NBA Live 13: Bits & Pieces, Looking Ahead

Welcome to the last feature in my series of pre-E3 speculative articles on NBA Live 13, where I take a look at some of the things I’d like to see and think we’re likely to see in this year’s game. This final article covers some odds and ends: things that didn’t really fit into the previous articles but I feel are definitely worth mentioning, as well as a couple of things that I overlooked.

With E3 and new information about NBA Live 13 almost upon us, I’ll also be wrapping up the feature with a few final thoughts as we look ahead to the preview season that’s just about to get underway. I hope you’ve been enjoying the articles so far and are looking forward to learning more details about NBA Live 13. We anticipate bringing you some cool features here at the NLSC this year, along with all the latest news as it comes out.

So, without any further ado…

In-Game Saves

I’m mentioning the ability to save games in progress because it’s something that a lot of us would like to see. However, with everything that NBA Live 13 is trying to do, I’m guessing that we’ll have to go without this one for another year. It is of course a very handy feature for anyone who is short on time or needs to step away abruptly and doesn’t want to lose their progress, so suffice to say it would be very well received. If there’s a way to get it into the game this year then that would be fantastic, however I have a feeling that it’s something that will have to be kept in mind for NBA Live 14.

Creation Modes

I’m not expecting a great deal of attention to be paid to the creation modes in NBA Live 13 and honestly, that’s OK. If it means the focus is on the core gameplay experience and polishing up the game modes, then I say the right areas are being made a priority. I would hope that create-a-player retains the current level of functionality though with the ability to assign different jumpshot styles, dunk packages etc, with reasonably deep face customisation tools.

Something that I would like to see brought back is create-a-team. It need only be basic this time around, a small selection of generic basketball themed logos, the ability to pick team colours and set basic team info. This one is way overdue as the game hasn’t featured create-a-team since NBA Live 2000 more than a decade ago. It is something that we can do without if more important elements of the game are receiving attention and this is another one that’ll probably have to wait its turn until next year at the earliest, but if we do get it back this year I’m not expecting it to be too deep.

EA Locker

This is actually something that I forgot to mention along with my other expectations for online features. I expect that the EA Locker will be in the game this year, facilitating the sharing of rosters, slider settings and created players. However, I’m hoping that it will be a little more user friendly this year, allowing public sharing of files without having to add other players to a friends list first, similar to what THQ has done with Community Creations in WWE ’12.

This could be extra handy if we were to get some…

Modding tools for the console versions

I’ve already mentioned that one of the main reasons we want a PC version of NBA Live 13 is our community’s ability to make outstanding patches and add-ons for the games. That still stands, but it’d be cool if we could bring the same culture to the consoles with some official tools and then share our creations via the EA Locker. I’m guessing that art updates would be a tricky situation but an official roster management tool would go a long way in helping to create quality community made rosters.

I’m not holding my breath on this one, but if nothing else it’s another idea worth mentioning for NBA Live 14.

Additional game mode ideas

In my game modes article, I very briefly touched on the idea of updating the NBA Academy to ensure that there are drills to improve all skills for Dynasty Mode, as well as allowing gamers to practice the basics. Something I forgot to mention was the ability to practice free throws, which is a feature that a lot of us have wanted to see for years. Should the game introduce a brand new method of shooting free throws – or even if it uses a familiar method from a previous game in the series – I’d say this is practically essential.

Speaking of expansion to practice mode, it’d be fun to be able to play some one-on-one, two-on-two and three-on-three pickup games for a little variety. Having these modes available online as well would be even better, but simply having them as offline modes with local multiplayer would be a good start. I imagine it would be feasible, though given it’s not a priority (and fair enough), we probably won’t see it this year.

Historical Content

The appearance of NBA legends in NBA Jam: On Fire Edition suggests that not everyone is signed to an exclusive deal with 2K Sports, though Michael Jordan certainly is (as far as I’m aware). Nevertheless, it would be nice to see some form of historical content in NBA Live 13, some legends teams or even just a pool of legends that could be added to the active rosters. We’ve yet to have any legends in the current generation of NBA Live games, so this could be a good way to ease them back in as a small bonus feature.

If there is any historical content in NBA Live 13 though, I’m guessing it will be in the form of hardwood classic jerseys, which made their return in NBA Live 10. With NBA teams wearing throwback jerseys on several occasions during the course of the regular season, it’s something that we need to see in the game. I’d expect most (if not all) of the retros seen in NBA Live 10 to make a return in NBA Live 13 along with a few new ones, such as the ABA jerseys that various teams sported during the 2011/2012 season. Anything that’s in the cards for the 2012/2013 season is also likely to be included, as I would expect that both EA and 2K will have the inside track on that.

Final Thoughts & Looking Ahead

Once again, if NBA Live 13 can hit on a majority of the points that I’ve discussed in this series of articles, I believe that I’ll be quite pleased with the results. The game certainly has a chance to make a strong comeback this year and win back some of the audience, as not everyone has expressed complete satisfaction with what NBA 2K is doing and quite a few people are looking for something different.

The stuff mentioned in Kotaku’s first look at the game, early comments from the development team and impressions from the inaugural NBA Live Advisory Council have all been very positive and promising. It sounds like the new development team has a lot of good ideas, with a good grasp on the kind of things players want as well as what we’ve been dissatisfied with in previous NBA Live releases. That’s an encouraging sign that the game is good hands and can get back on the right track.

The bar shouldn’t be set too high this year but to make a successful comeback, NBA Live 13 needs to be a solid game across the board. Good, sim-oriented gameplay with fluid and responsive controls, game modes with pleasing depth and functionality, robust and reliable online support, slick and realistic looking animations, polished presentation…these are the things that we need to see for the game to come back strong, and the things the game needs to continue to build upon to find success in the years to come.

Thanks for checking out this series of articles on what I’d like to see in NBA Live 13! Please feel free to leave a comment or join in the discussion in the NBA Live 13 section of the NLSC Forum with your thoughts on what the game needs to do this year and what you’re expecting to see. Stay tuned for our E3 coverage!