Official NBA Live 08 Wishlist Thread

[Andrew]

It's that time of year again. I'm currently in the process of compiling the NBA Live 08 Wishlist which will be submitted to the NBA Live production team within the next couple of weeks.

This year you can send in your suggestions via this thread in this thread (ideas will be taken from other threads in the NBA Live Wishlist section as well) or via email at wishlist08@nba-live.com. Any submissions I receive through my regular email address or via PM will of course be considered for inclusion as well.

Please note that due to copyright laws and rules set forth by the NBA, there are some things that EA Sports cannot include such as unsportsmanlike technicals, fights and certain legendary players. As a result, requests to add fights are not included in the Wishlist; requests regarding legendary players are included but are dependent on the feasibility of acquiring their likeness rights, thus EA Sports are not always able to grant such wishes.

As usual wishes will be sorted by category headed by a list of the top 10-15 wishes to emphasise their importance.

Finally, I realise there has been a lot of disappointment and frustration with NBA Live 07 but the Wishlist initiative remains an effort in providing productive feedback, so please keep any EA bashing or "This is pointless"-type posts out of this thread.

With all that out of the way, bring on the suggestions.

[MLG33]

Thanks Andrew.

My wishes :

When you shoot the ball and you score, there are only two possibilities:
it's a nothing but net, or the ball bounds on the rim and goes in.
I wish there were less "nothing but net" shots and more shots that make some noise touching the rim too but going in directly.

I wish there were more TV like replays and cut scenes.

Add the possibility to see the instant replay after a buzzer beater.

Just a simple idea,
during the freethrows, the home crowd should be able to disturb the FT shooter (away team) by making some noise or waving their arms behind the board.
May be the home player can push a button to make the crowd react accordingly.
This could be fun

This is what I have in mind so far.

[Vanny]

1. Back pass ability during dunk or lay up by playmakers, like was in 06 series.
2. Remove unfinished dunks, when you push dunk and players trying to dunk from 2 steps and undunking.
3. Back 3-pt like it was in 06 when you can make 5 from 5 3-pt's like arenas or allen in the life.
4. Back drop step/pro hop on button.
5. Make 3 kinds of freestyle, Gold-Silver-Bronze for example.
6. Individual jump-shots
7. Change defense type, it was better in 06 than in 07, i mean styles and 1on1 defense, bloks are awasome in 07.
8. May be some new freestyle like dribbling superstars wich can put down opponent with crazy dribling like AI.

[Vanny]

I forgot 1 thing!
Ratings, they need to do much better work with players ratings!
Some really good players like Okafor or Randolph etc. have so suxxor ratings always in deafult rosters

[Gabryel]

Only 1 thing: SOLVE THIS DAMNED CRASH TO DESKTOP PROBLEM IN THE DINASTY MODE!!!
EA is losing another customer...

[diddy]

1. correct SUBS!!!
2. team jerseys like on xbox360!
3. 3d realistic crowd, cheerleaders team, talismans!
4. more replays, may be interviews of key players, and LARGE REQUEST - GOOD MOVIE FOR THE NBA CHAMPS, when team wins the price! may be some fireworks on the court, party at the lokerroom...
5. signatyre jumpshots!
6. remove unfinished dunks
7. more realistick trades
8. create speach files for rookies names
9. Big Wish - i want to see in 08 this:
if i've a progressive rookie or sophmore like Dorell Wright in my team, and if i use him in every game in starting 5 he must improove alot! not +1 or 2 to his ratings, but +8, +10!

10. training in dynasty! like they've made in madden! and summer camp!

[gambitkd]

the 9th item on diddy's wishlist is what i'm looking for as well.... Like the street game... if a player takes more 3s then his 3pt shootin should improve... if he dunks more then that should shoot up...etc...etc...

I was also hoping for an individual player development mode where a rookie starts of his career on the street and gradually develops to sign in for an NBA team in the draft and then play 10-15 seasons until he retires... the difference being here we are the player and not the owner of the team...The player gets to influence his team by showing prefernce to team members ...but not picking them.... If he is unhappy then he asks to opt out and join another team that would offer him a better contract....

[Ryan]

Refer to this list for most of my wishlist - http://www.nba-live.com/nba07/wishlist.php

*Add NBDL teams and make it possible to designate players to the D-league during season and dynasty modes.

*Sig shots and new jump shot animations.

*More cut scenes.

*More realistic crowds and crowd reactions.

*Real training camp where you can actually do drills to improve players of have the option to sim.

*Summer league and preseason games.

*Better create a player features and models.

*Better A.I.

*Better plays and coaching strategies.

*Make it possible to hire and fire head coaches and promote assistants.

*Real assistant coaches.

*More detailed jerseys and other accessories.

*More realistic sim engine.

*Smarter cpu trades based on needs of the teams.

*10 day contracts.

*Gm mode allowing multiple option such as daily team operations, ticket, refreshment prices, ability to relocate teams to other markets.

*No deletion of free agents with less than a 62 rating in dynasty mode.

*More realistic players in the draft.

*More camera angles like NBA 2k. They have like 20, Live has like 3.

*Most, if not all free agents should accept one year deals during the season instead of 4 or 5 year contracts.

*Better online play. When I tried to play online it crashed every time or it was to choppy to play. (or is this just me)

*Better customer and tech support from EA.

*For EA to actually listen to what we have to say and use the ideas of the people that play the game to make it better for us(better game) and for them ($$$).

I'll probably think of more, but these are just off the top of my head.

[InsertScaryName]

first of all, the wishes of "MLG33" are exactly what i'd like to see in 08 too, because it's important for me how realistic the game is.

so... here are my wishes
1) more realistic animations/moves/crowd/shots
2) better graphics (sweat & stuff like this)
3) "roster update function" what i mean is, u click on a button and the game connects to an ea-server and updates the roster. sure... it isnt a big thing for the user to update them himself but it isnt also a big thing to add this function..
4) like somebody said before, "killer-crossovers" and more signature stuff (very important..)
5) better a.i. would be nice too:
>the teams should change the game speed, i mean suns should play more often a fastbrake than other teams do.
>the franchise players should have more often the ball than other players (very important too..). i mean you should be able to see on the statistics which guy the franchise player is.
6) better plays as said before... the most important thing of the plays is that the players implement them too late/slow..(which really sucks)

and some things that they should keep/improve:
- these superstar vids in the extra section were great. i love the one of t-mac. give me more of that!
- x-factor isnt a bad idea but not only one player should be affected by the x-factor. it should be possible to influence the whole team with a good teamplayer. i mean if a player/coach says something like "we have to win this game" then the whole team should play better defense for example...

[banzai15]

In the computer it is possible to obtain things as good as in the consoles of new generation, this way what my desire is that they do a nba seriously, like in the new consoles, with it, it would be sufficient.

[e-mat]

Gameplay:
1) No "Magnetic Hands"!!!
2) Ability to block jumpshots!!!
3) No "volunteer for block"
4) Transition defence!!! No walking back on D.
5) Better transition offence - players should go to the basket not camp at the corner for 3.
6) Smarter AI playmaking - no running on a spot if somebody is standing in front.
7) Hard fouls (atleast make it possible to prevent Power players and Highflyers dunking all over you again and again) and no freakin' "and 1" all the time!
8) Much better replays
9) Emphasize post play
10) Animations should be interruptable
11) Emphasize slider impact!!! Some sliders (like Shot blocking, Poor Shot release, Adjusted shot percentage) doesn't impact the game at all...

Dynasty:
1) Fix the terrible stat engine!!!
2) Trade for needs! Don't stack up stars at one single position!
3) AI teams' starting 5 shouldn't always be the best overall ratings-wise - should also take into account chemistry and individual skills.
4) Home court advantage should matter (usually most teams are better on the road than at home in Live's dynasties).
5) More specific (and also more effective) player development (not just "Athletic" but "Strength/Toughness" and "Speed/Quickness"). Playing time should contribute to growth.
6) Rookies!!! (More realistic size wise and not so contradicting individual skills. Also there shouldn't be any 90 overall rookies - there's no such thing in real life)
7) Chemistry tweaking (it makes little sense for the most parts).
8) Generally more options and things to worry about.

And no bugs in Live 08!

edit: sidelines camera!

[Melo_Poland]

Change the lineup for the online

[Clock]

I have just 3 wishes:

1. Make the sim engine realistic.
2. The rookies we draft should be balanced! There shouldn't be a situation that a player has a 90 passing rating, and 45 off. awareness. or 99 in speed, and 30 in quickness!
3. add the Levono system into the game. this way we can choose our players wisely. it should be very easy!

[tempo]

* bring back user profiles.

* dont have that shitty 400 player rating system. go back to the 17 or so ratings.

* add team trainig where you can work on plays etc.

* add individual training.

* custom teams.

* mid level exception.

* save replays.

* 2 on 2, 3 on 3 etc.

for gods sake EA pull your finger out your stupid arse and giuve us a decent game us hardcore fans have wanted for about 12 years now. honestley i think 2Ksports listen to our wishlist more than ea does.

[JaoSming]

I just want features that were taken out back in the game.

I want real bench animation throughout the whole game
real time shadows
better graphics
good substitutions and late game AI
Create a Team (hell create a stadium and jersey too)
a fixed off the back board pass for the dunk contest and all star games (in 07 if you are not directly in front of the backboard it will go out of bounds)
have "signature" or "FSS" moves be automatic and get rid of "FSS" as we know it today
build on 07 dynasty
have actual ESPN Integration
more street or 1v1 courts
have 2v2 3v3 4v4 5v5 practice modes
"moving" jerseys so legs dont go thru shorts
realistic ball movement
cameras cameras cameras....its impossible to have too many cameras in this game.
technical fouls (they were in 2003) just for like pushing a player to the ground when pressing pass too much. I cant count how many times that happens to me on a fast break and there is not foul called.

Things to get rid of:
Get rid of the "style" of the courts that are being used now (lines are about 1 foot wide; that weird lighting in the middle of the court and it gets darker near the edges)
The menu system. NBA Live 06 NG was a success just because of the menu system; make it work for current gen.
Scrap the current create a player; its horrible. Re-do it for 08. (create a tattoo, better facial shapes, ability to have a CF {like Live 2001})
Scrap all running animations in the game and redo them.
Get rid of the "automated" blocks, steals, and "dunk ons". Nothing in basketball is automated; 2k7 does a great job of allowing someone like Boykins to "block" or strip a center like Yao if they bring the ball too low without a canned animation.
oh and good net animations, they've been horrible in 06 and 07.
the replay system is outdated too, that needs to be redone

Features I want that havent been in any version of Live;
Owner Mode
Superstar Mode
"Street" mode
NBDL and Euro Teams (you cant have too many teams either)
an actual physics engine with moving jerseys
actual ESPN integration (TV shows, halftime shows, game recaps) cmon 2k has been doing that for a while now


But I will be happy with just a polished game that is fun to play. and maybe a Next Gen port for Vista.
oh and how about we get the graphics that are advertised on the back of the box (xbox textures)

[Vanny]

2v2 practice mode will be awasome!

[buzzy]

- No Bugs (Subs, PG domination, inbound passes etc)
- Next Gen Graphiks
- Create a Team-Mode
- Sig Jumpshots
- Real Gameplay (like offensive boards)
- save Replays
- Individual Team Practice
- 3v3 (but not really imporant)
- Realistic crowd
- cut scenes

[joejam999]

Career mode would be cool.
A Simple franchise mode (keep the current one of course) where it is like the previouse nba lives. One that has multiple teams.

Also I think it is time to move the PC version to a "next gen". The graphics have been the same since 2005.

[STAT]

-ADD the Back Down button
-ADD the pro hop/jab step button
-Signature Jumpshots
-Career Mode Like in Madden:)
-Add dribble superstars!
thats the most of it

[UltraNIX]

the things i would be looking forward:
realistic substitutions.
realistic playtime. make it possible to have ~45 min/game for guys like LeBron.
realistic rotations/player usage for rotations. some teams use 7-9 players, and Live always use at least 10 (and often 11 or all 12)
make it possible for a center to be a dominant scorer. now PG makes 40-60% of team FG attempts, PG+SG make 80% of FG attempts. hell?
realistic offensive/defensive boards numbers/animations. CPU PF grabs like 18 rebs, and the guy is not named Drew Gooden or Shawn Marion.
remove those "adjusted shots" in fastbreaks. the defender is far away and suddenly he catches up (despite holding TURBO) and it turns out to a missed adjusted/poor shot.
technical/flagrant fouls, multi-player fights, affecting later in disqualifications, fines, suspensions. guys like sheed often argue with refs, which should be result of technical foul. and if the foul is hard enough, the possiblity for the fight should be open.
ability to make a nice comeback. usually, when CPU takes the lead (+20-30) it's always hard to make a comeback. in reality, such phenomenon exists. so why not have it NBA LIVE?
ability to trade for bench dwellers, when the player wants to be traded. try to trade iverson for joe smith and andre miller, and you shouldn't be suprised that the trade is rejected. such run-away trades happen every year, so this should be nice.
RETRO TEAMS! EA has already included speech packages for some great retro teams..but...where are the faces? courts? some retro jerseys need some fixations, but i could shut my eyes on that, if they could add more classic teams, courts, players, coaches.
FSS should be automatic. thus, i shouldn't hold trigger button for a player to shot his "normal", usual shot (like iverson's fadeaway).
reduce the dominance of FSS. if you lose - just use FSS trigger button more often. the player will overpower his defender and it will eventually turn to a lead.
i know ricky davis CAN dunk. but can he and DOES HE do it over many defenders, almost from the ft line and twice a qtr? it can all happen, if you hold the trigger and press dunk button.
individual player shot animations. i would like to have all those weird shots, like shawn marion's and others. every player has pretty different shooting technique.
if there are two williamses in team, i.e. Eric and Aaron, one should have E.Williams, another A.Williams. the game should detect whether there are similar names and add the initial letter of the first name to the jersey.
ability to chose what name should be written on jerseys - vital for custom mods creation (Euroleague, National Teams, esp. Brazil, Spain). EA has some of them, though, like removing Jr. from roger mason and mike dunleavy (but it's located in nbalive07.exe, and those cases are not recognized if you have a custom player with "Jr." ending).
player statistics/career data should be displayed like in live 2001, where we could see all his career totals/averages in one window, like a drop down (similar to nba.com appearance).

i also support other already mentioned wishes, like correct subs, lightning, AI, player improvement....

THOUGH..it's naive to believe the EA would listen...they'd better release another crappy game with the only thing being updated - roster.

[Vlizzle]

Old-ass current-gen wishlist(Ain't got money 4 a BOX )

1)Gameplay's good...
=====================================
-more signature moves
-more versatility regarding freestyle moves, types
-the playmaker should have the ability of trowing some crazy alley-oops
(like off the backboard pass, no-look alley-oop

2)Replay
=====================================
-Old-school Replay engine-ex: NBA live 2003
-some backboard replays

3)Highlights
=====================================
-game highlights at halftime and the end of the game(like the fifa titles)

4)Cut-scenes
=====================================
-like in the NBA Live 2004 title (witch had some cool cut-scenes)
-the starting lineup presentation should be more realistic(lights turned off, music, the announcer should announce each player, witch collage\ high-school he came from and years pro(ex: "From Georgetown \Former Georgetown Hoya - 10 year veteran Allen Iverson )

5) More realism
=====================================
-players on the bench should wear warm-up gear(that would be off-the-hook!)
-3 different gear styles 4 players: would make a hell of a difference to be able to edit Away, Home and Alternative\Classic player's gear
-the ability to add player's number or two letters on the gear(armbands, wristbands, elbowbands)
-the ability to choose the positioning of the logo on the headbands(LeBron-middle, Josh Smith-back) - a simple "rotate logo" adjustable button would do the trick
-new shapes for shoes: high/old school, mid and low shoes

6) The whole All-Star weekend needs to be re-thought
=====================================
-the slam dunk contest needs to be more realistic: accurate scoring for dunks,NO SHOT-CLOCK,no curtain at half-court ,some new dunks(mocap nate robinson or something )
-the lightning in both the dunk contest and 3 point needs adjustment (the lights are basically turned off(i don't no who can get a dunk off in those situations..bust their god-damn heads!! )
-they could include at least the skills challenge
-the ability to choose jerseys in the dunk contest\3 point

7) Cool idea: PLAYER SIGNATURE VOICES
===================================
-Superstars talking on the court using there own real-life voice and the rest of the players can be assigned generic voices

8) Advanced player's stats
===================================
-teams a player played for(NBA 2003/2004)
-add the "dunks", "dunks per game" stats

9) Rookies in DYNASTY MODE
===================================
-at least the top 10 real rookie prospects 4 the future 2-3 years
-fix the 6'8" / 220 lbs generic rookies bug

10) Advance managerial options in DYNASTY MODE
========================================
-the ability to hire/fire head coaches
-real coaching staff for the nba teams(and the old generated free agents)
-ability to adjust ticket prices, sale team merchendise etc.(like in Madden NFL titles)
-ability to relocate team
-10-day contracts, 3 team trade,
-more than 3 players trading block
-ability to trade future draft picks

11) Advance draft and off-season options
=======================================
-the ability to trade draft picks in the actual draft night
-the ability to actually sign the rookies you drafted , after draft night, like real-life
-the ability to re-sign, sign/release , trade players ,sign/release staff in the same day(of course you only choose one activity for that certain day)

12) Pre-season & training camp
======================================
-the ability to schedule your pre-season & camp
-the ability to play pre-season games and test rookies(have a 2 or 3 "test rookie spots" in your roster

13) REVOLUTIONARY FREE-TROW SHOOTING
======================================
-a very simple and cool idea: The players who take free-trows should have like a blur effect when shooting....the worse the shooter, the important the shot(especially in away games) - the high and intense the blur(the whole screen should be moving, the sound of the player breathing faster and faster....some heart-beat sound-effects)
-the crowd should intimidate the shooter, have sticks, wave their hands or something...
-the ability to make one of the home players wave to the crowd to stand up and scream(just like the in 07 when you tap the right analog stick up but when a opposite player is shooting a free- trow)

The guys at EA should really start busting their asses this year because people already started to buy 2k titles(witch, lets face it, are A LOT better) and if they emerge on the PC gaming market...well...good-bye NBA LIVE.....
So after the disappointing 07 version(witch was like a spit in the face for NBA Live fans....I will NEVER buy it !) I REALLY hope to see some major improvement!

[[Q]]

we should post the patch petition and add on to it.

[ivangiletto]

maybe we can suggest at EA the thing that we don't want and not what we want

[fruitcake21]

1.remove the stupid animation where the player jumps right into the defender and not even atempt to throw up a shot

2. sig shot for all players like in 2k

3. better control for around the back move

4. more dribble moves on the right analouge stick

5. have players develope after a training session or after games like in pro evo soccer series

6. next gen for pc. cmon u make the dam next gen on a pc so why not release it for the pc too.

7. better crowd current 1 is retarted

8. proper subs and rotation and fatiuge

9. proper and realistic gameplay (sit down and watch a fricken game)

10. hit open shots in a game u hardly ever see a person miss a open 3. i wanna be able to hit open shots no matter wat the sliders are set too.

11. scrap fss good idea poorley executed

12. make ur gameplay more like 2k ie. be able to actully drive to the basket and dunk on some1 without being partially fouled by a player 2m behind u.

13. eliminate the catch up for the computer. when a team gets 20+ points ahead the other team is highly unlikley to catch up. for some reason the pc can just catch up and i cant hit a shot wtf have u done. fix it

14. allow us to save our playbook for gods sake.

15. use the actual plays the nba teams use like the lakers and the triangle

16. fix the post up animation they look really lame when u constanly bounce of a player when tryin to post em up

17. find a new freethrow system or tweak the 1 u have now cause its not too bad
18. want more depth in dynasty mode like madden

19. test ur dam game before u release it this time make sure it works and get some1 from here to test it or sumthin to make sure it works well and plays well

20. fix the frame rate tooo

21. and finally litsen to the consumers like 2k does and look wat they did made a great game so

there u go the balls in ur court ea

[fruitcake21]

oh yeah 1 other thing hire some of the guys of this website to make the cybers, aiacts and the courts cause they do a much better job than ur own game producers. actually i bet we could make a better game than ea could with all the tallent we got here