"NBA Live 14" executive produce Sean O’Brien released an open letter Wednesday, outlining his vision for the game and essentially telling readers how he got back into the NBA Live franchise.
“NBA Live” has been out of commission for the past three years so they needed to—or rather need to—do something big in order to regain at least a little bit of respectability. As O’Brien points out in the letter, he was the senior producer on “NBA Live 10,”—EA Sports “highest rated gen-3 basketball game” and also EA Sports last basketball game.
O’Brien said he and his team want to make sure the game is are real as possible:
I want NBA LIVE to be an authentic NBA simulation rooted in the sport and lifestyle of basketball. My first priority was to focus on core gameplay. We needed to capture the essence of half-court basketball, providing 1-on-1 isolation both in the perimeter and the post, the 2-on-2 chess match that is the pick and roll, while still offering the gamer the opportunity to push the basketball in transition and have the control required to get the ball into the lane to either take the ball to the rim or find an open teammate if the defense collapses.
If O’Brien and his team can carry through on these promises they will have a shot at competing with 2K Sports (however minute that shot may be.) It is nice to hear the team at EA Sports is trying to go in the right direction. However, while many are excited about the game, giving their track record it is also wise to be cautious—something of which O’Brien said he is well aware:
I understand the skepticism and if I were you, I'd be skeptical too…or maybe cautiously optimistic. I'm not asking you to pre-order the game based on the E3 dribbling demo and a blog post. I'm simply asking you to give us a chance and we'll let the game do the talking. Something that I'm sure is long overdue in your minds (and ours). NBA LIVE is back and I can't wait to show you what else we have planned.
“NBA Live 14” hits stores this fall.
