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Consolesports.net was fortunate enough to be invited to take part in the NBA 2K8 developer conference call from 2K Sports last Friday with Rob Jones (Gameplay Project Mgr.), Mike Wang (Lead Gameplay Designer), Eric Boenisch (Lead Features Designer.) and moderated by Ryan Jones of Access Communications. It was a solid hour of in-depth information from 2K to us guys in the community regarding NBA 2K8. It was extremely informative, and I walked away from it feeling that 2K has employed some serious sports gamers as its designers. By the way, be sure to check out our recorded audio of the conference call, found HERE. From the sounds of it, 2K Sports has gone out of its way to make the best NBA video game series even better. 2K Sports’ basketball engine has been regarded as the best hoops engine around, but it seems that the “best around” is about to get a serious upgrade. Among the new features: More signature style that personalizes the NBA’s big names and makes them recognizable..such as player specific post and dribble moves. Off Ball Control- Run quick on the fly sets to get your favorite player the ball in the best situation for him to get a quick bucket. Use the Get Open button for a fast play, or call for the exact situation you want with the Off-Ball Control menu. On offense, you now have the option to switch off the ball handler to other players where you can call for alley-oops, jostle for post-position, set screens, etc. A Whole New Look - Every NBA player has been completely redone to improve likenesses and overall graphical quality. Kevin Harlan and Kenny Smith now deliver emotionally charged commentary and the new Game Wrap-Up feature allows you to choose the kind of post game show you watch. Lock-On D - All-new defensive controls give users more control of their player than ever before! Use the right analog to play tighter defense on the ball-handler, body up on the ball handler, and run advanced defensive sets. The Association - Run your franchise by identifying player roles, balancing playing time, and keeping team morale up. The Hoopcast Simulator makes simulating games exciting while SimCentral centralizes all necessary information for real-time stats, standing, injuries, and much more.
Sprite Slam Dunk Contest - Live from Las Vegas, 2K is bringing you the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, hosted by street legend Bobbito Garcia. Choose from hundreds of dunks and a vast array of props as you compete against the NBA's finest dunkers in this 4 player event. The Sprite Slam Dunk Contest is also playable online; it's here that you can prove to the world that you are the greatest dunker there is. 2K Online - Nobody does online gaming like 2K Sports and this year we have added tons of new features including a news ticker that updates you with sports headlines across the country, a user customizable Front Page display, and a Co-op mode that allows 2 users to play on the same team against the AI. 2K Sports seems to be bringing a very full plate to the table for NBA 2K8. However, what really excites me are two specific features.
The first feature is one that I’ve been begging for in 2K basketball for some time, and they seem to be addressing my area of concern. You see, in terms of head to head play, I’ve always had too-easy of a time getting the lane to the basket on a human controlled defender trying to cover me. One ball fake, one speed burst, and one press of the dunk button often equates to an easy jam against anyone foolish enough to attempt man to man defense in previous versions of NBA 2K. It just seemed like the defenders (when being played by a human) didn’t have the “defensive width” to stop many players who might have even the smallest angle to the basket. I know that in the past, many online leagues would sometimes find ways to dissuade (and sometimes outlaw) dunks, or urge its league players to do as few “speed burst around man defender” dunks as they could. Of course, this caused some issues in many leagues. So for NBA 2K8, it seems like the Lock-On-D dynamic is really aimed at this issue, especially since it will let you better “body-up” on a ball handler and play tighter defense. I’m really anxious to see this in action. The second feature that really excites me is the very deep player personality/roles/morale dynamic being introduced into NBA 2K8’s Association mode. From what I heard on the conference call, this is something that if done correctly could really be something that could set a new standard in franchise modes in all sport video games. Now virtual GMs will need to take into account each player’s personality, morale, playing time, and their own game-modeled disposition to various circumstances. The question then becomes “how do you handle it?”. When a star player’s ego has led him to disrupting team chemistry and morale, do you trade him or cave to what the individual player(s) want? That’s going to be a potentially cool balancing act all franchise long…and – if done well- quite realistic.
We’ll have more coverage on NBA 2K8 in our upcoming game preview. Scott Hemphill
"Quietcool72"
Co-Founder/Senior Writer
Consolesports.net
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