NBA Live 08 Wishlist

The NBA Live 08 Wishlist was compiled using the suggestions of the NLSC Team and fans in the community via email and the NLSC Forum. It was submitted to the production team on January 24th, 2007.

Top Ten Wishes

Don’t rush the game out; make sure bugs like the ones present in NBA Live 07 are stamped out before release.
Focus on realistic gameplay with intelligent and true to life strategy/AI, with players performing like their real life counterparts.
Expand upon Dynasty Mode’s features while fixing issues such as the height of generated rookies, the stats/simulation engine and trade/free agency logic.
Include the little things: the ability to reorder rosters as in years past in Dynasty Mode, save stats, replays and screenshots, the ability to view player averages as well as totals, team rankings, career stats in table form (similar to trading cards and NBA.com profiles) etc.
Make Primacy a visible rating and do not have the game recalculate it; it continues to cause problems in Dynasty Mode with the wrong players scoring the most points. Similarly, make sure the right players are taking the most shots in gameplay rather than the point guard accounting for most of the CPU team’s field goal attempts.
Make the presentation as realistic as possible with starting lineup introductions for both teams in all game modes, a TV style camera angle, instant replays for any player, referees on the sideline etc.
Add a deeper creation mode including custom teams, jerseys, arenas etc. Allow editing of all attributes (Primacy, Shooting Range, Dunk Package etc) in Create/Edit Player.
Add more stats screens for Dynasty/Season Mode such as double doubles, triple doubles and efficiency, as well as all-time statistics leaders. Allow active players to tie and break NBA records.
Design a more user-friendly UI for the PC version with less back and forth when navigating menu screens, drop down and pop-up menus, click-and-drag slider bars and full controller support.
Ensure that there are sliders for all aspects of gameplay (particularly Fatigue and Substitution Frequency for both the User and CPU).

Gameplay/AI

Implement real NBA strategy. The CPU should beat you through playing a good game, not “cheating”.
Remove point guard domination and ensure that the right players are taking the most shots and scoring the most points. Players could perhaps utilise shooting and passing tendencies to control how often they shoot or look to pass the ball. Proper balance could allow players like Steve Nash to have big scoring games while still racking up assists.
Add player tendencies/behaviour so they play like their real life counterparts.
Ensure that there are sliders for all aspects of gameplay (particularly Fatigue and Substitution Frequency for both the User and CPU).
Also ensure the sliders have more of an effect, for example a setting of 0 for offensive rebounds will make it virtually impossible for the user/cpu to grab an offensive rebound.
Bring back the ability to save a game in progress.
Realistic substitution patterns with players like LeBron playing 40+ minutes. Also allow players to be subbed for players at a different position and reorder the lineup on the floor according to secondary positions.
Bring back support for analog sensitivity so players can either walk, jog or run.
Add sliders for each team (eg substitution frequency, fast break frequency, etc)
Add the option of locking a player when auto-subs are enabled so that he will remain on the court until you decide to sub him.
Add the ability to set team strategy before starting a game.
Make the element of the home crowd or a hostile crowd on the road more of a factor.
Tone down offensive rebounding, don’t allow the CPU to grab countless offensive boards when it needs to catch up; the user should be able to effectively box out. Also fix the problem of players jumping backwards/away from the rebound at undesirable times.
Make having a hand in the shooter’s face more of a factor so that the shot may be at least altered if it isn’t blocked.
Tone down Freestyle Superstar moves so that they are realistic and not overpowering. Make fatigue a factor in the ability to perform more athletic FSS moves and also make them a larger drain on a player’s stamina to reduce abuse.
Allow all players to attempt at least a few special moves (such as ball fakes and up-and-under layups), with their success depending on their ratings. Superstars would of course retain a more impressive moveset and would have more success with more difficult moves.
Lower the scores to a more realistic level.
Add the ability to force jump-balls and steal the ball when a player is sitting on the floor after diving for a loose ball.
Allow the user to dive for loose balls (it’s been virtually impossible in NBA Live 06 and 07).
Allow players to go after loose balls when their shot is blocked or the ball is stripped from them.
Fix adjusted shots so that the player does not end up behind the backboard.
Bring back the ability to call for a pick without running a pick and roll or pick and pop play.
Don’t always have the small forward inbounding the ball. Allow the user to designate the inbounder if they wish.
Improve the backing down/drop step/spinning baseline moves so they are more fluid and effective.
Bring back flagrant fouls, but do not make injuries depend on them.
Further tone down the CPU’s ability to catch up – make it realistic.
Add the ability to dribble out of the double team (depending on player’s ratings).
Give the user more control over stealing the ball when double teaming. Being too aggressive should result in a foul.
Add more hook shots to the game, including running hooks.
Restrict direct passing options to players that would be visible to the ballhandler. Would be affected by a player’s Offensive Awareness.
Do not allow the CPU to make blind and “velcro-hands” interceptions.
Allow the ball to be knocked loose and picked up so that steals aren’t reliant on the morphing animation.
Allow good shotblockers to block more jumpshots.
Allow “back down” to be set as a shoulder button rather than the analog stick.
Allow pro-hop/back down to be set as a regular button rather than holding the right analog stick up.
Give the user the choice between the T-Meter or right analog stick method for free throws. Alternatively, add more diagrams/on-screen help for the right analog stick method or better yet, add free throw shooting to Practice Mode.
Add special moves and dunk packages for Legends/old school players.
Have players injure themselves during play and not just on hard shooting fouls.
Don’t allow players to exploit moves such as the Inside Scorer hookshot from downtown for players like Dirk Nowitzki.
Allow more time between shooting fouls and the free throw situation ie. until the shot has no chance of going in.
Allow players to better defend the seemingly unstoppable layups and Freestyle dunks.
Make sure the shooting guard runs up the court with the point guard instead of walking behind him.
Allow players to run the baseline on the inbounds after a made basket to avoid the interception.
Make it possible to run away from/pass before an intentional foul.
Make the CPU more intelligent about going to the intentional foul; no foul should occur when a team is down by eight with 2 seconds left, for example.
Do not allow players to trigger FSS from a standing start at the free throw line.
Fix issues with three point line where some attempts from behind the arc were not considered three point attempts while sometimes attempts inside the arc or with a foot on the line were counted as three pointers.
Make sure deflections are not counted as turnovers and blocked shots are counted as missed field goals.
Add Defensive X-Factor players.
Add more effective driving moves from the triple threat position and more post moves.
More shots that graze the rim as they go in rather than hitting all net or bouncing on the rim first.
Add the ability to make hard fouls to prevent FSS players from completing moves around the hoop.
Allow players to attempt better shots when fouled in the act of shooting; more three point plays on jumpshots (but not every time!). The user should also be able to put up better layup attempts when fouled in the act of shooting. The CPU seems to be able to do it frequently enough (perhaps a little too often at times).
Add Create-a-Play/Edit Playbooks.
Prevent players from attempting dunks from completely unrealistic distances; perhaps utilise the dunk button for tear drop shots when completely out of range for a dunk attempt as in years past. Players who cannot dunk should also just attempt a layup if the dunk button is pressed rather than attempting (and botching) a dunk.
Add more support for keyboard players.

Dynasty Mode

Add multiplayer Dynasty Mode and the option to switch teams without an offer (or add the ability to apply for a GM position with another team)
Allow users to select 29 and 58 game schedules if they don’t wish to play 82 game seasons.
Allow display settings to be changed after starting a Dynasty game.
Add the ability to hire and fire head coaches; have head coaches retire. Add the ability to promote an assistant coach to head coach as well as hire retired players.
Fix the stats/simulation engine so that a player’s stats reflect his real life performance.
Improve logic for selecting awards as well as All-Stars.
Simulate fan voting for All-Star starters and allow the human and CPU coaches to vote for the All-Star reserves.
Do not allow the Assistant Head Coach to automatically reorder rosters. Allow roster reordering as in years past (the same method used when editing the rosters outside Dynasty Mode).
Fix the CPU’s tendency to randomly sit or bench players who should be starting.
Let the user work out trades and signings in the span of a day. Teams don’t work out trades via email over a couple of days; they hammer out bargains over the phone. Using the current PDA system for trades wastes too much time on the schedule and makes deadline trades extremely difficult.
Deeper free agent negotiations including bidding with other teams. Players should also sometimes refuse offers no matter how much money is offered depending on how they feel about the team, team chemistry, etc.
Show more trade information (contract length/size, etc) in Trade Players menu.
Allow trades that leave a team with more than 15 players, forcing them to waive a player (or players) after making the deal.
Make potential a factor in trades, similar to the logic used in the NHL series.
Add 10 day contracts.
Have CPU teams give reasons why they are not interested in a trade (a certain player being off-limits, trade leaves them too weak at a certain position, etc).
Bring back the ability to Confirm/Cancel trade from NBA Live 2000, as it allows you to shop a player and see what trades the CPU would agree to before pulling the trigger.
Have players demand trades and releases.
Add a trading block feature to shop players to other teams. This could affect a player’s morale and team chemistry, depending on whether they want to be traded.
Fix issues with the heights of generated players. NBA Live 07 still saw too many undersized players.
Add the ability to negotiate extensions before a player’s contract expires.
Recognise retired jersey numbers and disallow players from using them. Retire numbers for CPU teams as well as giving the option to retire a player’s number.
Expand on Simulation Intervention by allowing a player to resume simulating after intervening or simulate any game to the end.
Add the ability to save during the offseason
High-rated free agents should lower their asking price through the season so that they match latch on with a team, even if it’s only until the end of the year.
Do not automatically sign rookies when they are drafted. Allow teams to hold their draft rights and choose whether to sign them or not.
Allow Draft day trades.
Make the offseason less linear. The draft and draft lottery should occur at set times, but you should be able to re-sign players, sign players, trade players and see players retiring throughout the offseason.
During the offseason, allow more than 15 players on the roster. Each team must cut their roster down to a maximum of 12 active and 3 inactive players before the season begins.
Ability to un-retire players within the first year of their retirement. Might be a way to correct an early/unexpected retirement, having the option to coax a player into playing one more year. Also, receive a warning when one of your players is considering retirement.
Add more stats screens such as double doubles, triple doubles and efficiency, as well as all-time statistics leaders. Allow active players to tie and break NBA records.
Allow the user to view all player information at the draft: Height, Weight, Potential, Projected as well as scouting report details.
Add the Injury Exception.
Add the ability to turn off trades between CPU teams and the ability to make moves for all teams (like Season Mode) for those who want to update their Dynasty with the latest trades.
Add sign-and-trade deals.
Add All-NBA Third Team to Player Awards
Add more statistics such as Season Highs, Career Highs, Team Leaders, etc.
Allow the user to view the PDA even if there are no unread messages.
Allow future picks to be traded (within reason).
Add summer league games and the D-League; allow call ups.
Add season and career ending/altering injuries (in moderation!), as well as more realistic injury durations.
Add more management/owner features such as setting ticket prices, merchandise sales, etc.
Add 5 on 5 team scrimmages/practice. Allow access to Practice Mode from within Dynasty Mode (preferably with free throw practice as well).
Have players slump/go through cold streaks. The best of the best should be on their game most of the time but shouldn’t be guaranteed to post monster stats every single time you play them.
Allow more tasks to be automated including scouting, trainer and researching rumours (as well as any owner tasks if they’re added) so that players don’t need to worry about them if they just want to manage the roster and play the games.
Control over injured players, ie. allow players with nagging injuries to play through them at reduced effectiveness or choose to sit them so they can recover more quickly from injuries they’re able to play through. Serious injuries should of course still put players out of action until they are sufficiently healed.
Add the ability to train players in specific areas such as three point shooting, passing, defensive awareness, blocking, conditioning etc rather than picking a generic area (Offense, Defense, and Athletics)to focus on.
Remove pruning of Free Agent pool so that more inexpensive, lower rated players are available.
Allow trades for cash considerations.
All-time records, player and team awards should be saved within the Dynasty without needing to save your settings or a profile.

Graphics & Presentation

Design a more user-friendly UI for the PC version of the game that utilises the mouse with less back and forth when navigating menu screens, pop-up and drop down menus, click-and-drag slider bars and full controller support.
Utilise higher resolution on PC version to show full rosters without scrolling in re-order/trade players menus.
Show player stats in Substitution screen.
Fix the speed of instant replays.
Bring back the traditional automatic replays for all players with the ability to set the frequency as well as turn them off altogether. Do not trigger them until the play is completed and the opposition are about to inbound the ball.
Allow instant replays after the buzzer so you can rewatch (and take screenshots of) game winning/tying shots.
When saving screenshots, make sure that the player focus box is not displayed or can be turned off. Alternatively, bring back NBA Live 2000’s Save Screenshot feature which did not require the replay control panel to be manually hidden.
Add full player introductions for both teams for all game modes.
Improve the statistics displays and allow sorting on all stats screens. Display career stats in table format (similar to nba.com player profiles and trading cards).
Bring back all the detailed statistics the game used to display; all averages for players and teams, totals, home won/loss record and percentage and so on.
Add animations in the Playbook menu.
Make it possible to view a player’s potential, not only during the draft but for all young players in the league.
Add pre-game/post-game/halftime shows with highlights and stats.
Bring back the team ranks (scoring, rebounding, defense, ball control and overall) in addition to overall team ratings.
Bring back User Profiles.
Remove the “logo flash” between cutscenes etc. Replace it with stats overlays.
Add more stats overlays during games (top scorers, field goal percentage, current run, etc).
Allow players to have multiple hairstyles.
Display player career stats and info when viewing retired jerseys.
When two players on the same team have the same surname, display their first initial.
Add a better TV style camera angle.
Add 3D crowds. Have some people wearing home team jerseys and perhaps holding up signs.
Make instant replays accessible at any time.
Show players walking over to the scorer’s table when substitutions are pending.
Add more player celebrations after big plays. Have players show a lot more emotion on the court.
Add movement to jerseys, shorts and hair.
Add more cutscenes, similar to NBA Live 2004; add a lengthy cutscene when your team wins the championship.
Have more reactions for players on the bench.
Show more trade information (contract length/size, etc) in Trade Players menu.
Show players in warm-up gear before the game and on the bench.
More signature jumpshots and free throws (in all versions).
Support for widescreen.
Bring back the old halftime show videos.
Add new cameras in instant replay with the ability to plant a camera in a position and have it track the ball or player without moving.
Deeper ESPN Integration for all platforms.
Add real time shadows.
Improve clipping (grabbing the rim, not going through the floor, etc).
Show stats leaders in pause menu during gameplay.
Allow scrolling through players in Edit Player without exiting the screen, for faster review and editing of multiple players on the team.
Display overall ratings in Edit Player.
Add active scoreboards.

Sounds Effects & Music

Better commentary AI; leave some lines for later in the game, have the commentary respond more to the current situation.
Add team specific crowd chants.
More variety in the game’s soundtrack. Alternatively, allowing the user to easily import their own tracks.
Add more common names, including first names, for created and generated players.
Better dribbling sound effects.
Add better support for 5.1 Surround Sound.

Roster Management

Add a “Creation Zone”: Design custom courts, jerseys and shoes etc as well as create players.
Further expand the amount of customisation for created players. Also perhaps include a few templates so that you can automatically select a certain headshape etc.
Add even more hairstyles/facial hairstyles, particularly more shaved head/stubble hairstyles. Make all hairstyles, facial hair and hair colours available for any created player regardless of skin tone.
Make weight/body type independant of one another.
Bring back the Custom Team feature, with the following changes:
- Ability to designate custom team as a regular NBA team, All-Star team, or special team. Special team would basically be the old format of custom teams, while the other classifications speak for themselves. Of course, since it’s a created team, it would be deleted when the rosters are reset, no matter what the classification.
- Ability to specify uniforms worn – custom made ones (selecting colours, etc), individual NBA team jerseys (so you could create All-Star/All-Rookie/All-Sophomore teams), or perhaps some generic ones.
- More generic custom team art. Simple “NBA” logos, a basketball going through a hoop, etc. Do not make the team logo automatically show up on the jerseys. This way, you could make a custom East All-Stars team from the 80s that would use the East All-Stars logo, but would have a red or white jersey with the 80s style NBA All-Star logo on it. Basically, just a little more customisation.
Stop making abilities like Primacy hidden ratings where they are recalculated and messed up. Allow much more access to player attributes in Create and Edit Player menus, including dunkpacks, primacy, shooting form, destiny/potential, learning, work ethic and shooting range.
Add multi-team trades. Allow the user to suggest movement between CPU teams. All CPU teams must of course agree to the deal.
Allow teams to trade more than three players. Make draft picks independent of players when filling draft “slots”.
Allow editing of shoe colours.
Add Create/Edit-a-Coach.
Add the ability to export and import rosters in Dynasty Mode.
Add a suspended list/injury exception so a team can have more than 15 players on its roster.
Allow trading for an empty roster space.
Allow trading of draft picks outside of Dynasty Mode so that a Dynasty game may be started with a team’s picks reflecting their real life situation.
Bring back the old “Restore Rosters” feature, where all transactions and created players are wiped. Make it possible to reload the default rosters at any time.
Add the ability to edit the default All-Star teams. Also have the ability to “Select New All-Stars” when playing an exhibition game with the All-Star teams. These changes, unlike editing the default teams, would only be temporary.
Bring back the ability to disable automatic roster re-ordering, with extended options to turn it off simply for the user’s team or all teams (all teams by default when working with the default rosters).
Add the ability to create Legends and modify the Decade All-Star team rosters and Legends pool.
Add the ability to modify arm length/wingspan, hand size and other physical attributes.
Fix the shoe editing bug that doesn’t allow the user to change a player’s away shoes.
Release more official roster updates.
Add the ability to select jumpshot styles.
Add the ability to import faces/photos/portraits into Create-a-Player.

Realism & Accuracy

Add the “5 Seconds Back to the Basket” rule
Add lane violations.
Add loose ball/off the ball/over the back/pushing fouls
Add Offensive Goaltending.
Add 20 second timeouts.
No substitutions after the second free throw/no subs on shooter.
Allow inbounding into the backcourt after advancing past halfcourt, as per the updated rule.

Patching/Modding

Make sure the game is patcher-friendly, from the graphics to the DBFs.
Allow customisation of the Playlist with a folder for MP3s.
Assign practice gear and other items to specific players.
Leave in old SPEECHIDs, career stats, nicknames, birth town/state information as Easter Eggs wherever possible.

All-Star Weekend

Expand dunk contest with the ability to dunk two basketballs, jump over teammates, etc.
Add Skills Challenge event.
Add Shooting Stars event.
Add boxscores for All-Star Game, Rookie Challenge and allow user to view results of the dunk contest/three point shootout.
Add custom rules for the Rookie/Sophomore game (the 20 minute halves, no foul out, etc).
No time or replacement limit in Dunk Contest (or allow both to be toggled off if desired).
Normal court lighting in Dunk Contest and Three Point Shootout; no curtain at midcourt.

Online Mode

Turn on Fatigue for Ranked Games.
Allow users to change settings such as the Playbook and sliders.
Instead of (or in addition to) the online mode being P2P (and hence limited to 2 players), release a dedicated server (so that ISPs can host games in a similar fashion to FPS like Counter Strike), allowing up to 30 players to connect to the one server.
Allow more characters in the chat box.
Allow LAN play.

Settings & Ratings

Allow different sliders to be used in All-Star Weekend games.
Add a slider for defense reaction time.
Add a slider for alley-oop frequency and success.
Add the ability to select different rules (NBA, International, College, Old School NBA).
Bring back the “Box Out” and “Crash Boards” options in team strategy.
Add a slider for Freestyle Superstar effectiveness.
Allow Freestyle Superstars to be disabled completely if desired.
Add the ability to save Playbook settings.
Add the ability to set a double team for a single player throughout the game, no matter which position he subs in at and not applied to players that are subbed for him.
Add more defensive goals in the Task List (holding teams below 100, 90, 80 etc).

Miscellaneous

Release a demo!
Add a single player Career Mode similar to the one in Madden.
Add more throwback jerseys.
Add more NBA Legends (well, whoever can legally be included anyway).
Add historic courts.
Add more special teams, such as the current Team USA.
Add the ability to save replays as mpeg or avi files.
Add a practice mode with more than one player. Add drills and free throw practice.
Add the ability to select different All-Star jerseys; current, retro or original team jerseys.
Add classic/championship teams.
Add a 00s All-Stars team
For active players in the legends pool and decade all-stars, use a different (ie younger) face for their legendary counterpart.
Retain ability to choose jerseys, but automatically designate alternate jerseys on Sunday games.
Show more fans in the stands when popular teams are playing.
Add 2-on-2 and 3-on-3 modes.
Port the Next Gen version of the game to PC.
Add mini games such as horse and the ones included in the PSP version of NBA Live 07.
Import players from March Madness
Support vibration in PC gamepads.