I disagree with the ratings, throw a few 100's out there imo. But I digress Live sucks. 2k Series For Life.
There you go. A PIPPEN fan says that Live sucks. I welcome the rest of you to the Live bandwagon now.
Here are some awesome ESPN 2k5 vids: http://www.espnvideogames.com/_img/videos/nba2005/nba2k5_PostUp.mpg http://www.espnvideogames.com/_img/videos/nba2005/nba2k5_Xbox-IsoMotion2.mpg BTW, the game comes out early this Tuesday, the 28th.
you want awesome? how about 20/20 awesome? http://media.sports.ign.com/articles/548/548645/vids_1.html There are 20 clips. They range from 6-20mb. ESPN 2k5. Be ready. p.s the other "20" are screenshots.
Espn makes the vastly superior game and Live makes the money, this confuses me. I have no respect for all those video gamers making the wrong decision / chalk them up as casual fans.
Yeah, that's what got me excited about ESPN. The first clips I saw of a basketball game for this year was for Live, the ones with the Rockets and Spurs. I wasn't really impressed. I later saw some clips of ESPN, some of which included the Rockets-Pistons. It was freaking awesome! It gave me goosebumps on how some of the things were shown in the videos. I can't wait to play it, although I probably won't mind doing the Full Authority thingy and just watching it instead. PiPdAdY33 does bring up a point that I have always been confused about as well. It seems like the 2K games have always been better than their Live counterparts, according to most review sites as well as some of those who played both, yet Live always sold a lot. That's why I always try to plug ESPN any time I can. They do a great job but don't get the love. I would hate it if they ended up having to cut features due to sales not being good, while Live just decides to buy another music artist to stick in the game since they sold another 1,000 copies of their previous Live. In a way, I guess I'd like to compare it to the Firefox/IE thing. Of course, if you just like the Live series better and have played both, I'm ok with that. However, given the support the 2K series gets from review sites and others, I would think that you were in the minority rather than the majority.
I hate to break it to you guys... But 2K5 is not 'vastly superior'. Like I said previously, neither game is all that impressive to me. I haven't had a great time with a bball game from either franchise in quite a while. But that's beside the point. Look at these threads when they come up. It's always split. Back and forth. There's a reason for that. If this was a comparison between, say, 989 Sports football games and Madden or ESPN - do you think you'd see such a split? Do you think there'd be such a big argument? Maybe NFL Fever and ESPN 2K? Or NBA Inside Drive and ESPN NBA? Doesn't happen. Live and 2K have different play styles. That's it. That's all there is to it. You can say ESPN is more realistic and less arcade. Some would just say it's slower and more boring. You can say the Live gameplay is exciting. Or you could say it's comic and over the top. It doesn't matter. Neither is that much better than the other. One style appeals to some and vice versa. That's why there is such a big split. EA wins out because - let's face it - they are a bigger brand name and have better production and polish to accompany their style. Seriously...it's not a big deal. They're just sports games. So enough with the high-and-mighty talk. Unless you're here to pimp NFL Gameday, that is. Then you will be rightfully mocked.
I usually like looking at review sites to see what they have to say about each. Just out of curiosity, I looked back at the reviews for ESPN NBA Basketball, probably the biggest disappointment of the series, and NBA Live 2004, probably one of the best Lives in a while. Let's check them out: NBA Live Gamespy: 4/5 Gamespot: 8.3/10 Gamepro: 4.5/5 Gameinformer: 8.5/10 Game Zone: 9.3/10 IGN: 8.5,8.7,8.8 (for PC, Xbox, & PS2) Operation Sports: 4/5 ESPN Gamespy: 4/5 Gamespot: 8.9/10 Gamepro: 5/5 Gameinformer: 9.5/10 Game Zone: 9.5/10 IGN: 9.2/10 Operation Sports: 4/5 Average ratio based on 28 media outlets for ESPN: 87% Average ratio based on 31 media outlets for NBA Live: 83% So, it looks like at worst, the worst games in the ESPN series is at least as good as one of the best in the Live series. None of these review sites picked Live over ESPN, although quite a few picked ESPN over Live. Considering the different play styles, I would have assumed that at least someone at one of these review sites would have picked Live over ESPN. Also, the ones it tied on were on the 5/5 scale, where it is a lot easier to lump games together although one might have an edge. The last two games were very close to me, yet I still felt that ESPN was just a little better. I'm not trying to say that ESPN is like a 10/10 while Live is a 5/10, but the games in this series are usually the better of the two, although that is not shown by sales. I can understand if someone likes the run and gun style moreso than the halfcourt offense style. Sometimes I don't feel like having to use picks and quick passes to get good shots. I would just like to break someone's ankles or dunk right on somebody. That's why I rent NBA Street or NBA Ballers or whatever street game is out there. I'd rather play those games than Live if I wanted to play that particular style. Sometimes I do wonder why it is so split. I would like to think that every poster who gave his/her opinion played each and has good reasons, yet that may not always be the case. I've seen people take off points for ESPN NFL 2K5 because it didn't have the same control scheme as Madden. Some like it because there favorite announcer is in it. Some people may like Live 2005 because the Black Eyed Peas have a song in it. I guess that is ok if that is what they like from their games, yet I'd rather one look at gameplay mechanics, controls, features, etc. BTW, I have no idea if 2K5 will be vastly superior than Live 2005. I'm getting that impression from the video clips, yet I won't know until this next week, at the soonest.
I don't know but I've always bought the ESPN series since Dreamcast and I've always favored it over Live but just last year, after playing Live, I couldn't stand how slow paced ESPN was compared to Live This year I'll probably buy both since ESPN is $20 and the revamped Isomotion2 and Post Offense looks awesome and the additions to Live also look great as well It's just a matter of personal choice
finally saw a BB video game ad on tv. Live looked good in the ad. I am not sure which one I am going to buy. I never really like the 2k series. But I think I might give it a try again, the last time I tried one was back in 2002. If it only costs $20 I might grab a copy. Otherwise I am going to wait till the prices drop for the PC version of Live.
Review sites will almost always give the edge to games with a stronger simulation style. And rightfully so. Just look at this year's comparison between ESPN NFL and Madden. And yet when those threads came up a lot of guys (strangely enough the same ones pimping ESPN over Live ) were talking up and down that ESPN NFL was so much better than Madden. The reviews - if you judge soley that way - don't reflect that. I'm talking about general audience; the two play styles appeal to a much wider range. In any case, look at those percentages; 83 and 87. We're talking about four points, and that could vary depending on who you pull your reviews from. Compare that to, say, reviews between Inside Drive and ESPN. That's my point. The folks that think, 'well, clearly the game I'm playing is the superior one', ought to change that way of thinking. (At least when comparing these particular franchises). Because there's not enough there to really give that any merit. I think they are a fair judge of quality on lots of titles. These just aren't really them, because personal preference weighs much more heavily here.
This seems like a pretty crappy ratings system. I know in basketball, it's possible for every player at every position to be well-rounded. But there are still some difference between positions. It's certainly more desirable, for example, for a PG to have high passing skills than a PF or a C.
The ratings don't mean jack. If a player is open and the shot is within their range 9 times out of 10 they are going to hit it. You also cant take a player like Scott Padgett and try to make him a one on one player because it is not going to work. IMO Live's game play is alot better than ESPN. The camera angles for ESPN are awful.
I have always been an EA fan...well after seeing some videos and knowing that ESPN is only gonna be $20...well I think Imma get ESPN instead...
I find it strange that all these reviewers liked the same type of game style. I doubt they would rate a game higher than another game that they liked better. In the case of IGN or Gamespot, it wouldn't be hard to give Live a 9.5 and ESPN a 9.4, citing that their love for Live's game style gave it the edge over ESPN's gameplay. Also, the reviews on Madden vs ESPN weren't so one-sided: Madden IGN: 9.5/10 Gamespot: 9/10 Gamespy: 5/5 Gameinformer: 8.75/10 Gamepro: 5/5 Gaming Target: 9.4/10 Operation Sports: 4/5 ESPN IGN: 9.3-9.4/10 (PS2,Xbox) Gamespot: 9.1/10 Gamespy: 4.5/5 Gameinformer: 9.5/10 Gamepro: 5/5 Gaming Target: 9.5/10 Operation Sports: 5/5 Madden does have a 3 point advantage over ESPN in overall rankings (92% from 31 outlets over 89% from 29 outlets), but judging from these reviews, the actual opinion on each game can change. IMO, these two games are a great example of two great games with a different playing style. I personally like ESPN a little better, but Madden is awesome as well. If someone likes Madden play more than ESPN, I can definitly understand since both games are pretty good sims even though their approaches are a little different. I think that the games are extremely close, yet, judging from the reviews and my experience, ESPN seems to be a tad better. I wouldn't be surprised if someone had ESPN rated a 9.999999999 while Live was rated a 9.999999998, yet it seems as though a lot of people give the edge to ESPN. IMO, I see a bit of a difference from this and Madden vs ESPN, where you'll see one review give Madden a .5 advantage and then another review give ESPN a .8 advantage and then another rates Madden over ESPN by 1 and so on and so on. Also, like I mentioned, I was talking about the 2K series versus Live. In this case, I gave Live a big advantage considering the steps ESPN took last year compared to the steps Live took. Last year was the closest battle between the 2, IMO, for a long time. I understand what your saying. I know people, probable me included, try to shove ESPN or some other game down others throats. What I like to do is try to give others a new experience, especially since Live has been winning in the most important stat of copies sold, despite the fact that there were a few Live's that were crap IMO. I assume that people just didn't give the 2K series a try and were just sticking to Live because they did that every year. Given the recent price drop for the ESPN games, it looks like Sega agrees. I'm just going to stop right here though, if that's ok with you. I really made this thread off-topic, turning it into something pretty stupid. Let's just talk about good news of ESPN officially going gold today and shipping tomorrow...even though that's still off-topic.
Last year i got ESPN and i played Live alot. I have been a die hard 2k series fan since its creation. But last year something messed up, and Live seemed a little bit more realistic. In ESPN, I can pick up Nowitski and drop about 40 3 pt shots in a game while being double teamed by the computer. This i thought was too much. And they always go for that pump fake. Hopefully this year, ESPN wont try to be like Live has been in the past. But as for as 2004 went, Live wins it by a narrow margin because of computer defense and it was not as easy to score.
It wasn't easy to score? Despite the fact that I hadn't played a Live game in quite a while, I was able to pro hop my way to victory pretty easily on the hardest difficulty in a pretty short amount of time. I had to work a little harder on ESPN, although it did have problems with pump fakes like you mentioned, especially in 24/7.
I thought 24/7 was boring as hell! The post game looks magnificent this year though, don't know about the revamped 24/7 but I probably won't touch it again
