What was your opinion on the commentary in 2K9

[CybrSlydr]

Re: What was your opinion on the commentary in 2K9

I don't like Basketball, so I don't know how it works in NBA 2K10, but even if they did something that would allow "real-time" commentary, how could they? It's not like your season is going to follow the real one.

Am I missing something?

[Jamin23]

Re: What was your opinion on the commentary in 2K9

I don't like Basketball, so I don't know how it works in NBA 2K10, but even if they did something that would allow "real-time" commentary, how could they? It's not like your season is going to follow the real one.

Am I missing something?

Even in Franchise mode the announcers talk about what is happening in the NBA in real life. They talk about how the team is doing and they talk about who the next and last opponents were. It's actually pretty cool and it works and sounds great.

[CybrSlydr]

Re: What was your opinion on the commentary in 2K9

That still doesn't explain how it can stay relevant.

Say I'm the Cavaliers (I'm in Columbus, first team I think of) and play 5 games per day. So, a week later I'm 35 games into the season - and they're still talking about the 3rd game your team played IRL? There's now way you could somehow get every stat just like it was IRL. What about if someone in your game got injured (LeBron) but not IRL - would they still talk about him as he was still playing IRL?

Not to mention a few weeks later you're into a new season with new draft picks, etc - how does this NBA Live thing keep things relevant to your game?

[Jamin23]

Re: What was your opinion on the commentary in 2K9

That still doesn't explain how it can stay relevant.

Say I'm the Cavaliers (I'm in Columbus, first team I think of) and play 5 games per day. So, a week later I'm 35 games into the season - and they're still talking about the 3rd game your team played IRL? There's now way you could somehow get every stat just like it was IRL. What about if someone in your game got injured (LeBron) but not IRL - would they still talk about him as he was still playing IRL?

Not to mention a few weeks later you're into a new season with new draft picks, etc - how does this NBA Live thing keep things relevant to your game?

Here's the developer insight explaining nba today. http://community.2ksports.com/commun...id=952788&l=11

[Blzer]

Re: What was your opinion on the commentary in 2K9

Every game has commentary that is repeated. 2K does a good job of not repeating a lot of commentary in NBA 2k10, and that's where NBA today plays a big role in the commentary.

But there's a difference between the way the commentary is directed in 2K9 than some other games. For instance, 2K9 does a lot of team-specific or player-specific commentary things, talking about certain stats or something that happened in 2008, how someone's changeup works, going into a new stadium, etc. I'd much rather have a system that doesn't really rely on them being so specific and i'd rather hear them be much more generic.

So, I would rather not hear something like, "Cole Hamels was phenomenal on the mound last year, showing Charlie Manuel what he could do for the team as he helped take them to one of the better late season runs of the past few years." I wouldn't want to hear this because of how repetitive it can be. I'd much rather hear them do some sort of formula going by how they would go about saying something, filling in the blanks for what team, statistic, coach, etc. by selecting from a database, and I wouldn't want the line to always be the same.

For instance, many people are fine hearing just one way for the announcer to say, "Strike one." To be honest, I want about thirty different ways that it's said, as minimal of a difference as each one sounds. Hearing the same line can wear on you quite a bit. The same goes for generic batting stances, which developers never seem to want to expand on. I know that it's cool to have hundreds of specific batting stances, but what about hundreds of generic batting stances? And they don't have to be "normal looking", they just shouldn't be corresponding to a specific player name. That, or create-a-stance would be great. But anyway, it's cool to vary things up a bit, yet still be very general about it at the same time.

I hope that makes sense.

[CybrSlydr]

Re: What was your opinion on the commentary in 2K9

Just to make sure I'm reading this right, I'm gonna cpy and paste some thoughts.

In NBA 2K10 that’s all changed. NBA Today takes the sport you love, NBA basketball, and the game you love, NBA 2K, and finally puts them in the same “world”. When you start 2K10, your Internet-connected console will reach out and grab all the latest information about what’s happening in the league. After that, you won’t land on the team select screen: instead you’ll go directly to the NBA Today screen which lists the REAL NBA matchups that are actually being played TODAY. Additionally you will see a breakdown of scores from last night’s games, as well as view which players in tonight’s matchups are leading their teams in the various stat categories. Furthermore, while the game is loading you’ll get a quick update on how both teams did in their last games and the stats their key players put up. From the NBA Today Menu, you can access box scores for ALL NBA games that have already been played, division and conference standings, league leader stats, the latest transactions, follow any trades that are happening around the league, and check out an All-Star voting watch menu.

Ok - so what that tells me is that they've installed an NBA front-end much like NCAA Football's ESPN integration, but expanded, correct?

Pretty cool, huh? But that’s just the start. Now that your game and your league are in sync, the door is thrown open for dynamic commentary and presentation that’s based on what’s really happening in the real NBA (have I said “real” enough times?) Throughout the season, there is no doubt you will be impressed by the intelligent commentating that not only keeps you informed on the ACTUAL latest league happenings but also keeps track of your team info as well. Examples include knowing that you just got home from a 3-game road trip where you won one and lost two, knowing the opposing team’s starting center is out with an injury, knowing your point guard put up 22 points in the road win against the Grizzlies Tuesday night and that he’s averaging 17 ppg this season, knowing this is the first of a four game series between the two teams … get it? The commentators now have the knowledge of what’s happening league-wide and will reference the most up-to-date information possible in their conversations. But it’s not just all talk, a lot of the topics, the commentary team will talk about, have overlays that coincide with their analysis. During the season, they’ll catch you up on who’s leading the league and how teams are ranked in various stat categories, check out a team’s upcoming schedule and even do a promo spot for an upcoming game. If it’s a holiday, as you may have seen in previous screens, that isn’t going to be ignored; the game will present the holiday in overlays and commentary. As the playoffs are approaching you’ll get the east/west conference standings and once the post season starts, you’ll get playoffs and finals screen wipes. The commentary and presentation will constantly be changing throughout the season to coincide with the real league and transition from pre-season to regular season and finally to the postseason.

So this sounds like dynamic commentary that changes along with what happens in YOUR season. Correct?

[Jamin23]

Re: What was your opinion on the commentary in 2K9

Just to make sure I'm reading this right, I'm gonna cpy and paste some thoughts.



Ok - so what that tells me is that they've installed an NBA front-end much like NCAA Football's ESPN integration, but expanded, correct?



So this sounds like dynamic commentary that changes along with what happens in YOUR season. Correct?

I think it mixes in both. I actually haven't played a franchise game, but from playing exhibition it is pretty cool and prevents the commentary from getting old. It is the future of sports commentary.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: What was your opinion on the commentary in 2K9

As Blazer eluded to, they need to be much less specific and much more generic. Having a story about a player is great the first time you hear it. Hearing it one more time than that and it's already stale. I wish they'd spend more time on creating dynamic dialouge than scripted, repetitive stories.

Tell me a hitters been on fire and is hitting .455 over the last ten games or is leading the league in runs scored for the month or made a game saving catch the night before, etc. If they can include this stuff, the dialogue would almost always be fresh and interesting.

Overall I think they did a wonderful job last year and while little personalizations are nice, they're not necessary more than once, especially when you are playing a franchise and they discuss the same facts about your team and your players every single game like they did in 2K8.

Keep it short, simple and variable.

[stlstudios189]

Re: What was your opinion on the commentary in 2K9

the commentary had a great flow to it. I think this year will be even better if they can tie in season based living commentary it won't get old after 100 games.

[bulls23]

Re: What was your opinion on the commentary in 2K9

I thought it was the best feature about MLB 2k9 period along with Real Time Atmosphere.

[NEOPARADIGM]

Re: What was your opinion on the commentary in 2K9

We saw that vid before the game released talking about how Steve would start talking about something, then Gary would call the play, then Steve would continue the conversation ....

At the time, I was like, wow, cool. Then when you actually played the game, it was pretty much just that Steve's lines were all two paragraphs long. So after you heard them all, not only were they repetitive, but they were LONG and repetitive.

Overall, though, a solid effort.

[CarryTheWeight]

Re: What was your opinion on the commentary in 2K9

Before I begin, I'd like to say that 2K10's commentary won't be as detailed as The Show's...no, not because of the quality of the commentary or because I'm offering an objective point of view...but it's due to the capacity of the Blu-Ray Disc format. There are numerous lines of commentary in The Show that can only be triggered in VERY specific instances, plus there are many "little things" in the audio department that aren't going to be heard that often (I still haven't heard a good 75% of audio in the Show's "Little Things" Thread).

Getting that out of the way, I loved 2K9's commentary. Not only was it extremely detailed, it even surpassed The Show (IMO) in that it possessed a logical flow from every member of the commentary team. While Vasgersian and Campbell provide authentic commentary, Hudler sticks out like a sore thumb most of the time. On the other hand, Thorne and Phillips both give very logical and detailed commentary that, while not as extensive a library as The Show's commentary, does its job very well. There are even many "little things" in 2K's game commentary-wise. Thorne acknowledges trophy winners during Franchise, recently traded players (NBA 2K does this as well) and both he and Steve go on tangents about stadiums, team successes in 2008 and certain players. Like I said, it may not be as extensive as The Show's "Blu-Ray library" of commentary but it certainly is authentic enough to provide the broadcast feel.

Until NBA 2K10's release, I felt MLB 2K9 had the best commentary of any VC-developed title since ESPN NFL 2K5. The new "MLB Today" stuff they add should make it even better. Now, if VC can pay enough attention to core gameplay elements, making a functional, realistic game and eliminating all the silly bugs from last year, we'll be in business once again.

[Lucas718]

Re: What was your opinion on the commentary in 2K9

I thought it still needed some work. There were a few times I heard Phillips say the exact same thing on consecutive pitches. There were also many times where the commentary did not match what was happening on the field, such as they might say the runner was heading for second when really he wasn't. A solid effort, but far from perfect.