NBA Live 365

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NBA Live 365 (often shortened to 365 and stylised as NBA LIVE 365) is an online feature introduced in NBA Live 09 that comprises of daily game updates to Player DNA, rosters, lineups and ratings. The feature's slogan is "Made Fresh Daily" and is intended to keep NBA Live 09 up to date throughout the 2008/2009 season, expanding greatly upon previous official roster updates. On July 14th 2008, it was officially revealed to be the "ground-breaking feature" first alluded to in a blog by EA Sports President Peter Moore posted on June 12th.

NBA Live 365 and Dynamic DNA were retained in NBA Live 10 as part of EA Sports' ongoing partnership with Synergy Sports.

Concept & Implementation

The concept is a joint venture between EA Sports and Synergy Sports, with Synergy providing daily statistical data that is used to update player logic and AI (Player DNA). The aim of NBA Live 365 is to make the game reflect the real NBA more accurately with players sharing the same tendencies and playing style as their real life counterparts and constantly updated rosters. Hot and Cold Streaks are also represented, with Player DNA changing according to how well or how poorly a player is performing and the in-game commentary changing to correctly reference a player's current performance.

The service requires an Internet connection and can be activated with a code provided with all new copies of the games. The service costs $19.95 (1200 MS points) for players who purchase the game second hand. Players may select to receive the updates automatically or disable automatic updates and download the 365 updates manually. New updates are available shortly after the last game of the day has been played. The game will check for new updates upon accessing the main menu after the game has loaded and download them automatically depending on the settings the user has selected. After an update has been downloaded, the user is presented with the option of reviewing the changes.

NBA Live 365 updates may be used when starting a new Dynasty Mode game but the daily updates do not affect a Dynasty game in progress. The NBA Live 365 roster can only be overwritten by a new update and daily changes cannot be applied to a custom roster, so any tweaks and corrections a user has made must be made again to a new 365 roster. It is therefore recommended that the user save a copy of any roster they would like to re-use so it may be loaded again at a later time.

NBA Rewind

Another key feature of NBA Live 365 is NBA Rewind, which consists of saved DNA data from every game of the NBA season. By selecting an NBA Rewind game, players are able to replay a game using the DNA data and lineups from a specific game. The game shipped with data from the 2007/2008 NBA season and new data for the 2008/2009 season will be added as each game is played. The feature is intended to give players the opportunity to replay memorable games with accurate player performances and attempt to either recreate or replicate what actually happened.

In NBA Live 10, the NBA Rewind feature is a part of Dynamic Season and is used to go back and play games from earlier in the 2009/2010 NBA season.

Criticism & Early Problems

NBA Live 365 was met with cynicism by some fans who felt the feature was not "ground-breaking" or did not address their concerns with previous NBA Live games. Others however were excited by the feature and the concept of Player DNA and realistic tendencies.

Upon the game's release, there was some controversy about the cost of NBA Live 365. Although an NBA Live 365 subscription is free to all users who purchase the game new, subscription codes may only be used once hence second hand copies do not include a free subscription. Subscriptions can be purchased in-store or through the Xbox Live Marketplace and Playstation Store for $9.95. This has led to some confusion with gamers being angry that an advertised feature is available at a cost, however this only holds true for used copies of the game. It has been revealed however that NBA Live 365 might be an additional cost in the future. NBA sponsor T-Mobile financed the subscriptions in NBA Live 09. Dynamic DNA remains free in NBA Live 10 however, in all new copies of the game. If the game is bought second hand, a subscription may be purchased for $19.95 or 1200 MS points.

The service also experienced some troubles within the first week of the season in the form of server problems and delays in officially launching the service. The early updates contained newly added players but were criticised for containing incorrect player data. These issues were corrected with the November 5th update.

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