Had EA improved on Live 10 they wouldn't be in the predicament they're in now

[MiseryCityTexas]

I think my last NBA Live was 2002. My friend had a PS2 before I did so he'd bring it over and we'd try out different games. We thought Live '02 would be awesome since Live was the NBA game since the mid-90's. I remember the backboard shaking violently on standard dunks and overall we were quite disappointed. I coerced him to buy NBA 2K2 the winter of 01-02 just to try something different and we never looked back.

That said, like you, I thought NBA Street was incredible. Coincidentally, it actually reminds me of 9/11, since it came out just a few months prior and we played the crap out of that thing during the Fall season that year, both before and after the attacks. We always found it eerie that the Twin Towers could be seen on the loading or menu screen in the background.

Live 2004 was the last good NBA Live game. It actually felt like I was playing a basketball game. It was a basketball simulation game, with traditional Live elements mixed in. It was like Live was trying so hard to be like 2k when Live 2004 came out, but people still gave 2k the edge that year when they both dropped great basketball games.

[Collie]

Did Shut Up and Jam have anything to it? Aside from NBA Jam I didn't really mess with those arcade basketball endeavors. I remember downloading them en masse to an emulator a few years ago but they mostly seemed pretty terrible, though it was tough to get a good feel using my keyboard.

Here's another.

It did have a "sequel" though.

[FKAri]

I find basketball video games pretty boring.

[HomieWeMajor]

I still play NBA Live 05 online with Lebron23 on our old PCs

[Dr Hawk]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJwXBw86g30

[Rake2204]

Live 2004 was the last good NBA Live game. It actually felt like I was playing a basketball game. It was a basketball simulation game, with traditional Live elements mixed in. It was like Live was trying so hard to be like 2k when Live 2004 came out, but people still gave 2k the edge that year when they both dropped great basketball games.

Interestingly, 2004 was the year NBA 2K tried to emulate NBA Live in some fashions. Live had an absolute stranglehold on the market so once they introduced some street elements ("Freestyle" control), 2K veered a little from their simulation mission and tried to measure up a little.

It was awful. 2K rebranded their game as ESPN NBA Basketball 2004 and suddenly, blocked shots had vapor trails and everyone could dunk like Vince Carter (and Vince Carter could dunk like he was in Space Jam). Here's what Chauncey could do on default settings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8tY6227rD0

Took years for 2K to fully recover and get back on track. For one, their dunking - which was just about perfect in 2K2 and 2K3 - never returned to normal until the next generation (2K's dunks through the years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJQ1Aa1-HXE).

[nightprowler10]

Live 2000 was the last good EA game I played (Duncan on the cover and they brought MJ back) but I didn't play another Live game until I had a PS2 in 2005 with Melo on the cover and I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much. My next purchase was NBA 2K7 (I bought it for 10 bucks at gamestop) and from then on I was hooked on to the 2K franchise. I bought 2K9, 10, 11, and 12 and I think I'll buy 2K15. 2K11 and 12 were by far the best of the bunch.

[Big Cheese]

The problem was that EA sports no longer had the rights to use the live 10 engine when Mike Wang, their lead game-play designer left for 2k, so EA had to build a brand new basketball game from the ground up in a year, which resulted in the disastrous nba elite 11.

However, there was no excuse to release such trash when they were taking 2-3 years off.

[ILLsmak]

I don't think any of the dudes who say Live is ass ever played competitively. Live is def ass if you are playing season mode, though. Just like 2k, in many years, was ridiculous ass competitively.

I didn't really play ball online til 04-05. Was live 05, live 06, 2k7, 2k8, Live 09, Live 10, Live 10 (Stayed with live 10), 2k...

I dunno. all I can say is dudes need to play online. Find a good community cuz it's out there. There is really nothing more fun. I had the most fun in Live 06, 2k7, and Live 09, but I can respect 10 as a very solid foundation for years to come. The issue is they took out the club mode in 10. Kinda like 2k took out the crew mode, it's like why?

Ever since I tried to play 2k7 seriously and saw what it was like in the top 20 on PS2 (basically dudes would pick the Rockets, put in Deke and Yao and throw full court passes to Tmac every time, dunking.) I was like yo... this shit. Live had cheesy shit, too, but you could stomp it out. 2k, with its 'beautiful animations' made it harder... until lately. 2k14 is a good game when it comes to stopping cheese, but they have a lot of bail outs for when you force someone to shoot a 9 foot jumper when they were trying to dunk and they wet it.

Now, if whoever made this thread is talking about Live 10 franchise mode, I take it back.

-Smak

[MiseryCityTexas]

Live 2000 was the last good EA game I played (Duncan on the cover and they brought MJ back) but I didn't play another Live game until I had a PS2 in 2005 with Melo on the cover and I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much. My next purchase was NBA 2K7 (I bought it for 10 bucks at gamestop) and from then on I was hooked on to the 2K franchise. I bought 2K9, 10, 11, and 12 and I think I'll buy 2K15. 2K11 and 12 were by far the best of the bunch.

Yeah Live 2000 was the greatest live of all time. Willis Reed, Reggie Miller. Jordan. and Rick Barry were ****ing unstoppable in that game.

[miles berg]

Always preferred NBA Live.

[Rake2204]

I don't think any of the dudes who say Live is ass ever played competitively. Live is def ass if you are playing season mode, though. Just like 2k, in many years, was ridiculous ass competitively.

I didn't really play ball online til 04-05. Was live 05, live 06, 2k7, 2k8, Live 09, Live 10, Live 10 (Stayed with live 10), 2k...

I dunno. all I can say is dudes need to play online. Find a good community cuz it's out there. There is really nothing more fun. I had the most fun in Live 06, 2k7, and Live 09, but I can respect 10 as a very solid foundation for years to come. The issue is they took out the club mode in 10. Kinda like 2k took out the crew mode, it's like why?

Ever since I tried to play 2k7 seriously and saw what it was like in the top 20 on PS2 (basically dudes would pick the Rockets, put in Deke and Yao and throw full court passes to Tmac every time, dunking.) I was like yo... this shit. Live had cheesy shit, too, but you could stomp it out. 2k, with its 'beautiful animations' made it harder... until lately. 2k14 is a good game when it comes to stopping cheese, but they have a lot of bail outs for when you force someone to shoot a 9 foot jumper when they were trying to dunk and they wet it.

Now, if whoever made this thread is talking about Live 10 franchise mode, I take it back.

-Smak

Yeah I think that could be a big divider between game preference. I have virtually zero interest in competitive online gaming. I find it a bit stressful and overall, it is just a flat out unenjoyable experience for me. I like my gaming to be a chance to relax and play on my own terms, or with a friend or family member. As such, I've been drawn to NBA games that best replicated the real life NBA game as opposed to the ones that most suited online head-to-heads.

[ballinhun8]

Playing 2k against a friend, at their home or yours, is what makes 2k the best IMO. No exploitation, no lag, just you two going against each other in a simulation most realistic to the product.


I will agree with Smak that 2k has sucked online since about 2k10. They haven't figured it out yet. I haven't tried it on the next gen but hopefully they improved. But Live I never had the chance to play o line. I stopped with 2001 like I previously said and pledged my allegiance to 2k.



But just a question. Doesnt 2k automatically lower the game play difficutly online? Like its not at superstar difficulty, but the tier below it? I believe madden does the same. You have to play All Pro online instead of All Madden.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Interestingly, 2004 was the year NBA 2K tried to emulate NBA Live in some fashions.

And Live 2004 that year was more simulation like NBA 2k1, NBA 2k2, and NBA 2k3. It was an interesting role reversal.

It was awful. 2K rebranded their game as ESPN NBA Basketball 2004 and suddenly, blocked shots had vapor trails and everyone could dunk like Vince Carter (and Vince Carter could dunk like he was in Space Jam).

That entire era where 2k rebranded all their games to "ESPN" made all their games really cartoonish. Terrible. But they did have awesome commercials with Tracy Morgan and Ben Wallace:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaNePyiSIJ8

Took years for 2K to fully recover and get back on track. For one, their dunking - which was just about perfect in 2K2 and 2K3 - never returned to normal until the next generation

Yea, their physics didn't get back on point until 2009 on 360/PS3. 2k1 - 2k3 it was all perfect though.

Live got their shit together starting late in 2008 - 2010 though, but then it all fell apart shortly after that.

Since Dreamcast in 2000, these have been IMO, yearly the best basketball games on the market.

2k
2k1
2k2
NBA Inside Drive 2003
Live 2004
Live 2005
Live 2006
Live 2007
2k8
2k9 / Live 2009
2k10 / Live 2010
2k11
2k12
2k13
2k14

Live IMO is usually better than 2k because they were simulations, that still retained the fun essence of basketball, and weren't needlessly complicated like the next generation NBA 2k games. Inside Drive 2003 was a slept on basketball game.

[MiseryCityTexas]

I wish like hell that 2k would put Rick Barry's championship Golden State Warriors teams in the game. It would be fun as hell using Rick Barry, Butch Beard, Charlie Johnson, Clifford Ray, Jeff Mullins and Jamal Wilkes in a 2k game.

Lol NBA Live 2003 was garbage, but I admit Live 2003 was still fun to play for a wack ass basketball game. NBA Live 2003 was basically just a 5 on 5 version of NBA Jam.