NBA 08 Interview
 

With the help of our readers and SCEA, we had an opportunity to interview the Senior Producer of NBA ’08, Erich Waas.

Operation Sports: What were the things that you felt you needed to improve on, compared to last year's title?

Erich Waas: Anytime you have to plan around a one-year schedule, there’s always a balancing act of new features and improvements to the previous year’s game. We were able to do quite a bit in the last year. The core gameplay and AI got a lot of attention in NBA 08. We implemented nearly 4 times the number of AI situations and responses from what existed in NBA 07. We also deepened our game with the addition of our Upside Progression System. This system integrates everything you do in NBA 08 and allows you to apply your accomplishments towards improving your created character as well as unlocking content such as new cinematic game intros, new courts, retro courts and jerseys as well as upcoming shoe offerings from Nike, Adidas and Reebok. We improved our animation variety and NBA 08 boasts 2,000 unique animations. A number of our fans wanted us to bring in-game commentary back so we teamed up Mark Jackson and the voice of the Sonics, Kevin Calabro. We also wanted to develop SIXAXIS functionality at a much deeper level, which we have done with our Free6 control.