NBA 2k9 will be hitting stores this Tuesday, and basketball fans couldn’t be more excited.  Hoping to biuld upon a proven formula from previous years, NBA 2k9 hopes to dominate the market.  While I had a chance to sit in on a conference call with the developers today, there was one statement that seemed to be ever present, and that was "full-package experience".

It’s no secret that NBA 2k has some of the most fluid and realistic gameplay on the market, but at times throughout their tenure, other franchises have down the game modes and online play much more successfully.  The developers made it known throughout the call that this year, especially with the added staff from the College Hoops series, they’ve had more time to hit things that they didn’t have the opportunity to in previous years.

2k9 boasts a number of major changes: 2K HD, online team play, an even more advanced shot stick, player dna and the integration with 2K Share, and the Association 2.0 just to name a few.  While the majority of these are going to get a ton of attention, the developers pointed out that one of their favorite features is appearing to be one of the more overlooked.

For example, there’s a certain number "23" that gamers seem to recreate year after year, and with the imrpoved Player DNA and 2K Share, the ease of importing him into your roster is just a few clicks away.  All you need to do is find the file within 2K Share of the user who’s created your favorite iteration of his "Airness", and then you can insert him into your own roster.  Rather than having to download an entire NBA roster, you’re able to just download the individual player to your system.

If you’ve had the chance to play the demo of the game, then I sincerely hope you’d even thrown an alleyoop, or had one thrown against you.  Alleyoops are just one of the things in the game that get you to say "Wow", and realize how realistic the flow of the game has become.  Though the developers harped on it quite often, the flow of the game created in NBA 2k is something that you sincerely have to experience to truly appreciate it.

Maintaining a flow to your style is always important, regardless of what sports title you’re playing, and the revamping of the defensive lock control is beautiful.  Gamers can now lock onto a defender, and use the right stick to manipulate their player whether they want to apply Bruce Bowen type pressure, back off, or shade their opponent to the left or right.  Mismatches are finally beneficial, as Chris Kaman will no longer be able to continually "D" up guards like Chris Paul or Jason Kidd.



Team Play was first introduced in the basketball franchises last year by NBA Live, but as they pointed out, gamers who didn’t have the ball in their hand could be incredibly bored out of their mind, or just frustrated at their teammate.  The developers are looking to making things a lot more exciting for users who are not controlling the ballhandler, by introducing more off-ball controls.

Erick Boenisch stated that, "I can’t stop players from playing like a bunch of five year olds in 5 on 5 games online, but what we did was give players grades based on team play, forcing them to be better teammates.  If you have a bad team play grade, people may not choose to play with you."

Not only was the team worried about the online aspect, they also made sure that the offline or singleplayer AI was tweaked.  Regardless of what your playing style may actually be, the AI is going to adapt to that to keep the game as realistic as it possibly can.

The shot stick has been now dubbed the "Shot Stick Extreme", allowing players to pull off Kobe Bryant style step-throughs, leaners, floaters, and quite a few other moves to your arsenal.  Isomotion is taking a step back in the past in a way, utilizing the triggers again this year to keep gamers from pulling unexpected crossover moves time and time again.

NBA 2k9 is shaping up to be an extremely impressive basketball title with a ton of replay value.  Add in the fact that Association 2.0 has received a huge upgrade, editable incoming draft classes, fatigue system being rewritten, and it being the only basketball title on the PC, and 2K Sports could be sitting very pretty this year.