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[DMczaf]

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http://www.easports.com/games/nbalive2005/home.jsp

EA SPORTS™ FREESTYLE AIR: Become an offensive All-Star with new moves including all-new jams, jaw-dropping alley-oops, and adjustable mid-air lay-ups and dunks. New user-controlled put-back and tip-in technologies reward players who box out, wipe the glass, and go back up for a quick bucket. On defense, own the paint by taking more control over shot blocking.

NBA ALL-STAR WEEKEND: From slam-dunk competitions where you take complete control of every dunk to 3-point shootouts against the clutch shooters in the league, prove yourself in each electrifying All-Star event. You can even take on All-Stars around the country in the world’s greatest online tournament.

NEW GRAPHICS ENGINE: With increased resolution of player faces, jerseys, shorts, skins, and tattoos, NBA LIVE 2005 raises the bar and offers the most visually immersive NBA game to date.

EA SPORTS™ FREESTYLE CONTROL: Hit the court runnin’ with a collection of brand new moves that puts even more control in your hands. With further player differentiation and more signature moves, your game has been personalized.

10-MAN FREESTYLE: The innovative 10-man motion-capture technology yields authentic plant-and-cut animations, backdoor cut scenarios, new in-air collisions and box-out scenarios, and off-ball animations that offer new spacing and eliminate on-court crowding.

COMPREHENSIVE DYNASTY MODE™: Become the architect of your own unstoppable dynasty and watch your franchise flourish for up to 25 seasons. Jump into games with simulation intervention, enjoy all-new free agency logic that puts your contract negotiating and salary cap managerial skills to the test, and use the customizable PDA to stay up to date with important league news, team information, special announcements and more.

ALL-NEW XBOX LIVE™: Go Freestyle against opponents anywhere in North America. Meet, greet, chat, set up tournaments, download roster updates, and play head-to-head from the online lobby and see if you can maintain your place as the best gamer -- anywhere, anytime.

THE NBA’S TOP ANNOUNCING TEAM: The voice of NBA basketball, Marv Albert, teams with on-air TV partner Mike Fratello -- these two veterans dish out the most authentic commentary available.

 

[Matrix]

Hot sex and +1 for the Tmac about to block Anthony shot.

 

[Ceros]

Wow. This game is looking more realistic everytime I see screens. And it finally looks they have different body weights because in 04 everyone seemed the same size. Nice lighting too. Finally some more modes to add to the replay value. I'm anticipating this more than madden 05.(because I suck @ it)

I'm officially EA's whore.

 

[BlackClouds]

I like the NBA All Star Weekend, about time. 10 man mocap...looked kind of weird last year, but if they can tweak it some more, should be outstanding. Mid air collisions, that's nice. Box out scenarious...lol. Somehow I think EA is holding back, surely this isn't all the new featues in the game.

As for the screens...the player faces are just aren't right. Overly dramatic lighting reminds me of Inside Drive, that's not good. Pics are fine, but blow that up on a big screen tv and it's likely to look pretty nasty. Maybe there will be less slowdown this year (who am I kidding, this is EA!). Just kidding.

 

[shpankey]

This game shits all over NBA 2k5. I mean total fucking DOMINATION!

 

[Matrix]

This game shits all over NBA 2k5. I mean total fucking DOMINATION!

IAWTP and last years version of Live was better than 2k4.

 

[btrboyev]

That looks like shit....the characters look like cardboard cutouts. The white light is not realistic and makes it look bad. ESPN will look better like it has since the beginning.

shit are the guys on the benches sprites????

 

[btrboyev]

IAWTP and last years version of Live was better than 2k4.

ESPN had some flaws last year but it still was better than Live as it actually feels like a sim.

 

[DMczaf]

ESPN had some flaws last year but it still was better than Live as it actually feels like a sim.

Bwahahhahahahahahahahahahahaaha...



hahahahhahahahahahaha!

 

[btrboyev]

you laugh cause you know its the truth

 

[DMczaf]

you laugh cause you know its the truth

No, I laugh because that was almost Konex material

 

[Matrix]

ESPN had some flaws last year but it still was better than Live as it actually feels like a sim.

Put down the blunt and step away from the keyboard.

 

[btrboyev]

damn..thats insulting...I'm no Konex. take it back bitch.

you can't deny that 2k4 had better reviews from well just about every mag or online source out there..not that reviews are always correct but I've played both games countless hrs last year and both games had big problems but ESPN still felt like a real sim.

 

[shpankey]

you can't deny that 2k4 had better reviews from well just about every mag or online source out there..not that reviews are always correct but I've played both games countless hrs last year and both games had big problems but ESPN still felt like a real sim.

lol. are you for real? ESPN was no "sim" last year. The game was one of the worst basketball games in recent memory. Inside Drive shit all over it despite it's ugly graphics.

 

[BatiGOOOOOOL]

2K4 was a terrible disappointment. I might try 2K5 someday but right now I'm anticipating Live much more. EA is moving in the right direction with the series and it has been quite improved over the last couple of years, eventhough it obviously still has some flaws.

 

[Malleymal]

NBA 2k2 > any basketball game this gen....

I will be getting live unless VC gets it sh*t straight

 

[Takuan]

The only problem visually in my eyes is that the players are way too skinny and undefined. I'm still more interested in this than 2K5.

 

[Truelize]

I agree there. The players look way to thin. Especially Wallace. In real life he is a monster. But in these pics he looks to have the same frame that KG has. I am not seeing what Ceros is seeing at all.
I'm still way more excited about this game then I am about 2K5. Sega lost me last year with that turd that was inside my ESPN Basketball case. I don't know how that game got those high reviews. Worst game I've played in forever. I was so upset over that game. I'm still hurt. I have to go cry now......

 

[RobotChant]

I hope that lighting is only for the replays. It looks like they have a spotlight on the players but everything else is darker-- it's very noticably in the corners of the court. The players look like kids though.

ESPN had some flaws last year but it still was better than Live as it actually feels like a sim.

No you didn't just say that. The best thing about Live was having a jumpshot button and seperate dunk/layup button. I find playing that way to be a lot more fun and effective. I also liked the hop step and the fact that you can't just crossover anyone anytime you want. The crossover is the most unrealistic thing in 2K4. That and the fact that you can dunk from way out if you use some speed. Sometimes I'm just trying to free up around the baseline to take a jumpshot and dude goes flying in for a dunk instead.

Both games have their flaws but Live 04 is the better game. The most noticeable thing wrong with Live is that it felt like you were playing on ice.

 

[pilonv1]

Both games have their flaws but Live 04 is the better game. The most noticeable thing wrong with Live is that it felt like you were playing on ice.

And both paled in comparison to Inside Drive in terms of gameplay. If you combined all three you'd have an awesome NBA game. Right now we have three games with good and bad features.

As for NBA Live, I think the world will end the year that EA fix the "ice skating" movement.

 

[BlackClouds]

Both games have their flaws but Live 04 is the better game. The most noticeable thing wrong with Live is that it felt like you were playing on ice.

Again, I think the confused focus is what's causing these flaws. Nobody really wants to play a real sim of basketball. I can just imagine a game that forced people to learn how to run plays just to score, it would get panned across the board.

My main problem with ESPN was the ease of making 3's that seemingly was not fixed. Made online play cheesy. My father came over and saw me playing online against somebody with the 3 point offense. Looked rediculous. Also the robotic movement transitions need to be improved to NFL2k5's level of smoothness. VC wants to win so badly that I don't think they'll go for a sim this year.

Also, get off the crack you EA viral marketing cultists, NBA Live is all about the illusion of sim. Gives you the control, without the balance and the rules of reality. Maybe 2005 will improve but it isn't something anybody should be confident about. Been wondering why Live 2002 didn't ward off people away from EA forever. After Live'97, I didn't try another EA basketball game till live 2002. Ooops, that game was shit also, possibly the worst ever.

 

[Ramirez]

Can't f'n wait,I'm anticpating this more than any other sports title :O

ESPN was straight GARBAGE last year,someone trying to call it a sim....roofles!!

 

[pilonv1]

Again, I think the confused focus is what's causing these flaws. Nobody really wants to play a real sim of basketball. I can just imagine a game that forced people to learn how to run plays just to score, it would get panned across the board.

People want a realistic basketball game that rewards you for running plays. Not something where you have plays you cannot see that are run from different areas of the court. Not a game where it's just end to end fast breaks. That's why Inside Drive is so highly regarded for it's gameplay. You can actually run an offense like the Pistons, sending Hamilton behind some baseline screens for an open shot. Do NBA Live or ESPN offer this? They sure as hell didn't last year, and I doubt they will this year. It's all smoke and mirrors.

 

[DMczaf]

Do NBA Live or ESPN offer this? They sure as hell didn't last year, and I doubt they will this year.

NBA Live tried to do it, but it was still not as good as ID2004 but VC didnt even try to do this last year with ESPN Basketball, the game had 4 plays! 4!!!

 

[Ramirez]

4 Plays,a TRUE sim!!

 

[bionic77]

NBA 2k2 > any basketball game this gen....

I will be getting live unless VC gets it sh*t straight

Yup. Live is a total joke next to 2k2. Then again so is ESPN.

 

[DMczaf]

Yup. Live is a total joke next to 2k2. Then again so is ESPN.

You guys need to let it go, its sad and pathetic seeing you guys talk about 2K2 in every NBA video game thread. Almost as pathetic as me with Jordan!!1...er wtf!

 

[dskillzhtown]

Yup. Live is a total joke next to 2k2. Then again so is ESPN.

2k2 is a joke compared to Live 99 for the PC. But neither or coming back, so I choose to live in the present. Seems like Live is on the right track, getting better every year after totally bottoming out. ESPN on the other hand seems to be on the descent.

 

[bionic77]

2k2 is a joke compared to Live 99 for the PC. But neither or coming back, so I choose to live in the present. Seems like Live is on the right track, getting better every year after totally bottoming out. ESPN on the other hand seems to be on the descent.

Live 99 for the PC is that good? Hmm, need to ebay that.

Hey I still play the new bball games and I still have fun with them, but it is annoying that they are not as good as and older game (2k2 and apparently Live 99 on PC).

 

[GaimeGuy]

Wtf is Sam Cassell doing in those pics? Did he learn Kamaro's dance or something?

 

[pilonv1]

NBA Live tried to do it, but it was still not as good as ID2004 but VC didnt even try to do this last year with ESPN Basketball, the game had 4 plays! 4!!!

Actually it had more than 4 plays, but they were 4 sets. So if you ran an Iso in the corner you ran a different play than an iso at the top of the key. Still utterly retarded because you couldn't see diagrams of the plays. And every team played the exact same style, be it the Lakers, the Pistons or the Pacers.

Wasn't Live 99 the one with the insane lack of fouls? I remember one incarnation (might have been 2000) that had no fouls on PC, forcing EA to release a patch that implemented some fouls (about 8-9FT/game) but still completely inadequate.

Inside Drive is also the only game I've played where offensive rebounds don't end up matching or beating your defensive rebounds. They also managed to get individual team styles, something I've rarely seen in any other sports games (save for Madden/NCAA). Every game felt different.

 

[FightyF]

Those highlights look overdone! (But at least the game has em, it's a great effect.)
The arena looks too dark! (At least it's not bright and supercolorful, it's got a realistic color palette)
BAD ART! (Not really, this series has realy improved, visually)

 

[Guzim]

Is Jordan in this game?

 

[DMczaf]

http://www.easports.com/games/nbalive2005/producerinterview.jsp

With Freestyle Shooting you now decide whether you want to rebound, dunk or tip-in a missed shot attempt. In the past this was decided by the CPU for you, but now you have full control -- press the Jump button to grab the Rebound, press the Shoot button to tip it back in or press the Dunk button to attempt a put-back. This helps tremendously with Offensive Rebounding and makes battling for position in the post much more important.

we've added quite a few other things as well. Freestyle Control is in its third year and there are a lot of brand new moves that put even greater control in your hands. A completely reworked Post Freestyle move set combined with further player differentiation and signature move packages on the perimeter create the deepest Freestyle system to date.

We've added a lot of new animations for passes, pass receptions, dribble-bumps, dunks, lay-ups, shots, rebounds, blocks and Pro-Hops. In order for the Pro-Hop to be effective you'll now need a clean open lane, otherwise you'll bump into a defender and end up losing the ball.

The mid-range game is much improved and it's easier to attempt and hit mid-range jumpers. There are a lot of different jump shot styles, but unlike last year, those release points are all the same this year.

Tim Tschirner: This year we've redone all of the logics (Free Agency, Contracts, Rookie Development, etc.) from scratch and this has resulted in a much more realistic game experience while you take on the role of GM, Coach and Player. We threw out the point system and you now use money for signing Free Agents, re-signing your Players and making trades.

For example, if you want to Sign a Free Agent, you make your contract offer and send it off to the Player's Agent. Based on your offer and his demands, you will get a positive or negative answer within a few days.

. This year, we've further tuned it to eliminate foot sliding while maintaining ultimate responsiveness; we improved post-whistle animations to reflect player emotions and added signature shooting styles. We also added a lot of new 10-man Mo-cap data for creating new multi-player scenarios such as box-outs, V-cuts, backdoor cuts, pass-deny defense, pump-fake-and-go, successful and failed spin moves, 'go' moves and dribble bumps. There are also new scenarios for double-teams, battles in the post, screens and mid-air collisions.

Sounds great

 

[DMczaf]

Finally, some impressions from OperationSports

Animations were still great. Blocked shots looked alot more realistic and not as dramatic.


Sliding effect IMO was still there to some degree but definitely not as bad as last year.


I didn't get to listen to the audio because of the way we were sitting. There was a TV for another dude right behind my head who was playing so I actually could not hear my TV at all. There were 8 TVs going on at once so there was nothing but Marv Albert from every angle.


Slam dunk competition is awesome. Shawn and I had a hard time getting used to it, but thats expected considering we only had an hour to play it. You pretty much hit one of the face buttons to start, then press another face button to start the take off. Each button has a different take off. One foot, two foot, etc....... Once in the air you can hit another face that gives you a dunk animation, but hitting the triggers gives tweaks the dunk, rotating the Lt stick spins your man etc.....There are so many different dunk variations its amazing. You can also tweak the Rt stick before the take off to throw the ball in the air before take off. Moving it one way will throw it off the floor, another way will throw it off the backboard, another direction will make your player flip it in the air with his foot. Very cool.



We saw tons of different dunks. Elbow hang ala Vince Carter, they have a full arm hang, 360 through the leg dunks, off the shot clock 180's. It was very cool. I usually don't like modes that like because I feel that they are pointless, but the dunk and 3-point shoot out are great when friends are over.

Freestyle air is in the game, but I didn't get to use it too much because its alot harder to get to the hoop in this years version. The rebounding freestyle is cool. Hitting one of the face buttons will command your player to do a different rebound. One button to tap it in, one to grab the board, one to slam it in etc...

Gameplay is very improved. The crowding around is gone and AI controlled players move around alot. There wasn't one instance where I thought there was bunching. They actually fixed this without having to increase the court size and it worked out nice. I was able to play 3 games to get a good feel of the gameplay. First game was NJ (me) vs. Dallas. Dallas was very run and gun with Dirk and Finley getting most of the touches throughout the game. Defense was hard because the AI was pretty aggressive. If you give a decent shooter an open three point shot they will take it, or go to the hole if the lane is open.

I played Orlando (me) vs. Detroit. Detroit played ALOT like they do in real life. Prince spotting up for 3's from a few different spots. Rasheed took a turn around jumper on me from the post, Hamilton shooting nothing but midrange jumpers was sweet. I even saw Ben Wallace take a baseline 10 footer which is something you would never see in 2004. It was obvious that they put work into the midrange game.

The passes were much improved. I didn't see one over head pass and no one was jumping in the air to throw a cross court pass. PGs stayed in the back court for the inbound instead of running to half court like last year. Ball handlers no longer have their backs to the basket 90% of the time. They still turn their backs, but no where near as much as last year.

BTW, the graphics are off the hook. 10x better then last year. I'm no graphics whore, but I was very, very impressed with what I saw this year. And the rosters that were in the game were up to date which was surprising. Trades that happened last week were already in the game. I thought it was cool.

Like I said before, the in game graphics are so much better then last year. Jerseys and shorts move. The game overall looks brighter.

Animations are still great. There wasn't one animation in the game that looked remotely off. Everything seemed completely life like.

Yao is a beast in the game. T-Mac and Wade are also pretty awesome. Shawn and I played Heat (me) vs. Denver (Shawn). It was very fun going to work with Wade. Shaq was also pretty dominate in the post as well. Shawn threw down some nasty power slams with Kenyon, and almost won it behind the play of Melo, but he ended up getting injured. It was a good game, with me winning of course.



The menu was re-done. It looks alot cleaner then last year, and easier to navigate through.

They made Pro Hop alot harder this year, and it was something I noticed during gameplay. I obviously tried using it so I can get a dunk, but the AI closed in on me.


They also added a Pro Hop slider this year.

 

[Ramirez]

Sweet!

Im glad they fixed the crowding issue as well

 

[DMczaf]

Sweet!

Im glad they fixed the crowding issue as well

FMT said that was fixed already at E3, so EA Canada knew that was a problem early on in development of 2005

 

[Ramirez]

Yea I had read that they were addressing it...now my other main concern was the outrageous number of blocks,hopefully thats been fixed

 

[BatiGOOOOOOL]

After those impressions, I'm sold.