<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="534"><tbody><tr><td class="bodytext"> "But I always buy NBA Live," a customer explained to NBA 2K7's lead designer Mike Wang last Tuesday when both games hit store shelves.
"I didn't try and force NBA 2K7 on him," Wang recalls with a laugh. "I just wanted him to read the reviews before making up his mind."
In the days before, a trickle of reviews began to filter throughout the internet, which soon turned into a flood with the same conclusion: NBA 2K7 is this year's premiere basketball title by a pretty wide margin. And now 2K Sports is upping the ante for gamers, with a PlayStation 3 version set to release in PS3's launch window in November.
We were invited to the House of Moves motion capture studio in Los Angeles last week to check out the PS3 version for the first time. There we met NBA players Corey Magette, Dwight Howard, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, who each suited up for a motion capture animation session to incorporate more animations into the game. Of course, the players themselves were just the icing on the cake -- we were there to see the unveiling of NBA 2K7 on PlayStation 3.
While much of the game resembles the impressive just-released 360 version, one of the key new features can actually be found within the confines of the system's controller. The tilt function in the PS3 controller allows players to try out their follow-through motion for free throws using the motion sensitive capabilities.
The way it works is this -- you take the controller in your hand, and in one fluid motion you tilt it back then forward to send off your free throw shot. If you're on the opposing team, you can shake the controller around, which then shakes the screen, hampering the ability of the free-thrower to land his or her shots. You can shoot either with one hand or two, and while one hand seems more realistic, we had more luck in our time with the game balancing the controller with both hands.
For now, it seems like free throws will be the extent of the tilt sensor features in the game. "We're planning all these other cool ideas to use with the controller," says Mike Wang. "But we can't talk about that yet." What could these other features be? Dribbling with the controller? We'll have to wait for those answers in next year's version.
Graphically, Visual Concepts president Greg Thomas explains that the developers have been able to process more "math" through the PS3 architecture, helping the performance and the aesthetics of the game. We couldn't really see an immediate difference beyond some better reflective textures on the court and the sweat that appears on the player models. With no 360 version present, we weren't able to do a comprehensive comparison, but it seems like the PS3 game will be a small step forward.
While it's hard to say from what we've seen at this point if the PS3 version will be worth a purchase for those who already own the 360 game, it's nice to know that 2K Sports has a few bonuses in store for those looking to get both, yet hasn't changed so much that players who only own one will feel left out. As we left House of Moves last week, the words "definitive edition" seemed to float around our heads as we recalled our short experience with the game, and with any luck, that's what this will end up being.
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"I didn't try and force NBA 2K7 on him," Wang recalls with a laugh. "I just wanted him to read the reviews before making up his mind."
In the days before, a trickle of reviews began to filter throughout the internet, which soon turned into a flood with the same conclusion: NBA 2K7 is this year's premiere basketball title by a pretty wide margin. And now 2K Sports is upping the ante for gamers, with a PlayStation 3 version set to release in PS3's launch window in November.
We were invited to the House of Moves motion capture studio in Los Angeles last week to check out the PS3 version for the first time. There we met NBA players Corey Magette, Dwight Howard, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, who each suited up for a motion capture animation session to incorporate more animations into the game. Of course, the players themselves were just the icing on the cake -- we were there to see the unveiling of NBA 2K7 on PlayStation 3.
While much of the game resembles the impressive just-released 360 version, one of the key new features can actually be found within the confines of the system's controller. The tilt function in the PS3 controller allows players to try out their follow-through motion for free throws using the motion sensitive capabilities.
The way it works is this -- you take the controller in your hand, and in one fluid motion you tilt it back then forward to send off your free throw shot. If you're on the opposing team, you can shake the controller around, which then shakes the screen, hampering the ability of the free-thrower to land his or her shots. You can shoot either with one hand or two, and while one hand seems more realistic, we had more luck in our time with the game balancing the controller with both hands.
For now, it seems like free throws will be the extent of the tilt sensor features in the game. "We're planning all these other cool ideas to use with the controller," says Mike Wang. "But we can't talk about that yet." What could these other features be? Dribbling with the controller? We'll have to wait for those answers in next year's version.
Graphically, Visual Concepts president Greg Thomas explains that the developers have been able to process more "math" through the PS3 architecture, helping the performance and the aesthetics of the game. We couldn't really see an immediate difference beyond some better reflective textures on the court and the sweat that appears on the player models. With no 360 version present, we weren't able to do a comprehensive comparison, but it seems like the PS3 game will be a small step forward.
While it's hard to say from what we've seen at this point if the PS3 version will be worth a purchase for those who already own the 360 game, it's nice to know that 2K Sports has a few bonuses in store for those looking to get both, yet hasn't changed so much that players who only own one will feel left out. As we left House of Moves last week, the words "definitive edition" seemed to float around our heads as we recalled our short experience with the game, and with any luck, that's what this will end up being.
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