NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here 360 & PS3

[Da_Czar]

Re: NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

When you call the play, you'll see guys getting into place (and there's a little spot for you to stand on), then it'll pop an A button icon up above their heads, indicating that they are a possible pass recipient. It's greyed out while they're running to their spots, but then lights up when they're ready for the ball so you kind of know where the pass is designed to go beforehand. Most plays have several options and it flows very nicely and isn't nearly as rigid as 2K's where if you crossover accidentally it'll deactivate the play...

Add to that the ability to call quick DNA-based plays (KG left post, Allen off-ball screen) with Y that cater to your the strengths of the players on the floor at the time. So you can call those or you can call an actual play. I was very impressed that you can completely edit the playbooks in the demo -- changed up some Lakers plays and they all looked and ran great. You can choose the play and then assign it to finish with a certain player. So even if it's a play originally designed for the SF, you can make it go to Kobe (playing SG) by assigning the play to him in the menu. VERY cool... can't wait for Dynasty mode.

And yeah Czar, it was basically just like 2K8 in practice where it'll say 'perfect release' and doesn't always go in, even from a good spot. And likewise, you can get an early release (meter not filled and red) and it'll sometimes still go in. But I sat on Pierce's right side hot spots putting up the same shot with perfect release and it went in like 8/10 times, whereas if I was releasing early or late, it was more like 4/10. I'll do some trials tonight and actually record the data... these are just approximations. But I definitely think it make a difference -- it doesn't help that Pierce's (and most players from the looks of it) release is quick by 2K standards... makes it hard to tell if you've screwed it up or not.

Having the practice gym available with your whole team will be great... especially since Live's release indicator seems more reliable so far than 2K8's was. Perfect Release hardly ever fell in 2K8 seemed like.. slightly early was always better.

Thanks stumble no need for more testing your word and test is good enough for me. My test wasn't in depth at all. I made a few with poor release and called it a day.

Dre its everything stumble said and more. You can initiate any play with anyone on the floor. Just for kicks I took garnet on the right wing and since he had the ball the play screen replaced the play I run for him with a post up for perkins. Its really nice. so you don't feel glued in or restricted at all with your playcalling.

[RustedWalleye]

Re: NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

I just briefly wrote this morning about my experience with the demo, but to add to the discussion here, this is the first time I have enjoyed the Live series in years. Not following the making of NBA Live this year until reading this thread, I see a familiar face is part of the NBA Live team, and it shows.

I did not even get into the other parts of the demo that were mentioned earlier. For those that say this is the same as previous years, they are completely wrong. I played every single NBA Live version that has been released on Xbox and Xbox 360 and NBA Live 09 feels completely different on almost all accounts.

Anticipating an EA Sports basketball game was not on my radar this gaming season. Good job with the demo and hopefully all is solid with the balance of the game as well.

[23]

Re: NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

Wow.. the videos never indicated it to this level.

I cannot wait to fool around with this one

This could be great online also if guys wanted to do it the right way

[Stumbleweed]

Re: NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

Team play will be absolutely bonkers with that playcalling system. If someone is really lighting up their man with Pierce, you can just run a ton of plays for him and still have other options along the way. I'm seriously giddy over how fun team play will be this year compared to last... the rebounding fixes alone will make it twice as fun.

Most of the challenge in OTP for 08 was trying to play defense with those ridiculous animations (where the defender cowers or gets knocked out of the way on dunks/layups), unstoppable hotspots, and the bad rebounding where the ball would roll around on the floor for 3+ seconds while players walked next to it. Those issues seem to be mostly fixed, and adding this playcalling dynamic as well as being able to set picks manually as a user makes this very exciting for me.

[Da_Czar]

Re: NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

Alright, but I'm going to have to use 2k8 as a contrast.

In 2k8 you call a play, the art comes up, and people start walking to their positions. When everyone is in the right spot, the play can begin. You either follow the play art or you break the play if another opportunity presents itself.

Live 09 rundown:
-first off its faster
-when you call the play, people hustle quickly to their spots
-the moment the play is called, a grayed out A button(X for PS3?) appears over the head of the player(s) who are a part of the next step of the play

Example: You have the ball with Fisher and call a triangle play for Kobe to isolate. Pau and Lamar will both have grayed out buttons over their heads while Kobe-who is not to receive the ball- runs to his spot

Step 2!
-the players are in their places and the A button lights up. Now you pass to the player(s) indicated. Let's pick Odom.
-Odom has the ball, Kobe runs through screens and gets to his place on the other side of the triangle. Now for the last part of the play. This is an accurate triangle, so you have options
-pass early to Kobe for the J
-explore opportunities with Lamar, if the D has focused on Kobe
-If the D is tight, wait for Kobe to get settled, then pass it to him. Now we have an official triangle isolation situation with Kobe on the elbow and the floor spread for distribution opportunities.

It's very nice

Yeah and also each play for each person can have up to 4 variations all out of the same set.

So it can look like your running the same play and then bam you run another option for the same player out of the same set... Its nasty !!!!

[Beluba]

Re: NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

The button release definitely makes a difference in this game, but much like 2K, you can still hold the button or release it way early and occasionally get a make out of it. I was just shooting around with Pierce trying to get a feel for his shot (watching the release meter below him as well as his release), and it's very consistant on its release point. You can make it with an early or late release occasionally, but it mostly misses.

Also, as people have said, there's no real indication aside from missing the shot that you've messed up the release. But even with a perfect release, you can still miss from your hotspot, so it's still basically a crapshoot like every basketball game ever. That's the way it should be IMO (very high percentage with perfect release from a good spot, not impossible to make a bad release shot from a cold spot).

It would be great if we could tell by the way the ball comes off their hands whether it was late or early though -- I thought Beluba said that was in this year... like if you're way early, it goes short, and if you hold it too long, it hits back rim... does anyone else remember reading that?

I'll try to clear up some confusion here. As Stumble posted, timing is in the game and it plays a pretty big role in your make/miss chance. That being said, it's still a "chance." So you can have bad timing and still make shots. But over time, you'll be more successful if you figure out the timing. In general, it's a bit earlier than you might expect. It's setup that way so we can have a late release penalty as well as an early one.

I wanted to visually change the release of the shot based on when you release the button, but it wasn't in scope given Live's shot code. I plan to have this re-worked in '10. So when I said that in general, shots "feel" better this year... I was speaking more in terms of the animations themselves being more NBA-ish and the fact that over time, you can see the benefits of learning the timing.

As for the feedback system I mentioned, it's there but it's really subtle. If you nail your timing, the shot arc will be a little higher, and if you're off, it'll be a little flat. It used to be more exaggerated, but people didn't really like the look of it and it didn't play too nicely with our rim physics.

[LAKE4742]

Re: NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

I just now noticed that Paul Pierce dosen't have a dramatic kick in his fadaway like Kobe.....which means the players really play differently, with their own style! Paul Pierce actually moves like Paul Pierce! I'm thinkin' 2K is gonna have some serious comp this season.

Now I just need to know what kind of options the custom players will have. If all of the NBA players have signature styles and play like themselves, then what style do the custom players play with? Can we choose what type of signature fadaway shot we want, etc.????

[CaptainZombie]

Re: NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

I posted this on my blog

This is much improved from last years version. I played last years version on both the 360 and the PS3. I used Tomba's and Playmakers edits for last year to make the game played much better.

From a graphical standpoint, this game looks beautiful in motion and an improvement from the herky jerkiness of last year. Colors are very vibrant and the court just looks beautiful. The player models are starting to look much better this year and their faces are becoming top notch. Even the crowd for a change is looking great and not your typical fans looking like crap. The atmosphere was so much better due to the crowd being very loud and energetic. OMG! The new Gym is awesome, I really like what they have done with it.

The gameplay feels like an improvement overall. But like someone mentioned, some of the play on the court is sluggish. Not too sure what it is and why this problem is here, but it wasn't there last year. It feels like the ball carriers feet are stuck in mud for a few seconds before they start moving.

Rebounding based off of the demo seems to be fixed from the abomination last year. Again, this is off of a 4 minute demo. I finally had my guys waiting around the basket when they were open and actually jumping up to grab the ball. Last year, they would just sit there with a stick up their tush.

I did drive right through a few defenders very easily on a few occasions and scored easily. Sliders should be able to fix this since I didn't mess with them and left the game on default.

I am getting tired of things being switched up on the controller every few years.

1-The Playcalling: why does it have to be setup with holding down the LB and a face button? ARGH! Hope they allow to change the controller layout. I do like the way that it is incorporated though and it actually seems to work well when you call a play, the team actually tries to run it.

2-Free Throws: if you are going to add a new mechanic now to the backboard for the free throw meter, which reminds me of the old school meters from back in the day for free throws, why not just bring back the old meter.

I really liked last year NBA Live 08, even though there were broken aspects of the gameplay. It seems like I would say a good percentage of the issues were fixed, but there are still somethings that linger and I don't care too much for the bit of sluggishness. Come October, I know which game I'm going with.

[MC Fatigue]

Re: NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

Presentation - A+
Gameplay - F-

I enjoy the gym section where you just shoot around more than the actual game itself.

The presentation is great. The commentary especially - the way they just casually talked about players when no big play was going on was great. It's nice to hear commentary that's interested to listen to. It kind of felt like I was watching a real game, and I wish more sports games would finally pay attention to the commentary instead of rolling the same crap out each year with no emotion. Some of the design features were nice too - like having the screen with highlights in the gym and stuff.

That's about all I thought was good.

In an actual game, it seemed to be pretty lacking. I watched the CPU jack up spinning jump shots and hit them with ease, the ball flying through players on passes (instead of stealing the ball, as they should have, it would literally go through the defender to the receiving player), passes where I'm clearly targeting a player go the complete opposite direction, the game would stutter for a few seconds before loading what would appear to be a canned animation of some sort - like KG went flying for a dunk and got hit - and the game froze for a split second, and then began a falling animation (which looked great - but the freeze kills it).

All in all - I'll keep the demo, just like I did one of the other NBA LIVE ones, just because it's kind of fun shooting around in the gym with other players. But it's certainly not something I'd spend more than maybe $5 on.

[emarcee]

is it just me or there are parts where the whole game stutters (even the commentary), and this gets me worried for the final game?

[Stumbleweed]

Re: NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

Yeah, I've noticed that occasionally. I wouldn't put too much into it, since it's just a demo. It wasn't happening all that often and the skips were very minor. I'll assume it's just a demo issue.

EDIT: Thanks for the clarification on that, Beluba. I'll have to look at the arc and see if it's noticeable. Looking forward to 2010 when we can tell more clearly, but it's understandable that it wouldn't jive with the current rim physics system.

[23]

Re: NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

I'll try to clear up some confusion here. As Stumble posted, timing is in the game and it plays a pretty big role in your make/miss chance. That being said, it's still a "chance." So you can have bad timing and still make shots. But over time, you'll be more successful if you figure out the timing. In general, it's a bit earlier than you might expect. It's setup that way so we can have a late release penalty as well as an early one.

I wanted to visually change the release of the shot based on when you release the button, but it wasn't in scope given Live's shot code. I plan to have this re-worked in '10. So when I said that in general, shots "feel" better this year... I was speaking more in terms of the animations themselves being more NBA-ish and the fact that over time, you can see the benefits of learning the timing.

As for the feedback system I mentioned, it's there but it's really subtle. If you nail your timing, the shot arc will be a little higher, and if you're off, it'll be a little flat. It used to be more exaggerated, but people didn't really like the look of it and it didn't play too nicely with our rim physics.

Hey beluba

Are you able to feel an actual release point in the shot or is it so quick as it was in Live 08 that you cant tell when to release the shot. I cannot in Live 08 feel when I should or should not let the button go because it doesnt seem to matter, the player releases it whenever he feels like it. Screws up alot of plays and kick outs that I use.

[Marc_Rez]

Re: NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

I played the demo and I'm not impressed! Sorry EA Sports! YOU FAILED!

[DakkoN]

Re: NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

How come Sam Cassell isn't in the practice gym?

Same reason Anderson Varejao and I think Sasha Pavlovic wasn't on the Cavs last year at the time of the demo. He has not signed with the Celtics at the time of the demo.

[rockchisler]

Re: NBA Live 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

I played the demo and I'm not impressed! Sorry EA Sports! YOU FAILED!

Hey rookie you gotta do better then that, explain why you dont like it. You sound like a *****.