NBA 2k13 Catch-all

So... I guess they already made an announcement about the 1992 Dream Team being in NBA 2k13. But I just saw today that Scottie Pippen, who was apparently the last holdout, is now in, so the team is complete.

Pretty sure that's the first time Barkley has been in an NBA game since one of the NBA Jam games back in the 90s, and before that, Barkley Shut Up and Jam.

So... this is awesome. It will be fun to destroy the 2012 team with the old guys.

Think I might be getting this one sooner rather than later, especially since I skipped 2k12. 2k11 was still fun this summer, but the Dream Team will be enough to get me to upgrade I think.

Only pre-order deal I see is something about getting the all-star weekend DLC included for pre-orders. No gift cards or discounts as of yet, but Oct is still a ways off.

Anybody else excited about this?

I'm excited. My excitement level would go off the charts if they'd allow the 1992 to play legends from other countries. Or legendary teams from international play.

Sabonis in his prime...

I'm as excited as I am every year, but I'm not getting it on launch day. Between Assassin's Creed 3, XCOM, and Dishonored, there are lots of possible-buys in October. I'm also positive it can be had for $35-$40 at some point in November, because that happens every year.

While I doubt it'll happen, if the Wii U version is the same as the 360 game, I may go that route. Sports games are usually feature-stripped for their first year on a platform, though the NBA 2k guys probably have more respect for their franchise than Madden or the MLB 2k guys.

And I guess I'm weird, but I never care much about historic teams or anything. I care more about the updated mechanics and current rosters. I hear they're moving all ball handling to the right stick, which I think is really smart. I hope they make post moves a bit easier. Post play is my favorite part of real basketball, and I find it hard to orchestrate in 2k12. I want to do the tutorial on it but I got stuck on some dribbling exercise and you can't skip ahead.

Oct 2 is the current release date. And it's only $29.99 for PC again, so I might have to consider heading back there. Had a lot of fun on PS3, but some of the mods on PC looked pretty impressive recently.

Also saw that NBA Live might be returning as a download only title. Guess I should start another thread, since that series has been gone a couple of years. But honestly no matter how cheap it is I can't see being interested. 2k has been so solid since 09 or 10.

Demo is out. Once again, it's pretty stingy -- a single 5-minute quarter, Heat vs. Thunder, no play calling, etc.

Not sure about the new control scheme. It's nice to have the simplified dribble controls on the right stick, but it's going to take some getting used to using the left trigger as a modifier for shooting. At first, it just feels like it interrupts the shooting rhythm big time. I'm sure it will get better with practice.

Nothing else really jumped out at me after playing a few quarters. They supposedly spent a lot of time on passing logic, but without the ability to call plays, it's hard to tell how well that works. I'm going to play the demo a bit more, but as of now I'm still undecided.

Hm guess I should try it. I just can't see dropping $60 right now. Quite busy with Torchlight and Borderlands anyway.

Maybe the PC version for $30.

B Dog wrote:

Demo is out. Once again, it's pretty stingy -- a single 5-minute quarter, Heat vs. Thunder, no play calling, etc.

Not sure about the new control scheme. It's nice to have the simplified dribble controls on the right stick, but it's going to take some getting used to using the left trigger as a modifier for shooting. At first, it just feels like it interrupts the shooting rhythm big time. I'm sure it will get better with practice.

Nothing else really jumped out at me after playing a few quarters. They supposedly spent a lot of time on passing logic, but without the ability to call plays, it's hard to tell how well that works. I'm going to play the demo a bit more, but as of now I'm still undecided.

I've played four quarters, two online. I see the difference in passing. There are a couple new animations when ball handling that make blow-bys very different, but that usually happens and I figure it out once the full game is in my hands. The control change is a very welcome one for me. I never used the shot stick anyway (X to shoot), didn't understand the point, and found ball handling to be less than intuitive. This system makes way more sense.

I've put probably 500-1000 hours into both 2k11 and 2k12, and I've observed one of their primary goals to be eliminating "canned" occurrences if at all possible. By "canned" I mean times when there's a removal of player control for the sake of an animation and/or outcome. For example, there's a very good-looking steal animation in 2k12 where the defender pokes the ball loose, and the offensive player runs and dives for it, but the defender ALWAYS gets it and usually cruises for a layup or dunk. It's cool looking and exciting, but after the amount of hours some people play these games, it loses that luster. I don't know if that animation's in the game but similar things get culled pretty often.

Well, no need for an NBA Live thread. Officially canceled.

Owen wrote an interesting opinion piece about how EA should just get out of the NBA license.

Huh. I was thinking about using some gift card money on the PC Download version tonight on Amazon. But it says that version won't be released until Oct 16. Could still order a disc for tomorrow, but that's silly. The download is $4 cheaper to start, plus the shipping price tacked on if I really wanted it tomorrow. Ugh.

Not sure why it isn't on Steam either.

I'd almost talked myself into it but now I might end up waiting for the first sale...

EDIT: They don't even have the digital download version for sale on the 2k store either. Apparently Amazon is the only place even selling it?

Yeah. The shooting is difficult to get used to with the modifier, but it's refreshing that the players are a bit smaller (the models) and that the court appears to be more wide open. Between that and the new passing / defensive animations it feels more fluid.

I was able to put some more time into the demo and the improvements are becoming apparent. Passing is definitely improved and you can see the elimination of the pervasive canned animations that Blind_Evil referred to. Also, teammate movement off the ball is much, much better. Lots of cutting and better spacing. I'm still struggling with the new shooting controls, though. Using the face button is fine for jump shots, but I really enjoyed the shot stick for layups and post moves. I'm sure at some point it'll just click.

Overall, I'm more impressed with the demo than I was initially. I'm also seeing very positive impressions popping up around the Interwebs. Undoubtedly, we'll be overrun with formal reviews starting tomorrow.

There's a video featuring the supposed player ratings that floated around, it's still up on Operation Sports. Pretty rough IMO. Their rosters are usually bothersome to me until about two months into the season, and I know the first update is coming this weekend. Some glaring issues, IMO:

Anthony Randolph is rated higher than Danilo Gallinari.

Jonas Valenciunas and Andre Drummond are both ranked around 58 or 59. That's Hasheem Thabeet territory. Why does Tyler Zeller get the benefit of the doubt in the high 60s while these guy get ratings that'll get them cut by the CPU in franchise mode?

Alexey Shved simply isn't on the T-Wolves. That means a little more to me because they're my team. Maybe he's on the D-league squad? He's probably going to be in the rotation on opening night.

There were many more, but they're not coming to me right now as I watched it an hour ago.

Yeah well it's hard to have accurate rosters when Exhibition games haven't even started yet. Honestly until the last week of October we don't know exactly.

I thought there was a new feature I saw for this year that you could update rosters while in a current My Player season or something?

That's always the problem, you wait and wait for rosters and numbers to get somewhat accurate and then you're starting your own season in Dec or Jan or something, when there's a ton of other games out.

Just picked this up. It's insane what a complete package this game is. From the soundtrack to the presentation to the gameplay changes to the legendary teams. This is the best NBA2k in my opinion and in terms of sheer features it almost rivals FIFA 13. Crazy. I thought I'd play FIFA 13 this year and not have to split time with NBA2k 13, but there's so much to do here and it's done so well that I can see a tug of war for my limited time. And the Jay-Z stuff, assuming you're cool with Jay-Z, doesn't detract from the game at all. It's fun to watch a team put so much polish on a yearly franchise when they literally own the entire market.

They really improved the passing. No judgement yet on "My Player". It looks good, but time will tell if it plays more sane and you don't end up with all your teammates getting traded within 30 games.

I rented this for 360 and know for sure now I'll be buying it, but I'm waiting for the Wii U version. I want to be able to watch the NBA on my TV and play on the pad.

I don't think the overall package is much better than '12. The presentation stuff is all glitz, which I can take or leave.

The on-court game feels very different, though, and it is mostly for the best. Offense in general runs a lot smoother. The passing lanes aren't so clogged and you don't clank as many open shots. The signature skills make an obvious difference. Demar DeRozan has the "finisher" trait and is way, way better going to the rim than other wings. Ricky Rubio feels like the wizard he looks like, whereas in 2k12 he felt mostly like any other PG. Edit: meant to say, I couldn't bring myself to play more than two quarters of 2k12 after playing 2k13. That means they did well, I think.

The only complaint I can lodge, and it is a somewhat serious one, is that the rebounding balance is way off. It's too easy to get offensive rebounds and the AI abuses this at times. Second and third chances are too frequent.

Blind_Evil wrote:

The only complaint I can lodge, and it is a somewhat serious one, is that the rebounding balance is way off. It's too easy to get offensive rebounds and the AI abuses this at times. Second and third chances are too frequent.

Have you tried adjusting the rebounding sliders? Seems like it would be easy enough to fix.

I don't like changing sliders, generally.

This was just released on Steam today. Apparently late-early, as it was delayed for another week I thought. Anyways, I purchased and am downloading now, will hopefully play a bit tomorrow. Looking forward to some more NBA 2k, last one I purchased was 2k10 for PC

Digital Download version is $3 cheaper on Amazon, and it says "requires Steam client to activate."

Its even cheaper at GMG with their discount codes. I'm bummed I forgot to check there, stinkin' full price on Steam!

Yeah I was going to grab the PS3 version on Thanksgiving sales or something, but it might be worth it to go ahead and grab the PC version. It's not like I ever play much online, and do I really need more trophies?

The only console I have is the Wii, and I didn't want that version. But it's worth pointing out that with half the price of the PC version, you are actually giving up a few things compared to the Xbox/PS3 versions:

http://www.nba-live.com/nba-2k13-pc-...

Game Modes
MyTEAM
Preorder All Star Weekend (dunk contest, 3pt contest)

Game Features
MyCloset for MyPLAYER
VC Currency System (the game uses the console’s “offline” skill point system for MyCAREER)
Unlockable Blacktop Stars (on consoles they can be purchased with VC; not in PC version)

Online
Playing Against Specific Opponents (including friends)
3-on-3 Blacktop with MyPLAYERs

Graphics
Self-Shadowing on Players
Advanced Stadium Lighting (colored lights in crowd)

Well I knew about the All-Star Weekend. Can't get that on console now either if you didn't pre-order right?

Not sure about those game features. MyCloset? Blacktop Stars? Guess I still don't know all the features in this version.

Any word on patches for 360/PS3 or PC?

Thinking I might pick this up on Thanksgiving sales this week one way or the other. If PC patches are still lagging behind like in past years, maybe I'll get the console version.

PC version is down to $16.87 at Green Man Gaming after code GMG25-G4VDR-0ZL4Q. Outside of Fifa, I'm usually not much of a sports game player, but for that price I'll give it a chance.

Darn. I picked up the PS3 version on Amazon sale yesterday.

Oh well.

I took the cheap shipping for some free Instant Video credit instead of my usual prime shipping. Figured since they just announced a patch was sent to MS/Sony earlier this week that it might be another week before it actually patches anyway. So by the time I have the game hopefully the bugs are fixed and I can jump right in.

I picked this up a few days ago but have only played one game so far. The menu is very confusing so I'm having a hard time getting to the mode I want to. Sure does look and sound good though!

Got my copy on Tues, but I thought it was supposed to be another week for the patch so I hadn't played yet. Checked today, and it looks like the patch went up Tues after all. Just must have been hours after I checked.

Maybe will get into it this weekend.

Patch notes:

These are the full game update notes for NBA 2K13 Patch v1.02.

The patch is available on XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3!

GAMEPLAY
Improved AI rebounding logic to balance out offensive rebound frequency.
Tuned AI transition defense; users will now have more fast break opportunities against the CPU. Additionally, CPU teammates are now more able to guard their opponents on the break.
Long range passes are now less accurate and will result in more fumbled and missed catches.
Passing successfully out of a double team has been tuned to be slightly more difficult.
Tuned the logic behind Charging calls so that they are properly called. Charges will now sometimes be called when the defender is in position and stationary, even if he is not in the “Take Charge” animation.
Tuned timing on block animations, and made the AI more vigilant about blocking layups and dunks.
Improved reach-in foul detection when defender continually swipes at the ball, results in more called fouls where appropriate.
AI now only calls for a full court press in appropriate situations (i.e. late in the game).
Addressed two dunk animations that were not counting for a score when they were converted.
Fixed an issue where Replay would show the incorrect play, rather than what actually happened on the court.
AI positioning when running plays has been tuned so that big men with limited shooting range will not move further away from the basket than what their range allows.
AI teammates will now remain in the Post Up position longer when a Quick Post play is called for them.
Tuned alley-oop and putback dunks such that only players who have a high tendency to perform either move are able to finish with one.
Removed the restrictions for the ‘Microwave’ Signature Skill such that it now works regardless of whether you are already on a hot or cold streak.
When a block is recorded for a player with the ‘Eraser’ Signature Skill, only the shooting attributes of the blocked player are lowered.
Fixed a rare issue where a traveling violation would be called on a pass fake.
Referee Review on last shot will no longer play if the shot has no effect on the outcome of the game.
A number of other smaller changes have been made to address issues and enhance the user experience.
Tuned three-point percentage.

GENERAL
NIKEiD shoes will now appear properly in-game after being equipped to a player.
Addressed an issue where the game score would disappear in Blacktop games when Signature Highlights were viewed in the pause menu.
Fixed an issue where Free Throw Feedback would no longer appear in games after playing an Online MyTEAM game.
Addressed an issue in Online MyTEAM games where the away team player would have the Signature Skills of the home team player if identical players were used in the game by both players.
Music will no longer be disabled and Game Settings will no longer revert back to Default when completing an online game in MyTEAM.
Changed the difficulty settings for all of the seeds in MyTEAM.
(360) Addressed a Kinect issue where a misleading overlay would appear when a timeout was called through a voice command when no timeouts were remaining.

MyCAREER
Added additional warning re: conversion of an online MyCAREER (one that earns VC) to an offline MyCAREER (one that earns Skill Points).
Fixed an issue where the remainder of the user’s schedule would appear empty after participating in the various All-Star Weekend events. This change also carries over to Association/Season modes.
‘Run Plays’ and ‘PlayVision’ should now function properly (when activated), regardless of your MyPLAYER’s position.
Fixed an issue where all games in October would be simulated when ‘Play Next Game’ is selected after the start of a new season.
Users playing MyCAREERs that accrue Skill Points will no longer find themselves with negative skill points after played games (where a number of unlikely conditions were all met).
Addressed a rare hang that would occur if the “Defend Your Home Court” billboard commercial would play between quarters of the Rising Stars Challenge or All-Star game.
Addressed a number of issues with the Social Media feature, including one where the news feed would stop updating completely.
When changing teams via free agency in the offseason, your MyPLAYER will now receive the proper role (starter, sixth man, etc.) that was promised during the contract negotiation.
You will no longer fail the Dynamic Goal “Give your team the lead before the game ends” when subbed out before the end of the game.
The Teammate Chemistry rating on the “Play Next Game” loading screen should now display the correct value (as seen in the Social Media menu).
The volume of the menu music and sound effects will no longer become extremely quiet after playing consecutive games in MyCAREER.

ASSOCIATION
3PT Tendency progression logic has been rewritten to correctly model the growth variances within each player type in the game. This change also carries over to MyCAREER mode.
Users will no longer lose their Scouting Reports after viewing the Recent Games tab of a player card.
Birth years can now be set to later than 1993 when editing Draft Classes after the first season of Association.
Addressed a rare hang that would occur when attempting to participate in the Dunk Contest with a created player assigned to a created team.
(Association: Online) Offense and Defense options should now save properly when using the Total Sim Control feature.
(Association: Online) Admins will now have access to appropriate Commissioner Tools during the offseason.

NOTE: All patch fixes will work in your existing game mode saves (MyCAREER, Association, etc.).

Well I'm a bit frustrated. The game itself seems great. I like the new isomotion right-stick stuff. Shot feedback is improved. Seeing some great animations in-game.

But the MyPlayer (now MyCareer I guess?) progression is killing me. I have it on 5 min quarters and on the easiest skill level. I got drafted 19th and am getting maybe 7-8 min a game. But I can't do anything! I had one game where I got 3 VC and another 2 games where I got 10 only because the team won, but basically 0 for myself. It took me 9 games before I got the "score 5 points in a game" milestone.

I just don't remember it being this slow before. Even the practice drills only give 60VC if you gold star them. And a lot of the skills I would want to improve are already at 80 or more a point. I just don't' see how my character is going to get any better at this rate. It might be years before he's worth anything. Can't dribble, can't pass, can barely shoot, can't get a rebound half the time despite blocking out. And just can't get a grade over a B- in-game.

I'm following the plays, and setting lots of screens when we're just freestyling. 80% of my points for the season have been when I get an offensive rebound and putback. And the most frustrating part is I made a 6'9" 240 athletic SF, modeled after Kevin Durant... and I think I've played SF maybe 10% of the time. The vast majority of the game they put me in at PF, and I've played C more than SF. I spend way too much time in the post, and all my post skills started off in the 30s or 40s for both offense and defense.

It was nice the game gave me 1k VC to start. And then 1k more for doing training. But I spent that on one of those player signature skills, which I'm glad I did, but I couldn't buy a second one because my attributes weren't high enough. Now the idea of getting another 1k for another signature skill, or 2-3k for upgrading the one I did get seems like it's never going to happen. Am I really going to skip dozens of attribute points for one skill and save up all those points for weeks worth of games? Ugh.

It makes me feel like they tried to slow down progression so that they could nickel and dime you on buying VC points. I don't like it one bit.

I thought I might go try the other modes since I saw mention that you earn VC in other places. So I tried the MyTeam thing, which seems to be the same trading cards, assemble a team type deal that FIFA and other games have now. It's ok. But the prices of cards are insane, and I only got 100 VC for winning a game.

So then I went to check out Blacktop Mode, thinking it would be fun to play with some old legends... Jordan Vs Bird was my though... but of course, it costs 200 VC just to unlock Jordan to play with in that mode.

Not sure if I should try Association? Maybe there's VC for milestones there and I could sim some games or something? I guess I'll poke around the message boards for some tips on earning VC. But right now I'm just thinking this is way too much work for something that should be fun.

I noticed it was difficult to do a lot in the MyPlayer mode as well. i made a PG, so a lot of what I do is pass. I get good pass ups, but that's not much, and sometimes passing to an open man gives me a bad pass. Guess I'm not doing the right play. And my 3PT shots suck, so I have to crash the paint if I ever want any points.

I haven't played it much after a few hours I put in when I got it. I should go back to it. But I agree, watching your VC inch up only giving you one point of upgradeability after one or two games is sort of painful. Seems like your player will be 35 before he's a superstar