NBA 2K11 was a fantastic game. The classic teams (mainly the Sonics), the graphics, the gameplay; the game had it all. No chance 2K was going to be able to even match what 2K11 accomplished.
We were wrong.
After getting some quality time playing NBA 2K12 I can safely say that the crew has done it again. For the umpteenth time, NBA2K will almost certainly be better than its predecessor.
Gameplay
The gameplay has taken it to another level. Every year you hear us at OS talk about how the game feels better or the game is more fluid. After playing 2K12 I take that comment with a grain of salt. 2K12 has shown how much more fluid a game can be. Player movements are seamless while running across the court interacting with the other nine players. All animations run smoother. Jump shots, alley oops, lay ups, and dunks all look like the way they should. I saw a loose ball roll across the court and it made my jaw drop.
I had about six total hours of game time and I didn’t see one clunky animation. I was never stuck in an animation that caused me to lose possession. Instead, with the player falling out of bounds, passing is still an option. Total control has finally found its way into sports gaming.
One of the bigger improvements this year was all in the post game. The ‘Y’ button is now the button to post up (hop step is part of the shot stick now). I was able to figure out a couple post moves, and enjoyed it thoroughly. But Rob Jones recreated Hakeem’s shake – it was beautiful. One of my more proud moments was when using Ewing to spin around a young Shaq for a monster slam that caused the whole room to scream. And there is still a lot left to uncover.
Also, at long last, help defense actually does what it supposed to do -- help. This goes hand in hand with the improved AI. The CPU isn’t stupid anymore – in fact you need to be smart in order to win. If you don’t know the game of basketball, your frustration levels will cause your head to explode if you try to play the game on a higher difficulty setting.
A lot of the cheese moves have been addressed. Spin dunking is still in the game, but you can stop it easily with good defense. Defenses are more aware of lead passing, which will not allow users to abuse the new fast break (which is fabulous in its own right).
Signature style is better than ever. Durant’s shot is a thing of beauty. When you play with Dirk, enjoy posting up your defender and sinking awkward looking fadeaways all day.
The Greatest
I know you’re sick of hearing about legends, but it really is as good as advertised. One big change with the classic games this year is the ability to change the difficulty and quarter lengths. Game developers felt the goals from the Jordan challenge were fun, but didn’t allow the user to play the game. Too many people would just take every shot with Jordan rather than playing the game how it’s meant to be played. So if you want a challenge, beef it up to All-Pro,; if you want to unlock the teams for quick play, rock Rookie until all 15 challenges are complete.
My favorite part from this mode was the presentation. The crew over at 2K did a great job capturing what it felt like to play in all decades. As you know, when playing in the ‘60s the presentation is grainy and black and white. Another nice touch to it is the dark, shaded out corners. Even the game clock in the corner looks like an old school digital clock.
As you advance to the newer era games you’ll notice the changes. You’ll slowly move into the Technicolor era, but still have the grainy feel. Eventually you’ll see a broadcast similar to the good old days of the NBA on NBC with the big fatty yellow text taking up the entire screen.
One final thing to be mentioned is the rules from each era. If there was no 3-point line when the game happened, there won’t be one when you play. Players will play the way they did in the ‘80s. When Pistol Pete is on the floor you’ll be able to tell he is the best player by far. The defense won’t be too much different, so zone may pop up on the occasion. Also fouls will still be called as often as they do when you play with the current teams, so you won’t be able to rough the opponent too much.
My Player
My Player is this year’s bread and butter. The mode has been taken to a whole new level. Everything Ronnie has released the past week or so is not just a gimmick, it’s flat out awesome. But what you all want to know about revolves around the gameplay.
The gameplay has vastly improved in My Player. It seems as though 2K has finally been able to translate the regular gameplay into the mode. It runs as smoothly what I mentioned earlier in this article.
CPU AI is greatly improved, both on your team and the opponent. Sometimes your teammates will get a little selfish in the Rookie Showcase, but that’s expected. After the showcase you’re thrown straight into interviews with three teams. I was a 3-point threat shooting guard and was interviewed by Charlotte, Sacramento and Utah. Each team asks questions based on your position, how much you can contribute, if you’re OK with riding the pine and questions revolving around their star player. The way you answer these questions can make you look like a nice guy or an arrogant bucket case, so be careful.
The next step is a mock draft, which will give a fairly detailed description on all prospects. I was slated to go No. 9 overall to the Bobcats, which was spot on. Steve’s point guard was projected No. 18, but fell to No. 21 after being pretty arrogant in interviews. Contract negotiations are in the game, but you can’t do anything about the rookie contract.
Now don’t be discouraged by the Rookie Showcase gameplay from your teammates. Once you get into the NBA (no D-League in My Player this year), teams will play the way they’re supposed to play. On Charlotte, Augustine took a lot of shots and Thomas did work in the post. I know Charlotte isn’t the best team with the best options, but you won’t be the No. 1 option off the bat. I only had a couple of stints off the bench in my one game.
Your player’s grade is more accurate this year. You won’t be knocked points for taking a last-second half court shot anymore or for your teammate allowing your man to score. The only frustration I came across was on defense. Once in a while your team’s defense will get out of sync and “your man” will switch constantly eventually leading to him scoring taking away points. It isn’t a game-killer since it doesn’t happen often, and I’m sure a patch will easily fix it.
There is a lot more to My Player I can rant on and on about, but it’s all in the Insight, which you should have already read.
Final Thoughts
To sum it all up, NBA 2K12 offers so much more this year that it will easily surpass the greatness we experienced in 2K11. From head to toe it has been improved. Honestly, I definitely missed some details in this article since it was a massive overload of 2K12 info for me, so hopefully when Steve posts his impressions article on Monday he fills you in on what I may have left out.
But for now, do your best lasting another three weeks with 2K11. After playing 2K12, I can’t even enjoy that game after playing what potentially looks to be the greatest basketball game of all-time.
NBA 2K11 was a fantastic game. The classic teams (mainly the Sonics), the graphics, the gameplay; the game had it all. No chance 2K was going to be able to even match what 2K11 accomplished.
We were wrong.
After getting some quality time playing NBA 2K12 I can safely say that the crew has done it again. For the umpteenth time, NBA2K will almost certainly be better than its predecessor.
Gameplay
The gameplay has taken it to another level. Every year you hear us at OS talk about how the game feels better or the game is more fluid. After playing 2K12 I take that comment with a grain of salt. 2K12 has shown how much more fluid a game can be. Player movements are seamless while running across the court interacting with the other nine players. All animations run smoother. Jump shots, alley oops, lay ups, and dunks all look like the way they should. I saw a loose ball roll across the court and it made my jaw drop.
I had about six total hours of game time and I didn’t see one clunky animation. I was never stuck in an animation that caused me to lose possession. Instead, with the player falling out of bounds, passing is still an option. Total control has finally found its way into sports gaming.
One of the bigger improvements this year was all in the post game. The ‘Y’ button is now the button to post up (hop step is part of the shot stick now). I was able to figure out a couple post moves, and enjoyed it thoroughly. But Rob Jones recreated Hakeem’s shake – it was beautiful. One of my more proud moments was when using Ewing to spin around a young Shaq for a monster slam that caused the whole room to scream. And there is still a lot left to uncover.
Also, at long last, help defense actually does what it supposed to do -- help. This goes hand in hand with the improved AI. The CPU isn’t stupid anymore – in fact you need to be smart in order to win. If you don’t know the game of basketball, your frustration levels will cause your head to explode if you try to play the game on a higher difficulty setting.
A lot of the cheese moves have been addressed. Spin dunking is still in the game, but you can stop it easily with good defense. Defenses are more aware of lead passing, which will not allow users to abuse the new fast break (which is fabulous in its own right).
Signature style is better than ever. Durant’s shot is a thing of beauty. When you play with Dirk, enjoy posting up your defender and sinking awkward looking fadeaways all day.
The Greatest
I know you’re sick of hearing about legends, but it really is as good as advertised. One big change with the classic games this year is the ability to change the difficulty and quarter lengths. Game developers felt the goals from the Jordan challenge were fun, but didn’t allow the user to play the game. Too many people would just take every shot with Jordan rather than playing the game how it’s meant to be played. So if you want a challenge, beef it up to All-Pro,; if you want to unlock the teams for quick play, rock Rookie until all 15 challenges are complete.
My favorite part from this mode was the presentation. The crew over at 2K did a great job capturing what it felt like to play in all decades. As you know, when playing in the ‘60s the presentation is grainy and black and white. Another nice touch to it is the dark, shaded out corners. Even the game clock in the corner looks like an old school digital clock.
As you advance to the newer era games you’ll notice the changes. You’ll slowly move into the Technicolor era, but still have the grainy feel. Eventually you’ll see a broadcast similar to the good old days of the NBA on NBC with the big fatty yellow text taking up the entire screen.
One final thing to be mentioned is the rules from each era. If there was no 3-point line when the game happened, there won’t be one when you play. Players will play the way they did in the ‘80s. When Pistol Pete is on the floor you’ll be able to tell he is the best player by far. The defense won’t be too much different, so zone may pop up on the occasion. Also fouls will still be called as often as they do when you play with the current teams, so you won’t be able to rough the opponent too much.
My Player
My Player is this year’s bread and butter. The mode has been taken to a whole new level. Everything Ronnie has released the past week or so is not just a gimmick, it’s flat out awesome. But what you all want to know about revolves around the gameplay.
The gameplay has vastly improved in My Player. It seems as though 2K has finally been able to translate the regular gameplay into the mode. It runs as smoothly what I mentioned earlier in this article.
CPU AI is greatly improved, both on your team and the opponent. Sometimes your teammates will get a little selfish in the Rookie Showcase, but that’s expected. After the showcase you’re thrown straight into interviews with three teams. I was a 3-point threat shooting guard and was interviewed by Charlotte, Sacramento and Utah. Each team asks questions based on your position, how much you can contribute, if you’re OK with riding the pine and questions revolving around their star player. The way you answer these questions can make you look like a nice guy or an arrogant bucket case, so be careful.
The next step is a mock draft, which will give a fairly detailed description on all prospects. I was slated to go No. 9 overall to the Bobcats, which was spot on. Steve’s point guard was projected No. 18, but fell to No. 21 after being pretty arrogant in interviews. Contract negotiations are in the game, but you can’t do anything about the rookie contract.
Now don’t be discouraged by the Rookie Showcase gameplay from your teammates. Once you get into the NBA (no D-League in My Player this year), teams will play the way they’re supposed to play. On Charlotte, Augustine took a lot of shots and Thomas did work in the post. I know Charlotte isn’t the best team with the best options, but you won’t be the No. 1 option off the bat. I only had a couple of stints off the bench in my one game.
Your player’s grade is more accurate this year. You won’t be knocked points for taking a last-second half court shot anymore or for your teammate allowing your man to score. The only frustration I came across was on defense. Once in a while your team’s defense will get out of sync and “your man” will switch constantly eventually leading to him scoring taking away points. It isn’t a game-killer since it doesn’t happen often, and I’m sure a patch will easily fix it.
There is a lot more to My Player I can rant on and on about, but it’s all in the Insight, which you should have already read.
Final Thoughts
To sum it all up, NBA 2K12 offers so much more this year that it will easily surpass the greatness we experienced in 2K11. From head to toe it has been improved. Honestly, I definitely missed some details in this article since it was a massive overload of 2K12 info for me, so hopefully when Steve posts his impressions article on Monday he fills you in on what I may have left out.
But for now, do your best lasting another three weeks with 2K11. After playing 2K12, I can’t even enjoy that game after playing what potentially looks to be the greatest basketball game of all-time.
The fans interact with the basketball if it bounces into the first couple of rows. I didn’t see any players jumping over the score table, so thankfully that is something that happens on occasion, instead of multiple times a game, which some were worried about.
Fast breaks are looking really good. Fixing the transition was looked at extensively. You can run traditional breaks and leak outs. Wing players cut to the rim, while some spot up for the 3 ball. A nice animation shows a player pushing the ball forward and taking a few running steps before dribbling again. (See Rondo in the Momentous trailer).
When playing against the CPU this year, you will see more pump fakes, and mid air shot adjustments. Many times, I timed a shot block perfectly, only to see the AI player hang in the air, adjusting to my defense and scooping in a beauty. Other times, while playing in the post, I was abused with pump fakes, up and unders, spins and a plethora of other moves. It’s great to see so many new moves being utilized by the AI.
New this year, is the ability to put your hands up on defense and move at the same time. This helps in altering a shot from the offensive player, without fouling. With new screen and hedge defenses, you should be able to defend the pick and roll a lot better this year, as well.
Drawing a foul using a pump fake was toned down and there are no loose ball fouls. Off the ball fouls, illegal screens and over the back fouls are still in the game. I did see some occasional sliding, but collisions are done so well you don’t see much of it.
The playcall system is pretty damn sexy. Every player has at least five plays, designed for them to run. Some, mainly the superstars, have more than five plays and you can cycle through more of them with the right trigger. The system functions exactly like last year. Setting up inbounds plays is a snap. New this year, during timeouts, you can choose the player you want to inbound the ball, the shooter and the play type (quick 2, 3 pointer, alley-oop, post or best ft shooter). There are also quick strategies for offense and defense. On offense you can space the floor to get that 1 on 1, screen for shooters, leak out on the break or crash the offensive boards. On the defensive side of the ball, there are different ways to put pressure on the shooters, double down in the post, focus on star players or force constant pressure on given situations.
The post game is a chess match. Offensively you have hop shots, stepbacks, dropsteps, up and unders, hooks or fades in the post. You can also quickly spin and take it to the rim. While there are plenty of offensive weapons for the post game, the defense hasn’t been forgotten. The defense can anticipate your moves, counter it with different things like “pull the chair” or attempt to steal the rock. Hitting the Y button gets you into a backdown position; you can hit Y again to face up. There are so many different options you can take while in the post, it’s almost a game within a game, for both the offensive and defensive players.
Presentation is ridiculously good. You’ve seen some of it in our exclusive gameplay video.
There was a very big focus on dynamic broadcast views. It reflects how the camera is on a real television broadcast. Every arena has a broadcast view just like you see when watching it on TV in your hometown. Every broadcast cam will be different, some will be zoomed in, others zoomed out, some higher and while others show a lower look.
Steve Kerr sounds incredible and the commentary team doesn’t skip a beat. He is definitely a sleeper addition to the game and the commentary actually seems even more fluid now, if that is even possible.
On the downside, the crowd seems to be lost at times. I noticed on a few occasions, I’d hit a big 3 or just a big shot in general and the crowd didn’t react like you would think they would. Even “And 1” calls didn’t cause much of a stir from the fans. I did notice, late in close games, the crowd would go bananas. I didn’t get to sim into the playoffs, so I’m not sure how the audio is there. The team did mention they added some things to the playoffs, but wouldn’t divulge any specifics.
and so on..
Basketball sim heaven, 2k11 is deleted from disk
I wanna try this move!
The “Dream Shake” animation was spot on. Performing it sounded easy enough, Y to get to the post, quick tap right stick both ways, then full fake, with a little longer of a tap of the right stick, then go ahead and shoot it. Rob Jones showed it in slow-mo replay a few times. Amazing.
My player
Commentators talk about how your game was in school, how there are scouts looking at all the players at the game. Other players want to be that lotto pick, so you will see players want to get noticed by the scouts.
Some people don't understand what a small forward should do. This year, there is an option that can be turned on or off called, run plays. Players can view dotted lines on the court, instead of running around trying to get open, etc. They can now see where to set the pick, where to shoot and learn the strategy of the game, instead of just running around trying to get open.
Last year, you started at a 38 - 40 player rating and couldn’t hit the broadside of the barn. This year you start in the low 60’s, so players can feel a little more confident with their skill level. Skill points will cost more.
Halftime recap shows things you did good and things you can improve on.
Pre-draft interviews are tailored to your position. The Wizards asked me a John Wall question. One of my answers mentioned that I would do the Dougie if the Wizards drafted me.
Fans will remember what you say in pre-draft interviews and from the sounds of it, will boo you when you travel to their arenas, if you are not drafted by them.
There are nine drills. The only returning drill is the shooting drill, everything else is new. I didn’t get to see what the other eight drills were.
Over 500 press conference events, specific to what is going on. For example, why didn’t you take the last second shot? Why did u pass it off? This will affect your team chemistry, fan support, etc.
The team decided to take out a few things, including the D-League, to get your player to the NBA quicker. They also give you an option, instead of playing all 82 games, players can play roughly 10 to 15 key matchups. This will keep things moving, for those that don’t have the time or patience to play all the games.
You can retire at any point in your career. I retired before I ever stepped foot on an NBA court, and Gerald Wallace showed up for my retirement. Photos will show during your retirement that plays back your entire career.
Online association confirmed (30 players can play a whole season 1 player plays with one team, they play each other, trade players, playoffs and one player is champion).
Also in the video, they say now that they can edit almost anything through NBA Today, even give us new player models through it if they work on a player's model or cyberface or whatever mid-season, along with hairstyles, and everything else they were previously able to edit.
That is, once the lockout is over and done with, I guess.
Reading the preview makes me drool and want this game now. They've added so much and improved so much more. They've really worked on it, and they deserve our money.
Yeah, they probably had to implement something like that because of the lockout - they can't even work with this year's rookies to get their models/faces/animations.
Hello, NBA2K fans.
It’s Mike Wang, Sr. Game Designer, with you today to talk about some of the new features and improvements made to the offensive end of the floor in NBA2K12 – primarily in the areas of Ball Handling and Shooting.
Ball Handling
Let’s start off talking about dribbling. Last year, one of our top AI engineers completely re-worked the dribbling system and it was immediately recognized as one of the biggest improvements in the jump between 2K10 and 2K11. We were really happy with how far it came last year, but there were certain things that we didn’t have time to get in… which is typically the case when undergoing huge code re-writes such as this. In a nutshell, the two main goals we wanted to achieve with the dribbler in NBA2K12 were to:
Refine the movement, in terms of look and feel
Make good ball handlers feel more “explosive”
The first area that needed to be addressed was speed. Feedback came through loud and clear from the forums that people wanted a proper walk dribble instead of the “hunchback” dribble that we had last year.
To be honest, I didn’t think it was that big a deal in the scope of things, but decided to spend some time refining it and capturing new walk dribble animations to appease the fans. After playing with the changes, I was amazed at how much I actually missed being able to walk up and down the court. It’s a small change, but goes a long way towards making the overall dribble model feel more complete.
On the other side of the spectrum, we felt that it was important to convey a better sense of speed, especially during fast breaks. This is where the blowout dribble comes in. Many of you have already seen this feature in various trailers and videos that we’ve released. Basically, if you press and hold Turbo while in the backcourt, the dribbler will throw the ball out ahead and sprint to catch up to it. It’s a great tool for gaining an advantage in transition and also makes our fast breaks feel more alive. The ball is essentially loose during the blowout though, so make sure you have space in front of you before trying it or you’ll end up throwing the ball off someone’s foot.
Size ups were another area that saw a nice improvement this year. In NBA2K11, size up dribbles were, essentially, short in-place dribble sequences that the ball handler could use to size up his check, in an effort to get him to shift one way or the other. Unfortunately, once the user kicked off the sequence, they pretty much had to sit there and watch a movie play out with little control over the outcome.
In NBA2K12, we wanted the user to feel more connected to the system so we broke the size ups up into much shorter sequences, and in most cases just one dribble. So you can now manually rock the ball from side to side by holding the Dribble/Shot modifier and moving the left thumbstick left, right, left, right, etc. Moving the left stick away from the hoop will cause your guy to quickly retreat, toward the ball hand will have him do a quick inside out dribble, toward the offhand will perform a crossover, and toward the hoop will be a more aggressive attacking type dribble. It’s a bit difficult to describe but when you get your hands on it, the difference is night and day. Instead of watching a sequence play out by itself, the user now has the ability to chain together ankle-breaking combos however he wants.
We tightened up a number of other aspects of dribbling: cuts, stops, etc. Collectively, these changes have made a significant improvement to the overall feel that we think you guys will appreciate. But the last thing I want to mention about the dribbler is this idea of explosiveness. The dribbler in NBA2K11 was smooth… almost too smooth. One of the things that separate a great ball handler from a poor one in the NBA, is the ability to change speeds on a dime. So when a Derrick Rose or Chris Paul takes you off the dribble with their first step, they don’t slowly accelerate… they explode off the bounce with a blur. In NBA2K12, we added a number of new dribble moves and launches that bring this aspect of real life dribbling into our game. For example, if you perform a size up, hesitation, or stepback move, you can quickly move the left stick in one of four directions to queue up an explosive first step:
Toward the ball hand = Go move launch
Toward the off hand, but more toward the basket = Crossover launch
Toward the off hand, directly across the body = Behind the Back launch
Toward the off hand, but more away from the basket = Spin launch
The stop and go game is deadly and can easily leave a flat-footed defender in the dust. One of my favorite things to do is to set up my defender with a few size up moves, explode to the basket with a behind the back or spin launch, follow that up with a stepback move to freeze the retreating defender, then throw another launch at him or pull up for a jumper depending on how much space I’ve created.
Shooting
As many of you know, one of the things I’m most passionate about when it comes to my virtual hoops is having a strong shot arsenal. Last year, we took some good steps with the addition of new shot types such as stepback and spin jumpers as well as my personal favorite, the “flick flick.” But we really wanted to make huge strides in taking shooting to the next level in NBA2K12.
To accomplish that, we added a new, extremely talented engineer to our AI team. He hit the ground running the day he started and the two of us spent a better part of the dev cycle iterating on new ideas and building the most robust shooting system to date. I could probably write a novel on all of the upgrades that we made this year, but I’ll try to just hit the highlights in this Insight.
The first thing we set out to do was add some new tech. I’ve long been a believer that in order to continue to grow Signature Style, which is one of the cornerstones of our game, we needed to explore a more dynamic shot engine. Otherwise, we’re going to hit a ceiling, run out of animation memory, and not be able to offer new shot content.
Enter Shot Compositing. The idea behind this technology is to blend multiple shot animations together in order to “build” a cohesive signature shot. Think of it as a flip book, remember the ones you read as a kid where you’d mix and match the head, torso, and legs of different characters to build your own? Shot Compositing works in a similar way. So if you go into Create a Player, you can assign a specific shooting form (upper body) to a player, and then mix and match different shot bases (lower body) to create the shot you want.
I am sure many of you saw the screen of Ronnie's My Player last week with his extremely funky created shot. This is what I am referring to in terms of Shot Compositing.
Shot compositing gave us the ability to essentially create a limitless number of sig shots, while still allowing for tons of new shot types without bloating our memory footprint. The tech is very cool and I think users will love having the ability to create unique jumpers. Plus, it yields consistency when you see a guy like Shawn Marion shooting all his shots with his trademark flick or Dirk always releasing with his high patented follow through.
The next big undertaking was the Change Shot code. Frankly, this feature was a mess and hadn’t been touched for several years. This year, the code was completely re-written and I’m proud to say that it’s a feature that’s finally worth talking about. You can now change your shot from any layup or dunk without it looking robotic, and the variation in shot finishes is at least 30 times more than it was last year. Now when you switch hands in mid-air or change from a dunk to a layup, it’s difficult to tell if it’s raw mocap or two animations blending together.
The system can also predict where the ball will release, whereas before it just played an animation blindly which led to a lot of shots going into/behind the backboard. Now you can use the feature with confidence that you’re not putting yourself into a worse shot than the one you started with. In fact, the feature is so strong that we started using it as one of our primary shot collision resolution tools. What does that mean? Well, in the past we relied heavily on two player animations to show contact between a shooter and a defender. Those animations looked nice but they felt horrible. You would get pulled into directions you didn’t want and defenders would get put into block animations without ever hitting a button. Not to mention you’d see the same outcomes over and over again.
For NBA2K12, we create these collisions on the fly using the physics of the two players. So if a shooter takes off and ends up hitting a defender in the air, we send him into the Change Shot system and play a shot that matches the shooter’s in air physics but shows him taking a hit in the process. It feels right, teaches the user not to force shots, and also provides a wide variety of outcomes that can play out when you drive into traffic. A lot of people have said that it’s the most impactful difference between last year and this year in making the user feel more in control on both offense and defense. And I’d probably agree.
Another major improvement is in the transitional blends going into various shots. This was something we attempted to improve last year but we really didn’t get as far as I’d hoped.
Shot gathers into pull-up jumpers are so seamless this year that it’s difficult to tell where the dribble animations end and where the shots begin. It’s one of my favorite upgrades and really makes shooting look and feel fantastic.
Of course, we’ve added a number of new shots to the user’s arsenal, but one that I want to call out is the escape dribble pull-up. From triple threat or stand dribble, if you hold LT on 360 (L2 on PS3) and move the Shot Stick in any direction, you can pull off an explosive escape dribble that directly transitions into a pull-up jumper. The nice thing about these shots is that you can break out of them. So after kicking one off, if the defense reads you properly and jumps in your way, you can retreat out or change directions while maintaining your dribble. There’s a risk/reward to it though because you can end up losing the ball if you collide with a defender. So be careful when and where you choose to use these shots.
Last year, we introduced something that I called the “flick flick” shot. Basically, these are up and under type shots in which you start a shot, pump fake, and then pivot out for a step through jumper or layup. This feature makes its return in NBA2K12 but in a much broader capacity. Now, you can flick flick out of any fake-able shot with no modifiers required. For example, in the post, quickly move the Shot Stick from side to side to start a shimmy shot, quickly center the stick while the player’s doing his shimmy before he goes into his shooting motion, then just as he starts his pump fake, move the Shot Stick again and you’ll end up with a shimmy fake to step through layup.
It might sound a bit complex but it quickly becomes second nature once you get used to the system. You can even chain several flick flicks together like Hakeem’s Dream Shake, although excessive faking will often lead to a traveling violation. One way I like to use the flick flicks is to drive in, start a hop step layup by holding LT and moving the Shot Stick left or right, then faking into an up and under layup if the defense commits on my initial hop. The shots you can invent with the flick flicks are really impressive and I’m excited to see the highlights people put together using the feature.
I think that’s one of the amazing things about basketball. No two scores are ever alike in real life and I think with NBA2K12, we’re starting to get to that point where the user can read and react to the defense and pull off amazing moves/shots on the fly by chaining from one offensive system to another. All the great scorers can create something out of nothing and now you can do that in our game as well.
I know I’ve concentrated a lot on the offensive aspects of our shot systems, but don’t worry, we didn’t neglect shot defense. Every shot you can perform in NBA2K12 can be countered by timely defense. From strips to contests to blocks, every shot has multiple windows of vulnerability that also take into account the shooter’s ability with a given shot type as well as the defender’s shot defense ability. For example, if you properly read the shooter and hit the Steal button at the right time while he’s driving toward you, you can force him to fumble the ball, go into a forced shot animation, or sometimes even get outright stripped.
From a team strategy standpoint, we went to great lengths to re-balance scoring to properly match the real NBA’s shot percentages. You’ll be amazed at how accurate your stats will turn out if you play in Simulation Game Style at 12 minutes quarters. Your box scores will look like something straight out of NBA.com. We’ve also added a new feature that I encourage everyone to turn on. If you navigate to Options >> My NBA >> Presentation and turn the option titled “Shot Quality Feedback” to “All Shots,” a letter grade will appear at the top of the screen representing the quality of the shot taken. It grades the shot based on all the factors that we use to determine the final shot percentage of that shot, things like: release timing, defensive impact, range, shooter’s skill, etc. The goal was to teach users the importance of taking high quality shots throughout the course of the game in order to be successful. It’s also a great feedback mechanism to gauge your own shot defense against your opponent.
Another area of focus for us this year was the AI’s (artificial intelligence) usage of shots. In the past, we admittedly haven’t spent enough time adequately equipping the AI with all the same weapons that are available to the user. They would often play a shot randomly, not really looking at the difference between a straight up jumper or one that would create space. This is greatly improved in NBA2K12. The AI is much better at recognizing driving opportunities and, based on the particular player’s tendencies, will now utilize the full suite of shots available in the game.
There have been a lot of instances watching different people play the AI this year in which I felt the AI played smarter, and took better shots than the human. There’s nothing better than watching an AI ball handler take me off the drive, start a spin jumper, pump fake to get me into the air, and then step through for an uncontested floater. It’s a thing of beauty and I don’t even feel bad when I get schooled.
The last thing I want to mention regarding shooting, is the new free throw mechanic. At first glance, it looks and feels largely the same as last year. Pull the Shot Stick down to begin the free throw, center the stick as the player releases the shot. Early in the year, we actually experimented with a few different free throw systems like controlling your power and arc, but decided in the end that simpler was better.
So what’s new about the free throw system? It’s been completely re-tuned to accurately model real life percentages. You still need to learn the timing of your player’s sig free throw, but the timing window and margin for error directly correlate to how good a free throw shooter you have, whereas before they were somewhat identical for all players. I know a lot of people mastered Shaq and Dwight Howard’s free throw animations because they had “tells” that cued the user when to release the stick. So there was no purpose in going to the Hack-A-Shaq strategy against certain users because Shaq would knock down 80% of his foul shots.
This year, mastering them will still yield realistic percentages because the slightest bit of error will greatly reduce your chances of making the shot. On the flip side, you almost have to go out of your way to miss free throws with great free throw shooters like Steve Nash. We also display the percentage of the free throw make/miss chance to give you feedback on how well you timed your release based on your shooter’s skill.
Conclusion
As you can see, it was a very busy year for us on the offensive end of the floor this dev cycle… and I haven’t even touched on all the upgrades. I’m excited to read/hear the feedback from the community as we continue to push the envelope and blur the lines between real life hoops and video games. Now I gotta get back to work on NBA2K13.
All this talk initially about how would 2K Sports top themselves with this year's NBA 2K installment. And by all means have they proved to us that they have been hard at work all year. We're talking about tons of genuine improvements and additions.
I'll say it again. It's developers like these that deserve our money, despite the past 2 years' patch fiasco.
Yea, hopefully this year we'll see better patch cycles, working online mode and improved communication between 2K and the players. I've bought the past three NBA 2K titles and will most likely buy this one, but damn it, I want multiplayer if I'm going to pay money. I want an easy way to jump online and play with my friend(s). Every years it's either not worked or crashed when it did actually connect. They also need to make it less convoluted. Playing online should be easy and intuitive, not a pain in the ass. Game is shaping up to be an amazing title, even if it is last year's rosters...
All this talk initially about how would 2K Sports top themselves with this year's NBA 2K installment. And by all means have they proved to us that they have been hard at work all year. We're talking about tons of genuine improvements and additions.
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I was skeptical because 2k11 was so good and you would think that without competition (Elite) they would get lazy.
And they end up re-writing half the game post game is what I'm looking forward to the most, as well as my player.
Yea, hopefully this year we'll see better patch cycles, working online mode and improved communication between 2K and the players. I've bought the past three NBA 2K titles and will most likely buy this one, but damn it, I want multiplayer if I'm going to pay money. I want an easy way to jump online and play with my friend(s). Every years it's either not worked or crashed when it did actually connect. They also need to make it less convoluted. Playing online should be easy and intuitive, not a pain in the ass. Game is shaping up to be an amazing title, even if it is last year's rosters...
Their online code is crap, even on consoles there are issues, here on pc you basically need to have luck when connecting to opponent. As I've seen nothing mentioning this, I don't expect improvements here.
The biggest issue for me is if there will be a lockout. I've so gotten used to living rooster updates that mimic real hot and cold streaks, that I'd seriously reconsider buying it just because of it.
I've grabbed the X360 demo, which is the first quarter of Mavs vs Heat (in what seems to be a regular season game, no special playoff presentation), 4 minutes (way too short but you can play it over and over again), no play-calling and no commentary.
Ask me anything, I'll probably be spending all my free time on this demo until the release date, so I'll try and wet your appetite with my answers while we all wait for the release.
Overall, I've already been impressed by the new game mechanics; the new post-game, the help defense, etc. The fluidity of the animations is unbelievable, the presentation has been improved with new, more detailed overlays and impressive starting sequences. Another thing I've noticed already is that you can't spam-defense anymore. Repeatedly trying to steal or block won't work, as your player needs time to recover from each attempt and put himself into position again, and if the other player is swift, like Wade, he'll leave your defender after the failed steal attempt dazzled and feet back from him.
...I want multiplayer if I'm going to pay money. I want an easy way to jump online and play with my friend(s). Every years it's either not worked or crashed when it did actually connect. They also need to make it less convoluted. Playing online should be easy and intuitive, not a pain in the ass.
Completely agree! I love 2K, especially 2k11, but Im tired of buying the game and my friends all getting the game, and then having online be complete crap (lag, uber low quality graphics, cant connect) or not work at all. They need to fix that if they want a cent more from me.
Only two teams not much one can ask. Well, did you try flooping? It should be the B button and I think someone should back you down in the post, too bad there is no Shaq these two teams don't have a heavy post presence.
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who cares about online historic teams, or online.
