Gameplay footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTPBCWheCXo&feature=player_embedded
Only major difference, as usual, is the announcing.
100% disagree with the statement above
The 2k series is really good about improving their game year in and year out, and are consistently making changes to the game play. Year in and year out they make a lot of changes that greatly improve the quality of the game.
From the game footage looks like they put in a lot of work into the defensive AI, particularly w/ help defense on the pick and roll.
Meh, I don't see that much of a difference, though admittedly it's hard to tell without "feeling" how the game plays at both ends. The 2k series does make significant changes between games, but the base gameplay doesn't actually change very much -- it's mostly visual / presentation changes and adding rookies.
The only major change in the past few years was the major ratings shift between 2k9 and 2k10 (and the addition of My Player -- though in 2k10 it wasn't very good). The big thing with 2k11 was the MJ stuff.
When they make fundamental changes like getting rid of the slip-n-slide magnet effects on defense and eliminating basic AI mistakes (like players missing shots because they use completely unnecessary and overly difficult lay-up / hookshot animations), I'll feel that the game got an overhaul worthy of $55.
The most important thing to me would be making Association mode more realistic, especially if you auto-generate rookies (the ratings inflation over multiple association years with 2k11 is ridiculous).
It would be great if they made the difficulty settings better / more fair, too. In all the 2k games so far, when you up difficulty setting the only noticeable change is that the computer starts making more tough shots and your players start missing more -- at times, it feels like the game has decided that the opponent will go on a 10-0 run and there's nothing you can do about it. That sucks.
With regards to pick and roll defense, certainly if they improve defender AI a bit so the help defender doesn't totally leave the roller wide open by overcompensating on the ball handler, that would be a nice change (although it'd fix one of the easiest ways to score against the computer).
Bottom line, it would be really nice to feel like the computer -- both the opponent and computer-controlled teammates -- can be very good at defending without "cheating" (e.g. intercepting / tipping passes without even facing the ball).
One thing I'd love to see is for the computer to have a greater diversity of play styles. Regardless of the team I'm playing, the computer seems to play a very similar style and always runs the same key plays -- especially one particular screen play which almost always burns the AI defender but is incredibly easy to defend if you're controlling the off-ball defender.
