As we head deeper into the fall, the “NBA Live 14” vs. “NBA 2K14” debate will continue to heat up. Unfortunately for EA Sports, with yesterdays release of the six new signature skills for "NBA 2K14", “NBA Live” may again have some catching up to do.
As you go over the "NBA Live 14" features—which can be seen here—there really isn’t anything that matches up to what 2K Sports is presenting when it introduces Signature Skills.
This is a point I continually beat to death, but the sports video game has to be about authenticity and that is what Signature Skills brings to the basketball video game. There has to be separation between the good players and the great players outside of your general ratings.
Grevis Vasquez and Ricky Rubio are both exceptional passers. However, Rubio is on another level of passing when compared to Vasquez. In fact, people tune into Minnesota Timerbwolves games just to see what he’ll do next.
The same can be said about Blake Griffin and Gerald Wallace. They’re both exceptional dunkers. However, when Blake takes flight fans stand up and defenders move.
In the NBA there are varying levels of exceptional. If “NBA Live” can portray this, it would very much help them in their battle against “NBA 2K.” Nevertheless it seems like EA Sports is on the right path in the competition. You know, since their actually releasing a game this year. 2K Sports is still on top, and it may take EA Sports sometime to catch up.
“NBA 2K14” will hit stores for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 4 on October 1. The game will be released for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 later this year.
The next-gen exclusive “NBA Live 14” will be available with the launch of the PlayStation 4 on November 15 and later this year for the Xbox One.
