NBA 2K14: It's Time to Revamp Presentation

[The 24th Letter]

Re: NBA 2K14: Its Time to Revamp Presentation

Well 2k has a dedicated signature highlights guy here....I hope they dont do away with them and I am still upset they dont work in next gen

[Saviour]

How about resolving the gameplay and online issues first...then maybe they can concentrate on implementing presentation enhancements.

[videobastard]

Re: NBA 2K14: Its Time to Revamp Presentation

I would rather there be more emphasis on the crowd sound atmosphere.

[El_Poopador]

Re: NBA 2K14: Its Time to Revamp Presentation

This is the most ridiculous blog/article i've ever read. Of ALL games to criticize you go after one of the 2 best game? lol

2k's presentation is incredible! The fact that you are spoiled by constantly experiencing new images and video and entertainment all over the internet shouldn't mask you from having realistic expectations in quality. But apparently it does.

You asking for 2k to step up it's game is selfish and wrong. I can understand you not wanting to see a Madden scenario of the same game being thrown out there w/ a couple new features every year but 2k jumped ahead so far in presentation and overall gameplay a couple years ago that i think if anyone deserves a pass it's them.

The Show and 2k are fantastic games and i will not critique them when every other studio and sporting franchise is so flawed.

so youre saying they can get a pass for re-releasing the same thing for the next few years at full price until the other games catch up?

back on topic: i personally feel that 2k needs to step up when it comes to play-by-play commentary. there is very little dead air in the game which is good but the only reason for that is that they talk too much about back stories and who the stat leaders are etc. they dont focus much on whats happening on the court. after a while especially if youre playing with the same team (association mode or my career) it becomes incredibly repetitive because you hear the same stories over and over.

[CookNBA03]

Re: NBA 2K14: Its Time to Revamp Presentation

TNT!! Have the pre-game shows and the half time shows with highlights. I heard a rumor that 2K15 will have TNT somewhere though, I just don't remember.

[spankdatazz22]

Re: NBA 2K14: Its Time to Revamp Presentation

2k's presentation is incredible! The fact that you are spoiled by constantly experiencing new images and video and entertainment all over the internet shouldn't mask you from having realistic expectations in quality. But apparently it does.

I do think singling 2K's presentation out as stale is people being somewhat spoiled by what they've had most of last generation. The game's always going to pale in comparison to real life, and that's pretty much what the author seemed to be comparing the game to in terms of expectations. As far as 2K needing to "revamp" their presentation all together, if the next gen experience is any indicator this forum has shown precious little patience in 2K revamping anything. When 2K tried to integrate Clark Kellogg into the game it took a few years before they got rid of the fluctuations in tone and the commentary flowed seamlessly.

When Kerr was integrated it went more smoothly, but it shouldn't be assumed any revamp would occur without issues. As it is now it sounds like all of the guys are in the same room commenting on the action occurring on the court, which imo is pretty remarkable not only from a front-facing presentation standpoint but also from a technological standpoint. Even the integration of the halftime commentary is really well done imo, in the way he comments on what's occurred in the first half and also comments on games either in progress or that have finished. AND it's integrated into NBA Today games, where you get updates during each half.

I haven't seen the Real Voice stuff they added with next gen but with that implementation 2K's shown they aren't resting on their laurels. Hell, a few years ago 2K went the extra mile (I'd say several miles) and added era-specific presentation which was well done - and has been largely forgotten/ignored by this board.

And they're the ones being singled out for presentation having grown stale? I get wanting to see improvement, which we all do. But singling them out as having stale presentation feels a bit like saying I'm tired of my team winning the Super Bowl every year

imo

[VDusen04]

Re: NBA 2K14: Its Time to Revamp Presentation

Hell, a few years ago 2K went the extra mile (I'd say several miles) and added era-specific presentation which was well done - and has been largely forgotten/ignored by this board.

Man, I loved the era presentation. It was wonderfully done. The same can be said for the Jordan Challenge presentation. Watching MJ shrug on-court after hitting that sixth three was an incredible video game moment (amongst numerous other examples). Those were two absolutely wonderful and realistic odes to the NBA and its authentic history. I was actually very disappointed to not see that presentation added upon, or even maintained, but rather scrapped altogether. I thought they caught lightning in a bottle there, but it was abandoned.

That said, I understand maybe there were difficulties in sustaining the filters (or figuring out how to implement era-specific rules as an option for quick games between old teams) but I thought it would have been worth the effort. Those are the types of real life, detail-oriented NBA innovations I've really dug over the years from 2K.

[Sundown]

Re: NBA 2K14: Its Time to Revamp Presentation

i remember a developers diary or w.e. where they said when playing an nba today game and they reference past real life games they would go into more detail like instead of just "the hawks lost to warriors yesterday" theyll "igoudala hit a game winner and bla bla" and go into more detail.

ive yet to hear anything like that

Yeah, me neither. This was disappointing because I was hoping for that exact analysis for the Hawks game. In fact, game winners was the specific example a dev used.

I really don't hear much more detail in the commentary than CG, though they do comment on incredible late game runs which I'm not sure was in CG.

[Sundown]

Re: NBA 2K14: Its Time to Revamp Presentation

2k9 actually did game winner presentation well...they would acknowledge and replay it, and even replay it before overtime if it was a game tier...the actual celebration wasnt great, but I loved the presentation..made the moment seem big..

as a matter of fact 2k9's cuts to replays were pretty awesome overall..

Yes, we need more realistic camerawork and cuts that add to the narrative. I would think this would be relatively easy to do.

Other additions:

Replays on threes.
Replays of scores after successful dribble moves/ankle breakers, especially those that make the crowd ooh and ahh.
Replays of blocks and steals.
Replays of earlier moments on fouls and dead balls.
Replays of close foul calls.

Post-game highlight reels should be brought back like 2K12 and 2K11. It should be played automatically instead of Player of The Game, or perhaps one of the two should be picked randomly and both should be available in the post-game wrap up screen.

Also, post-game highlights MUST be fixed for full length games. It's a bit silly that highlights work for 48 minute games on CG but not NG which has way more memory. It feels somewhat unprofessional/unpolished when 2K14 NG doesn't have highlights for actual NBA length games.

And we MUST be able to save replays again!

[VDusen04]

Re: NBA 2K14: Its Time to Revamp Presentation

Yes, we need more realistic camerawork and cuts that add to the narrative. I would think this would be relatively easy to do.

Other additions:

Replays on threes.
Replays of scores after successful dribble moves/ankle breakers, especially those that make the crowd ooh and ahh.
Replays of blocks and steals.
Replays of earlier moments on fouls and dead balls.
Replays of close foul calls.

Post-game highlight reels should be brought back like 2K12 and 2K11. It should be played automatically instead of Player of The Game, or perhaps one of the two should be picked randomly and both should be available in the post-game wrap up screen.

Also, post-game highlights MUST be fixed for full length games. It's a bit silly that highlights work for 48 minute games on CG but not NG which has way more memory. It feels somewhat unprofessional/unpolished when 2K14 NG doesn't have highlights for actual NBA length games.

And we MUST be able to save replays again!

You say things I greatly favor. Watching highlights, breaking down highlights, editing highlights, and saving highlights were all a huge part of feeling as though the game I just played meant something. I liked leaving a footprint. Also, I don't think an NBA simulation could ever go wrong with emulating real life when it comes to their highlights reels, replays, and overall presentation. Real life emulation, in fact, is the direction for which I am hopeful 2K fully begins to lean once again (on the court and off).

[turty11]

Re: NBA 2K14: It's Time to Revamp Presentation

it would take time and effort but i think 2k should work out a license with to have home game commentators (knick games get frazier and breen, celtics mike and tommy...etc)

it would DRASTICALLY improve presentation, sure it would take time to get voice overs done from all these guys but it would be one of the greatest things done in sports gaming history imo

[Cowboy008]

Re: NBA 2K14: It's Time to Revamp Presentation

I think if they got the TNT license it would help with the presentation. Also another little thing they can do is during halftime actually show other games that are currently playing and what the score is. The way they have it now is they just show you the match ups.

[rudeworld]

Maybe get another set of announcers or sign a deal with the officials to make each game feel different. If making the game similar to what we're seeing on TV (ESPN, ABC & TNT) I think it's hard to add anything else and we would just be nit-picking.

[Sundown]

Re: NBA 2K14: Its Time to Revamp Presentation

You say things I greatly favor. Watching highlights, breaking down highlights, editing highlights, and saving highlights were all a huge part of feeling as though the game I just played meant something. I liked leaving a footprint. Also, I don't think an NBA simulation could ever go wrong with emulating real life when it comes to their highlights reels, replays, and overall presentation. Real life emulation, in fact, is the direction for which I am hopeful 2K fully begins to lean once again (on the court and off).

Exactly. I had a huge library of saved replays for 2K13. It was a shock I wasn't able to save them in NG 2K14 and definitely lessed my ability to relish my games and feeling like they had some persistence. At least with the XBox One, I can just ask my XBox to "record that", but it's missing sound and not the same thing as having a real interactive replay.

Now I can understand some casuals might not dig replays on fouls since the ref is always right according to 2K, so maybe they can add options to turn some replay types off, but it really should be available for the presentation to feel like a real broadcast.

More additions-- out of bounds replays when the ball is rapidly touched by one player than another, or two are in close proximity.

Replays of goal-tending calls.

Replays of NON foul calls that were close.

Replays of plays that lead to an injury (half the time I don't even see the injury occur and have no idea what happened).

Replays of difficult, contested shots when the game is close or the making team has momentum.

Game winners and buzzer beaters MUST be replayed right after quick shots of players celebrating. It's amazing it isn't.

Potential game winners in the last seconds should also be replayed even if they are not especially difficult/interesting shots, and key shots near end of game should be replayed going into a time out.

Replays of nice plays during the halftime show (pick-and rolls, horns, floppys, ball movement, etc.)

Of course the announcers should also comment during all these replays about what they think and see.

I'd also love replays where the foot is close to the line (though 3-pointers in 2K are often actually 2-pointers, and footwork around the arc is glitchy so 2K probably won't want to call attention to that). And I'd really love replays to review earlier close 3-point/2-point shots and a score adjustment but I can see why a game designer who wants straight forward scorekeeping might not like that.

As far as Real Voice goes, it'd be great to have post-game interviews from the media table for Playoffs. I know they would have less interviews to sample from but it's something that would really give a Playoff feel and take the next step.

Speaking of which, media table style interviews should NOT be used for regular season games in MyCareer. They should be conducted on court or in the locker room.

[eF 5ive]

Re: NBA 2K14: Its Time to Revamp Presentation

they cant and wont as long as EA is still attempting to make a basketball game

I don't get comments like these. When comparing the two games, or just strictly talking about Live, you guys bash it so hard.

But then you take a look at the 2k forum and outside of the graphical feats, nothing is liked that much about 2k. Trade logic, tipped balls, weird animations, player attributes, draft logic, roster updates, CPU ISO, running circles till it gets in paint, CPU rebounding, "comeback AI" (let's just say basically all aspects of gameplay).

So isn't 2k really still trying to make a basketball game too?

Let's be real, both franchises are slacking.