Chris' Blog: Playing the blame game with NBA Elite 11

[Admiral50]

Re: Chris' Blog: Playing the blame game with NBA Elite 11

Good post. My sig from a comment I made in another thread is how I feel.

[cuzzo]

never heard a ea dev say this is gonna be the best gamr ever. my question for chris is why is 2k even making a game after this year. if its so good bet me 2k will never release a patch for there game also they will not need to make a 2k12,13,14,15,16,17,18 because it REAL basketball n 2k11 is perfect. i wish ea would give chris his wish (cause it matters to the stock holders) n not make a game for 3yrs until he ok's it's ready. stop chasing tornados n go work for ea n show them how it's suppose to be done. i'll bet anyone chris will not say anything about how bad 2k servers have been since next-gen came out. if 2k sells 5 mil. copies n elite sells 2mil. copies does that mean ea should stop giving us a choice? and if you want a REAL nba game tryout for the thunder. all this complaining reminds me of someone. adam's rib maybe? just keep wishing my friend and soon 2k will be the only game to buy. sounds alot like madden.

[dipset2050]

Re: Chris' Blog: Playing the blame game with NBA Elite 11

Chris,

No disrespect to your opinion but to say that this is going to be a disaster is a stretch. Did you play MLB 2K9 or MLB 2K10? Those were a disaster.

I think the developers are going the right way with the controls. 2K's has a scroll with all of the buttons you have to push (i.e. a layup is X, X, A, B, RS, RS, LS, RS3, R1, L1, L2)...It's like trying to get fatality in Mortal Kombat.

Elite doesn't play poorly and the controls come with a bit of a learning curve but once you get past "EA Sports" and actually play the demo a few times, the controls are solid. The ability to miss a free throw with direction and distance has never been done and you can do that in this game. Not to mention, the classic controls are still available for those that cannot grasp or just plain dislike the new control scheme.

Here we have a sport in which we have options in terms of video games and people want to bash this and that instead of looking at the game itself.

I found the atmosphere and commentary to be outstanding. The ability to try the new career mode was a nice touch as well.

I haven't purchased a NBA title in years and I will buy 2K because of the classic teams (could care less about Jordan). Give me Nique and the Hawks or the 90's Pistons any day. But I am also considering Elite as it does offer a different way to play....

Though I get that you like the Elite demo, to say that 2K is complicated in regards to the basics is borderline ridiculous.

To shoot, you move an analog stick up.

Or hit the X button.

Mortal Kombat, it is not.

[fcabanski]

Re: Chris' Blog: Playing the blame game with NBA Elite 11

"Though I get that you like the Elite demo, to say that 2K is complicated in regards to the basics is borderline ridiculous.

To shoot, you move an analog stick up."

To shoot in Elite 11 you move the analog stick up.

[HustlinOwl]

Re: Chris' Blog: Playing the blame game with NBA Elite 11

Is the "Inside Drive" team still around?

[auau465121]

Who ever fired Mike Wang is to blame simple and plain

[BrianFifaFan]

Re: Chris' Blog: Playing the blame game with NBA Elite 11

"is controlls all that matter in a basketball game?"

It matters more than whether the headbands are accurate, or whether the uniforms are accurate, or whether the stadiums are accurate. Everyone is judging this without playing multiplayer.

I realize the game vs CPU doesn't look like the real NBA. But maybe the goal is not to make it look or feel exactly like the real NBA with animations. Maybe the goal is to make it a person vs person competitive video game, where people have to watch where and how they dribble or have the ball stolen, where they have to make sure their shots are open shots so they don't get blocked, where they can't sprint for easy dunks every possession.

And that's fine. But not what, IMO, a NBA game should be about, or at least unfairly weighted towards. I am a Single Player, exclusively, and the EASBL has no interest for me. I loved NBA Live 10, and this game apperas to have gutted every bit of progress for a online-based game. I'm one of the "alienated." However you slice it, it's half a game. NBA Live 10 was a whole game progressing toward a full experience. As I said, build the new earth-shattering physics and controls along side the game you already had turned the corner with. Not go back to square one and tell me you have it to Live levels in three years..... This game is square one, basic, and disappointing.....

[lnin0]

Re: Chris' Blog: Playing the blame game with NBA Elite 11

Said it the other day in the demo impressions post - nothing wrong with rebuilding your game. But in typical EA fashion they didn't let this thing finishing cooking before serving it up. So which is better - missing a year, letting 2K get some looks and coming out swinging hard next year OR throwing up all over your new identity and customers?

Meh - OS will still probably give it an 8/10. lol

[andrewdski]

Re: Chris' Blog: Playing the blame game with NBA Elite 11

It matters more than whether the headbands are accurate, or whether the uniforms are accurate, or whether the stadiums are accurate. Everyone is judging this without playing multiplayer.

Everyone is judging this without playing multiplayer? First it was "wait for the demo", now it is "you can't judge until you play multiplayer"? Come on, man, give it up. If you like the game that's good, say so and leave it at that. This cracked me up, sorry man.

never heard a ea dev say this is gonna be the best gamr ever. my question for chris is why is 2k even making a game after this year. if its so good bet me 2k will never release a patch for there game also they will not need to make a 2k12,13,14,15,16,17,18 because it REAL basketball n 2k11 is perfect. i wish ea would give chris his wish (cause it matters to the stock holders) n not make a game for 3yrs until he ok's it's ready. stop chasing tornados n go work for ea n show them how it's suppose to be done. i'll bet anyone chris will not say anything about how bad 2k servers have been since next-gen came out. if 2k sells 5 mil. copies n elite sells 2mil. copies does that mean ea should stop giving us a choice? and if you want a REAL nba game tryout for the thunder. all this complaining reminds me of someone. adam's rib maybe? just keep wishing my friend and soon 2k will be the only game to buy. sounds alot like madden.

I don't recall Chris saying 2K11 was perfect, either. I call pretty much guarantee you 2K11 will be patched. Just read their demo impressions thread. It isn't like nobody is finding anything wrong with it, at all. I'll give you that his blog is maybe a little hard on EA. There are a lot of people very frustrated with EA right now, and he appears to be one of them.

It is certainly no easy task to try to rescue a sinking franchise in a one-year dev. cycle. 2K have demonstrated that with MLB vs. The Show, and their NHL vs. EA's. (Part of the frustration is that, to a lot of people on OS at least, Live was far from a "sinking franchise".)

[dwanestar]

It makes no sense if a games goes backworths
Its a sad day for nba LIVE fans including me
Damn well that being said
2k just created the best nba game ever so cheerup G's

[IV THA UNITY]

But on topic I blame The Lead Gameplay designer because it seems they went into development thinking Controls and physics then tacking on the other stuff later.

[rickmitchell22]

Re: Chris' Blog: Playing the blame game with NBA Elite 11

i guess I was naive, but I thought that Elite would at least be an improvement on NBA Live 10. Insted it seems like they are building from scratch and therefore it will be a few years before it has a chance at competing with 2k, similar to Live's firs t few years on next gen

[Self313]

Re: Chris' Blog: Playing the blame game with NBA Elite 11

I think the developers are going the right way with the controls. 2K's has a scroll with all of the buttons you have to push (i.e. a layup is X, X, A, B, RS, RS, LS, RS3, R1, L1, L2)...It's like trying to get fatality in Mortal Kombat.

on the other game a lay up is done by simply moving the right analog to the side you wish to finish on... left for left handed lay ins, right for right hand, back for floaters, up for simple finishes

its honestly easier than Elite by far...

[CJBEeZy]

Elite is a BAD game period! If u cant see that, u might wanna stop by your local eye doctor. Ive noticed that everyone who tries to defend it all say the samething "the Controls are great" as if "Gamplay and Graphics" dont matter. What really "grinds my gears" is the way they buttered us up with the Elite demo trailer,adding all these features "asking us is it too much for a demo" than we get the demo only to be Dissappointed. Live 10 demo/game is way better than this mistake Nba Elite 11, even Ray Charles could see that. $60 to play NBA Jams Lol i think not...

[blues rocker]

Re: Chris' Blog: Playing the blame game with NBA Elite 11

EA is going to be kicking themselves for driving Mike Wang away...they had the key person to make a successful game and they let him get away.

Their HUGE mistake was in thinking that Live 10's poor sales were because of the game itself...WRONG, EA. The game itself was good and was a huge step in the right direction, and it's scores were good as well...on par with 2k 10's scores.

The reason no one bought Live 10 was because the NBA Live brand name and reputation had already been too damaged by consecutive years of bad releases...EA blamed the current game, when they should've been blaming previous Live's for destroying the Live brand name. The current game (which was good) got lumped in with the previous games (which were bad).

There was really no way to solve this problem other than time...put out a good game for 2-3 years in a row and win people back slowly over time. once the public sees your product as inferior, you can't fix that in one year...it's going to take at least 3-4 consecutive years of stellar releases to win everyone back. Letting Mike Wang go certainly wasn't the solution...the only way they were going to fix their sales was to keep Mike Wang and let him do his thing for 3-4 years and build an amazing game the right way...then maybe after a few years and a 90+ Metacritic score, people would buy the game again.