There has been talk for sometime that a groundbreaking new feature was to be announced for NBA Live 2009 by EA Sports at today's E3 Media & Business Summit.
Games reviewers who were given a sneak-peak were asked not to leak information on the new development until the official announcement was made at E3 by EA. However, as with anything, there is always one...
Word has started to filter out that this is indeed a very exciting development for the franchise, which may finally bring it back above 2K Sports' NBA franchise -- regaining lost ground in a market that EA used to dominate.
As yet I have only seen one report on this, from the San Jose Mercury News:
"Companies such as EA aren't just reacting to Nintendo's innovations but touting their own, even in the most traditional of games.
EA plans to announce today that the latest version of its "NBA Live" game will include a constantly updated artificial intelligence.
Whenever users log on to the game, the title will connect to the Internet to download data from the latest NBA games, including such details as whether a player like Kobe Bryant is taking more shots from the left or the right side of the floor and his relative success from each spot. The game will use such information to affect how the virtual Kobe Bryant plays in "NBA Live" and how he is guarded."
Even the most cynical critic of EA's recent performance (such as this writer) would have to say that this is a pretty tasty revelation. As always, I take this with a pinch of salt, as EA has disappointed so many times in the last few years. However, if this development pans out as it says it will, this is a massive development in gaming. This is almost the link between Fantasy Sports and console gaming. To think that you can watch a game and then be inspired to jump onto your PS3 or X360 and play the game, with what you watched having an effect on the game, is amazing.
I remember back in 1994 being inspired by the play of undrafted Clippers rookie, Harold Ellis, as he torched the Celtics in a national television appearance. It was only his fourth game ever in the league and he racked up 29 points and 5 steals. I wanted to jump onto my Sega Megadrive and use him on NBA Showdown (the great-uncle of the NBA Live series and son of Bulls vs Blazers. Of course, in those days there was no way for an unheralded guy like him to be in the game, as he was only picked up mid-season. Even if he was in the game, he would have had low ratings in all categories. Perhaps with this development from EA, that sort of scenario will change a little bit and an updated roster with real-time attributes will be available. Harold Ellis -- yeeha.
There will be full developments on this when it gets officially announced. So check back for more details. NBA 2K9, who will be promoting their game at E3 as well, better have something up their collective sleeve.
Posts
3 comments:
It will certainly be interesting to see if that source proves true! It sounds feasible though! But then again, a lot of the rumours do! Not long to go now until we know for sure! :)
Yeah, rumours are rumours, right? :)
I'm excited by the concept if it is true though!
Madden sorta did this with the roster updates, but that would simply increase/decrease skill aspects and injuries. Changing players' hot spots would be awesome!
Post a Comment