, mostly smooth gameplay, poor AI at times and some weird animations, also it's made by EA (N)

NBA 2k8 - Best AI, feels the most like real basketball, best feel of momentum and weight to the players, most textures have gotten worse imo, coach animations are horrible, great celebrations and animations after plays, overall still by far the best

NBA 08 - Bad player models, frantic, unorganized gameplay, defensive animations suck, defense in general sucks, courts suck, crowd is amazing (Y)

Anyways I'm still unsure to whether I will get NBA 2k8, might just have to wait for the reviews and your guys' impressions this year.

Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:28 pm

yeah hopefully the NLSC team members will come out with a few reviews this year. I'll be reviewing both games for sure (Y)

Fri Sep 28, 2007 4:25 pm

I Don't know about you guys, but i love the demo :wink:

Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:27 pm

I saw a video about 2k8s ReelMaker ( http://www.gametrailers.com/player/25548.html )

I was wondering when you make a video like that, where do you send the video for others to see? I never had 2k7 so i dont know how that worked.

Sat Sep 29, 2007 8:27 am

Scotty: Thanks for posting the gameplay vids. Man, the game looks freaking awesome. The passing mechanisms are so realistic, a huge difference with the robotic passing in Live. One thing that I don't like especially is the candid off-ball animations. Too many celebrations.

Edit: At 8:00 in the first video, the hard screen and ball swinging for the open jumper was sweet.

Sat Sep 29, 2007 8:33 am

Many features are disabled in the demo, and there is no sweat. The real game will be different. :wink:

Sat Sep 29, 2007 9:04 am

Check this out from OS.

http://features.operationsports.com/fea ... nba2k8indc

"2K Sports paid a visit to Washington D.C. and I got a chance to play an 85% complete version of the NBA 2k8. Let me start by saying that this version is much better than the demo version we are all currently playing. The player faces are greatly improved from the demo and I thought Lebron looked way more realistic in this version.

Two of the biggest game play features in this year’s game, off ball control and the play diagrams, look fantastic. One of my biggest issues with most basketball games is that you can’t decide who will set a screen on a pick and roll. In most games, it’s either the center or the power forward. In NBA 2k8, you can decide which one of your four teammates sets a pick or works to get open. When I first heard about this feature I thought it sounded a bit complicated and wasn’t going to be user friendly but after playing the game I think it’s a great feature that adds a new level of enjoyment."

Sat Sep 29, 2007 4:35 pm

How do you do crossovers and stuff?

Sat Sep 29, 2007 5:30 pm

Try flicking the left analog you use for movement. It takes some time to adjust from playing Live, but I actually enjoy a bit more the way it's in 2k8.

Like one of the guy said on the videos: people want the game to look like a tv broadcast. And 2k8 delivers. I'm overwhelmed that I can actually be part of it this year.

Sat Sep 29, 2007 10:21 pm

Wooo a Nuggets vid (Nuggets vs Suns) It's a full match of 4 minute quarters with the half time show and everything....

SUNS VS NUGGETS
1ST QUARTER:
http://files.filefront.com/Suns+vs+Nugg ... einfo.html

2ND QUARTER
http://files.filefront.com/Suns+vs+Nugg ... einfo.html

3RD QUARTER
http://files.filefront.com/Suns+vs+Nugg ... einfo.html

4TH QUARTER
http://files.filefront.com/Suns+va+nugg ... einfo.html

Sat Sep 29, 2007 10:51 pm

This game owns!!!! From the signature jumpshots to the atmosphere this game has got it! It just looked soooo real! and I mean everything!

Mon Oct 01, 2007 2:31 am

i cant wait to play with my raptors omg . wow this is going to be such a huge step up from live finally no more torture.

Mon Oct 01, 2007 3:14 am

I'm absolutely loving this game again, the AI is just so fun to play against, and this is on an easier difficulty. I'm still not impressed with the graphics at all, but the momentum, the players weight and agility, along with the improved smoothness of coming out of the different animations makes up for it.
Last year some players with different type of sig shots had really weird trip threat moves, like they'd just glitch all over when ever you pump faked, I remember this very clearly with Pavlovic and it seems to be fixed this year which is sweet. Also the transition from the animation of the player coming up the court with his hand in the air directing the team and such, or dribbling through the legs all the way up the court (the automatic animations that happen when you dribble up court) are alot smoother, not 100% but still quite abit better from last year.

Mon Oct 01, 2007 4:42 am

question for the ps3 people, can you disable the sixaxis freethrow shooting? I can never make a freethrow!

Mon Oct 01, 2007 4:59 am

You could ;ast year so im guessing you can this year too. It's sweet shooting like that though, just practise, it's not that hard.

Mon Oct 01, 2007 2:12 pm

snika wrote:question for the ps3 people, can you disable the sixaxis freethrow shooting? I can never make a freethrow!

Yeah i've heard it's really hard to shoot free throws by tilting the controller...

Mon Oct 01, 2007 2:56 pm

Can someone tell me where the videos upload to when you make a video using the sprite video reel thing? I heard them say its free this year. Well after making a video where does it go?

Mon Oct 01, 2007 3:16 pm

Scotty wrote:
snika wrote:question for the ps3 people, can you disable the sixaxis freethrow shooting? I can never make a freethrow!

Yeah i've heard it's really hard to shoot free throws by tilting the controller...

not if you get used to it. it's the 100% FT shooting by Ben Wallace on perfect releases that bother me. the strokes dictate percentage waaay too much.

Mon Oct 01, 2007 4:18 pm

I was just playing the demo on xbox 360 and ginobili and pavlovics jerseys sunk into their skin for about a minute. you could see their chest, but the back was almost normal. Hmmm never happened before.

Mon Oct 01, 2007 8:28 pm

-Young Buck- wrote:I was just playing the demo on xbox 360 and ginobili and pavlovics jerseys sunk into their skin for about a minute. you could see their chest, but the back was almost normal. Hmmm never happened before.

Haha unfortunately that happened on 2k7 too.
Oh well...

Mon Oct 01, 2007 8:31 pm

in the 2k8 demo, I had a nasty dunk with Ginobili and then the CAvs caught the ball out of the hoop and started fast breaking without inbounding the ball :lol:

Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:25 am

I never played 2k7, but i always saw "Kenny's Stamp of Approval" in videos at the halftime. I found it very nice, but in 2k8 it's just a boring report from T-Mobile. So is this feature gone?

Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:23 pm

I'm in a terrible situation as i don't know which game to get this or Live, normally i would chose 2k8 hands down no questions asked but the only problem it comes out late October while Live comes out early October over here, I'm in need of a basketball video game fix!!! i don't know what to do either i buy Live early and have fun with it but miss 2k8 which i would or i could wait it out to the end of the month for 2k8 but i want a basketball game now. Or in the end i could just buy both but one of them will probably never get played....!! man i don't know what to do.

NBA 2k8 Preview Thread

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