Its a tragic sports tale revisited—a great player used to dominating the competition gets cocky, takes his fans and earnings for granted, and eventually loses touch with the very qualities that brought the sweet taste of victory to his lips. EA’s basketball franchise was once the best baller on the court. Many fools stepped—NBA Jam, Pat Riley’s Basketball, Tecmo Super NBA Basketball, and even the great Bill Laimbeer’s Combat Basketball—but none could contend with the deep feature set and great gameplay of EA’s juggernaut.
Then a scrappy kid from the Bay Area named 2K started showing up at the court. At first not many noticed, but over time people began to see that shorty had game. The press clips started piling for this rising star, who used his great combination of on-court skills and off-count management to became a critical darling. Most fans still stuck with EA—how could you just ignore all those great plays he made in the past—but admitted this 2K kid had some game.
When the next generation of consoles hit, everyone expected a colossal showdown. 2K came to play like its cover boy Shaq, dominating in the paint with better moves and better looks. EA? Well, let’s just say the offseason wasn’t kind. Like a bloated Patrick Ewing in his dwindling years, the once-proud champion stumbled onto the court and uttered “my bad†so many times you wondered what the kid ever did right. Fans starting wearing paper bags over their heads and writing petitions. When you can’t dribble, can’t shoot, and can’t play defense, it’s time to hang them up.
Or is it? Some stories have happy endings. Right now, NBA Live is a long way from the top and the NBA 2K series is raining threes and posterizing the once great baller. But if the franchise puts in the work and follows our gameplan, there just might be another championship in its future.
1. Focus On What Matters. Sure, a slam dunk contest is a great way to waste some time with friends. But the NBA All Star Weekend isn’t why people buy your game. Why waste time on secondary features when your players move like it’s their first day of Junior Varsity basketball? It’s time to get back to basics—shooting, defense, dribbling. Worry about the rest when you’ve got your fundamentals down.
2. Get Smart. Kobe Bryant doesn’t step out of bounds when he dribbles by the sideline, so neither should his virtual counterpart. We’ve seen turtles with more awareness of their environment than these zombies in Reeboks. EA should go back to the drawing board and figure out a dynamic A.I system that makes player react more quickly to situations, whether it be a broken pass, turnover, or position on the court.
3. Exercise Patience. With its sloppy gameplay and bare bones features, there was no way in hell last year’s Xbox 360 version of NBA Live should have been allowed outside of EA headquarters. The same goes for this year’s version (though they did add the NBA All-Star Weekend and a fully featured Dynasty mode). If a game is this far from being ready, someone needs to bite the bullet and save the company the embarrassment.
4. Give Us Pickup Games. Sure, online five vs. five games may be ugly in the beginning, but once gamers start forming some chemistry, this could be the biggest innovation to hit online sports games since the 2K series let you play seasons online. Speaking of…
5. Create Online Dynasties. If you own NBA 2K7, you can play through an entire season with your friends from around the country just like you did back in college. What are you waiting for? Jocks are fanatical, and the same fever often applies to their sports video games as it does for their hometown teams.
6. Make Plays Matter. With no signifiers indicating how to trigger your players into action, running a play in NBA Live has always been an empty gesture. Build upon the play calling presented in March Madness and take it to the next level so players can finally outsmart and out-execute their rivals.
7. Finish the ESPN Transformation. When 2K Sports had the ESPN license, it showed. Every menu mimicked the network’s slick presentation, and every stat box gave you the feeling of watching an ESPN telecast. So why is EA standing pat with its confusing menu system and poor in-game stat updates? ESPN knows how to present pertinent information during a game, and the smart developer would leverage their expertise.
8. Defense Wins Championships. Creating a good defensive system in an NBA game is hard, but this series has to give players some sort of defensive measures besides spreading your arms, reaching in, or taking the charge—which are about as effective as a manslaughter charge on Jayson Williams. Rival NBA 2K7 stepped up its defense this year, and so should Live.
9. Improved Sixth Man. The latest NBA Live for Xbox 360 improved on the arena sounds, but the crowd still doesn’t go crazy in key situations. If my team storms back from 25 down at the half, people should be going insane when I hit the lead-changing shot. If there is a hard foul on my superstar in the paint, why aren’t the fans going ballistic? If my sixth man is throwing up threes even though he’s missed his past six shots, shouldn’t a fan tell him to give up? Give us some contextual immersion, and make home court advantage matter.
10. Fast Break! You pick the point guard’s pocket and head up the court with two teammates on your wing—only to watch them stop at the three point line. Given no choice, you have to finish the play alone. This is the Harlem Globetrotter moment in the NBA—behind the back passes, 360 dunks, alley oops, etc. Give players the chance to live this moment right.
Soure: Game Informer Online 
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