Official NBA Live 08 Demo Thread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1hEpLmBLBw

Having played the demo, I'm very pleased to see that the aspects I liked at the Community Day are still there. That was one of the most disappointing things for me last year; I came away from the NBA Live 07 Community Day feeling genuinely good about the game and of course when I got my hands on the final version I didn't feel quite as good about it to say the least.

There are still a few areas of concern. The "jostle" system still seems to favour the offensive player a little too much on offense when you're working in the paint but overall the shooting percentage wasn't too high. In my opinion it still looks like there'll be some noticeable improvements out of the box but some slider tweaks will probably in order to get the desired results. I haven't tried tweaking the demo as yet.

With only a handful of teams to pick from it's difficult to tell whether there's widespread logic/AI problems such as point guard domination but given that it only seems to be Tony Parker who is a bit trigger happy from the point guard spot (Gibson's place in the pecking order seems to be alright) and Parker was just behind Duncan in field goal attempts during the regular season and led the Spurs in that category during the Playoffs that leaves me feeling fairly optimistic about shot distribution and point guards. The Xbox 360 version allows you to tweak a player's go to guy attribute anyway so perhaps toning down some of the more offensive minded point guards might be an option we'll have to explore.

On the plus side, it certainly doesn't look like the Go To Moves are going to be unstoppable weapons. Parker's teardrop didn't shoot me down while I was controlling the Cavs and when I took control of the Spurs I didn't pound LeBron and co into submission with it either. I still find that half-spin move very addictive as well because I love how smooth it looks.

I'm still feeling good about the game after playing the demo. Hopefully I'll still feel that way when I've got more than two two minutes quarters to play around in.

Andrew's comments are encouraging. Hopefully more people will play this demo and post the results, with PG domination in mind.

Well, it's encouraging for the 360/PS3 version. Hopefully the same can be said of the PC version.

The ps3 version isn't that great. I have a ps3, and I played it, theres pretty much no anti aliasing so if you play in standard definition its going to look messy. Later on in the day I went to my friends house (who has a 360) and he just happened to be downloading it. When he finished we tried it to see if we could play each other.

When the practice arena starts, theres 2 gilbert arenas for each player to shoot around with (I guess because 2 controllers were connected). After he got used to the controls we tried to play head to head but it didn't allow more then 1 controller to move from the center on the team select screen.

So we were going to go out somewhere so I played a game by myself. He has a standard definition tv just like I do, and about the same size, yet there were no rough edges at all and the game seemed pretty well anti-aliased, and the game ran smooth throughout. Sometimes playing it on my ps3 the framerate gets really choppy (im guessing 15 fps) and the game itself slows down with the framerate. Someone already posted about having choppy fps on his ps3.

Maybe the ps3 version will be fixed come time of release, but maybe not. I had the same experience with madden 08. Of course its 30 fps on the ps3, but it does hiccup quite often. It didn't really bother me, I like the game. Later on though when playing at said friends house head to head, the lack of hicupping and 60 fps does in fact make a big difference on the eyes...

but console issues aside, nba live does look like its going somewhere. It was easy to get under the basket, but once I got under it I couldn't score too easy. I'll have to get used to the shot timing though.

I'm still feeling good about the game after playing the demo.

Andrew, given the demo has been released, are you still able to give feedback to EA and let them know what problems need to be fixed, or is it too late now for 08?

Guys, the PG's are NOT dominant this year unless your PG is naturally dominant. Parker is slashing to the hoop and taking shots because that is what he does. Do you see Gibson doing it? If you did, then that would be a sign that PG's are dominant. Plus, you're playing in a very short demo.

I cant find the demo in the playstation store. Can anybody please help me?

I played the demo on my PS3 with regular T.V.

It looks really nice and the graphics looks great (can't wait to see it on LCD)
The responses are too slow, maybe on the full game if I could tweak the speed it will be better.
I enjoyed playing Spain vs. France.
Too bad that the Demo is so short - only two quaters of 2 min.

I noticed something strange -
Among the teams (You can see all the teams but only choose some of them) -
There are no Legends teams - 50's, 60's and other legend teams are not in the game.

Does anyone know something about that?
I hope they are only missing from the Demo ...

I played the demo on my PS3 with regular T.V.

It looks really nice and the graphics looks great (can't wait to see it on LCD)
The responses are too slow, maybe on the full game if I could tweak the speed it will be better.
I enjoyed playing Spain vs. France.
Too bad that the Demo is so short - only two quaters of 2 min.

I noticed something strange -
Among the teams (You can see all the teams but only choose some of them) -
There are no Legends teams - 50's, 60's and other legend teams are not in the game.

Does anyone know something about that?
I hope they are only missing from the Demo ...

It's possible download the demo and play in the pc

Sorry for stupid question

It's possible download the demo and play in the pc

Sorry for stupid question

Andrew, given the demo has been released, are you still able to give feedback to EA and let them know what problems need to be fixed, or is it too late now for 08?

It is way too late. The game comes out on the 2nd.

It's possible download the demo and play in the pc

No.

I cant find the demo in the playstation store. Can anybody please help me?

You have a USA Plsystation Store Network account to get it.

Guys, the PG's are NOT dominant this year unless your PG is naturally dominant. Parker is slashing to the hoop and taking shots because that is what he does. Do you see Gibson doing it? If you did, then that would be a sign that PG's are dominant. Plus, you're playing in a very short demo.

Yeah, I agree with this statement

On another note. . I sped up the gameplay to see if the game would be smoother, but I didn't feel much of a difference. I noticed after free throws it's hard for the defensive team to grab the boards. Sometimes the other team stands around and just watch the ball while the other team breaks down the floor!!! I've played the demo like 50 times already and it seemed to be a continuous flaw!!

I hope we could turn down the dunking on every player, cause it's the one thing that really bothers me.

Guys, the PG's are NOT dominant this year unless your PG is naturally dominant. Parker is slashing to the hoop and taking shots because that is what he does. Do you see Gibson doing it? If you did, then that would be a sign that PG's are dominant. Plus, you're playing in a very short demo.

Yeah, I agree with this statement

On another note. . I sped up the gameplay to see if the game would be smoother, but I didn't feel much of a difference. I noticed after free throws it's hard for the defensive team to grab the boards. Sometimes the other team stands around and just watch the ball while the other team breaks down the floor!!! I've played the demo like 50 times already and it seemed to be a continuous flaw!!

I hope we could turn down the dunking on every player, cause it's the one thing that really bothers me.

You mean dunks are too frequent? I hope not, and from what I could see so far from the youtube vids, dunks were not frequent at all! and that's the way it should be on a competitive game, not like D-Wade hammering a 360 windmill above 3 people!

I cant find the demo in the playstation store. Can anybody please help me?

You have a USA Plsystation Store Network account to get it.

How can i get a USA Playstation store network account?

Guys, the PG's are NOT dominant this year unless your PG is naturally dominant. Parker is slashing to the hoop and taking shots because that is what he does. Do you see Gibson doing it? If you did, then that would be a sign that PG's are dominant. Plus, you're playing in a very short demo.

Ive seen gibson take most of the shots.

Guys, the PG's are NOT dominant this year unless your PG is naturally dominant. Parker is slashing to the hoop and taking shots because that is what he does. Do you see Gibson doing it? If you did, then that would be a sign that PG's are dominant. Plus, you're playing in a very short demo.

Yeah, I agree with this statement

On another note. . I sped up the gameplay to see if the game would be smoother, but I didn't feel much of a difference. I noticed after free throws it's hard for the defensive team to grab the boards. Sometimes the other team stands around and just watch the ball while the other team breaks down the floor!!! I've played the demo like 50 times already and it seemed to be a continuous flaw!!

I hope we could turn down the dunking on every player, cause it's the one thing that really bothers me.

You mean dunks are too frequent? I hope not, and from what I could see so far from the youtube vids, dunks were not frequent at all! and that's the way it should be on a competitive game, not like D-Wade hammering a 360 windmill above 3 people!

D-Wade will probably be able to do that. . Cause I dunked on people with Tony Parker. Like I said I've played the demo over 50 times. The dunks are horrible. I hope we can turn down EACH players dunking rating, to reduce the amount of dunks or take em out!! The layups around the basket and turn around post moves are WAY better than the dunks!!

I'm giving my honest opinion. EA isn't that far from a realistic video game IMO. They just need to find out how to smoothen out the players and make them more life like. My bro is disappointed with the game because of it, and he's as much of a Live fan that I am.

I mean look at NBA Street and then Look at Live. What's Live doing wrong compared to Street in regards to player movement. Street's player animation is so smooth. If EA does this, they will seriously be back on Top. If you haven't played Street next gen, Go play it, you'll see what I'm talking about. Cause the player movement and DEFENCE is the only thing really thing wrong with this game. I'm playin NHL 08 and it's so smooth!!

yea I understand I played NBA Street, every animation is smooth.

does anyone know if the demo is available in the netherlands?

im getting a 360 or ps3 towmorrow...so want to know if i can download it or just have to wait.

I have played the demo numerous times now, and I have to say it is a very enjoyable game. But I am really hoping that Live does not have these kind of dunk and lay-up animations in its final release. It must be fixed by the release date. I am thinking this demo is from late july or early august, so it is a possiblility that they have already fixed this issue. This is seriously their biggest problem, if they fix that then I think this game will be right up there with 2K8 in terms of the smoothness of the gameplay.

I used some own the paint moves and went out of bounds, twice. All I am trying to do is spin baseline in the post and Duncan makes some huge turn for some reason. I made an in bounds pass to an out of bounds point guard. I was directly underneath the hoop, and shot a layup that hits the bottom of the rim. 2 on 1 with Tony Parker and Tim Duncan, I toss the alleyoop, Tony tosses it behind Tim, who turns around and tries to do a backwards alley-layup animation without the ball, which bounced in the middle of the key without touching duncan. I think it took too long to perform the alleyoop from the point when I pushed the button. Direct pass takes too long to bring the icons up. It should have been the other way around, hold for alleyoop, tap for direct pass icons. Once again I find it impossible to play defense. I couldn't even let the demo finish.

D-Wade will probably be able to do that. . Cause I dunked on people with Tony Parker. Like I said I've played the demo over 50 times. The dunks are horrible. I hope we can turn down EACH players dunking rating, to reduce the amount of dunks or take em out!! The layups around the basket and turn around post moves are WAY better than the dunks!!

We can edit every player's Dunking rating in Edit Player and/or change the Dunk/Layup frequency in the sliders so it should be possible to reduce the number of dunks.

BAD
The players jump too high... (..as always been on live.. )
Too many blocks on the perimeter...
Some layups under the basket look funny , not realistic...
Most missing shots and layups , are ''bricks''...
Dunking is ugly...
The rim looks funny (..like if was a cartoon..)
Layups animation are too fast...
Hooks , etc... On the post , don't look good... (...It looks like the players were kids that never play basketball before..)
There is some lagg (not much , most people probably don't notice , but it is there... 360 version)
Signature shoots are not well done...

NOT BAD
Faces look good...
Passes are way better...
The ability to change the ball from your left hand to your right hand is nice...

Bottom line... It's playable , but it is still to arcade... I want more simulation , more realism... (..i think we all do..)

IT is an improvement over 06-07 , no doubt... So that's good for pc owners , becouse they don't have another basketball game to choose from... Console gamers , you know what to do...