shot in the dark: anyone have their copy of NBA2k9 yet?

[StartOrien]

I'll give it a shot in a few. Funniest observation so far; there are certain players who are just absolute black holes. Jamal Crawford jacks up EVERYTHING

[crownsy]

I'll give it a shot in a few. Funniest observation so far; there are certain players who are just absolute black holes. Jamal Crawford jacks up EVERYTHING

i thought
if its in the game, its in the game" was EA's catch phrase?

[Emperor Young]

any major changes in controls set up? shooting and jump and all the other buttons are same as 2k8? ally oops?

[POBstuntin]

any major changes in controls set up? shooting and jump and all the other buttons are same as 2k8? ally oops?

Naw not really any major changes.  You can pass out of lay-ups now.

[crownsy]

observations 5 games into my franchise (on hardest, no sliders yet. )

1. Computer is MUCH better at shutting down penetration on the fast break. This was one grip i had last year, it was far to easy to take it right to the cup with a guy back. This year they cut you off and make either take a layup from the side of the tin or pass it off. Also, your teamates chasing you do a better job of reading when thier defender is to overcommited to the break and spotting up behind the arc.

2. Much better computer offense this year, instead of standing around while the PG has the ball, which they did far to much last year, the computer will rotate and run weak screens, as well as pick and roll/pops. the computer is also MUCH smarter on the fast break. last year the computer had one move "im going stright to the tin, feel free to take a charge. who cares that its 3 v 1? im not passing"

this year, the computer will look for people spotting up/ pass off to a teamate with a better lane

3. franchise is much improved, the whole website interface that links you impressive highlights, box scores, injury news, trade rumors, ect is great. To much last year, franchise felt like your team was the focus, and you barley saw the other players in the NBA. now if kobe has ripped off 3 games ina  row where he's done something great, i'll see a story about it. if a team is shopping a guy, i'll see the "arrtest on the block?" rumor story. its awesome.

4. the ability to edit the incoming draft class= long overdue and welcome.

[shiggins]

Any word on the online side of the game?  I bought it yesterday and the online was so buggy and screwed up it was almost unplayable.  I couldnt play a friend or create a game myself.  Only thing you could do was random matchup games.  Also there were only like 5 available camera angles online, apparently the others were making the game lag too much.  It made my xbox freeze multiple times and was pretty much a nightmare. 

So I started playing offline, which i usually dont do, and it was a very enjoyable experience.  The snaking fantasy draft is definitely long overdue.

Yao
Hakim Warrick/Craig Smith
Kevin Durant
Eric Gordon
Rodney Stuckey

Secret Weapon:  Joe Alexander off the bench.

Computer offered Zo for Cuttino Mobley which I took, and now with him and Yao in the middle its pretty tough to go against them.  Telfair also doesnt suck.



When online gets up and running properly lets get a fantasy draft league going?

[jgod213]

observations 5 games into my franchise (on hardest, no sliders yet. )

1. Computer is MUCH better at shutting down penetration on the fast break. This was one grip i had last year, it was far to easy to take it right to the cup with a guy back. This year they cut you off and make either take a layup from the side of the tin or pass it off. Also, your teamates chasing you do a better job of reading when thier defender is to overcommited to the break and spotting up behind the arc.

2. Much better computer offense this year, instead of standing around while the PG has the ball, which they did far to much last year, the computer will rotate and run weak screens, as well as pick and roll/pops. the computer is also MUCH smarter on the fast break. last year the computer had one move "im going stright to the tin, feel free to take a charge. who cares that its 3 v 1? im not passing"

this year, the computer will look for people spotting up/ pass off to a teamate with a better lane

3. franchise is much improved, the whole website interface that links you impressive highlights, box scores, injury news, trade rumors, ect is great. To much last year, franchise felt like your team was the focus, and you barley saw the other players in the NBA. now if kobe has ripped off 3 games ina  row where he's done something great, i'll see a story about it. if a team is shopping a guy, i'll see the "arrtest on the block?" rumor story. its awesome.

4. the ability to edit the incoming draft class= long overdue and welcome.

I didn't have a lot of tiem to play last night since i was back and forth with the debate, but i did get in a couple games of 21, a 2 v. 2 game, and a fantasy draft.

One thing that really stood out is the the game is A LOT faster.  Dribbling moves were easier to control last year, but very rarely did they actualy get you anywhere.  I was playing with Rodney Stuckey and was amazed at how quick and deceptive the dribbling moves are.  It will take some getting used to...

Another observation - it's a lot harder to play defense on mismatches.  In my 2 v. 2 game, i was playing with Stuckey and Kevin Love versus Russell Westbrook and Yi Jianlian (i know, weird teams),a couple of times I was forced to D up Westbrook with Love and he just abused me.  i loved it though, in last years game you simply hold down left trigger and all of a sudden Dikembe Mutumbo is stride for stride with Allen Iverson.

fantasy Draft results: OKC Thunder

C  - D. Howard
PF - K. Love
SF - Peja
SG - R. Fernandez
PG - Barbosa

Can't wait to bomb threes and throw down foolish dunks on the computer.

[crownsy]

observations 5 games into my franchise (on hardest, no sliders yet. )

1. Computer is MUCH better at shutting down penetration on the fast break. This was one grip i had last year, it was far to easy to take it right to the cup with a guy back. This year they cut you off and make either take a layup from the side of the tin or pass it off. Also, your teamates chasing you do a better job of reading when thier defender is to overcommited to the break and spotting up behind the arc.

2. Much better computer offense this year, instead of standing around while the PG has the ball, which they did far to much last year, the computer will rotate and run weak screens, as well as pick and roll/pops. the computer is also MUCH smarter on the fast break. last year the computer had one move "im going stright to the tin, feel free to take a charge. who cares that its 3 v 1? im not passing"

this year, the computer will look for people spotting up/ pass off to a teamate with a better lane

3. franchise is much improved, the whole website interface that links you impressive highlights, box scores, injury news, trade rumors, ect is great. To much last year, franchise felt like your team was the focus, and you barley saw the other players in the NBA. now if kobe has ripped off 3 games ina  row where he's done something great, i'll see a story about it. if a team is shopping a guy, i'll see the "arrtest on the block?" rumor story. its awesome.

4. the ability to edit the incoming draft class= long overdue and welcome.

I didn't have a lot of tiem to play last night since i was back and forth with the debate, but i did get in a couple games of 21, a 2 v. 2 game, and a fantasy draft.

One thing that really stood out is the the game is A LOT faster.  Dribbling moves were easier to control last year, but very rarely did they actualy get you anywhere.  I was playing with Rodney Stuckey and was amazed at how quick and deceptive the dribbling moves are.  It will take some getting used to...

Another observation - it's a lot harder to play defense on mismatches.  In my 2 v. 2 game, i was playing with Stuckey and Kevin Love versus Russell Westbrook and Yi Jianlian (i know, weird teams),a couple of times I was forced to D up Westbrook with Love and he just abused me.  i loved it though, in last years game you simply hold down left trigger and all of a sudden Dikembe Mutumbo is stride for stride with Allen Iverson.

fantasy Draft results: OKC Thunder

C  - D. Howard
PF - K. Love
SF - Peja
SG - R. Fernandez
PG - Barbosa

Can't wait to bomb threes and throw down foolish dunks on the computer.

yea, i noticed this too and was pleased. I had to D up deron  with rondo, and the computer used his size and strength advantage to get closer to the bucket. I also had to defend lebron with mcants on a switch with pierce, and he took me to the cup for one and the foul.

I love how they changed lock on defense so that you can click with the other stick to shade a certain way. I also like that the computer isn't blind to it anymore and that its, as you said, alot more fair now. so much for the days of defending CP3 with perk  the afore mentioned matchup between rondo and dwill, i stared shading him to go to his left, sicne he went that way 3 times to the tune of 2 assists and a blow buy, and he faked left, crossed right to the open side and went right by me. I was pleasently stunned that the AI was that smart.

going off that point, the computer is a much better drafter this year. One of the main gripes i had was that the computer overlooked everything but the overall rating of a player in recent years.

As i mentioned in a post above, i create 4-5 friends of mine and let them get drafted. i create them as like, low to mid 70's guys with alot of potentail. in previous drafts, they always were around until thier ratings got called.

Not so this year, after my first 3 picks i went to SF's and looked for one of my creates that i knew was a 71 to come off the bench and groom to be good in a few years. Thier were plenty of 85ish SF's left. Imagine my suprise when i saw that th player i wanted had been drafted.


also, my fantasy celtics draft roster (which i intentiaonaly undershot, wanted to build a bit.)

PG Rondo
SG macants
SF pierce
PF Derek lee
C dalembert

bench
gomes
house
TA
r. evans
Turif

[Emperor Young]

couple of things, why did they have to change shoot button? everything else is the same besides the shoot button. I just dont understand..
also is there a way to change auto sub? 2k8 allowed you to shut off auto subs in game but 2k9 doent.
when you are in defense, and attempt to steal, sometimes you move pass the guy and leaves the opponet wide open.. what with that?
How do you ally opp in 2k9? does anyone know???

[crownsy]

couple of things, why did they have to change shoot button? everything else is the same besides the shoot button. I just dont understand..
also is there a way to change auto sub? 2k8 allowed you to shut off auto subs in game but 2k9 doent.
when you are in defense, and attempt to steal, sometimes you move pass the guy and leaves the opponet wide open.. what with that?
How do you ally opp in 2k9? does anyone know???

1. they didn't, its still x and the right stick...same as last year.

2. you can go to coach strategys under options and make the changes to the settings.

3. thats realstic, and welcome. generally in real life, if you swipe at the ball and miss, the ball handler doesn't stand thier like a loon until you recover, he blows bye you while your off balance. Last year the fact that there was no penelty for trying to gamble on a steal made guys like rondo unstoppable on defense.

on that point, anyone else noticed that the steal mechanic is alot more realistic this year? case in point, last year it used to bug the heck out of me that when guys caught the ball in the low post and wernt looking, 9/10, it was still a reach if you came from the weakside with a PG and tried to steal. This year, i caught ben wallace looking the wrong way with rondo and it did the "poke away" steal rondo does to bigs when he sees them holding the ball high but focused on their defender instead of him.


4. alley opp is the same, RT + pass.


hope this helps

[jgod213]

couple of things, why did they have to change shoot button? everything else is the same besides the shoot button. I just dont understand..
also is there a way to change auto sub? 2k8 allowed you to shut off auto subs in game but 2k9 doent.
when you are in defense, and attempt to steal, sometimes you move pass the guy and leaves the opponet wide open.. what with that?
How do you ally opp in 2k9? does anyone know???

1. they didn't, its still x and the right stick...same as last year.

2. you can go to coach strategys under options and make the changes to the settings.

3. thats realstic, and welcome. generally in real life, if you swipe at the ball and miss, the ball handler doesn't stand thier like a loon until you recover, he blows bye you while your off balance. Last year the fact that there was no penelty for trying to gamble on a steal made guys like rondo unstoppable on defense.

on that point, anyone else noticed that the steal mechanic is alot more realistic this year? case in point, last year it used to bug the heck out of me that when guys caught the ball in the low post and wernt looking, 9/10, it was still a reach if you came from the weakside with a PG and tried to steal. This year, i caught ben wallace looking the wrong way with rondo and it did the "poke away" steal rondo does to bigs when he sees them holding the ball high but focused on their defender instead of him.


4. alley opp is the same, RT + pass.


hope this helps

Yeah defense in generall really got me angry last year.  I play a simm game, so when i play i look to play people who will play a realistic game with me as well.  last year it seemed like every player online abused the steal button.  They would just mash it until they got a steal since fouls were few and far between and there was no penalty for gambling or doubling a guy and mashing steal.  Now you have to be a lot more selective.

I also like how they've fined tuned mid air contact and blocks.  Westbrook was driving to the bucket for a dunk and i cut him off at the last second with love and blocked his shot - which deflected off the backboard after i got a piece of it.  It just looked really cool and realistic, the little things are the reason i love 2k.

[crownsy]

also, for anyone who is new to the game or just rusty (liek i was) if you go to practice, you can practice low post moves and iso motion moves. The computer now tells you how to do them all, and runs tutorials.

This was a welcome change. Last year practice was useless if you wanted to learn iso moves.

[GroverTheClover]

I played for about 30 mins after I finished off my homework last night and WOW! I had to spend time learning the controls since I'm a Live convert but the practice mode which allows you to play 5v5 is awesome. The learning curve for the isomotion controls might take me a while, but the game flows much more realistically than in Live. I love how the signature shooting styles, freethrow styles and movements look. In Live, everyone almost shot exactly the same. In my limited playing time, I've been wondering why I've been wasting my time with Live..

[Emperor Young]

lets get a league started in xbox live!!!

[GroverTheClover]

lets get a league started in xbox live!!!

This will show how much I really play (and my ignorance) but can someone on PS3 play online against someone on 360?