"Icing on the Cake" Features

[Andrew]

Most of our wishes are fairly significant or relate to problems that most of us put up with but hope will be fixed in subsequent releases, for example the effectiveness of the pro hop in NBA Live 2004.

Bearing in mind that some of these could be in NBA Live 2005 in some way, shape or form by the time the game goes gold, what kind of little things that add a bit of realism here or there would you like to see in future Lives?

Here's some of mine:

Calling for a Pick

I know we can run pick-and-roll plays, but I really liked the Call for a Pick button in NBA Live 2002. The ability to simply call for a pick without the player then rolling to the basket would be handy. It would be great if you could easily run either player.

Handchecking

The easiest way to commit an intentional foul, especially when a player is in the act of shooting. Calling for an intentional foul is great, but the ability to foul someone in this manner as well would be much better. While it would sometimes warrant a flagrant foul, flagrant fouls should not always result in injuries.

Picking up the dribble

Yes, we can already do that by tapping the shoot button to fake a shot. However, if a player is fouled while doing so they generally put up a shot and get to shoot free throws. The ability to pick up your dribble would add to the complete player control aspect and would also allow for a couple of realistic situations:

a) Picking up the dribble to avoid the ball being swiped by another player coming over to double team, thus protecting the ball
b) Picking up the dribble needlessly because another player fakes a double team, thus halting whatever move you were about to make

Speaking of double teams...

Eluding double teams

The double teams in NBA Live 2004 were great, with double teams forcing players to pick up their dribble or lose the ball. However, it would be nice to find a way to beat the double team once the players swarm in, spinning out of it for example. It shouldn't be possible for everyone to elude a double team by dribbling away, but the best ballhandlers and experienced offensive players should be able to do so in some situations.

Also, it should be possible to put up a good shot out of a double team, rather than the one-handed pump shot.

Controlling the outcome of double teams

Conversely, when double teaming a CPU player the user should be able to control what happens eg swiping at the player's dribble or forcing them to pick up their dribble and then try to knock it out of their hands. Using the right analog stick or steal button could have an impact on whether the double team will be successful in taking the ball away. If the user is too aggressive, they may commit a foul.

Restricted Direct Passing

The latest James Bond game (I forget the name, but I know it's made by EA Games) allows you to target enemies when shooting, but you cannot target enemies behind Bond as there's no way he could actually see them, even though the player watching the screen can.

Similarly, Direct Passing could be restricted, especially for players without great court vision. One drawback of this feature would be that some incredible passes that might be pulled off in the NBA wouldn't be allowed by the restricted direct pass, and it might become too easy if you couldn't attempt a pass that might be intercepted.

The passing options would have to be restricted to players that the ballhandler is "aware" of, something that would be governed by the position of the other players in relation to the ballhandler and the ballhandler's court vision. It might be difficult to implement correctly, but it's one of those small details that would make the game more challenging and realistic.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. Any comments or further ideas?

[John-John Joe]

Not often I can say this, but I love every last one of them. Two of them stand out the most:

- Restricting direct passing is an ill idea because frankly in 2004 I have Brian Grant passsing like Magic. This would definitely add realism and users would eventually adjust..

- Your freestyle defense is an idea they need to implement immediately. Sure, you can use left or right hand but it's sloppily done. I'd like to have complete control over Ron Artest in a defensive situation...

[Andrew]

Thanks Dre. While I like the double teams in NBA Live 2004 and believe they should remain controlled by a slider so that a double team won't always result in a turnover, it would be nice to have more control over the possibility of the ball being knocked loose, or commiting a foul if you're being too aggressive - the same as attempting a steal playing your opponent with single coverage.

[tsherkin]

I ahve to say (bearing in mind I've not played '05 yet) that in NBA Live, the pick-and-roll was done very, very poorly.

But before I get into that, yes, they should bring the hand check button back, I don't know why they ever got rid of it. The rest of the ideas here are great.

But back to the pick-and-roll. They need to FIX it before they worry about pure screens. For me, anyway, about 80% of the time I call for a pick, the screener sets it on the wrong side, so I drive into a third defender, and then only rolls to the foul line, leaving me without the time to hit him with a pass. It'd be really nice if they got the play working and then allowed you to just call for a screen with no roll.

Also, I don't know why EA hasn't done this yet but in their own game (Madden), they have players catching the ball without stopping and turning around. Why can't they do this in the basketball game, too?

[Tuomas]

I'll contribute with some ideas I have delevoped since 2000.

Dunkpacks
What I have always wanted is two different dunkpacks for every players. One for the breakaway and other for the in your face slam. For example Vince Carter would not make the same dunks on a breakaway as under the basket over 3 players (Live 2003 was a terrible example of this)

Behind the back passes
where have they vanished? 2001 had them and they were awesome

replay camera-angles
I don't like the replay camera-angles of Live 2003-2004 and 2005 I guess. 2001 was much better, but I would add one more camera-angle that would make my first suggestion perfect.... the camera-angle underneath the basket like in real-life dunk contests

player-specific moves
Live 2003 was supposed to have them but didn't. I would like to see something like MJ:s cup dunk, Dr J:s dunks, VC's elbowhang (oh wait, that wouldn't be that good in-game, but in practice?), AI's crossovers, shaq's monster jams and one handed easy dunks... you know what I mean. They would add a whole new level of realism

Facial expressions and closeups
2004 and 2005 are not consentrating on the little things that make the game sweet. Imagine if you got to the freethrow line with MJ, the closeup screen appears, while MJ is performing his freethrow ritual chewing gum!

Freethrow rituals and shooting styles
yes

The basket
In the whole NBA Live series history, the rim has never ever been realistic to me. It always lacks detail and it always is too thin.

Pre-game presentations...
Are getting worse every year. NBA Live 2000 anyone? + ESPN's pregame presentation was jawdropping (at least what I saw on ign videos)

Pickup games
This is a feature I've always wanted. 1on1 yes, but 2on2, 3on3 and 5on5 on street court! Live 2001's street court has always been my favourite and I've always would have liked to play games on that I would be very happy if someone made a mod for it...
anyhow, pickup games would be fantastic, even more if it would be more free and streetball-like

Training camps
Playing yourself instead of setting the sliders. I often find myself playing 20 mins of practice mode per playing session so why not convert it to dynasty mode so you could improve your players' skills how you want?

Classic games and teams
I would die to play some classic NBA finals with classic teams, 80's Celtcis and Lakers, 90's Bulls...

Ability to save ingame
It isn't "icing on the cake" but it has to be mentioned. why is it so hard to add?

fps camera-angle
It could be fun if it was made right

Be-a-legend mode
Like in NBA Street. Imagine coming as a rookie, getting a shoe contract, negotiating deals, practicing to come better...
And the games you would be player-locked, but you couldn't control the other players as we are used to. Instead of that you would be forced to take your own role, and if you are the star player, you would get the rock.
If your career was succesful, you could be insterted to the Millenium All-Stars (which also should be added)



Sorry, I guess I went from icing on the cakes to the major suggestions EA could add But these are one of the things I would really like to see!


edit.

I forgot one really important!
Bullet-time!!!
Straight from Max Payne, you could slow time down while either breaking your defenders ankles or in mid-air!!! Imagine! You could see what you should do in air when trying to avoid getting blocked! This could result in Dr J style swoops, which now could be controlled, not by just pressing the shoot button again. Then again, it would be cool to move the arm with the right analog stick and releasing the ball with the shoot button.
The bullet time would be handy when going for the dunk also which reminds me of one suggestion more I forgot:

Total Dunk Control (or Freestyle Air 2)
Once in air, you could go into bullet time mode (or not) and while in the air, control your players body motion with the left analog stick and his arms with the right Different button will result in a different slam (2 hands or one) but the right analog stick would be used for windmills or pumps etc


okay I can't think of anything more right now

[logan100]

To make the game better :

- Presentation : got to admit this is the only thing that made some gamers
think that ESPN is better than Live, both live and espn have their own
plus & minus concerning the simulistic gameplay and in my opinion this
year Live and ESPN are equal in the gameplay part. Things like
cheerleaders, team mascots, halftime show, player interaction with each
other, refs coach, can bring you a higher level of realism outside the
gameplay itself.

- Dunkpack : this year I can see more the differrence between each player dunk style, but I want to see more.

- More "live" animations

[Sonic98]

I don't want to see the hand check come back. It was too much of a free foul cheat in the past.

Yeah there needs to be a way to beat the double team. It might be worse in 05 than in 04. It's hard to even pass out the double team now. It's weird the computer seems to be able to shoot and pass out the double-team, but it doesn't seem like something humans can do.

[Sonic98]

I thin they need to make it harder to go out of bounds or shoot shots behind the rim. How often in the real NBA do you see players go too far and shoot into the backboard? They need to add an out of bound boundry setting like in ESPN.

[Ataraxia]

Whoops

I didnt read properly.

Umm I think its gotta be the ability to make more plays ...like say u keep pressing 1 u get all the Motion plays and when u press 2 u get all the other stuff(all related plays).

That'll be a nice add, so we can actually use all the playbook plays they have added in the game, plus maybe have a tracker at the bottom to show how the play should go.

[End Boss]

A Marv Albert/Mike Fratello/Arena Announcer player name construction kit

EA record every possible syllable in spoken english with all the varying emphasises.. then we could finally hear marv albert say "my penis with the notion to fire!"

[alexboom]

I had a small idea:

The birthplace of a player can have a random effect on which team he would like to sign for. Like in real NBA indeed, a guy born in Wisconsin could like to join the Bucks, or like in real life for instance, the Wolves signed John Thomas over Corie Blount because, among other reasons, he was born in Minneapolis.

But the day they'll be working on that feature, well, I can assume that we'll have the NBA Live we are all looking for

[T-Comm55]

I like your direct passing idea and I think they should have better fastbreak on the part of the computer (better meaning intelligent )