espn nba 2005. Produced by segasports developed by visual concepts and take-two interactive and it's going to be 20 bucks. Has the best graphics of all basketball games (theres only two ) and takes pride in being a simulation game. EA looks pretty good too, but i don't really like the live series. They do have a lot of licenses so if you're into the air jordans and all you're want authentic kicks and retro jerseys, go EA. Dynasy mode (franchise mode) was deeper last year than ESPN's, but this year ESPN is supposed to have one so deep and innovative that it's supposed to set the new standard. It's called Pro Operation and it's supposed to be a secret. Dunk contest, 3pt shootout and rookie vs. sophmores iwll be in their allstar weekend feature in live 2005 and so if you like that novelty kind of stuff, go EA. Dunks were way better in EA last year by default because ESPNs' used jason richardson for the dunks and the motion cap they did was for like all the players. SO you see shaq doing windmills and yao jumping for 10 feet out. Was adjustable through sliders but still not good. THey said they fixed them. http://www.easports.com/games/nbalive2005/home.jsp http://www.espnvideogames.com/nba2k5/ EA atm has way more media than espn, but espn has started to roll out more as they get to topshelf tuesday when they release videos and screens every tuesday.
They have ruined NBA Live for me, it was way better before they introed the Rt. Thumb stick into gameplay (XBOX) and i hated ESPN, I bought it and promptly traded it for Live hoping it would be better.
ESPN all the way. Im glad they are the frist to start selling games for 20 bux! $50 for a game is just to damn high for me!
I would get both ...again but ESPN needs to get rid of that iso motion garbage and fix the camera angle. I'm still be getting both Live and ESPN though.
NBA Live 2005 but I'll probably also get ESPN since its $20 I've always gotten ESPN since Dreamcast but last year I played Live 2004 and I actually liked it better than ESPN 2K4 and plus with all the new things they are adding this year, Live should be awesome!
Another terrible thing about live is the franchise, every year there are absolute studs available to sign for the league minimum and resign the next year at their market rate. POOR EFFORT BY EA ON THAT ONE.
I personally enjoy getting the PC version of NBA live because even if the gameplay is completely horrid, you can download and adjust it with patches. I don't know if I'll purchase live this year though, because I feel kinda jipped and cheated by their marketting of the last two versions
The past few years, I've been going with the Sega games. Lately, Live, in my eyes anyways, has gotten better, but ESPN was better IMO. I'll probably still go with ESPN this year, especially if it is $20. I do like the moves Live are taking though and if they could improve their franchise/dynasty, they could really put up a good fight. I just never liked the thing mentioned a little above is how the AI free agents would act. It seems like a reoccuring thing too, IIRC. I seem to remember something similiar happening it earlier versions, although I may be wrong. However, that is an easy thing to fix yet it still happens. As for the better basketball game, I would wait until a little closer until their release dates to get a good idea on both games. Hopefully, they'll both be great and you won't go wrong with either. However, price could be a deciding factor, at least in my eyes.
Ditto, I play them on my PC because of the roster updates and game patches. I haven't played a Sega Basketball game since 2002. I got that one and man did I hate it. I was pissed when I spent the money on it. Although the $20 price tag for ESPN Football made me buy it, I think I might do the same for the Basketball version. BUT, I am just not sure.
The thing I liked most about Live last year was the different buttons for shooting, dunk/layup and hop steps I'm so stoked about this years Live with the Dunk Contest and everything plus the Rockets new team..should be great!
ESPN is only 20 bucks. But LIVE has been steadily improving, and it looks pretty solid this year. I haven't had much fun with either basketball game the last few seasons, so I think I'll be doing a rent test before buying this year.
Each series has things I like and things I don't like. Live's AI has been awful the past several years. If you're winning, you suddenly start to miss layups and dunks. And the opponent gains the ability to teleport in front of your passes and fast breaks. Ridiculous. The gameplay has often been criticized for being too "arcade" style, but they have been improving that year by year, and it's only going to get better. The franchise mode has taken major steps lately and only looks to be getting deeper. The graphics engine is horribly obsolete though. ESPN's gameplay has gotten too bogged down with Tekken style crap lately. Honestly, Isomotion is the WORST feature I've ever seen in any basketball game.. it is useless, period. Their franchise mode is adequate, but not as good as Live. The graphics are always superb and realistic, and a lot of the motion caps are great, but the gameplay is too plodding and tiresome. The 24/7 mode was a nice touch, but perhaps that development time should have gone into something that affected the actual game, instead of just making some little special feature.
No love for Scotty Brooks, huh? He was MONEY from the corners. MONEY. I play new sports video games, but none approach Super Tecmo Basketball, Tecmo Super Bowl and Baseball Stars. I will not be disuaded.
Maybe it is just me, but I thought last year's Live Franchise sucked big time. I tried to get into it, but two horrible things stopped me from playing it. One of them was already mentioned and that was the free agency AI where stars would sign for the minimum and, IIRC, I think even scrubs would want to sign for near-max contracts, despite sucking. The other thing I forgot about was the training camp feature. This would have been an excellent feature and it was actually one of the reasons I wanted to try it out. Too bad it didn't work. I still can't understand how you could train your players and have them get WORSE and not better. Now, ESPN's franchise had a few bugs, like screwing up the teams during the stat lines and stuff, but I never noticed anything like that. It is still easy to make a dream team in that game, but that is pretty much the case in any sports game. I guess Live had the advantage in those little magazines and presentation stuff it had when a player did something, however it wasn't all that great. Am I just forgetting some terrible feature from ESPN's franchise? I'll admit I haven't played it in a while, along with Live, but I can remember Live's problems pretty well but I can't remember too many things on ESPN that were as bad as Live. There were some things that could have been better, but it was at least playable for several years. I do agree that both games seem to do some things right and some things wrong. If they just combined everything together, (ESPN Live, or NBA Basketball) it would be a pretty awesome game. Especially if it still cost $20. Was that the one where Live went with Steve Francis as the cover boy? I think around then was when I went with the 2k series, and at least compared to Live's games, it seemed really good, IMO. I hated the fact that I bought that game, although I had to show some love for Francis I guess. I should have just waited until it cost $10 to show my love though.
