[VDusen04]

Quote: Originally Posted by takki

All I see is negative impressions about the new presentation when, IMO, it's one of the most amazing presentations ever in a sports game. All this complaining is going to make 2k throw the baby out with the bathwater. It's fine that you hate Jay-Z's music. It's fine that you hate the wonderful thing which is rap and want the flashy bling gone from the menus and want to go back to the same boring menus. But you also are going to make 2k think you want the good stuff gone. The music videos before each game. The real city footage they show before games. The interesting and varied replay cameras (although I wish you got AND 1s for good three point shots, it seems they only care about flashy dunks). It seems you want these things gone as well, just because it has Jay-Z's name on it.

I think this is why it's most effective when people detail exactly what it is they do not like about the presentation, instead of just flatly saying it all sucks. I think a lot of us are on record of explaining exactly what portions of the presentation we do not care for and which portions we like.

For me personally, to go right down the line, I don't care for Jay-Z's music. To be clear, that doesn't mean I don't like rap or hip-hop though. And clearly, that also doesn't mean I think I have the right to make an executive decision to have Jay's music pulled. But I just felt 2K's soundtrack was lacking the fresh variety they've normally displayed during most of their other soundtracks. While games such as 2K10 seemed to offer a wide variety of music from 2008 on forward, from artists across all genres and popularity, 2K13 seems to offer an over-abundance of one specific type of a single genre (the Jay-Z/Kanye/B.I.G faction of hip-hop) combined with very aged super-popular, overplayed (in my opinion) pop rock tracks (U2, Coldplay, Daft Punk) with what feels like two or three newer indie-sounding tracks I hadn't heard before.

In some cases, I actually did like some of the songs 2K included at one point, but to be honest, I've already heard the likes of "Around the World" and "Shook Ones Pt. II" enough times in my life to make my head explode. That is why I'm not a fan of having one specific artist build a track list to his liking and including mega hits that are often 10, 15, and 20 years old. Even if I liked them, I'm probably tired of them by now.

The menu graphics are a mess, in my opinion. I mean, I think the menus function well and I'm glad I can read everything clearly (I was worried pre-release) but I do not favor the graphical design at all. I've seen many folks label it as you did ("flashy bling") but I don't get that feel. I think I'd like the right design of flashy bling. 2K13's design just feels like a tacky movie theatre lobby.

Further, using a non-basketball theme for in-game overlays is counter-intuitive in my opinion. Why are there equalizer bars on the overlay every time I score a bucket? Why are their swords, chains and speakerboxes on the replay wipe? I think there's a place for musical symbols in basketball and that place is not "everywhere". For instance, remember how the Gatorade icon pops up when a player's tired? That actually makes sense. It ties into the game cleanly. We don't have Gatorade cups filling up on the overlay everytime we score and replays don't feature players sweating blue Gatorade like the commercials. That's because the Gatorade bottles complement the game more than trying to take it over.

I've also been clear that I've enjoyed the pre-game intros in years past. However, I object to two things in this years pre-game video presentation: 1) the "musical artist-to-actual basketball footage" ratio is way too high (am I preparing for a basketball game or concert?) and 2) all the basketball footage comes from the exact matchup with the exact jerseys on the exact floor of the game that's about to be played (example of why this is a problem: the pre-game highlights for Jeremy Lin's first return to New York during an Association or NBA Today game is clips of Lin playing against New York in New York, something he could not have possibly done yet). Otherwise, I like the idea of pre-game montages. I just don't know why they'd go away from the "varied game" highlights they utilized last year.

Finally, I definitely love the city overlooks. I've never hid the fact that there's nothing I'd change about it (aside from being okay if they added more footage). Awesome addition.

I don't despise Jay-Z, I just happen to not be a fan of a lot of the directions taken by 2K in his vain. There was a classier or more subtle way of having someone like Jay-Z complement an NBA basketball video game in my opinion. Instead, it feels more like 2K's saying to consumers, "Hey guys, doesn't this look like something Jay-Z would do? He influenced us. We have him. Look, he's everywhere."

I'm hopeful 2K can recognize which additions they made that best represent the NBA basketball experience and those that maybe bordered on (or fully crossed over into) gimmick.