IGN
Visual Concepts and 2K Sports bring the NBA to the PS3.
Recently, we were invited down to Los Angeles by Visual Concepts and 2K Sports to attend a motion capture session at the House of Moves. The reason was simple: along with four of the NBA's up and coming stars, we were going to be one of the first to witness
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. make its leap onto the PS3. While JRob
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, I managed to get some hands on time with the shiny new test unit to see just how far along the game is in development. Considering that NBA 2K7 will be the first time that Visual Concepts will have launched a title alongside a Sony console, the development team has been trying to make sure that this is the strongest version of the game yet.
While the development team hasn't had a lot of time with the final test hardware, don't simply assume that NBA 2K7 is a mere port of the 360 version of the game. The development team has spent a ton of time trying to respond to a lot of the comments from fans on their boards, and have added a lot of shot animations in the post and new gameplay upgrades, among other new features. They also put in extra time in the motion capture studios to enhance the realism on the court, so players really had a sense of being in a game situation. In fact, Greg Thomas, the president of Visual Concepts pointed out that as they've been spending more and more time with the hardware, they've started realizing that future game titles for both the 360 and PS3 will have to have different development cycles to fully take advantage of each console's power.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. The PS3 will make NBA 2K7 seem more realistic than ever before
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Speaking of taking advantage of the PS3's power, the team has been using the computational power of the system to enhance a large number of the standard features that the game is known for. For instance, the cloth physics of jerseys and shorts has been assigned to one SPU on the PS3 instead of multiple cores on the 360 so that it can move more realistically than ever without taking away processing power for the rest of the game. But you'll find that there's just as much realism off the court in the PS3 version than on the court. Instead of running cutscenes during timeout situations, the development team has created real time AI that governs the cheerleaders, mascots, floor cleaners and even the crowd. For example, during a game between Dallas and Miami at the American Airlines Arena, we noticed Burnie, the Heat mascot doing much more than simply dancing on the sideline; he would run under Dallas' basket and actively try to distract shooters at the free throw line, and he had new dance sequences during timeouts.
Of course, we wanted to take a look at some of the exclusive PS3 features, and while we couldn't get every detail out during this session, we did get a demonstration of how Visual Concepts is planning to use the tilt controller in conjunction with the game. Specifically, players will be able to shoot free throws by tilting the controller back and then leaning it forward. While you can do it with minor movements, you can also hold and tilt the controller as if you were actually shooting with a basketball. Thanks to this new system, you will need to know the particular shooting stroke of the players on your team to be successful: while Dwyane Wade's shooting was a bit easier to handle, Shaq's laborious attempts to balance the ball easily threw us off every time. Defenders also have a chance to throw off free throw shots by shaking their controller whenever the other team steps up to the line, which will shake the screen in an attempt to throw the timing of the shot off. While the system still needed some tweaking, because free throws were a little hard to make and visiting teams had way too much influence on a home team's shots, it did demonstrate how creatively the team is approaching the PS3.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Diesel's hop to the PS3 looks incredible.
Visually, the game has been taken up to a new level, particularly in how the game action is rendered. Not only have the in-game visuals been beefed up thanks to the power of the system, but according to Thomas, the way the PS3 renders pixels gives the game a richer appearance than the 360 version. It looks much more organic and lifelike, and if you thought you were watching a real game on the 360, just wait till you see it on the PS3. The only thing that is still up in the air right now is the online play: Visual Concepts has been trying to work out how online will be implemented for the PS3. It's been a challenge for them to include that feature in the game, and their testers have been working around the clock figuring out how to work the game with Sony's as yet unannounced network platform. However, as Thomas put it, Visual Concepts has been known as an online pioneer, so the overall plan is to have the game out within the launch window with the feature firmly established within the game. Interested in checking the game out for yourself? Hop over to the
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and check out the first videos of off-screen gameplay running on the PS3, as well as the free throw mechanic in action.
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