Re: NBA 2K13 Video - Roster Update Details (3-12-13)
I think the main issue is not even that 2k might neglect whatever "sim" means (it's subjective after all), but that many basic aspects get ignored. And I get that much of potential freedom in designing a game is determined by the direction your company forces you into and the fact that their current approach has proven to be successful. So if you pitch ideas for any change, the answer might be "why?", and it's a valid one. If realism does not translate into sales, you won't convince anybody.
Still, 2k13 doesn't lack the fancy stuff, but the simplest things. So if a player drives left 60% of the time in real life and the game does not reflect that, complaining about this would be a bit excessive. But that's not the point. Even though I remember a 2k dev talking about exactly this kind of tendency mentioning Jason Terry as an example back for 2k10 or 11 I think. Nowadays it's Jay-Z...
You don't need to be an experienced software developer to simply take some unknown low rated free agent, change his name and appearance to Mickael Gelabale and put him on the Wolves.
You don't need to be a D1-level coach to simply test plays and delete all the broken ones. It's not rocket science. Or simply copy/paste them from another roster.
Your don't need to spend a lot of cash on fancy advanced game analysis where sites like hoopdata provide useful stats that could easily be converted to in-game ratings by tools that could easily be developed by anybody with basic programming knowledge.
You don't need to completely rebuild in-game AI if simply fixing the way plays get called and distributed could vastly improve a realistic game experience. Get rid of scripting and let touches and random specific play selection be all that matters.
So the touches issue might be harder to fix than I think. But all the other points have repeatedly been fixed by some random strangers on the internet who can do this in their free time after they're finished with their real job/uni/whatever. How hard can it be for a multi-million dollar company?
I think the main issue is not even that 2k might neglect whatever "sim" means (it's subjective after all), but that many basic aspects get ignored. And I get that much of potential freedom in designing a game is determined by the direction your company forces you into and the fact that their current approach has proven to be successful. So if you pitch ideas for any change, the answer might be "why?", and it's a valid one. If realism does not translate into sales, you won't convince anybody.
Still, 2k13 doesn't lack the fancy stuff, but the simplest things. So if a player drives left 60% of the time in real life and the game does not reflect that, complaining about this would be a bit excessive. But that's not the point. Even though I remember a 2k dev talking about exactly this kind of tendency mentioning Jason Terry as an example back for 2k10 or 11 I think. Nowadays it's Jay-Z...
You don't need to be an experienced software developer to simply take some unknown low rated free agent, change his name and appearance to Mickael Gelabale and put him on the Wolves.
You don't need to be a D1-level coach to simply test plays and delete all the broken ones. It's not rocket science. Or simply copy/paste them from another roster.
Your don't need to spend a lot of cash on fancy advanced game analysis where sites like hoopdata provide useful stats that could easily be converted to in-game ratings by tools that could easily be developed by anybody with basic programming knowledge.
You don't need to completely rebuild in-game AI if simply fixing the way plays get called and distributed could vastly improve a realistic game experience. Get rid of scripting and let touches and random specific play selection be all that matters.
So the touches issue might be harder to fix than I think. But all the other points have repeatedly been fixed by some random strangers on the internet who can do this in their free time after they're finished with their real job/uni/whatever. How hard can it be for a multi-million dollar company?
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