I agree 100%. The 2K series is leaps and bounds ahead of EA. So much so, that 2K stole my business from EA back in 2006. I played the NBA Live series going all the way back to before it's inception with Blazers vs. Bulls and the NBA Playoffs: [youtube]aAsNpoWXRwc[/youtube] Then over time, due to lack of competition, they got lazy. And with NBA Live 06 being a steaming pile of basketball simulator. I decided it was time to change. To be honest, nothing even comes close to the 2K series, EA can push back and develop Elite forever if they want to, it wont do any good.
http://www.operationsports.com/feature.php?id=1006 Mike Wang Leaves EA, Heads Back To 2K Sports for NBA 2K11 Submitted on: 02/02/2010 by Chase Becotte Last night Sean O'Brien, the lead producer for NBA Live 10, blogged about Mike Wang leaving EA Canada and heading back to the US. Conveniently enough, this announcement coincided with a tweet by Ronnie 2K, an employee at 2K Sports, that said "huge news on the NBA front" was coming in the morning. At this point the speculation began, but there was really no reason to analyze these two pieces of news like they were threads in an episode of Lost. Mike Wang is back at 2K Sports, and in addition to that fact, he is already working on NBA 2K11. Operation Sports got a chance to talk with Mike Wang and NBA 2K producer Erick Boenisch about why Mike is returning to the NBA 2K franchise, why he left EA and what this all means for NBA 2K11. Operation Sports: Obviously, the first question is what made you leave the NBA Live team Mike? Mike Wang: My main goal ever since I got into this industry has been to help create the ultimate NBA hoops sim. After spending time with both Visual Concepts, working on NBA 2K6-2K8, and then with EA the past couple years, I realized that if I wanted to achieve my goal, returning to Visual Concepts was the right move to make. I met some great people in Canada (both inside and outside of EA), but it is definitely great to be back home. OS: When did you leave or decide to leave the NBA Live team, and when did you return to the NBA 2K team? Mike: After NBA Live 10 wrapped up and we started going through the pre-production planning phase for '11, we held several meetings to discuss the future of the franchise. After going through those meetings, it became very clear that the vision I had for the game was different from where the leadership wanted to take it. I parted ways with EA shortly after and came back on-board with the NBA 2K team last November. OS: After you left EA, did you immediately think about coming back to Visual Concepts? Was Visual Concepts the only development studio you considered? Mike: Absolutely. The moment I stepped out the door after NBA 2K8, I missed the game, the guys I was working with and just the overall way VC, as a company, operates. It is easy to take things like that for granted, and sometimes you have to lose them to really understand just how valuable they are. Fortunately for me, I have been given a second chance to work with the best team in the business doing what I love to do. And yes, VC was the only studio that I considered returning to.
EA stands to lose a projected $60 million in sales because of this. I think this is pretty huge as far as video game screw ups go. I mean, bad games get released all the time with bugs in them, but to just flat delay the release a week before it goes on sale, there has to have been some major problems. The demo is already infamous for that one YouTube video where Bynum freezes up at mid-court and does his best crucifixion pose. I know demos are supposed to be kinda crappy since they want you to buy the full game, which should hopefully not contain those kinds of bugs, but if EA felt they had to delay based on reaction to the demo, then that's a rather shocking admission of a poor product. Also the watered down NBA Jam as a pack in for the XB360 and PS3 releases had people horribly pissed off that they had to pay $60 for a game they didn't want, to get a nice bit of nostalgia fluff that they did want without having to buy a Wii and get the full standalone NBA Jam game. And this isn't to say that 2k is perfect. My 2k10 game had all kinds of little issues, like my custom team, the Tigard Tigers, had some bug where the jersey options went to all black colors (black numbers and names on a solid black uniform) instead of the green black and white with the Tiger logo, and as a result all of the halftime and on screen infographics were just blank. No numbers, no names, no nothing, and the announcer audio would just cut out. That annoying issue aside, the game was still playable without any nailing players to crosses at halfcourt in the middle of a game.
2K10 was messed up and took several months for a patch to come out. The word on 2K11 is that it is a huge improvement. Can't wait!
