NBA Live 2004 wishlist...

[Metsis]

This is a long one, so please sit back and take time to read through it and let me know what you think... These are mostly concerning improvements to Live 2003.

Gameplay:

- the gods that they are, well they still miss every now and then (even Shaq from under the hoop, and open shots too)... There is no hand in his face factor in the game. Every shot is either blocked or it has a 95% chance of going in.

- the rim of the basket is an unnaturally soft and I'd like to see that three point shot that does not jump high into the air if it hits the rim. There are no long rebounds either. And too few of them too.

- Shooting%... Well a team ending a game with a >.700 shooting percentage should win the game by atleast 50 points, and especially not loose. (I've seen this happen) And a normal GOOD shooting% is around .450 not .600 like in Live 2003

- there are certain differences in AI controlled and player controlled players. Please these need to be removed.

- there is no reaction delay with the AI or it is too small. And this brings me to the next item!

- gameplay SPEED!!! Live 2003 is too fast and Live 2001 is too slow. The "real" or the good speed is somewhere there in the middle.

- AI controlled team mates atleast with switch-control. They never do defense, and the player must do it all. And players actually jump for a rebound (yes, i've seen this happen in real life bball)
- the graphics are very nice and so is the animations... Only thing that stings my eyes are the chubby rookies in franchise mode. Have you seen a 20 year old 6'6" shooting guard who is fat? They just don't play that well. Maybe a center of power forward could be a little chubby but not a guard.

FRANCHISE/SEASON ISSUES:

- there are still problems with players not playing as well as their stats would have them playing. This is a problem with some players.

- trading draft picks (finally) would be nice... the value of the pick could be factored by the overall rating of the team in the league. 29th team would have the most valuable pick etc.

- add the money men in the game. The biggest thing this winter in the NBA has been the LUXURY TAX. And there should be a point where someone comes to the GM and says: "We got no more money to sign that guy!" (Keon Clark with Toronto after last season)

- this brings me to the next topic: salary.ini file. In Live 2003 the salary.ini file is obviously from Live 2001 because the player salaries go through the roof after a couple of seasons. I've had my salary at 2,5 million, when the cap is at 1 million.

- the ability to sign players when you want to... And atleast two different times in the post season. Before and after the draft. Second rounders are not guaranteed contracts. And the ability to have a roster of 20 people in the off-season and then selecting the 15 players who get to play the season. Otherwise the trading in postseason was a good catch in Live 2003.

- the ability ratings could be updated during the season. Maybe at the allstar break. And this would especially be a thing for the rookies. Who thought Amare Stoudemire would be as good as he is in his rookie season or Pau Gasol the year before? So the rookies real stats could be revealed after the rookies first game or stats could shape them selfs during the rookie season as they get more accustomed to the game.

- rookies are still too slow compared to the real players. I don't think there are guards in their 20's with speeds or quicknesses under 80. Atleast not in the 50's range. And the slowest players in the league have speeds and quicknesses in the high 60's range so there should be no young players with speeds of 55 or something. And after all the players in the draft are the mere top crop of the players so there should not be any really hopeless players in the draft -> basically every pick since the 25th in the first round.

- player development is too something that needs to be fixed. It is better then before, but it is too consistent. I've seen Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett drop 2-3 points of overall per season and how realistic is that??? There should be more random factors then the playerpackage in the data base. Maybe minutes played during the season and the season end stats. The chemistry of the team etc. And the veteran players don't go down in stats as fast as they do ( this is better in Live 2003) but to drop 4 points of overall in a season. Not without a serious injury.

- there are injuries that last more then 5 games. Season ending injuries would be nice or injuries that takes a good chunk out of the season (30 games). Career ending injuries still should not be implemented.

- there are teams that play better then the roster would make it seem and then there are teams that do the opposite. Denver in my mind has the worst roster in the league and they still play with spirit. And examples of the opposite is Cleveland or Clippers (or Pacers after the all-star break). A hidden stat for the team chemistry. And the players that make it and others that break it. Examples of good Jason Kidd, Ben Wallace and examples of the opposite: Isiah Rider, Rasheed Wallace. Trading would decrease the chemistry atleast momentarily. Just look at the Clippers...

- player happines and opinions. So you could try trade the unhappy people before loosing them in the offseason for nothing. And opinions in the fact that some players could get upset if you trade a close friend of theirs or a great leader. Or a player wanting to be traded etc.

- box scores... that you could watch after simulating or playing games. During injuries to starters, well you could see how the back up plays when he starts. And you could generally see how the game simulates games between it self. And BTW some back ups score even more 10 points per game and not the 5,5 that seems to be the maximum when simultaing Live 2003.

- fix the 6th man award system and all the others too. Rarely any players wins the same award two years in a row. No matter how dominating he is. Has Jordan ever been MVP twice in a row.

- USER INTERFACE!!! Live 2003 ui is just horrible. Maybe it works on the consoles, but on PC! C'mon. The graphics too are very nice with only enhanced resolution. The ui seems empty and it does not use the space well. NHL 2003 has a nice user interface and even the old Live 2001 has a very nice user interface compared to Live 2003. Use the resources the PC offers.

In summary:

- there is a lot of good in the older versions of Live. And the future would benefit from taking good ideas from other EASports games.

- I want to state that "Keep up the Good Work" even if the list is long, well it's because there is much that would be cool to be implemented and a lot that needs to be tweaked/fixed.

- Live 2003 was the first PC NBA from the new team and I hope it just gets better and better. NBA Live games have always been very well made and I hope this trend continues in the future.

[ReyJ]

I know I'll just be repeating what other people have said, but I'm going to compile a small list anyway.

FG% shouldn't be so high.
The highest FG % in the L at the moment is .467% held by the Jazz. The avg FG% in Live 2k3 is higher than .500%!! Hopefully EA can use this as a benchmark for next year's Live...

Like lil friggin rats!!
Well, that's the term me and my mates call the speed of the players. It's just too fast it ain't funny and eventually, someone is going to hurt their eyes, . I think they should compare the movement and speed of players in the game to a real life game.

STEAL!
Ngek, I hear this word from the commentators all the time. There's just too many, but as if we all didn't know that. I think there should be different types of passes as well. For example, a cross court pass should be a lob pass, not like Live 2k3 where the player throws the ball straight to the opponents hands as if to say "Take it!". Of course the more gutsier the pass, the more chances of a turnover.

Get that "ish" outta here!
Is it just me or is every block that's made is sent to either the other side of the court or into the 15th row of seats? Even guys like Earl Boykins and Jamaal Tinsley makes these kinds of blocks. No way. Blocks should be more realistic in terms of how many are made and the way they are blocked.

For example, if a PG is driving the lane and Shaq is about to swat it, then the ball should go flying. But if Allan Houston takes a J and Vince Carter comes out to swat it, the ball should go straight up in the air. I guess physics could be involved.

Ohh well, that's it for now, my head hurts. I'll continue later on...

Cheers!

[Metsis]

Oh yeah... There's more...

There's a lot of good points in ReyJ:s list too, but one thing that bothers me!

- intentional fouling... This just has to be in the game. The screens are important too, but have you ever been one point down and 5 seconds of the game to go? You just can't win the game anymore, by other means then a miracle. This just bugs me in finnish basket ball too, some referees just don't call the fouls in the final seconds. Just this season we lost a guy to an ankle injury due to the fact he had to jump on a guy to get the foul, hacking him didn't work. And I don't think the guy that got jumped enjoyed it much either.
- and the blocking is fun too... swatting the ball to the stands muggsy bogues, yeah right... And what's the deal with the blocking team getting turnovers when the ball goes out of bounds from a block.

- too many blocks (sometime steals too) and too few rebounds. As a rule of thumb there should be 10 fewer blocks and 10 more rebounds per game on 6 minutes on superstar. Live 2001 had too many rebs. The balance is again there in the middle (as with game speed).
Other then gameplay issues.

- make the news more intresting. There should be stats joined with the player/rookie of the week awards. And there should be some information on player streaks too. Like Kobe scoring over 40 points in numerous games in a row.

- MVP watch is nice... How about sixth man award watch, rookie watch etc. Maybe add the all-nba second teams too. Maybe put it on the news if the lead changes in the MVP hunt.
- scouting... Each team should have a little different scouting reports. And there should be some surprisers in the draft too. Like a decent second round pick??? Or that the man is better and should have been drafted higher then he was projected. And/or the scouts could recommend some players in the draft like: "We need a good defensive forward and I believe *rookie name* would fill the job for us." Or there could be list of preferred picks from the scouts or some sort of rating on how desirable is a player (maybe 1 to 5 stars)... Something more info on the rookies.

[Metsis]

Well, there is one thing that I forgot... The Free Agency or as I like to call it: "The part where the AI compiles one to three teams that cannot be beat."

- Teams in the league have mid-level exceptions that can be signed above the cap. You should be able to offer the "minimum" to some free agents (maybe 2-3) during the off-season and then have the players decide what team they want to be a part of.

- And you should be able to give the players a good temptation too... Teams used to throw money at the star players to make sure they get them. Offering more then what he's worth. Just look at Allan Houston's contract...

- Make the Free agent AI much more smarter... I don't think that T-mac would sign with the lakers if he had the chance to play Kobe's backup and nothing more. I've seen teams with two overall 90 guys of the same position and the other one is benched. AI should change player positions to get the most out of his players. Like moving t-mac to small forward and fielding Shaq, Kobe and T-Mac at the same time (that would be scary).

- Free agents should sign with the same team more likely then any other team... Like moving into another city is something to be done every year.

- And the free agents should take time to consider whether they sign or not. Maybe waiting to see if anyone else has some money to throw at him. The news wire should say that "Denver made an offer of 200,000/3 years to Tim Duncan" and then maybe a week later: "Tim Duncan sign with Denver for 200,000 for 3 years". And not just have them sign with the teams automatically.

- And better yet, get the real numbers for the money! So we can relate to the real world (if the NBA would let EA use them)

[Colin]

intentional fouling... This just has to be in the game.

Which is why it is. Just double click the quickplay button. It doesn't work very well though, about 25% of the time they just run circles around the ball handler.

[SiLk]

((My Opinion))

This game isnt ready for all these ideas..i mean,the real place to go to is xbox.com and go to their forums,and post your wishlist..maybe the "best" basketball game in the 2003 Season(Nba Inside Drive 2003) will listen to these idea's and at least put in 5 new updates...

And if anyone dont agree,they can choke these nuts!

[ogut]

Things i wanna add:

- Need to put back the save ability during the game.
- Need to put back photos (2D View) some people still don't have fast machine. Very slow to view players in 3D View.

[Heiks]

- player happines and opinions. So you could try trade the unhappy people before loosing them in the offseason for nothing. And opinions in the fact that some players could get upset if you trade a close friend of theirs or a great leader. Or a player wanting to be traded etc.

this is similar to my idea:

there should be 3 fields that you can't edit directly, but you can see them and affect them by other actions
these are motivation, form and season stamina

if a player doesn't get much time on the court then motivation and form should decrease and so do the other stats...
to rise the motivation you must give him more time on the court, sometimes a starting 5 place, longer contracts
the veteran players and star-players on the team should rise the motivation of the youngsters

after an injury the form should be 0 [so the player has low FG%; 3P%; speed; quickness; not so good defence] and it should rise during the next games the player plays

also when a player is on the court for 48 mins 3 games in a row or during road trips, overnight games the season stamina value should decrease causing the players ohter ratings [FG%; 3P%; speed; quickness, defence] to decrease aswell
that would be fixed with giving him some time on the bench...

what do ya think!?!

[Metsis]

((My Opinion))

This game isnt ready for all these ideas..i mean,the real place to go to is xbox.com and go to their forums,and post your wishlist..maybe the "best" basketball game in the 2003 Season(Nba Inside Drive 2003) will listen to these idea's and at least put in 5 new updates...

And if anyone dont agree,they can choke these nuts!

Well Snowflake... The thing of this all is, that we don't even know what will be sent to EA anyway, so I know that these really don't matter that much. But I think there's much reason in my remarks, and they would be fine improvements on any basket ball game.

If you want to take my posts to xbox.com then copy/paste them there, but remember my comments are about Live 2003/Live 2001.

And maybe they will do something new with live this year after all it's their second or third time around and I believe they are quite familiar with the product already.

I just want a better game

[PaulHJR]

WNBA teams.

Paul

[backpocket]

gameplay :

1. dribbling - no matter wut ur rating is, everyone can do the spin and crossovers, which i think is bull. its impossible for centers like ben wallace, todd macculoch to do spins, eventhough it is done VERY slowly, with the ball moving unrealistically with their hands. u should make these players unable to do the fancy dribbles, and could only bang the ball low very awkwardly.
it too would be good if u could put in a weak hand rating minuser eg. players who can dribble well but not dat good with left hand. try decreasing the rating for one of it.
not only dat, everyone in the game is gods as they nvr mistimed their dribble and misdribbled it. hope u can work on dat.

2. shooting - what the hell? u can have a players hands in the face of a player, and the shot will still go in. the player whose shot is pressured should have a lower chance of going in, but in this game, nooooo...either u take ur 27th turnover for blocking the shot out or let him get dat 80% 3-point in. not only dat, ea should adjust the fg ratings since the rating effects all the shots inside the 3-point arc, so it is not surprising to see shaq down a fade-away jumper from the top of the key better than kobe does it. perhaps making a separate rating, such as jump-shot rating would help. so please, make the accuracy go down when pressured. i dont want to see derek fisher jacking 20 3- pointers ever again.

3. hot streaks - and about hot streaks, i think ea should insert a streak or confidence meter in the game for each player. eg. say kobe makes a 3-pointer, his confidence will rise, so will his streakiness, so if he didnt exactly shoot at the top of the jump, the chance of going in is still higher, with the streakiness meter going slightly up everytime he makes a shot and goes down twice faster when he misses. another example is, say bibby hasnt made a shot all game, going 0-7, his confidence or streakiness goes down, thus making his shot rating go down. but then he makes a shot, making the meter go up a little. but the streaks should not affect the shots too much and would work by increasing or decreasing the players fg rating a little. the streak or confidence meter should probably look like a 1-10 meter, with twenty-one sections, from -10 to 10, with each player starting at 0 at the beginning of the game.

4. clutchness - the clutch rating should make a players fg rating go up a little at the end of the game, instead of just making the players gving him the ball at the end of the game. a clutch player with a 99 rating would also have his confidence go up a little at the end of the game. on the other hand, players with low clutch ratings would tend to do stupid things at the end of the game (not always, mind u) like making a bad pass, jacking a shot quickly or dribbling out of bounds.

5. shot arcs and styles - it certainly is strange to see everyone having the same shot style and the same arc. players with good jumpshots should have their arcs high while bad shooters like shaq and d-miles have low arcs. shooting styles should also change since some players can release quickly while some releases slowly. the shooting style should also be changed so everyone has their style, eg. peja's strange armbend, stockton shooting from the side of his head, etc...

6. plays - overhaul it. there's too little plays, and there should be a playmaker.

7. defense - i think its really stupid how ur teammates dont react to a player without the ball cutting in into the post when ur doing a zone.

8. passes - the passing where he is going thingy is good, but u dont have to do that, EVERY time. imagine passing to a player who is walking in front of u close to the baseline and instead of just giving the damn thing to him u throw it out of bounds, with him having to save it, and the AI having another chance to intercept and get its 893rd steal.

Season/Franchise :

1. stat simulation - jordan, 6th man off the bench. 4ppg, 1.5rpg, 0.1spg, 1apg, 12mpg. i wouldnt want to see stats like this, EVER again. its just too damn annoying. not only dat, some players have absurd stats, like jamie feick averaging 5spg. this should be worked on since nearly all the substitue players have the same numbers and average the same minutes. its just too damn stupid.

2. away games - players who are playng back to back away games should have their fatigue and hardiness rating go down a little for the next game.

3. sign free agents - wut is the thing in common with tim duncan, jason kidd and tracy mcgrady in the free agency? oh yea, they all can be bought for the minimum. probably a free agent attractiveness (or something like dat) rating should be given to teams. for example, san antonio has cap space and a title contending team, so free agents are more partial to signing a contract with them instead of other teams.

4. rookies - make realistic ones. it is impossible for a person to average 4 offensive rebounds per game and 1 defensive rebound per game.

5. apprenticeship - wouldnt it make sense for a rookie to play under a star player and his ratings gets boosted up next season by it? for example, if a rookie point guard were too be a back-up for jason kidd, his passing would increase faster than other stats. but to make it useful, give everyone a learning enthusiasm meter, so players with a high rating of it would learn faster.

6. bust rookies - as it says, bust rookies.

7. create ur franchise - an option to make ur own franchise would be cool, like the new charlotte franchise.

[Colin]

its impossible for centers like ben wallace, todd macculoch to do spins, eventhough it is done VERY slowly, with the ball moving unrealistically with their hands.

But they should be able to do power spin moves in the lane.

it too would be good if u could put in a weak hand rating minuser eg. players who can dribble well but not dat good with left hand. try decreasing the rating for one of it.

This would be a nice touch for some of the less fundamentally skilled players.

ea should adjust the fg ratings since the rating effects all the shots inside the 3-point arc, so it is not surprising to see shaq down a fade-away jumper from the top of the key better than kobe does it. perhaps making a separate rating, such as jump-shot rating would help.

They had in 2001, it was called 'range,' and the rating was in feet, so how far away you can shoot from, with a slider from 8 to 25.

shot arcs and styles - it certainly is strange to see everyone having the same shot style and the same arc.

Definitley should be changed, I'm sick of Ben Wallace and Ray Allen having the same form.

and there should be a playmaker.

That would be awesome. The players should also follow the assigned plays. I assigned a play and they did something completely different. Not a quickplay, like a big actual play, quick hitters 4 or something. Create a play would also make end of game situations much more realistic.

2. away games - players who are playng back to back away games should have their fatigue and hardiness rating go down a little for the next game.

Always been a problem, I don't see them actua;ly deciding to fix it this year.

wut is the thing in common with tim duncan, jason kidd and tracy mcgrady in the free agency? oh yea, they all can be bought for the minimum.

Nobody has cap room to sign them in the off season (because of the stupid salary cap, a whole other issue,) and oncce the season begins free agents can only be signed to the minimum. So nothing happens in the off season.

7. create ur franchise - an option to make ur own franchise would be cool, like the new charlotte franchise.

That would be awesome, but before they start adding new franchise ideas they have to fix the regular one.

[Metsis]

gameplay :

1. dribbling - no matter wut ur rating is, everyone can do the spin and crossovers, which i think is bull. its impossible for centers like ben wallace, todd macculoch to do spins, eventhough it is done VERY slowly, with the ball moving unrealistically with their hands. u should make these players unable to do the fancy dribbles, and could only bang the ball low very awkwardly.
it too would be good if u could put in a weak hand rating minuser eg. players who can dribble well but not dat good with left hand. try decreasing the rating for one of it.
not only dat, everyone in the game is gods as they nvr mistimed their dribble and misdribbled it. hope u can work on dat.

well dribbling is well handled at the moment... Although the really slow spin moves are kind of surreal. And what comes to the handiness stuff. Well I think the guys with this problem in the game give ball to the opposition way too much already, so there is no point in implementing this.

2. shooting - what the hell? u can have a players hands in the face of a player, and the shot will still go in. the player whose shot is pressured should have a lower chance of going in, but in this game, nooooo...either u take ur 27th turnover for blocking the shot out or let him get dat 80% 3-point in. not only dat, ea should adjust the fg ratings since the rating effects all the shots inside the 3-point arc, so it is not surprising to see shaq down a fade-away jumper from the top of the key better than kobe does it. perhaps making a separate rating, such as jump-shot rating would help. so please, make the accuracy go down when pressured. i dont want to see derek fisher jacking 20 3- pointers ever again.

Definately bring back the "hand in his face" factor. And all blocks are not automatically aimed at the fifth row in the audience. And the dumb fact of it is that the better blockers rarely block so hard as the poorer ones. Meaning that the crappy guards usually kick the ball all the way to the other end of the arena, not the good ones like Ben.

3. hot streaks - and about hot streaks, i think ea should insert a streak or confidence meter in the game for each player. eg. say kobe makes a 3-pointer, his confidence will rise, so will his streakiness, so if he didnt exactly shoot at the top of the jump, the chance of going in is still higher, with the streakiness meter going slightly up everytime he makes a shot and goes down twice faster when he misses. another example is, say bibby hasnt made a shot all game, going 0-7, his confidence or streakiness goes down, thus making his shot rating go down. but then he makes a shot, making the meter go up a little. but the streaks should not affect the shots too much and would work by increasing or decreasing the players fg rating a little. the streak or confidence meter should probably look like a 1-10 meter, with twenty-one sections, from -10 to 10, with each player starting at 0 at the beginning of the game.

I believe there is something about game form in the already. Cause I've seen people dominate one game and then go 3-13 the next. Some sort of a consistency rating maybe... More consistent fellows like Garnett and Duncan should have highs and those one game miracle guys should have lows. And I don't know if the hidden stats develop, but this certainly should develop.

4. clutchness - the clutch rating should make a players fg rating go up a little at the end of the game, instead of just making the players gving him the ball at the end of the game. a clutch player with a 99 rating would also have his confidence go up a little at the end of the game. on the other hand, players with low clutch ratings would tend to do stupid things at the end of the game (not always, mind u) like making a bad pass, jacking a shot quickly or dribbling out of bounds.

This has been implemented in the past. Don't know what they did to it in Live 2003 and why it was cut. It could be hidden... And again should develop a little and basically only upwards. That's why the teams hunger for those big veteran gunners, cause they don't soil them selves in the final minutes.

5. shot arcs and styles - it certainly is strange to see everyone having the same shot style and the same arc. players with good jumpshots should have their arcs high while bad shooters like shaq and d-miles have low arcs. shooting styles should also change since some players can release quickly while some releases slowly. the shooting style should also be changed so everyone has their style, eg. peja's strange armbend, stockton shooting from the side of his head, etc...

The different shooting styles would be nice, but I think this is trivial... I don't see this a "must have" idea. And the animators would have to work overtime to get a bunch of different kinds of shooting styles into the game.

6. plays - overhaul it. there's too little plays, and there should be a playmaker.

Again nice, but not the top on my list. Making the game work properly and dishing correct stats, and a working franchise go way ahead of this one.

7. defense - i think its really stupid how ur teammates dont react to a player without the ball cutting in into the post when ur doing a zone.

Ever wondered how the AI does not react to fast breaking players without the ball. Like they couldn't care less... Should be fixed. Too many fast breaks.

8. passes - the passing where he is going thingy is good, but u dont have to do that, EVERY time. imagine passing to a player who is walking in front of u close to the baseline and instead of just giving the damn thing to him u throw it out of bounds, with him having to save it, and the AI having another chance to intercept and get its 893rd steal.

Yeah this is a bummer. Especially when 7 players seem to pile up into one spot with room enough for three. And on nice thing about AI defense is that I was playing with player lock and was going at it in the low-post. They came up with the double team -> I immediatly thought about passing the ball, but one AI guy was covering two of mine. It was a direct line, first came the defender then one of my men and then my open man directly behind! The open guy should find a good passing lane and an open spot.

1. stat simulation - jordan, 6th man off the bench. 4ppg, 1.5rpg, 0.1spg, 1apg, 12mpg. i wouldnt want to see stats like this, EVER again. its just too damn annoying. not only dat, some players have absurd stats, like jamie feick averaging 5spg. this should be worked on since nearly all the substitue players have the same numbers and average the same minutes. its just too damn stupid.

The minutes distribution is just stupid. Third players getting as many minutes as the first back-ups. And somehow no one from the bench could ever score more then 6 per game. And that's with a couple of starts. Some of them do actually score even double digits from the bench.

2. away games - players who are playng back to back away games should have their fatigue and hardiness rating go down a little for the next game.

Away games have been tougher in Lives for a long time, and they still are, but some feel of the road trip should be present. Maybe the players getting fatigued faster or something.

3. sign free agents - wut is the thing in common with tim duncan, jason kidd and tracy mcgrady in the free agency? oh yea, they all can be bought for the minimum. probably a free agent attractiveness (or something like dat) rating should be given to teams. for example, san antonio has cap space and a title contending team, so free agents are more partial to signing a contract with them instead of other teams.

This is all because of the salary.ini file... All teams are so far above the cap that there could even be something in the AI that says too much salary, can't sign no more. It's nice to have salary cap at -1,5 million.

4. rookies - make realistic ones. it is impossible for a person to average 4 offensive rebounds per game and 1 defensive rebound per game.

Yeah its hard to get those figures, but a really aggressive guard that does not care so much for d could have numers in that general direction. And yes the absolutely worst players in the league have overalls in the 70 range, but the draft keeps on churning tons of guys with overalls in the mid sixties. Can they actually suck that much??? C'mon they're young, but they should be quite athletic. And I say it again that the rookies that find they're way into the draft are the top of the crop. Not all of them...

5. apprenticeship - wouldnt it make sense for a rookie to play under a star player and his ratings gets boosted up next season by it? for example, if a rookie point guard were too be a back-up for jason kidd, his passing would increase faster than other stats. but to make it useful, give everyone a learning enthusiasm meter, so players with a high rating of it would learn faster.

Well let's just say that there should be more variables in the player development then the player package that there is only now and the single variable depending on it. It is dumb to know that the player that looses 2 out of it overall two years in a row have no chance of getting better ever.

6. bust rookies - as it says, bust rookies.

Yes there are busts, but don't you think every single second round pick is a bust. Yes there should busts in the top and surprises in the lower picks. As there is in the real draft.

7. create ur franchise - an option to make ur own franchise would be cool, like the new charlotte franchise.

Again I'll say that there are more important things then the glitz and glamour graphics to fix in the game.

The most important thing now is to fix the things that are wrong before adding to it... Adding is fun, but if the foundation is rotten then you cannot really build on it. And that's what I think.

[PanisS]

nba live 2004
needs to add more details about stats, so the game will not be boring.. add half time leaders, or anything that encourage you to let your players work, like .. it features triple doubles etc.., u knw.. like that! and a small fonts will be easy to see. no more drag bars on the sides.

-3 points shoot out

-slamdunk

-ai

-some real moves, like driving the baseline leaning on a defender not drawing like a wall were u cant drive.. but theres still a high defense on it. under the rim one hand shot..

-lots of details on stats and news on franchise,
a good background will be exciting! and bring back ur advertising logos, like gatorade.. etc.. those stuffs gonna give life to the game.

these are suggestions only. Bring the live game in live 2004!

[Metsis]

nba live 2004
needs to add more details about stats, so the game will not be boring.. add half time leaders, or anything that encourage you to let your players work, like .. it features triple doubles etc.., u knw.. like that! and a small fonts will be easy to see. no more drag bars on the sides.

This could be done quickly... Maybe have box that pops up on halftime on the bottom of the screen that contains information about both teams. Maybe like the ones on espn... Showing these from both teams -> Points, rebounds, assists. So you wouldn't have to go look for them somewhere else, but you could quickly see who's hot and who's been really fighting for those boards.

-3 points shoot out

Again, I think this is quite trivial. The only way to make this really appealing would be creating a whole new set of stats for the players... Shot quickness, clutch etc.

-slamdunk

Again quite hard to implement... Well with freestyle controls you could create something.

-ai

Well, I think they got this one under work already... The AI in live 2003 was lacking in some areas.

-some real moves, like driving the baseline leaning on a defender not drawing like a wall were u cant drive.. but theres still a high defense on it. under the rim one hand shot..

This is a sure thing that EA will do new graphics and all, but what will they enable is a whole new subject.

-lots of details on stats and news on franchise,
a good background will be exciting! and bring back ur advertising logos, like gatorade.. etc.. those stuffs gonna give life to the game.

Well, I think that showcasing previous game scores and showing who were the hot ones in those games. And if some players have really out done them selves against you and vice versa.

these are suggestions only. Bring the live game in live 2004!

Yes the game was a bit of unspirited, by the sheer fact that it was a direct console crossover... We should get a better user interface with pc atleast.

[ReyJ]

I don't want to sound rude or anything but a slam dunk contest and 3 point contest would be dull. The 3pt contest kinda got boring after sometime. I think it's good that they left it out.

The slam dunk contest is getting dull in real life, no point putting it into the game. Maybe have an expansion pack for it, but this is something that should be definately left out in Live 2004.

Anyway here are a few more ideas:


2-on-2, 3-on-3, 4-on-4 and 5-on-5 outdoor games.
Like NBA 2k2 on the Sega, I thought this was really fun to play and should be added. But I don't think it'd happen. This would probably suit more as an expansion pack over the slam dunk and 3 pt contest.


Commentators
Is Marv Albert commentating for the next live? Coz having some big named player making the call will sound better and give it a more realistic feel. If Hubie Brown was still commentator, I'd have picked him alongside his sidekick, what's his name? Bleh, I forgot already. Maybe even Cheryl Miller to have some quarter and half-time reports?


Multiple hairstyles
Especially for Ben Wallace who has a fro one night and corn-rows in another. It'd be sweet of you could easily let a player have fro's or corn rows between games, gives it a much better feel for the game.


Cheerleaders! (Purr)
I guess this could only work with Environment settings at Maximum, but how sweet would it be to have cheerleaders waving their pom poms and their booty's on the sidelines? The realism felt in the game would definately be increased.

While I'm at it, what about moving towel boys and those guys that wipe the floor? What do you call 'em? Wiper boys? LOL They could come onto the floor whenever there's a charge or when a player falls!


Finally, I kinda miss the in game refs from NBA Live 2000. They should bring them back with all those little animations of ref signals and all.

[Metsis]

ReyJ, well your ideas are all about the glitz and glamour and EA is all about that, but in the end the graphics and all the "cool" cut scenes are not what makes the game good. It is everything else except that.

The gameplay and statistical facts need to be worked out. So you get realistic output of players and realistic simulation scores on franchise. The fact that really bugs me is that if a player gets good minutes of the bench like subbing for both the center and power forward when you play and on simulation he gets similar minutes as all the other bench pressers. And that just sucks and is unrealistic. There numerous guys in the league that do this like Nick Van Excel for example. He's Dallas' third guard and plays a ton of minutes off the bench. And it should be reflected in the simulation as well as the actual game.

But the point that I've tried to make here on this forum is that the basics of the game need to be fixed so you can really build something good on it... If the basics are buggy and flawed then all the new things built on it can't be any better. Like take Live 2001 for example! It's gameplay was better then Live 2000, it had realistic score to minutes ratio (okay too many rebounds), but why did we not play it so much? The fact that the players always scored the same stats as they did the first year (rookies worked fine), but a 40 year old Shaq getting 35 points, 15 rebounds and 2 blocks per game with an overall of 65 is something that really took the spice out of the game. Another example was Trajan Langdon who scored 4 points as a starter with field goal/three point shooting rated at 95 and offensive awereness at 95. That's why Live 2001 sucked.

If you play a franchise your due to simulate games as well as playing them. There are so many games that you just don't have time to play them all and still see the report card after 25 years. And about that report card: Maybe you could show it every 5 years to show how you're doing and see how your game progresses through the years.

Ending the rant now...

[PiksS]

1.Slam dunk
2.3point conntest
3.make your own team whit your own uploadet jerey
4.3 on 3
5.you can make your own dunk
6.i new and beter freestyle in the game
7.1 on 1 freestyle(exp. nike spot freestyle)
8.new and beter shoes
9.make a 10ft player (whit out patching)
10.and a court maker for your team
11.you can make your own stragedy
12.the deffens must be better
13.and have all players like Rodman
14.you can give a shoe or gear patch(whitout a cayberface)

[Heiks]

5.you can make your own dunk

thats askin' too much...

7.1 on 1 freestyle(exp. nike spot freestyle)

don't agree...

8.new and beter shoes

what's wrong withe the current, everybody knows that EA could not include all the kicks in the world...

9.make a 10ft player (whit out patching)

why the hell 4???

10.and a court maker for your team

thats askin' too much...

14.you can give a shoe or gear patch(whitout a cayberface)

can do that in live 2003...

[Colin]

3.make your own team whit your own uploadet jerey
4.3 on 3
10.and a court maker for your team
11.you can make your own stragedy

I agree with you on those but what the hell does this mean

12.the deffens must be better

Deffens, eh?

[Heiks]

defence...

[Colin]

Ooohhhhh. I get it. Silly me.

[Metsis]

1.Slam dunk
2.3point conntest
3.make your own team whit your own uploadet jerey
4.3 on 3
5.you can make your own dunk
6.i new and beter freestyle in the game
7.1 on 1 freestyle(exp. nike spot freestyle)
8.new and beter shoes
9.make a 10ft player (whit out patching)
10.and a court maker for your team
11.you can make your own stragedy
12.the deffens must be better
13.and have all players like Rodman
14.you can give a shoe or gear patch(whitout a cayberface)

Go play NBA Jam games please! There you can get most of these options. NBA Live is still what I'd like to think a simulation game more then an arcade one. And I'd really hate to see them take it more into a arcade direction because it's the only PC b-ball game.

And I'll say it again... EA will make it prettier and most likely will implement things that give you options to do something with the graphics and teams, but that just don't make for a better game!

And to you pikss, well just go and grow up and go out to play basket ball before you go making these kinds of unrealistic wishes. And learn to write. And there's always NBA Street for the consoles that is pretty much arcade and leave Live with these wishes be.

Damn there can be so immature people out there.

[rkont]

NBA Live has to be Simulation, so that all those Online leagues that there is would have good game next year to continue with. Arcade players will find allmost everything they need 2003 and previous versiond. I NEED REALISTIC GAME. It would be lot better if AI would understand my strategy and tactics better, so they would use more different strategys and every team has different gameplay system. Anyways, EA should make game more realistic and they should improve Online, Direct Connection game, because LAG and lot bugs makes it very difficult to play online.

[BIG GREEN]

defence...

I think users can edit their own posts.