NBA 2k8 (360 version) preview
 

I've been posting a few items in last year's thread, but this new article sounds so great that it deserves it's own thread. Last year, NBA 2k7 and College Hoops 2k7 were the best console sports games in my opinion. NBA 2k7 had excellent gameplay, great simulated stats, realistic gameplay stats, but the franchise was lacking. Still, it was a great game. This year, it seems like the association is getting a bit more attention. Players are going to have different personalities assigned, and they won't be "A", "B", "C", etc like a few years ago which was a pain in the ass. Instead, guys will be "neutral, "laid back", "expressive", or "unpredictable." Also, all guys will have roles such as starter, 6th man, end of bench etc. Personalities will effect how guys handle their roles as well as their abilities. For example, Tim Duncan is laid back, so he might not mind being a 6th man, but if the team is losing with him on the bench then even he'll grumble and the rest of the team will be unhappy as well. However, Rasheed Wallace who is "Expressive" will immediately become angry if that is done with him and it can hurt the entire team's performance. Here is the IGN preview detailing it a bit more:

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/818/...0&RSSid=818513


Assuming no big bugs get introduced, this should be my favorite sports console game again this year.

Kleenex please:

- You can set how many minutes you want each player to play in a simmed game (one of my biggest wish list items for last year!)

- This paragraph makes it sound like the trade AI is really revamped: This also factors into signing and trading players. Let's say you decide to bench Paul Pierce for a few games. He may become so upset that he demands a trade. In fact, you can damage the relationship so much that it will be very difficult to regain Pierce's trust. What can you do but trade him? Problem is, the AI knows Paul Pierce is demanding a trade. So, with your hand forced, Pierce's trade value plummets. And should you keep Pierce, it will cost you quite a lot of cash to convince him to resign.

Heck, this paragraph has me reaching for the box as well: When signing free agents or even re-signing players currently on your team, you'll have to do more than just offer cash. You can also include a no trade clause, player and team options, and define the role/sub-role. You can try and over-promise a player a role to get them at a lower value, but you may end up screwing yourself later if they don't get the minutes. In this way, players are called on their BS signing tactics that allowed them to easily overload a team with talent.

- Age and a player's history also play a part in contract negotiations. Younger players are usually more interested in getting a big pay day, even if it means playing on a sub-par team.But an older player who hasn't won a ring may take less money and a reduced role to be on a good team. And yes, you team's winning percentage does factor into player decisions. So Golden State will have a tougher time attracting a superstar than Phoenix.


And yes, my biggest problem with last year is supposedly fixed. The human could offer players and get them to sign before the AI even was involved:

Free agency is going to be a bit tougher on GMs this year. In the past, you had first dibs on every player out there. Now there are days and weeks of negotiations where a player weighs a variety of offers. Your Lakers may be able to offer Gilbert Arenas more cash than the Pistons, but will you risk promising Agent Zero a role equal or greater than Kobe's? Doing so could create a major disaster by mid-season.


*Drool* October 2nd can't get here fast enough.

Double Dola -

Also from the IGN article, each rookie will have his own personality as well.

The following is a post from an assistant producer of the game over on OS. I can't imagine they would mind me copying it here as it can only help the game sell (he was replying to another poster who was praising the franchise improvements.):


I thought you, of all people, would be pleased to read about the Association additions. On the topic of discussions taking a while, the superstars of the league tend to drag out their negotiations while the mid-tier players tend to sign rather quickly (MLE signings). When I'm playing and I have the cap room, I'm always debating whether the best strategy is to go for the superstar or fill out my team with solid mid-tier players. If you go for the gold and miss out, you'll find that you #2 through #10 options have all signed elsewhere leaving you out in the cold! It's the game GMs play every summer when the moratorium is lifted...

For the rest of you, after reading the IGN piece (which I thought was well written), I can say that there were new features that weren't even covered and finer details of the Player Roles feature that weren't mentioned. I imagine these pieces will get highlighted in future articles from other sites, so keep your eyes peeled.

Here's a couple minor tidbits that surely won't get any press, but I know you guys can appreciate; generated rookies will no longer have generic shoes, shot types, etc. You're now going to see rookies coming out with various shoes and a host of shot types. Also, shoe colors will change to match the colors of the new team after a player is traded. We managed to address a number of "little things" such as these; you'll surely come across plenty more as you play the game.

On the topic of CAP slots, since I've seen a fair amount of debate on it, 200 is the magic number this year.

Definitely the nba game to pick up again this year. Loved 2k7 gameplay but the franchise mode was lacking a bit, with the new player personalities additions, this could be so fun.

Oh yeah, 3 new videos are up on IGN. Gameplay looks great in all of them:

http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/8...14/vids_1.html

Yup. NBA2K7 got the most attention from XMas until May (when I finally picked up College Hoops).

Looking foward to the new version.

Excited about this one, 2k7 got a lot of play time last year.

Any word on College Hoops yet? I'm a little more excited about that, but it seemed a bit behind 2k7 last year so I'm not sure what to expect.

No, 2ksports almost never hypes or talks about more than 1 product at a time, so I wouldn't expect to hear anything about College Hoops (which is due in early-mid November) until after NBA 2k8 is out on October 2nd.

Ugh. . . Still a month away. . . :)

This is easily the best NBA game available. I got it last year for the PS3 and it will likely be a first day purchase this year as well.

There is a HUGE thread that popped up over night on OS evaluating those IGN videos. Since, I'm sitting at home in pain from my tooth, I decided to read through it. Here is another interesting post from the main game designer in which he talks a bit about the bars underneath the players (there was a question what they do) as well as a few other things including some new ratings:


just gonna chime in on a few things. first off, since I've posted this the past 2 years, guess I'll post it again. don't expect to be able to fairly evaluate our game (or any game for that matter) based on a few short video clips and trailers. remember people saying how much 2k7 looked like 2k6 when the first vids were released? it's a completely different experience when you get your hands on the thing. there's so much stuff we've done both cosmetically and under the hood in 2k8 that you're never going to get a good feel for until you actually spend some quality time with the game. from the animation content to the AI, you guys are just going to love the depth that we've put into this title as you work your way through your seasons. I mean, I work on the thing every day and I still look forward to playing a few games every night before I go to bed. I don't like building up hype and I don't want anyone to have unrealistic expectations, but man... 2k8 really makes 2k7 look and feel... old.

about the cell phone bars. the number of bars represent a player's proficiency from that given range, not tendency... although the 2 are usually very closely related. the color of the bars represent the player's streak status (neutral, hot or cold.) the hotspot data from nba.com is also incorporated into this system. so for example, if bruce bowen has 3 bars from 3PT range, he might get up to 4 bars when he's set up behind the arc in the corners. for 360, we also rumble the controller very subtly when a player is in a hot zone for further feedback.

and yes, we've added logic for non-PGs like Lamar Odom and Bron Bron to set up the offense.

lastly, since several people have inquired... we've added other attributes that you guys requested to help further differentiate players. Along with Shoot in Traffic & Shoot off dribble, we've hooked up Quickness, Vertical, Hustle, Strength, On-ball Defense, and Standing Dunk. There might be a couple more but those are the ones I remember off the top of my head. you don't think I started that thread for nothing did you?

please don't turn this into a Q&A. just wanted to shed some light on some things. now if you'll excuse me, my bulls are waiting for me.

This part sounds great and was needed, 2k7 was too PG oriented.

I hope they get the player import from College Hoops right this time around.

That has to be my favorite console combo...leading a team in College Hoops, having them graduate and get drafted, then scout them in the pros and draft as many as I can. Only problem last year was the schools in NBA2K7 were off (XBox version).

I'm sure you know this, but the Xbox version may not be much different than last year and may not have the above improvements. 2ksports seems to be focusing development on the 360 and PS3.

Yeah, I've been waiting until NBA2K8 and CH2K8 to get a 360...that and a price drop. :)

Love that rookies now have shot types... I usually go through and edit my opponents 1st rounders to give them shot types. I just hope they are realistic, and that hot-shooting rookie SG you draft doesn't have Shaq's shot animation!

I like the sound of the FA changes too. I hope we no longer see mid 70s rated players sitting in FA all season because no one can afford them and they won't accept less cash.

Gamespot preview was posted today. Not much different from the IGN, but two bits stuck out to me from the full article:

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/spor...yadded;title;1


The morale isn't just going to affect simmed games. Anger a guy and he'll take plays off even if you are trying to control him. I know that will annoy some gamers, but that sounds cool to me. Here is the excerpt:

Back to Carmelo. In NBA 2K8, Anthony's got an "unpredictable" personality, which means it won't take much of a change to get him talking mess about your management style. In the game, you'll be able to pinpoint exactly how many minutes you want every player on your team to player, thanks to an easy-to-use slider system that will divide playing time from an available pool of 240 minutes against your starters and bench players. Reduce a guy like Carmelo Anthony's role from the face of the Nuggets to pine rider, and he's going to be ticked off in a hurry. Indeed, simming just a few weeks into a fictional season in NBA 2K8, and you can see that Anthony's morale has dropped to zero his statistics have taken a dive and, perhaps more importantly, his ratings have taken a significant hit too. In other words, if a guy isn't happy on your team, it's going to show in every aspect of the game. As producers put it, if you go ahead and play out a game with a low morale player (as opposed to just simming through the game), you'll actually see him physically take plays off, merely jogging up and down the court, instead of getting after it.


The animations were already very good, but this paragraph caught my attention as well:

With more than 1,000 new animations in the game (including the infamous "watch the NBA player's momentum take him into the first row of seats), NBA 2K8 is looking like another sharp entry in the long-running 2K hoops series. The only remaining question is: What do we do with ourselves while we wait for the game's October 2 release date? Stay tuned for more on the game in the coming weeks.

Damn Eaglesfan and his game mad hype skills.

:)

Those two games alone last year were worth the purchase of a 360 for me. I'm still playing CH2k7 and I'll probably still play it after 2k8 comes out. I hope someday you can convert your franchises/legacies, etc to the last version.

Me too on both points. I'm attached to my dynasty and I'm going to keep playing it occasionally, but it would be great if I could somehow convert it into 2008.

I thought NCAA Football/Madden were going to make me want a 360. They didn't. CH2k7 on the other hand, may do me in. Not that interested in the NBA version (although it does sound pretty good), but it's quality is usually an indication that the NCAA game will be good too.

Every superstar should have that "unpredictable" personality. There isn't a single one of them who wouldn't throw a fit at being thrown on the pine. I love the feature, I just hope they use it right. Tim Duncan, for example, would be mightily pissed off if Pop threw him on the bench for 5 games for the hell of it. He's a nice guy, but even he would go nuts at that. Obviously, others should have the unpredictable trait as well. (Bonzi Wells)

Not that it matters much with a star. You are playing him 35+ minutes a night anyway.

This game sounds fantastic. I am a baseball fan first, fb second and basketball 3rd but the 2K bb games seem to be the best console games year after year. Really looking forward to 10/2

One of the developers just started a thread at OS with some of these tidbits:

- Subs: you can now use the bumpers to quickly cycle between your pre-set lineups (3PT, bench, starters, quick, etc.) we display foul count now too.

- on offense, if you press UP on D-Pad, it'll bring up a "Heat Check" overlay. gives you a quick view of who's hot/cold and shooting stats (FGM/FGA) for your current on-court players.

- on defense, if you press UP on D-Pad, you can adjust your player matchups. Re-assign who guards who and set pressure (tight, sag, DT, etc.)

- and my personal favorite, if you press LEFT on D-Pad, the first option is Coach Mode. if you enable it, the AI will play for you while you control subs, call plays, or other OTFC tasks. handy for when you want to make some OTFC changes without having to worry about getting burned on the court, need to go to the bathroom during garbage time but don't want to pause the game, or when you just want to admire the beautiful AI play.


Also I saw this nugget in another thread about my biggest pet peeve with the game last year:

Originally Posted by Kashanova now as long as my player doesnt do lay ups behind the backboard i;ll be happy

Answer by developer:

i tried to fix as many of these as I could... it's actually a pretty complex problem. it's WAAAAAAY better than 2k7 though. all the new layup content and contact shots are actually some of my favorite additions to 2k8.

With all due respect, you need to take a break from the message boards. Stop posting this stuff. Time is going slow enough as it is. :)

Aw, shit, Microsoft certainly won't have my 360 back to me by the time this game comes out. Grrrr.

Troy, you might not want to check out this link ;):

http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/8...14/vids_1.html


Upper left corner is the ultimate fan trailer #2. I really like the collisions that are shown in the trailer as well as little details like the ball handler throwing it off the defender when trapped as well as some of the interior defensive improvements. October 2nd can't get here soon enough.

Steve, the owner at OS, is reporting that a demo will be released tonight around 2:00 AM Pacific time for the 360. A PS3 demo should be available about a week later.

Also, they have a bunch of new pictures up there from yesterday and today.

Over/Under on how many times I play the demo.

I'll start the bidding around 500.

I've already set aside time tomorrow evening to start playing it.

Oh shit....it should be a Cavs/Spurs demo too.
Fuck yeah.


Hopefully they make Gibson half decent, so it at least gives the Cavs a usable PG.

Demo is out, impressions here at OPS:
http://forums.operationsports.com/vB...d.php?t=221320

you had me at "hello".

Does it have any more legends like Jordan and Barkley?

Holy shit, this is downright amazing. Just played my first game. Other than Franciso Elson looking way too good, it was really fun. This year I notice LeBron will actually come and get the ball to dribble it up. Meaning you don't have to put him in at PG to have him be the primary ball handler. Guys seem like they actually get forced to pick up their dribble a lot more often. I found Gibson wide open for 3 a few times, cause LeBron was getting a ton of attention. The jump Ball system is a lot better as well...no more mashing X and instead you time you jump.

I don't think NBA 2k series has ever had legends. However, the game does allow up to 200 players to be created and saved by users.


My initial thoughts after about a dozen games with the demo. They fixed or at least vastly improved 5 of my biggest gripes with the game:

1. Rebounding - Last year, the CPU seemed to get the majority of rebounds unless you were in the exact perfect spot on the floor where it was going to land. The ratings really didn't seem to matter. This was fixable with sliders, but it never felt right. At least in the demo, rebounding seems much user friendly and intuitive. Also, some great rebounding animations are now present that seem to be smart and context sensitive.

2. Too many turnovers via steals - My first two games with the demo, I didn't see either side have a single steal. Most I saw was 2 steals when we both started running up and down the court, and the CPU seemed to make much smarter passes.

3. FG% was too high due to inside shooting being too effective - This was fixable with sliders as well, but guys just missed more shots inside. Now, interior defense seems much better in the demo (unless you have a great inside finisher like LeBron throwing it down.) Also, last year the CPU didn't try to work it inside enough. Now, they do.

4. Not enough differentiation of speed among guys. Plodding C's could sometimes keep up with guards. Parker and LeBron seemed much faster than most players on the court in the demo.

5. They got rid of the annoying tip off system from last year.

Very impressive demo. Less than 2 weeks to go :)

My 360 is in the shop. :(

Question EF27. When the PG was coming up the court, I went man to man on him with Parker. When I got close, I saw some little red square to the right of the other PG's name. You have any idea what that is?

I'm not sure. It almost sounds like the lock down symbol, but that is for the defender. By the way, I love the lock down system. I thought it might be cheesy, but an excellent offensive player will beat it even against a good defender, and it seems the bad defenders will still get beat a lot. A lot of the time Bowen was at least staying in front of LeBron when I locked down on him, but a few times he spun away and drove to the hole for a monsterous dunk.

Edit: Also, LeBron used a lot of screens which helped him get away and beat the lockdown defender much quicker.

Most importantly, Drew Gooden still has the reverse hitler.

I could've sworn they had them last season, but that Jordan and Barkley were missing.

Yeah I'm fairly certain there's legends at least in the "Street" mode, if you play 2 on 2 or something along those lines. I think there's a couple of legends teams also. No Jordan or Barkley though.

There's also an assorment of hip hop ballers in there, though I can't imagine who cares.

Could be. I never played street mode.

First time I've read through this thread, I've always liked the NBA2k series but this year's version sounds awesome.

A post on OS from the developer regarding the demo that answers some of my questions as well as other users questions:

Originally Posted by Beluba
a few notes and answers to PMs:

• should've warned you guys that the demo was locked on Pro. game plays much better for sim guys on all-star and above. also, post spin and hop step moves are tougher to score with on the higher levels.
• not sure why the LB mechanic is not working in the demo. that's like 80% of my offense. that's also how you call for a pick. sorry.
• to spin out of the post, hold RT and push LSTICK in the direction of your dribble hand
• triple threat works like 2k7. hold LT+RT, use LS for moves. explode out of triple threat by releasing both triggers and jacking LS while in the jab step or hold ball away animation.
• to throw quick inbounds, hold down the pass button as your inbounder is taking the ball out. as soon as he crosses over the line, he'll throw the pass. inboundee has to be within reasonable range though.
• for teardrops/floaters, pull the shot stick away from the basket while driving. if you hold RT while doing this, your player will perform a reverse or 360 dunk... if he can.
• quick breakdown of iso moves:
  • throw LS toward offhand: crossover (+RT: hez cross)
  • roll LS in circle motion from ballhand around back: spin (+RT: behind back)
  • throw LS toward offhand then immediately back toward ballhand: in & out (+RT: double cross)
  • tap LT: while standing = sizeup move (while moving = stepout move)
  • tap RT: neutral LS = drifting sizeup, LS toward ballhand = stutter drive, LS toward offhand = stutter cross
  • throw LS away from moving direction for stepback move. some players can chain a stepback into a drive by throwing LS back toward the basket during the stepback animation.

One of the main mods on OS has posted a long preview of NBA 2k8.

Here is a link:

http://forums.operationsports.com/vB...d.php?t=222128


A few small excerpts that I particularly liked:

- Anthony Chau from 2K paid a visit to Washington D.C. today and I got a chance to play an 85% version of the NBA 2K8. Let me start by saying that this version was much better than the demo version we are all currently playing.

- In NBA 2K8, you can decide which one of your four teammates sets a pick or works to get open. When I first heard about this feature I thought it sounded a bit complicated and wasn’t going to be user friendly but after playing the game I think it’s a great feature that adds a new level to the game.

- The on-court play diagrams are also a great addition. I think most people are like me in that they want to call plays but they hate having to memorize all the steps it takes to run a play correctly, especially with the large number of plays that are in the game. The on-court play diagrams make it extremely easy to run a play and will allow you to play exactly like your team would in real life.

- NBA 2K9 will focus more on presentation and they hope to add “NFL 2K5” like presentation with pre game, post game and weekly shows. Anthony stated that he feels that 2K almost has the gameplay perfect and will begin to focus on other aspects of the game.



The preview is long and those are just a few tidbits from the preview. Only 1 week to go (but release day is my wife's birthday so I won't be playing on release.)

I'm excited for this too but just received my coffin...errr box for sending my 360 in for repair. I don't expect to be able to play for 3-4 weeks. Oh well, it'll be fun when the time finally gets here.

More importantly, the Stone Roses' "Fools Gold" is on the soundtrack :)

EF,

You are making me want to open my wallet and rush out to pick up a 360. :(

How is the franchise mode (it would be cool if the draft lottery and draft had a whole process, ect.)? You can import players for the college game to NBA 2k8?

When does College come out?

If you like basketball a lot, and were a fan of basketball games, this should easily be a system seller. Hell, 2k7 was amazing, hopefully this just fine tunes it up a bit.

Franchise mode is okay, but the gameplay is more worth it than anything.