In a very lengthy news post yesterday, I laid out some of the new NBA 2K16 features coming to the MyLEAGUE and MyGM modes. For the sake of brevity, today I’m highlighting what I think are the more exciting features coming to this year’s NBA 2K.
Spike Lee Is Working On MyPLAYER
Simultaneously the most inconsequential yet interesting addition to the NBA 2K16 feature list is Spike Lee directing the MyPLAYER. I have been particularly loud about Visual Concepts consistently dropping the ball in their MyPLAYER. The story in that mode has never quite reached its potential. It seems to ignore the elephant in the room, which is sports fans generally enjoy narratives surrounding the sports they’re watching.
Admittedly, tidbits of narrative that Visual Concepts has included in NBA 2K are used as a vehicle to drive the game-to-game interaction whilst also giving rewards a cinematic flare; the goal was never to be compelling narratively. Spike Lee, alternatively, is known for his thought-provoking, gripping film making — He Got Game is testament to his ability to make an excellent movie centered around the sport of basketball.
Visual Concepts had to be looking at these factors when they brought Spike Lee on board. Of course, Visual Concepts can’t let Spike Lee do whatever he wants with a game that has been historically rated by the ESRB as E for Everyone, and the little information that has been released about this year’s NBA 2K seem to reflect that. For instance, the character’s name is Frequency Vibrations, which is cool, but I’m not expecting any socio-political issues. Lee does offer s short glimpse, “it’s about the trials and tribulations of life on a big stage with the money, fame, temptations, family members, the press, fans, all that stuff.”
Team Relocation
Team relocation is coming to NBA 2K16 features, and it looks really robust. Full profiles have been created for several different cities located in the United States. Those profiles include population, households with TVs, income of the population, and interest in a professional basketball team. I can look at graphs all day when it comes to sports games. The more information Visual Concepts surfaces with these profiles the better. Additionally, players will be able to fully customize once they move the team to its new location. Uniforms, court, box sets, even the choice to move the team to the suburbs or a centralized downtown location are all rumored to be included.
I’m on the fence about this mode, and that trepidation has a lot to do with the way it is implemented in the game. In MyLEAGUE the player will be able to move to the team to whatever location they want without worrying about meeting requirements that the owner sets; the way MyGM works is completely different. The player will have to meet goals the owner has set in addition to finding a city the owner is willing to relocate his beloved team to. Logic plays a huge part in what I’m worried about in this mode — NBA 2K has a history of being unpredictable. Not knowing exactly why your relocation is approved could possibly driver players insane, which brings us to the next thing we’re excited about.
Team Intel
As previously stated NBA 2K has had a huge problem with telling you why certain trades or signings have failed to be accepted. A new feature called ‘team intel’ aims to fix that. Team intel is one of the NBA 2K16 features that will make trading, off-season planning, drafting, and free agency a lot easier simply by communicating what is that computer controlled teams within MyGM and MyLEAGUE motivations are.
Is the team looking to rebuild, are they looking to acquire a veteran player, or are they trading their draft picks because the upcoming draft pool looks shallow? In previous games, I’m not entirely sure the teams had motivations at all. Computer controlled teams seemed to work around what you were doing with your franchise even if it flew in the face of what made sense for their team. Team intel is a welcome addition to the NBA 2K16 features list that I hope sticks around.
No More Autosaves
Autosaves are gone in the MyLEAGUE mode of NBA 2K16, but presumably will still be present in other modes of the game. Autosave is just a burdensome inconvenience that takes away time from the player, and in some cases freedom. Autosave was implemented in order to curb some of the glitches players would use to cheat the MyPLAYER in previous version of NBA 2K messing up the balance of the game — and *ahem* possibly stopping players from buying VC. However, autosaves also stopped the ability for innocent MyLEAGUE players to have a mulligan when something they didn’t like happened within their franchise such as an unexpected injury during simulation. I fully understand the need for autosave in MyPLAYER and MyGM, but thank you Visual Concepts for taking it out of MyLEAGUE.
Pro-Am
Pro-Am is an online mode that allows players to create pro-am (professional-amateur) teams using the entire suite of tools that I listed earlier in the team relocation section of this post, including the arena customization. Pro-Am will take MyPLAYERs and place them into 5-on-5 games that include NBA rules. The progress of created Pro-Am teams will be tracked by daily and monthly leaderboards that will track wins, losses, points-per-game and overall ranking.
Unlike MyPARK in NBA 2K15, Pro-Am will feature instant matchmaking — the “Got Next” feature in NBA 2K15 has to be one of the worst features in franchise history. Pro-Am looks really interesting. The move towards a more professional form of basketball could help alleviate some of the ‘hero basketball’ that was being played in MyPARK, and possibly create a more interesting online experience for NBA 2K16.
Well, those are the NBA 2K16 features we’re most excited to see in this year’s chance at basketball greatness. The game is a little more than a month away with the release date of September 29th, which means the marketing and information drip is just getting started! Be sure to check out the NBA 2K16 trailer if you haven’t already.
