Posted by Adam Barenblat at 7:00 AM on July 26, 2008
This latest NBA Live 09 video from Electronic Arts shows off "athlete sizzle". This year's global cover athletes are Tony Parker, Pau Gasol (Spain), Andrea Bargnani (Italy) and Luol Deng (England).
Wow...that looks like garbage. Look how stupid the AI looks on defense! How did Tony Parker blow by Calderon (?) so easily AFTER he did a useless spin move beyond the 3p line? And then whoever that was under the basket Moon (?) did not even make an attempt to defend the shot; in fact, he does not even LOOK at Parker! Then Bargnani driving and dunking on a crossover? Also, why did Drew Gooden turn right towards the sidelines after getting screened? He should turn towards the offensive player! And Deng driving baseline with his left and doing a layup OFF THE BACKBOARD? Does that even look natural to you in the video? He might want to try banking it if it were his right hand, but even then, it's a very tough angle....
man...disappointed. The last good Live game was on the Sega Genesis....
cheetos82
Phoenicks
Posted 8:05 AM 26/7/08
Reading about global cover athletes, you forget to mention that Tony Parker is from France.
@bubassi:
Yea, this looks stale... I really liked the way the ball so statically bounced off of of the glass... I just got finished studying game programming and I know it's hard stuff, but damn, stuff like the ball bouncing is IN the game every year...
Sentientv2
Datheron
Posted 7:41 AM 26/7/08
@flight240: Well, it's more that the video is in HD, slo-mo, so it's much easier to scutinize the animation and find flaws in the transitions. Even moreso when the graphics are good enough now to pass off as the real thing.
Basketball's probably the hardest sport to get to "look" right; animations for bball games are still more about how many they can record in a given year to give an impression that layups, shots, and dribbles are different. Transitions from one animation to the next (e.g., pass, to pick & roll setup, to catching a ball, taking a dribble, and shooting the ball) still don't work quite well, so if you look closely you can see the endpoints of a captured piece of animation are like keyframes for transition animations. It's not like football where a clever physics engine can recreate realistic player collisions.
Hey, at least there are lots of custom animations for each archetype of player and special acts for specific superstars. Remember when Shaq shot three pointers lookin' like Nash?
@jmb8504: When did he win those championships? It wasn't this year was it? He's garbage, washed up. Mr Longoria. Yesterday's news. Tomorrow's fish and chips paper.
@Cloral: Third best is pretty high esteem when number one is the best PF of all time and number two is arguable the best international player in the league. So.... thanks for the compliment! I'll let Tony know you said "hi"!
jmb8504
eaglesphily1
Posted 7:27 AM 26/7/08
"NBA LIVE 09 Made Fresh Daily" wow its just like a bakery slogan
eaglesphily1
JustJake
Posted 7:25 AM 26/7/08
NBA Live games suck. 2K won my heart back in 2005 and I haven't looked back.
JustJake
eaglesphily1
Posted 7:25 AM 26/7/08
@vibinvo: yeah you got that right he's just a jumshooter last season and kinda inconsistent too. good thing tha JO will be playing for the raptors now so that AB can just come off the bench
eaglesphily1
Cloral
Posted 7:21 AM 26/7/08
@jmb8504: Yeah, pretty much. He's the third best player on a team nobody outside of San Antonio likes.
Cloral
wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!
Posted 7:20 AM 26/7/08
@Datheron: You're right. I just want them cancel this game, and bring out the real version of NBA Live 09 instead. Because this has been like three year long April Fools joke they just forgot to end.
And you're right, the Sony NBA games are just dreadful. They're like the sports game equivalent of Voldemort. People die playing this game.
That trailer reminds me why EA shouldn't be allowed to buy Take2. If (WHEN) that happens, NBA 2K gets cancelled and we're left with NBA Live and other regurgitated EA Sports offerings.
NBA Live 97 was the only game I've have bought, and then returned to GameStop the following day. Terrible. And this trailer doesn't give me any hope of improvement.
Andrea Bargnani CANNOT do what we see on that video. I am a big follower of the raptors and I will be the first to admit that AB cannot penetrate the paint!
vibinvo
jmb8504
Posted 7:16 AM 26/7/08
@etchasketchist: I guess three championships, two all-star appearances, a Finals MVP, international acclaim, and being one of the best scoring point guards in the league counts for garbage now-a-days huh?
:( i didnt know that,i was just expressing my opinion on the graphics while also recognizing my superiority in posting speed :D, also to punkateer [www.hi5.com] like i said it's been done :D
@wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!: You don't really want that. As good as 2k Sports is, I don't doubt for a moment that the NBA2k series will take a huge dive the instant they lose competition. And no, I don't consider Sony's NBA series "competition".
Yikes. Live needs to be canceled. This series needs a really great iteration to get back on track. 08 was OK, but the two previous installments were leprosy on a disc. Give us a real next-gen engine. Why is it that 06 still looks better than 09? Why did they underhaul (is that a word? It should be) the next-gen Live engine just because that 06 had some real presentation problems-- as in, the presentation was brilliant but it made the game somewhat unplayable? Come on, EA, you've been getting your butts kicked in the basketball world for getting on half a decade now. Give me a good iteration of this franchise, or go home.
When EA does buy Take-2 (not if...WHEN), the NBA Live Franchise will be made by the 2K developer. 2K will die only in name. The NBA Live team will be disbanded and working on other EA titles. They'll do the opposite for NHL, meaning they'll have EA Canada do NHL and kill off the 2K Hockey.
Indiedog
dan
Posted 8:34 AM 26/7/08
You'd think that somebody, knowing this was going to be a showcase trailer for the game, would have seen the Gasol post-up and noticed the two identical fans, sitting one in front of the other. I mean, jeez, it's like three seconds into the thing, there's three crowd models on the screen, and two of them are the same person... it's not exactly subtle, and not the kind of thing that should get past editing.
Highly unlikely that this will surpass the NBA2K series for a long time. Player animations, especially dribbling just aren't up to snuff.
jedi420
aR-Tard
Posted 9:48 AM 26/7/08
Damn, I hope 2K9 pwns this badly...
Been waiting for a quality basketball game to hit consoles for way too long..
aR-Tard
J-Fro
Posted 9:35 AM 26/7/08
Really stiff animation still. I thought that they were overhauling this thing. I switched to the 2K series in '06. Sick of the "Get it to T-Mac, Spin-move, spin-move DUNK!" gameplay of Live.
@Indiedog: Wouldn't it make more logistical sense for EA to dissolve 2K Sports, since the infrastructure for creating their own games would already be present? From an economic standpoint, I'd imagine it would cost less for the duplicated jobs (i.e. 2K) to be axed than the ones EA already has in place.
Don't get me wrong, I would love if 2K took over all b-ball related projects, but it won't happen if it doesn't match up with the company's bottom line.
magilacudy
ChiChi_BBQ
Posted 3:34 PM 26/7/08
Well I'm glad they didn't change anything; NBA Live 08 was just fine.
And HORRIBLE graphics that are ten fuckin years old!
KroKan
KroKan
Posted 8:26 PM 26/7/08
I left playing after NBA 2005 and looks like this is the same lousy animations/sticky balls/physics/bullshit :/ While FIFA improved every year, NBA stayed the same game since 2004. What a shame!
I hope 2K's next nba title can pull me back into NBA games...
KroKan
d-guy
Posted 1:25 AM 27/7/08
@cheetos82:
2K games are guilty of crappy defensive AI as well(don't know how many times I've had a pg get burned and watch dwight howard stare at the guy as he makes an open layup), but at least it has the superior gameplay/graphics to make up for it.
Lol this look so fake, the ball fly in the basket too easily and smoothly, and the basket animation look like crap even the 2k8 ps2 version basket looks better. Look like 2k gonna win again this year even though it hardly made any progress Lawl
Arihara
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cheetos82
Posted 8:12 AM 26/7/08
Wow...that looks like garbage. Look how stupid the AI looks on defense! How did Tony Parker blow by Calderon (?) so easily AFTER he did a useless spin move beyond the 3p line? And then whoever that was under the basket Moon (?) did not even make an attempt to defend the shot; in fact, he does not even LOOK at Parker! Then Bargnani driving and dunking on a crossover? Also, why did Drew Gooden turn right towards the sidelines after getting screened? He should turn towards the offensive player! And Deng driving baseline with his left and doing a layup OFF THE BACKBOARD? Does that even look natural to you in the video? He might want to try banking it if it were his right hand, but even then, it's a very tough angle....
man...disappointed. The last good Live game was on the Sega Genesis....
cheetos82
Phoenicks
Posted 8:05 AM 26/7/08
Reading about global cover athletes, you forget to mention that Tony Parker is from France.
Phoenicks
Orionsaint
Posted 7:56 AM 26/7/08
+ Watch video
Orionsaint
Orionsaint
Posted 7:55 AM 26/7/08
The music sounds like Chromeo
Orionsaint
Sentientv2
Posted 7:43 AM 26/7/08
@bubassi:
Yea, this looks stale... I really liked the way the ball so statically bounced off of of the glass... I just got finished studying game programming and I know it's hard stuff, but damn, stuff like the ball bouncing is IN the game every year...
Sentientv2
Datheron
Posted 7:41 AM 26/7/08
@flight240: Well, it's more that the video is in HD, slo-mo, so it's much easier to scutinize the animation and find flaws in the transitions. Even moreso when the graphics are good enough now to pass off as the real thing.
Basketball's probably the hardest sport to get to "look" right; animations for bball games are still more about how many they can record in a given year to give an impression that layups, shots, and dribbles are different. Transitions from one animation to the next (e.g., pass, to pick & roll setup, to catching a ball, taking a dribble, and shooting the ball) still don't work quite well, so if you look closely you can see the endpoints of a captured piece of animation are like keyframes for transition animations. It's not like football where a clever physics engine can recreate realistic player collisions.
Hey, at least there are lots of custom animations for each archetype of player and special acts for specific superstars. Remember when Shaq shot three pointers lookin' like Nash?
Datheron
etchasketchist
Posted 7:39 AM 26/7/08
@jmb8504: When did he win those championships? It wasn't this year was it? He's garbage, washed up. Mr Longoria. Yesterday's news. Tomorrow's fish and chips paper.
etchasketchist
Moopman133
Posted 7:34 AM 26/7/08
I wonder if this version will come with a button to flop, since that seems to be a huge trend in the NBA :)
Moopman133
jmb8504
Posted 7:28 AM 26/7/08
@Cloral: Third best is pretty high esteem when number one is the best PF of all time and number two is arguable the best international player in the league. So.... thanks for the compliment! I'll let Tony know you said "hi"!
jmb8504
eaglesphily1
Posted 7:27 AM 26/7/08
"NBA LIVE 09 Made Fresh Daily" wow its just like a bakery slogan
eaglesphily1
JustJake
Posted 7:25 AM 26/7/08
NBA Live games suck. 2K won my heart back in 2005 and I haven't looked back.
JustJake
eaglesphily1
Posted 7:25 AM 26/7/08
@vibinvo: yeah you got that right he's just a jumshooter last season and kinda inconsistent too. good thing tha JO will be playing for the raptors now so that AB can just come off the bench
eaglesphily1
Cloral
Posted 7:21 AM 26/7/08
@jmb8504: Yeah, pretty much. He's the third best player on a team nobody outside of San Antonio likes.
Cloral
wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!
Posted 7:20 AM 26/7/08
@Datheron: You're right. I just want them cancel this game, and bring out the real version of NBA Live 09 instead. Because this has been like three year long April Fools joke they just forgot to end.
And you're right, the Sony NBA games are just dreadful. They're like the sports game equivalent of Voldemort. People die playing this game.
wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!
Shok
Posted 7:17 AM 26/7/08
That trailer reminds me why EA shouldn't be allowed to buy Take2. If (WHEN) that happens, NBA 2K gets cancelled and we're left with NBA Live and other regurgitated EA Sports offerings.
NBA Live 97 was the only game I've have bought, and then returned to GameStop the following day. Terrible. And this trailer doesn't give me any hope of improvement.
Shok
vibinvo
Posted 7:16 AM 26/7/08
Andrea Bargnani CANNOT do what we see on that video. I am a big follower of the raptors and I will be the first to admit that AB cannot penetrate the paint!
vibinvo
jmb8504
Posted 7:16 AM 26/7/08
@etchasketchist: I guess three championships, two all-star appearances, a Finals MVP, international acclaim, and being one of the best scoring point guards in the league counts for garbage now-a-days huh?
jmb8504
vig0r
Posted 7:14 AM 26/7/08
@Thorax:
:( i didnt know that,i was just expressing my opinion on the graphics while also recognizing my superiority in posting speed :D, also to punkateer
[www.hi5.com] like i said it's been done :D
vig0r
Datheron
Posted 7:12 AM 26/7/08
@wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!: You don't really want that. As good as 2k Sports is, I don't doubt for a moment that the NBA2k series will take a huge dive the instant they lose competition. And no, I don't consider Sony's NBA series "competition".
Datheron
vig0r
Posted 7:10 AM 26/7/08
@Punkateer:
i'll have you informed that i have already done that ;)
vig0r
flight240
Posted 7:09 AM 26/7/08
the movements look really awkward. i dun quite remember past Live games looking like that.
something must have happened.
ahh well, i'm a NBA2K fan anyway.
flight240
Nimsim
Posted 7:07 AM 26/7/08
what the fuck is up with the horseshit ps1 graphics.
Nimsim
Thorax
Posted 7:07 AM 26/7/08
@vig0r: I'm amazed we still have to tell people this, but posting "first" on Kotaku is an automatic ban usually.
Thorax
wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!
Posted 7:07 AM 26/7/08
Yikes. Live needs to be canceled. This series needs a really great iteration to get back on track. 08 was OK, but the two previous installments were leprosy on a disc. Give us a real next-gen engine. Why is it that 06 still looks better than 09? Why did they underhaul (is that a word? It should be) the next-gen Live engine just because that 06 had some real presentation problems-- as in, the presentation was brilliant but it made the game somewhat unplayable? Come on, EA, you've been getting your butts kicked in the basketball world for getting on half a decade now. Give me a good iteration of this franchise, or go home.
wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!
MeanMF
Posted 7:06 AM 26/7/08
I think the game would be better if it wasn't always in slow motion.
MeanMF
etchasketchist
Posted 7:06 AM 26/7/08
This game is garbage. So is Tony Parker:
+ Watch video
etchasketchist
Thorax
Posted 7:06 AM 26/7/08
Lets hope this one actually plays right.
Thorax
Punkateer
Posted 7:06 AM 26/7/08
@vig0r: Wow. We're so envious of you being first. Fwd this page to all your friends as an indicator of your coolness at once!
Punkateer
bubassi
Posted 7:05 AM 26/7/08
ea sports: rinse-and-repeat at its best
bubassi
Punkateer
Posted 7:05 AM 26/7/08
The NBA is fixed.
Punkateer
vig0r
Posted 7:04 AM 26/7/08
yay first post,and i dunno but those graphics seem abit like they're from 06-7
vig0r
Indiedog
Posted 8:43 AM 26/7/08
When EA does buy Take-2 (not if...WHEN), the NBA Live Franchise will be made by the 2K developer. 2K will die only in name. The NBA Live team will be disbanded and working on other EA titles. They'll do the opposite for NHL, meaning they'll have EA Canada do NHL and kill off the 2K Hockey.
Indiedog
dan
Posted 8:34 AM 26/7/08
You'd think that somebody, knowing this was going to be a showcase trailer for the game, would have seen the Gasol post-up and noticed the two identical fans, sitting one in front of the other. I mean, jeez, it's like three seconds into the thing, there's three crowd models on the screen, and two of them are the same person... it's not exactly subtle, and not the kind of thing that should get past editing.
dan
PsycheE
Posted 8:31 AM 26/7/08
They couldn't work in Celtics?, surprise of the century; something in the PR's coffee.
PsycheE
Astrofox
Posted 8:29 AM 26/7/08
@Orionsaint: Came in here to say exactly the same thing... Tenderoni by Chromeo.
Astrofox
jedi420
Posted 9:21 AM 26/7/08
Highly unlikely that this will surpass the NBA2K series for a long time. Player animations, especially dribbling just aren't up to snuff.
jedi420
aR-Tard
Posted 9:48 AM 26/7/08
Damn, I hope 2K9 pwns this badly...
Been waiting for a quality basketball game to hit consoles for way too long..
aR-Tard
J-Fro
Posted 9:35 AM 26/7/08
Really stiff animation still. I thought that they were overhauling this thing. I switched to the 2K series in '06. Sick of the "Get it to T-Mac, Spin-move, spin-move DUNK!" gameplay of Live.
J-Fro
Strider-No.9
Posted 10:30 AM 26/7/08
I just want hands to grab the rim.
Strider-No.9
kagebutsu
Posted 11:55 AM 26/7/08
Yay suffix games.
kagebutsu
magilacudy
Posted 2:39 PM 26/7/08
@Indiedog:
Wouldn't it make more logistical sense for EA to dissolve 2K Sports, since the infrastructure for creating their own games would already be present? From an economic standpoint, I'd imagine it would cost less for the duplicated jobs (i.e. 2K) to be axed than the ones EA already has in place.
Don't get me wrong, I would love if 2K took over all b-ball related projects, but it won't happen if it doesn't match up with the company's bottom line.
magilacudy
ChiChi_BBQ
Posted 3:34 PM 26/7/08
Well I'm glad they didn't change anything; NBA Live 08 was just fine.
ChiChi_BBQ
KroKan
Posted 8:28 PM 26/7/08
And HORRIBLE graphics that are ten fuckin years old!
KroKan
KroKan
Posted 8:26 PM 26/7/08
I left playing after NBA 2005 and looks like this is the same lousy animations/sticky balls/physics/bullshit :/ While FIFA improved every year, NBA stayed the same game since 2004. What a shame!
I hope 2K's next nba title can pull me back into NBA games...
KroKan
d-guy
Posted 1:25 AM 27/7/08
@cheetos82:
2K games are guilty of crappy defensive AI as well(don't know how many times I've had a pg get burned and watch dwight howard stare at the guy as he makes an open layup), but at least it has the superior gameplay/graphics to make up for it.
d-guy
whalleywhat
Posted 10:21 PM 27/7/08
@cheetos82: You don't know who Jose Calderon or Jamario Moon are? Fail.
whalleywhat
Inhocmark
Posted 12:22 AM 28/7/08
In cheetos82's defence...Moon and Calderon did exactly what they do in real life...so bonus points to EA for getting some realism...
...Which they epic fail when Bargnani actually takes the ball to the basket instead of taking a long range 2.
Inhocmark
c0rnpwn
Posted 12:20 AM 29/7/08
@d-guy:
You mean that doesn't happen in real life?
c0rnpwn
Arihara
Posted 11:25 AM 26/7/08
Lol this look so fake, the ball fly in the basket too easily and smoothly, and the basket animation look like crap even the 2k8 ps2 version basket looks better. Look like 2k gonna win again this year even though it hardly made any progress Lawl
Arihara