This is where we will be posting our notes on the NBA 2K9 conference call taking place at 2pm EST this afternoon.

Just an FYI, the call begins at 2pm EST today.

sitting on hold waiting for the extravaganza to start.....

Made "a lot of improvements."

2 Goals in mind.

They wanted to improve every aspect of the game.

Wanted to improve animations and graphics, bring in better AI, player DNA system, improvement of the Association mode...

Available on PS2, PS3, 360, and now PC

They've "improved every single thing in the game." They are calling it the "complete package"

Better menu system.

They feel that NBA 2K9 has a better and more realistic flow than NBA Live.

They feel that Live just doesn't feel as "smooth" as theirs and that NBA 2K9 flows better.

They take the wishlists out there "very seriously" and tried to minimize the "annoyances".

Had some more resources available on NBA 2K9 due to the fact that there's no college game for them. Example, they had an extra two guys come from the Hoops team to help out in that area of NBA 2K9.

They are really pumped about "Player DNA". You can create a player, upload it to 2K Share, and other people can search for that player and add that one player to their roster without having to download an entire roster.

Simplifying the control scheme a little bit. They tried to balance the alley-oop game.

Living Rosters - Constantly updated rosters with player ratings and tendencies. Theirs is completely free, but they are saying that EA is charging for theirs?

They have the "human touch" with theirs with an accompanying blog on their site. They have humans updating the players, not a computer.

They will be adding animation packages to the players as well.

NBA 2K9 is "aimed at a wide audience", but they say that if you understand basketball you can win in the game without having to pull of special moves.

They feel that unless theirs a total graphical change that the game is basically the same as last years or the year before, but it's not.

They get all of their uniform and arena assets from the NBA.

They offer an in-game tutorial that teaches you the iso-motion system, they have "VASTLY IMPROVED" manual that will show you how to do every move in the game, they are offering a supplemental manual that will be available on the 2K site.

They said that getting that info out to the consumers was "key" for them this year.

Changes to core gameplay

AI has gotten a "significant upgrade" on both offense and defense. Much smarter to adapting to how user plays.

"Adaptive AI" was written specifically to the basketball player in mind, but also with the wider audience. The AI will adapt to user to "help the user perform"


Added 5-on-5 online play.

Added off-ball controls. Designed with off-ball play in mind which helps win the 5-on-5 play

Added "shot stick extreme". Added controllable leaners, floaters, step-throughs, open court up-and-unders. You can now pass out of any lay-up and change your shot.

The number of changes in the game are "incredible". A lot of them are "nuances" and people will notice more as they play.

Improved player faces and they are "head and shoulders better than the competition".

Wants people to judge for themselves.

The bench players will look just as good as the starters when panning the bench and what not. Previously, it wasn't like that.

PS3 and 360 Demo's are out now.

They can't prevent people from playing 5-on-5 like "a bunch of 5-year olds" lol.

It takes awhile for teammates to gel when playing 5-on-5.

obviously.