Report from Vancouver (Updated w/Gameplay Info)

Hi Mr. Shane. I have a few questions:

1. Have they tweaked/changed difficulty levels at all? I always thought There should be 2 more difficulty levels after Superstar: Perhaps a fourth named Hall Of Fame and a fifth named Legend. 2 more levels for the most elite of NBA Live veterans...........

2. Have they fixed the edit player bug that affected Shaq and Baron Davis? Both of their player models became significantly thinner after making the slightest alteration in ratings, shoes, etc.

3. Are there any new dribble animations/moves that you might have noticed?

4. Did One on One mode and the NBA store return in this years version?

5. Can you finally have multi-player practice mode?

Thank you so much for allowing us to bombard you with all these questions. I know it has to be getting a bit overwhelming so I'll just be patient awaiting your answers............

Holy smokes, Shane Hefty! It's me DRESPN from '98-00. Andrew just sent me a welcome back message and informed me that you are in fact my old arch nemesis (remember our classic Laker/Kobe arguments talk about a battle of the wits! Hehehe) Shane Hefty.

I see you're a big dog around here now and still going strong with Andrew representing the best basketball game on the planet. Keep up the good work and I'll holla at'cha soon. Wow, "Mr." now, huh?

I got another one here...

For Slam Dunk Contest
Does the Jumbotron work? I mean does it really show the dunks your doing just like in the videos. Do they serve as real jumbotron now like what they are showing in the videos?

I've quoted myself from NLSC over at .org...and now I'll quote myself from .org over here ...

Yes, the jumbotrons really work (in all-star mode). The videos that you see are real game videos . The final game will be tweaked from what you see in the videos...for example...the net animation will be implemented.

ok ive heard alot of reviews, posts, and other stuff about Live 05' but ive heard nothing about a JUMBOTRON.....sorry for such a stupid question but what is a jumbotron and explain please? sorry
i believe you mean the big screens in the background of all*star mode? but what are you talking about....and if thats not it please explain sorry again

yeah thats what it is. The video screen.

alrighty....i feel pretty stupid right now

Shane says:
HOLY FUCK! It's DRESPN!
DANet says:
I saw that lol

This was my response to seeing you posting again. Where you been, man? We (well, at least I) missed ya...I hope you have enough time to hang around here. We can get our massive arguments about Kobe and Vince going again...cept, they might have a different tone to them now.

As for your questions,

1. Have they tweaked/changed difficulty levels at all? I always thought There should be 2 more difficulty levels after Superstar: Perhaps a fourth named Hall Of Fame and a fifth named Legend. 2 more levels for the most elite of NBA Live veterans...........

Yeah, extra difficulty levels would be great. I played at all-star cause I was very, very rusty, but it seemed a bit harder than past years. But who knows...like I said, I was very rusty.

2. Have they fixed the edit player bug that affected Shaq and Baron Davis? Both of their player models became significantly thinner after making the slightest alteration in ratings, shoes, etc

I didn't go into the edit player screen. I really should have, just to see what you could do. DANet, did you check that out?

3. Are there any new dribble animations/moves that you might have noticed?

I didn't notice any new dribble animations or moves. However, there are new defensive animations. For instance, the player makes more of a poke towards the ball as opposed to the swipe, and there's a couple other new defensive ones that I remember seeing but can't recall what they were. The poke thing is cool, because if you knock the ball free you can get a fastbreak going.

4. Did One on One mode and the NBA store return in this years version?

One on One mode is back, as is practice. The NBA Store has returned, and it's better...it's actually a store. There's walls of jerseys, shoes and the like. It's quite cool, very nice aesthetic feature. There's over 150 shoes, I guess, and it looks that there are more throwbacks than last year as well.

I see you're a big dog around here now

Hehe, most people don't even really know who I am. And I like it that way...

You're god because you played the game.

Ok, so I heard the spacing is a lot better and so is ball rotation. Have defensive rotations improved? If I'm, say Kobe, blow past my man, will another defender come pick me up? Or do I get that mid-ranged jump shot uncontested? I read over at IGN that JC burned the poster for a lot of mid-ranged jump shots...it seemed like nobody ever ran over the pick up JC, otherwise JC would be picking up a lot of dimes as well. But my implication could be wrong (which is why I'm asking this question! ). Thanks.

How about the lag bug in 2004? The one where you pass in the paint and there's a reaction lag that allows the CPU to collapse on you or you get called for a 3 sec. violation, has this been fixed? Oh yeah one of the dumb things in 2004 was the way the pick and roll sets u up in the strong side instead of the weak side of the defense, did EA Sports had this fixed also?

Shane says:
HOLY FUCK! It's DRESPN!
DANet says:
I saw that lol

This was my response to seeing you posting again. Where you been, man? We (well, at least I) missed ya...I hope you have enough time to hang around here. We can get our massive arguments about Kobe and Vince going again...cept, they might have a different tone to them now.

Hehehe, I remember those battles well and you're right they would be s-o-o-o different now to say the least. I remember once we argued on a thread for 4 days straight and when we realized there was no quitting from either party we called a truce, ahhhhh, the good 'ol days.............

Well, if you remember when I was posting I was a member of the military, I'm now a civilian and loving it! I stopped posting when I no longer had access to a computer and kind of 4got about good 'ol NLSC. Feels good to be back as well as remembered, I'm here to wreak havoc once again in the name of "The Purple Reign Dynasty", hehehe, remember that one? Safe to assume that moniker no longer describes my beloved Lakers .......

Thanx for answering my questions, much obliged. But I still want to know if you can have multi-player practice mode? My little brother likes to play practice mode with me so we can play our own games of Horse and Around the World. Thanx........

Sorry for interrupting your alls conversation DRESPN*-MrShane but i think that would be awesome to have a multiplayer practice mode in the game.....I think you could practice with the whole team in Sega NBA 2k2 but i didnt play 2k3 so maybe you could on that too....that was a pretty cool feature in the game and would also be a good feature in Live

Sorry for interrupting your alls conversation DRESPN*-MrShane but i think that would be awesome to have a multiplayer practice mode in the game.....I think you could practice with the whole team in Sega NBA 2k2 but i didnt play 2k3 so maybe you could on that too....that was a pretty cool feature in the game and would also be a good feature in Live

No problem Wormy and sorry to get off topic with the personal chit-chat. I agree, you should be able to practice with the whole team like the 2K series as well as be able to enter with a human partner(s). Trivial to most, I know. But everybody does a lil' something different with Live and the option would be great for people like us who enjoy it. Wondering if it would be difficult to implement? Shouldn't be.........

NBA Inside Drive also has team practice mode during the franchise and in the main screen. Live needs to add it too.

can you still sign big name free gents for the ridiculous minimum? that's az big killer for the dynasty mode last year.

.

Last edited by hmm on Sat Jun 06, 2009 5:15 am, edited 1 time in total.

yeah, I believe they fixed that. The signing AI has been upped.

No problem Wormy and sorry to get off topic with the personal chit-chat. I agree, you should be able to practice with the whole team like the 2K series as well as be able to enter with a human partner(s). Trivial to most, I know. But everybody does a lil' something different with Live and the option would be great for people like us who enjoy it. Wondering if it would be difficult to implement? Shouldn't be.........

Dont worry about the personal chit chat...i kinda get into that all the time ......but no i doubt it would be hard to put into the game, i guess they are just focusing on the things that need to be done instead of the little things

NBA Inside Drive also has team practice mode during the franchise and in the main screen. Live needs to add it too.

I never got around to playing NBA Inside drive when it came out but ive heard about it.....it really would be a good feature to add in

I think I rarely had an uncontested midrange jumper...if I did, it was because I used a screen or shook him with freestyle.

Thanx for answering my questions, much obliged. But I still want to know if you can have multi-player practice mode? My little brother likes to play practice mode with me so we can play our own games of Horse and Around the World. Thanx........

No, you can't. It's still single player. And stuff like this is much more difficult to add than you guys think....the feature is a great idea, but implementation is another. They'd have to write up more code (thousands upon thousands of lines), and once that's in, they have to write more code to correct any bugs, and then after those bugs are fixed, they have to write more...get the idea? It's not as easy as you'd think...

My roommate is a sarge, actually had to take off for some two day thing today. He's not quite a weekend warrior, he was activiated a couple years ago....he blows shit up from far away (calls air strikes and the like).

Glad you're enjoying the civy life.

In knowing what I know about coding because of my brother (http://www.splashdamage.com/) and from what the producers and programmer said, I know it isn't easy to add simple features involving the actual gameplay. Frontend stuff is a bit easier, but graphically and technically, the "in-game" stuff is a great deal harder.

Hehe, most people don't even really know who I am. And I like it that way...

Lol yeah for some reason "Mr. Shane" makes it so much more difficult for people to know it's actually "Shane Hefty". I'm not entirely sure why myself, possessing a brain could be part of it.

I know....I know.... another question you might say...well...yes :

How the pass look in this game ?
Is there any blind pass, behind the back, fakes ?

Can you make a shot from down town ?
'Cause in the 2004, it was impossible from behind the midcourt.

Did you see some creativity in the air ?
(Jordan like, windmill layup behind the board for ex.)

How the bad 3pointers shoot this year ?
In the 2004, their shot wasn't realistic, it looked like a "get rid of the ball shot" !

I know it was a lot of questions, but that'll be all.
Thanks again, and good luck !

Thanx for answering my questions, much obliged. But I still want to know if you can have multi-player practice mode? My little brother likes to play practice mode with me so we can play our own games of Horse and Around the World. Thanx........

No, you can't. It's still single player. And stuff like this is much more difficult to add than you guys think....the feature is a great idea, but implementation is another. They'd have to write up more code (thousands upon thousands of lines), and once that's in, they have to write more code to correct any bugs, and then after those bugs are fixed, they have to write more...get the idea? It's not as easy as you'd think...

In knowing what I know about coding because of my brother (http://www.splashdamage.com/) and from what the producers and programmer said, I know it isn't easy to add simple features involving the actual gameplay. Frontend stuff is a bit easier, but graphically and technically, the "in-game" stuff is a great deal harder.

Wow, the things us spoiled Live fans take for granted. Thanks for shedding light on how difficult it can be to implement things that appear to be simple. They are definitely doing the right things then 'cause practice mode is just not that important. They have much bigger fish to fry and I'm excited at the rate of improvements they have thus far........

HI Shane! did you try the take charge button? Does it still work in the post? Last year when someone back you down you can just simply press the take charge button to get him fouled. That's redicules! Does this bug still exist in the build or did the producer talk about this issue?

Hey Shane, I think it was you who mentioned that you didn't see off-the-ball screens or curls. I could've swore that I saw EA say those would be in this year's game. Maybe I'm mixing up ESPN and Live. Did you ask the developers about off the ball screens or hard cuts to the basket withouth the ball? I'm guessing that's not something that could be added to the game at this point if it's not already there.

Hey guys, I've read in the IGN forum that in LIVE 05 the primacy ratings are built into the game and you cannot modify them?!

If true, that's really bad news, considering how much in LIVE 04 they deteriorated in dyansty mode...year after year...affecting stats.

What do you think?