Please do not expect anything perfect in NBA Live 06

[beau_boy04]

I say that because it is truth

They won't make the almost perfect gameplay neither will the graphics be flawless. You wonder why? well because once they make that products people will stop buying their upcoming Live games in the future and believe me they don't want that all.

The reason why we still see the excessive amounts of blocks and steals in NBA Live 2005 is because they want something wrong to go with it hoping you would buy Live 2006 to see the improvements they promised.

Believe me if they want to make that perfect gameplay, so on and so forth they can do it THEY JUST DONT WANNA MAKE IT BECAUSE THEN YOU WILL STOP BUYING THEIR UPCOMING GAMES

Thanks.

[MaD_hAND1e]

That doesn't really sound rational for EA to do that. I mean... if they keep making it crap, sooner or later, people will stop buying it, so it would be in their best interests to make it better EVERY SO OFTEN. Based on your argument, I could say that if they make a perfect NBA Live, we would still expect the next one to be better and we'd still buy it.

[[L3]1101]

i'll have to disagree with you. I think the excessive blocks are, more or less, a thing that chases away the people who are new to the LIVE series, or maybe even the fans of LIVE. I'm certainly not happy with the block. If EA tells me that they are not gonna fix the blocks, I might just consider not playing LIVE again cause the blocks are really pain in the ass. I think EA IS trying to make LIVE as perfect as they can. It's just that given only a year time, it is difficult to do so. Moreover, many people play new versions of LIVE not only for it's graphics or gameplay, but also just the fact that it's updated(roster, bugs, etc). I certainly don't think EA can make a perfect game if they wanted to. Many games EA has released have taken many years to make, and they are not perfect. In fact, how can you define perfect? People are going to have different opinions on how a game should be presented, how the game should be simulated, how the dynasty mode should be improved. Let's just face it, there's no such thing as perfect in terms of satisfying everyone. I'm gonna be buying LIVE 2006 because it's different from 2005 and any other LIVE series and because it's probably gonna be better than 2005.

[Confusion]

The reason there are so many blocks and steals is because it's what the mainstream fans enjoy... And that's where the bulk of the sales comes from.

One thing I don't get about last years game is how the players hunched over... I've never read anybody else's complaints about it, am I the only one that notices this??

I sure do hope that get's fixed. EA needs to study real NBA games and see how players move in all situations.

[J@3]

I think last years big Dunk Contest inclusion was a huge indicator of what kind of audience they're targeting. Add to that the fact that they even mention the "fast break style" in the little paragraph about the game on the main site for it just goes to show if you want a true basketball simulation this will probably not be that game. I guess it's like FIFA, it's more of an arcade game dedicated to casual fans who want to score cool goals whereas PES is a whole lot more realistic but doesn't sell as well.

[BiGrEd819]

no matter how perfect the game is, people who normally buy the game will buy it every year.........even if the gameplay is perfect nd if there were no flaws to the game, graphics will always get better year after year nd there will always be newer moves, features, nd most importantly players....

ea will never include flaws nd crappy gameplays just fo the future sales....it would actually harm them..........but if there is one thing that im sure of, they will hold back on graphics nd new features nd dunk moves nd so on....

[Kbryant8]

i think 50% nba live series players will download it somewhere r smt...
i don`t really care about gameplay but i think EA should buy more players licence not spend that money on shoes licence.

[OldFoolStyle]

Perfection is an unattainable state, first thing you learn in any philosophy class.

(i started to type some diatribe on game development here, but decided "screw it, you've ignored it all before")

[Sauru]

i only expect 1 thing from nba live this year, mid game saves. if they added just that and shipped the same exact game as last year i would be a happy man.

[Jackal]

This theory has come up before, I think when Live 2004 was being released this was brought up, then again it could just as well be Live 2003. Anyways, I really doubt the reason they won't come close to perfection is because they want people to keep buying their games, in a lot of peoples' eyes, the game is perfect.

A lot of gamers aren't looking to play a half court offensive set or a grueling defensive game, they are looking for an All Star type game each and every game. That's pretty much why blocks, steals & more recently dunks have been made so "ooh" worthy. NBA Live 2000 was pretty much the closest thing to perfect, 2005 trailing very closely though.

It had a mid-range game, it had the Three Point Contest, it was just one hell of a game and after that the Live series was transformed to fit the needs of the average gamer, they went from a damn good simulation to an arcade game (hell, it was impossible to grab a board in Live 2001, 2002 they didn't even release for PC, just console users, 2003 had way too many blocks and your defender could just stick out his arms while defending you and the balls would get sucked into his armpits like magic.) After this EA figured a way to maintain it's fan base of "average gamers" and people that were looking for a simulation, they introduced sliders. Now you can play the All Star type game at any given time but can slow the game down to whatever pace you prefer. They also started developing their Franchise mode (now Dynasty mode) to keep attracting people, not to mention the All Star Weekend feature which in my opinion they implemented beautifully. A very, very smart move by EA to say the least.

Now you tell me, a company that's smart enough to do all that & a bit more, would they really be silly enough to "sabotage" their game just to keep us buying it year after year? They know that the consumer isn't stoopid, they know we will give up after too many errors, that's why after a few errors, they give us something "ooh" worthy and pull us right back in to buy the game. Sliders was one of those "ooh's" after a horrendous Live 2003.

[Sh0wtyme99]

I have so much to say. I'm just going to talk about a focus on ratings. I think they should pay more attention to these players stats during the season and the playoffs. Paul Pierce should have a 3 pointer again. Rip Hamilton should have a mid-range. Many players did not have the type of ratings they were supposed to have this year, and many players should have great improvement. Dirk is not as "Raw" (that means good for you fake basketball heads) as he has been on Live 04 and 05. Josh Smith for example should have a block although he is only a small forward. Also more types of shots should be included. different types of layups. That finger roll you do when you charge or get contact with a defender should be an actual shot. Where is Tony Parker's floater? Where is Dirk, Kobe Vince and T-mac's post-up fade away jump shot? It was on 04 . The post-up game is solid, they should continue to enhance it, it is excellent though. Where is Tim Duncan's jumper kissed off the glass. The layup shot or dunk adjustment should also do double pump layups like T-mac and kobe, you should also do the up and under layups when you tap it kinda Jordan-ish. Last thing, this is only part one of my thought session, part two will be soon to come. Passes should be enhanced. I wanna see more around the back, more around the back bounce passes. throw it over my shoulder alley-oops one hand lobs, behind the back lobs. touch passes, fights, trash talk. I know this is a different category, but they should really Step it up on the online gameplay. (PS2 to be specific) . Roster updates should be monthly. Cheaters should be dealt with accordingly. Don't reset the record every month. Maybe every 3 months. LEAGUE LEAGUE LEAGUE, Take after MAdden. The best record should get something win something get to go on the creative team or test live 07. Something. I am the truth online, but lost interest because of the dissappointing lack of drive for keeping the server up. part 2 is coming, Live 06 remember Ballahollic online. Was the truth and will continue to be it. Holler back

[Andrew]

Just to add to what Jackal said, it makes no sense whatsoever to deliberately put out an inferior product when EA is in direct competition with another company, especially given the following the 2K series has garnered as well as the praise and admiration of the video gaming media.

The main issue remains finding the right balance between fun and realism, and allowing the user to tweak the game as they see fit. NBA Live 2003 is a perfect example of this experiment, albeit the experiment gone wrong. NBA Live 2004 and 2005 have improved a lot, sliders help out a lot with that.

You're right, the game won't be perfect. It's unlikely any game will be truly perfect, and I'm going to plug my article again and say that it NBA Live 06 may only be "perfect". It's impossible to add everything we could possibly want within a year, but it's still possible to build upon NBA Live 2005, fixing things, adding things, improving things, which I think would leave us with an awesome game.

And I've got to say again, NBA Live 2000 really wasn't as realistic as it's often made out to be. Scores were still too high, Avery Johnson would block players much taller than him all too often, it was easy to average around 8 blocks per game, there were issues with Franchise Mode and the gameplay and a few other problems.

At the risk of being called an "EA ass-kisser" (though I'd hope those days would be behind us after the NBA Live 2001 and NBA Live 2002 "seasons"), the "one step forwards, two steps back" and "deliberately putting out a shoddy product" suggestions are somewhat cynical and ignoring the improvements that have been made the last couple of years. A lot of people condemn the game before it's even close to going gold. I maintain that if you expect a bad game, you won't be disappointed.

That's not to say we should ignore problems with the game, or like them or even put up with them if it's truly not fun to play the game. But sometimes, some of the gripes are blown out of proportion. I remember back in the days of NBA Live 2002, the anger someone expressed that on one of the team select screens, team locations were labelled "City" and Utah, Golden State and Minnesota aren't city names. No disrespect to that poster, but you'd be hard pressed to find a smaller error (if that can really be called an error) and make a big deal out of it.

Having said all that, I usually try to be conservative in my expectations of the upcoming game, and I'm usually pleasantly surprised. I do expect each game to be an improvement on the last one and that's generally the case. In some small way, each game has improved on its predecessor. We shouldn't expect perfection, but let's not rip the game before we really know much about it.

[Sauru]

i just wanna point out that no matter how good a game can be, it can always be better. there will never ever ever be a end all experience in any kind of game.

[Oosh]

The only reason im going to buy it is because its the only NBA PC game available. If it wasnt on PC or 2k was on PC I wouldnt even think about buying it.

[COOLmac©]

so meaning to say you are forced to buy it?
come on you must have grown little love for the live series.....

[Metsis]

Until you can high-five TMac on the court, the game can be better... Only when you feel Shaq bumping into you can this game be at the top maximum level.

Only after you see, feel, breath the game it can't get any better... It ain't even photorealistic so there's a long way to go.

[MaD_hAND1e]

Upon closer inspection of the demo video, it seems they even made Tayshaun Prince look realistic with his lanky arms and they made him a little hunched over.

[Null17]

i just wanna point out that no matter how good a game can be, it can always be better. there will never ever ever be a end all experience in any kind of game.

This pretty much sums up how I feel about the issue. Nothing is perfect. Everything can always be done better

[Sauru]

Until you can high-five TMac on the court, the game can be better... Only when you feel Shaq bumping into you can this game be at the top maximum level.

Only after you see, feel, breath the game it can't get any better... It ain't even photorealistic so there's a long way to go.

if shaq started bumping up against me i would consider the game worse....much worse. the last thing i was is a 300 pound man bumping up on me while i sit on my pc.

[[L3]1101]

Until you can high-five TMac on the court, the game can be better... Only when you feel Shaq bumping into you can this game be at the top maximum level.

Only after you see, feel, breath the game it can't get any better... It ain't even photorealistic so there's a long way to go.

if shaq started bumping up against me i would consider the game worse....much worse. the last thing i was is a 300 pound man bumping up on me while i sit on my pc.

i actually don't mind that. This way i can sue shaq for a few million dollars, and don't have to work for the rest of my life.

[[Q]]

At the risk of being called an "EA ass-kisser" (though I'd hope those days would be behind us after the NBA Live 2001 and NBA Live 2002 "seasons"), the "one step forwards, two steps back" and "deliberately putting out a shoddy product" suggestions are somewhat cynical and ignoring the improvements that have been made the last couple of years. A lot of people condemn the game before it's even close to going gold. I maintain that if you expect a bad game, you won't be disappointed.

That's not to say we should ignore problems with the game, or like them or even put up with them if it's truly not fun to play the game. But sometimes, some of the gripes are blown out of proportion.

Yeah remember the days where all of us would put "All-star weekend", "Bring back 3 point contest", and "Dunk contest" 10000000000 times in the wishlist? Marv & Mike was a nice touch after years of torment from Don Poier (RIP Don). EA's listening, but we just don't know it... I do think they are trying to sell games to the average fan like it was mentioned earlier (WAAAY too many blocks & steals), but the thing is, that's where they're going to make their money so that's how they'll do it. Personally, I's like more of a half court, defensive game, but that wouldn't be too much fun. However, it is REALLY hard to make a fast-break oriented game when passing & catching animations are slow as hell and people stop and turn to catch the ball.

[Matt]

EA is close to the perfect game, relatively speaking. I didnt buy 05, but i've heard that we still need less blocks, better one-on-one play, better mid-range game, offensive playbook, in game save. These things would make the game a great buy.

All i want is to be able to shoot jumpers over players....as in real life
the ability to take players one on one....as in real life
set up plays....as in real life

a few additions and theres a great game. Who cares about graphics if the game plays like rat shit? Combine the last 5 Lives into 1 game and you have the perfect game gameplay wise.

[Metsis]

All i want is to be able to shoot jumpers over players....as in real life
the ability to take players one on one....as in real life
set up plays....as in real life

You can so do this with a great shooter in Live 05... I drafted this one guy who was a very good shooter and really tall for a drafted guard, like 6'7" tall and he was a pretty good athlete too, nothing too spectacular, but he was good enough. Man I shot the lights out with that guy... He just punished and pushished other teams and players and I shot a ton of shots over guys with him... You can get the fade-away shot off usually without anyone blocking it unless you are being guarded by a much bigger man. The fade-away is the key. TMac and Kobe put up almost nothing else except fade-aways when they are forcing their shot over a guy...

The simulation engine sucks though... I just couldn't score less than 30 points with the guy with 15/20 shooting, but the simulation had him scoring about 18 points... He had a pretty low offensive awereness... It just sucks that simulation does not recognise the talent of the player, but just stares at the numbers. We should be able to control simulation somehow -> In order to make this guy, the go-to guy and this other guy the guy who rarely gets the ball on offense... Simulation engine does a pretty nice job, but it's far from perfect. I had overall 94 Marion taking about 10 shots per game, when my 70 overall shooting guard was taking 20 shots per game... We should be able to tell the simulation AI to go to Marion more often than the guard who has suspect shooting ability... (This is from a whole other dynasty)...

With that one guy... I shot the living daylights off of the AI... But the jumpers do get blocked too often...

I once jittered a guy who's a foot taller than I am. And I didn't even jump to do it. The guy shoots the ball pretty well and started to go for the shot, I was off of his view, but took a step closer and really quickly flashed my hand in front of the guys face in front of his arms and he put up an airball because of it... He got scared of the "block"... This is what should happen more in Live... Not blocks, but seriously lowered shooting percentages when you are shooting a guy in the face. Fade-aways would lessen this effect. In the end, I prevented a seven footer from making a basket and didn't even touch the guy or the ball. This is what defense is all about.

Defense is a success when you make the offense second guess themselves... Even if they score, but score in a way they didn't plan to, the defense has been a success. You cannot keep any team from scoring... You can only force them out of their game and see how well they adjust offensively to your defense, but eventually they will score, sooner or later... If it's with a forced shot over some guy/guys, then it is with that, but as you've all seen what TMac did in to the spurs last winter, well they couldn't stop him even when they tried with Bowen, Duncan, Parker, Ginobili... They just couldn't. TMac shot 4 incredibly hard shots and Spurs shouldn't feel to bad. Nobody could have prevented him from scoring then. Maybe the foul by Duncan could have been avoided, but the threes were unstoppable and the defense did a great job during those final seconds... This is in the end, an attackers game...

TMac for life...

[Sonic98]

I can't completely agree, but I can't completely disagree either. They don't want to put out crap no one wants to buy, but at the same time they're not going to stress themselves too much with trying to fix as much as they possibly can with deadline if they know people will buy it anyway and if they know they can put in some more bells and whistles to make pepeople's minds off some of the problems.