The Company Line -- 2k vs. EA - jr2424's Blog

jr2424's Blog

The Company Line -- 2k vs. EA

Posted on September 22, 2010 at 04:57 PM.

With the basketball franchises less than two weeks, the stretch run for making the yearly "decision" is upon us. But with both demos out in the wild, this once-tough decision seems to be as clear as day to me. One game (2K11) has not gotten complacent, in fact they've made arguably the biggest leap in features and improvements in one year's time that I can ever remember a sports game has made. While the other (Elite) has made the most dramatic regression in one year that I can remember.

I've read through most of the posts on both impression threads and for the most part they are as expected. But there are those who have a "loyalty" to one company or another for some unexplainable reason. Maybe it's nostalgia. Maybe it's despise for the other game's product. Whatever the reason, I cannot fathom why any of us (myself included) would back a company blindly for any reason.

I was a die-hard Live fan from 95-2007. Bought every game year after year and enjoyed them. But in 2007, I bought live for the PS2. I couldn't take the fact that the AI point guards would take a majority of the shots no matter who was on their team. That year, I upgraded to an XBox 360 and decided to go with 2K7 because of all the positive reviews. When I started playing that game, my friend (who is a bigger hoops nut than me) and I were astounded by the signature moves and all the little things that made that game feel authentic. From then on I have made 2K my game of choice even though each year I've downloaded both demos in the hopes that Live could win me back.

Last year I though Live had made a tremendous improvement and even though I bought 2K10, I figured this would be the year that I might return to my once-beloved franchise. The reason I've always rooted for Live is their dribbling mechanic, which I thought was way more intuitive than 2K's. But when I heard Mike Wang had left EA because of the direction the franchise was heading, I had a bad feeling about what was coming. And my fears were realized with Elite's demo.

For those of you on these boards, I consider you die-hard fans of the sport or sports you follow. For me that's basketball, and I always want the most authentic experience. So I can't understand, under any circumstances, how anyone here could even think about getting Elite when 2K has made such a phenomenal leap. I know both games have not been released and 2K's demo was by far the most bare-bones demo I've ever seen for any demo I've ever downloaded. But even with this, if you are looking for an N-B-A experience, there's only one choice.

But if for some reason 2K sat back and got lazy and Elite made a 180, I would pick up Elite in a heartbeat. The reason? I don't care about either of these companies and neither should you. They are trying to persuade you to buy their product. That's it. If you're paying $60, you should get the most for your money. NFL fans don't have this choice. We do.

Comments

# 1 instant000 @ Sep 22

I agree with you. Fortunately for me, I was able to switch over to 2K around NBA2K5.

Like most, I peruse the message boards for opinions, but I also look for new features, and positive feedback. I especially like it when they put in features that people have actually asked for! (I wish I could find that post where someone put down the different stages of a team, and how teams should build according to need .... but if you read the NBA 2k11 association improvements, they seem eerily similar to that posting ... I can't remember, I read so many different sites: 2ksports.com, operationssports.com, nba-live.com (it is a live-focused site, but they rep 2k well there, wonder how they feel about the elite name switch? LOL), and a few others randomly.

It seems the developers are getting the word from the forums, and trying to implement them.

Thanks 2K.

# 2 statum71 @ Sep 22

I hear ya man. I've been hoping the former Live would make a great comeback just because of how far I go back with EA basketball. See, I first started out with Lakers vs. Celtics on the Sega Genesis about 20 years ago.

But after I switched over to 2K in 07....I've been sold every since. The game just feels like I'm watching TV, which is EXACTLY what you want as a gamer.

This is another reason I'm sooooooo glad the EA purchase of Take Two fell through. Just think if 2K had been eliminated and all we had for NBA was Elite.

Oh Lord!