What prompted the move to use the Live engine for NCAA Basketball 09?
Connor Dougan: Some of you may already be aware,
NBA LIVE re-wrote their Gameplay engine a few years ago and it has seen significant improvement in 08 and in 09.
At the end of the 08 product year for
March Madness we felt that the basketball engine (shipped in
NBA LIVE 08) was in a state where we felt that that there was a strong, core foundation and ultimately, in a position for us to take it.
The
March Madness Gameplay engine was suffering from old tech resulting in poor animation blends, questionable physics and a code base that was very difficult to manage/maintain/enhance (to name a few issues).
So… the EA SPORTS Basketball engine was a go for
NCAA Basketball 09. I’m really excited about this year’s engine, how we were able to build upon it to create an authentic college basketball experience.
Where in there does it say... NCAA 09 is using NBA Live 08 engine?