5 Top Reasons You Suck at NBA 2K13 And How We Can Help

So I’ve already written about NBA 2K13 when it first came out, and usually that’s the end of it. However, I’ve been playing and noticed some things that you might not know – and some folks playing online definitely don’t. It’s gotten to the point that there seems to be a pretty big gap between folks who know how to play this game effectively and those who just suck it up for the rest of us – running around not passing the ball and such. Therefore, as a courtesy, me and Stephen Straker (my lil cuz) came up with a 5 point list of why your doing it wrong and how to improve so the next time I’m on your team online you won’t screw it up for me and our teammates.

5.) You spent all your VC on clothes and accessories. 

You don’t know how angry it makes me when I’m playing on the black top and I see someone bling’ed out and his mid-range jumper is bumish. This person should be beaten with a stick with rusty nails. What you need to do is make sure you spend your VC on actual skills instead of that cool jumpsuit you copped for like 5K VC.

4.) You play like it’s a game.

Admittedly, this is a weird point – but hear me out. Games these days are advancing and though this game is no where near reality – its a lot closer than you think. Items such as height, strength, play-style all go into your match-ups  If you are a PG and under 6’5″ you have no business trying to make that shot in the paint against KG in the post. It’s not going to happen…PERIOD. Don’t take that shot. Same goes for online match-ups  so you have to think about the situation your in. Calling plays (even though I don’t do it too much) also helps to turn the tide against savvy players. Run the pick and role at least! This will at least create a little space between you and your man so the probability of your shot going in is higher. This is especially crucial when you haven’t fully built up your player yet.

3.) You’re not a team player

When playing the game you will go through streaks. Sometimes you’ll be hot and hit everything you see, while other times you’ll be cold. You need to know how to avoid and overcome double-teams  especially if you become a star player, by passing the ball. You’ve got to trust your teammates sometimes and the game rewards you heavily with a good teammate score the more assists you get. This little skill helps out online as well which leads me to my next point.

2.) STOP BALL HOGGING!

It’s so annoying when a ball hog gets the PG spot on the Black Top. They never pass, and try to score all 21 points by themselves. All that ends up happening is everyone on the team gets annoyed and eventually stops helping or quits. It’s extra annoying because your overall win ratio goes down when you lose. I’ve got a couple go-to peeps that I can play with when online but they aren’t online all the time so I’m going to need you to step it up if I’m on your team.

1.) Equip skills that suit your ideal playing style

What this means is spend your VC wisely on attributes and signature skills that make sense for the way you play and the way you designed your player. An example is if your player is really big and pushing 7ft you should make sure to increase your offense under the basket as well as your dunking ability. Having the “Bruiser” signature skill will drain energy from your match-up so later in the game you will have the advantage. Increasing your shot ability from three range is an added threat but I’d wait that out until your other skills are polished first. You probably won’t need the “Highlight Film” Skill or the “Ankle Breaker” just yet. I think people just go for what is cool before taking a second to actually think about a strategy that makes sense for the type of player they want to be.

 

Do these 5 things and I promise you’ll get better a lot quicker and your teammates will thank you!

 

New 2K13 Screens and Gameplay Footage

I have procured, for your Basketball enjoyment, new game footage and screens for the next installment of the 2K franchise.

One of the significant changes that the Devs talk about is the analog stick functionality. Instead of the shot stick – it is now in control of your dribble – which by the way I should totally get credit for since I’ve been yelling that at the screen for years. At any rate, they finally listened to me and you can now break people’s ankles at will. This game is shaping up to be something quite desirable. Check the video below as well as the images.


NBA 2K13 Cover Revealed!

The new cover of NBA 2K13 has been revealed today! The New Cover is three people deep and features the younger cats in the NBA. They are being called the “New Dynasty.” Can’t wait to play to see what improvements the game makes to this new chapter in the 2K franchise. They always have something up their sleeve and the music is always on point. List of artists aren’t known just yet, but will update you guys when that’s available. The Game comes out October 2nd.

As for the cover, what do you think? Personally, I think it’s not too bad, however, I want to know if it should have been a face-off between the “New Dynasty” and the “Old Dynasty” – But I guess that doesn’t sound quite right, but you get what I meant. Some of the OGs like Kareem, Isaiah, Moses, etc… vs the young guns. Just my thought…what are yours’?

Full Press Lease Below:

2K Sports Crowns Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose as Cover Athletes for
NBA® 2K13

Trio of young superstars represents the “New Dynasty” of NBA legends

New York, NY – June 26, 2012 – 2K Sports today announced that the Oklahoma City
Thunder’s Kevin Durant, Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin and the Chicago Bulls’
Derrick Rose have been crowned the cover athletes for NBA® 2K13, the next
installment of the top-selling and top-rated NBA video game simulation franchise*.

”Being crowned as one of the NBA 2K13 cover athletes is a huge honor and something I
always dreamt about,” said Durant, who won his third straight scoring title and led
the Thunder franchise to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1996. “It’s
definitely humbling to grace the cover after the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic
Johnson, and Larry Bird.”

“There’s so much young talent around the NBA, so it’s very exciting to be chosen for
NBA 2K’s ‘New Dynasty’ alongside Kevin and Derrick,” added Griffin, who helped lead
the Clippers to their first postseason since 2006. “The NBA 2K series has always
been my first choice when I want to get a game in.”

“It’s a dream come true to be one of the cover athletes for NBA 2K13,” commented
Rose, the 2010-11 NBA Most Valuable Player, who led the Bulls to a league-best 50-16
record this season. “I’ve worked closely with 2K Sports since NBA 2K10, and I’m
honored to follow in the footsteps of Michael Jordan as the latest Chicago Bull to
be featured on the cover.”

In their young but impressive careers, Rose, Durant and Griffin have each taken the
NBA by storm. All three are past winners of the NBA Rookie of the Year award, and
have also amassed eight All-Star berths, three scoring titles, and one Most Valuable
Player award between them.

“There are many young superstars in today’s NBA, but we’ve selected three incredible
athletes for the cover of NBA 2K13 that represent the NBA well,” concluded Jason
Argent, vice president of marketing for 2K Sports. “It’s clear to us that Blake,
Derrick and Kevin are the most deserving guys to inherit the NBA 2K cover from
Jordan, Magic and Bird.”

Developed by Visual Concepts, a 2K Sports studio, NBA 2K13 is not yet rated by the
ESRB and will be available on October 2, 2012 in North America and October 5, 2012
internationally. The Wii U version of the title will be available during the holiday
season. Fans are encouraged to pre-order now at participating retailers in order to
receive the downloadable NBA All-Star content package presented by Sprite on day one
at no extra cost.

New Cover Art for NBA 2K12

Good News everyone! I’ve got new cover art for the new 2K12 Video Game. You can catch our review of NBA 2K11 here. We expect good things with this game so we hope 2K Sports doesn’t disappoint. In 2K12, it looked like the graphics were great, but suffered a little bit to add in all the great new features. The game was definitely very deep and they put a lot of time and effort into making it as real as possible. Hopefully 2K12 fixes a few of the minor issues and spruces up the graphics a bit.

Looks like Jordan will be joined by two other legends, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. These two icons are getting their own covers as well. The Cover Art was done by Adam Larson of Adam&Co. The release date is set for October 4th and will be available for “the PlayStation 3, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360, Wii™ system, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system and Windows PC.” Feast your eyes on the below images and let us know what you think.

Hit up www.2ksports.com for more info.

 

 

 

NBA 2K11 Review

So I’ve been playing NBA 2K11 on the old Xbox 360 and to be honest with you, the game has lots of surprises. The predominant theme of the game centers around Michael Jordan mostly – and his career over the years. For me personally, this was the main reason to check the game out. It’s been so long since there was a true Jordan presence in any basketball game and to finally get one worth mentioning was definitely worth the 60 bucks. That’s not to say it was a perfect game however. But first lets take a look at the things it does well.

Here are some things that I love.

Signature Hightlights

After your game you can take a look at the highlights of all the key players of the game by choice. It does so stylistically as well, and it really is a pleasure to see you dishing it out on opponents.

Game Reel

This is a collouge of the different highlights of the game.

Press Book

I thought this was a cool addition. It takes snapshots of the game as well so you see key plays from a photojournalist’s point of view. Very similar to what you would see at NBA.com or ESPN.com when looking through pictures of a past game.

“My Jordans”

The game actually has you collecting Air Jordans throughout your career! Different Jordan’s give your player’s different abilities. There are 40 in all to collect.

Living Roster

To me, one of the coolest aspects of the game. The living roster is just what it sounds like. Players and league stats are updated in almost real-time. I’m playing a season with the Knicks right now (hapless Knick fan – what can I say?) and the interface is giving me live info on what has transpired around the league. Injuries, trade rumors, scores…its all there.

Jordan Challenges

In my opinion, the second coolest aspect of the game. You get to relive all the Jordan great moments like “the Shrug”,the 1991 NBA Finals, 69 points against the Cavaliers, and more. The game actually starts you off in Jordan’s shoes. If you are not used to the game – go ahead and exit and practice a little bit before you start playing in Jordan mode ’cause there is a lot to learn.

How it Comes Together

Why do I think the Living Roster is the coolest aspect of the game? Well its not new but it works really well this time because of the juxtaposition between the new teams and the old teams. You are solidly placed in the “here and now” because of the reference point of the old heads. The game never really feels stagnant and you aren’t stuck with buyers remorse because you just bought the game and someone got traded and now your game is out of date. I just played the Wizards and Gilbert Arenas was in the line-up. Not only that, but it also tells you about up coming games in much the same way you would see them broadcast on television.

Moving on to game-play, controlling your player is pretty easy and intuitive. You can also try your own skills with the “shot stick” (the right stick on the 360 controller). You can control how your player shoots based on your own preferences. If you get good at this – it definitely pays dividends. Everything is pretty much what you would expect up to a point. However, the more complex moves require a bit more finesse. Ball handling becomes a bit more complicated when trying to step in and do a turn move to lay-up or some other similar move. It’s not impossible, but I wonder what the percentage of pulling that move off every time you wanted would be.  However, the move transitions were great, and I definitely got excited every time I pulled something off.

Each players’ real-time stats definitely meant something. I definitely felt it when a team was doing well, or doing poorly. This can be frustrating because a team that you feel you could normally beat all of a sudden becomes a challenge because they are on a real-life run. However, this is not a negative aspect because it ads to the overall realness of the game.

I also enjoyed the customization elements of the game. You can change shoe types and colors as well as appearances. I left most of it alone so that I would keep everyone’s appearances as close to their real-life counterparts as possible. However, the possibility is there.

You can also play different modes like blacktop pickup games, dunk contests, or three point shootouts. You can also team up with your friends online and start or join a “crew.” Announcer speech has been improved once again. They are generally interesting and at times I wonder if they are being updated in real time as well! The crowds have been re-worked so that they don’t look like the same 1 person duplicated 1,000 times. This time its the same 10 people duplicated 100 times each. Its not huge but its something. Plus the noise swells and decreases just like a real game depending on who is winning.

What I Didn’t Like

In an effort to make movement more lifelike, I feel like the designers went a little overboard with the player’s physics when it came to momentum. When you reach, be careful because you may end up near the half-court line for simply trying to swipe the ball. Of course that’s an exaggeration, but you get the point. Also, it passing is inaccurate, and turnovers can get ridiculous. Some people will say you need to protect the ball more, but it can really get frustrating. A lot of the game is spent either stealing the ball or getting it stolen simply because passing is so inaccurate. Some reprieve is that you generally won’t find yourself passing it to a player who is out of bounds. I am so glad they fixed that issue, or play could have been unbearable.

I also wasn’t immediately wowed by the graphics this time. Not saying graphics are atrocious but they I felt like no huge strides were made between 2K10 and 2K11 in terms of realistic facial expressions and jersey movements. There are some weird moments where your jersey is shaking all over the place while the player is standing still or when your clothes and body are indistinguishable. However, these issues are few and far in between and certainly don’t detract too much from what does make this game so awesome.

Wrap-up

A solid game and must-have for a Jordan admirer. The Jordan presence alone makes it worth it. The other stuff is bonus! Real-time stats and as much customization as you can stand and there really isn’t too much to shake a finger at with this game. Transition between game and real-life games are almost seamless. Playing this game makes you more interested in real games and real games makes you interested in playing the game. If that was the intention, well played sirs…well played.

Open Letter to Tiger from…Ron Artest?

I initially viewed even the premise of an open letter to Tiger Woods in the midst of the public spectacle that has become Tiger Wood’s Life, however, after reading it I was quite impressed.

It doesn’t take much for someone to stand on a soapbox and preach about Tiger and his many romps, or cast blame and wag the finger at someone else, but it takes a lot more to encourage someone who happens to be in a terrible predicament. Thats why this letter caught me off guard. Everyone who used to be in regular contact with Tiger is now distancing themselves from him. All the sponsors that were showering him with money are all tip-toeing out the door. The name that was selling millions has become bad for business in a matter of days…literally. Yet Artest writes this stunningly poignant letter of encouragement to Tiger as a simple fan of the athlete. Its not preachy and it seems to be really authentic which is why I feel like men in general can learn from it.

He starts off by taking the humble route and letting everyone know he isn’t a know-it-all, nor is he blameless. He doesn’t condone Tiger’s actions in any way, but he tries to show that there is life after “the slip-up”.

“My wife is a much better wife than I am a husband. We still argue and disagree after being together 16 years. and I still cope with the fact that there are so many women out there and I choose to stay loyal to my wife”

A slip-up is inevitable as long as one is human, and it’s how you handle yourself afterwards that makes and breaks a man. A great point he makes is that the media and some people in general seem to be enjoying another person’s suffering. Its takes a huge amount of courage to “man up” and admit mistakes, and make moves to correct them and encouragement is the best help in such situations. It seems as though the media is feeding into people’s desire to see someone in a worse situation than themselves. We love to see our heroes fall. Sometimes I think thats why we put them on pedestals in the first place…kinda like setting up dominoes.

In this open letter, I found a new respect from the guy who snuck, and drank boos during the half-time of games! Really, this came out of left field, but it goes to show that you can’t believe everything that the media shows you because many times they are pandering to what they think you want to hear and see. I’ve really only heard negative things about Artest – espeially after that brawl he is now famous for. But I have yet to hear one of Tiger’s friends step up and vouch like this for him or to encourage him like this.

It takes a real man to face himself, and to look at his flaws and admit them. Thats something a large amount of people (many of them wagging the finger at Woods) can’t do so they would rather see someone else doing the same thing fall and feel better. But everything in the closet comes to light eventually.

“On the way to 2010 we had many ups and downs on the way, mostly my fault. But I really choose to work hard and play ball to support her and my kids. The same reason you are building your legacy.”

You can find the open letter here