NBA Live series

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This article is about the video game series. For the TV program on NBA TV, see NBA Live (TV show).

The NBA Live series of basketball video games, published by EA Sports, is currently one of the leading National Basketball Association simulations on the market.

NBA Live
Developer(s) EA Canada
Publisher(s) EA Sports
Aspect ratio 720p

[edit] NBA Playoffs

The predecessor of the NBA Live series was the NBA PLAYOFFS series, which featured Lakers vs. Celtics, released first in 1989 for MS-DOS-compatible PCs and later adapted for consoles in early 1991 for the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis. This game was played from a horizontal view (while later versions moved to an isometric view before ultimately moving to 3D on newer consoles). The game was one of the first to feature an NBA license, containing both real NBA teams and player likenesses and signature moves. Details such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's goggles are clearly visible, and Michael Jordan's "Air Reverse Layup" is animated with very high accuracy. Detailed player numbers were also visible. The game featured only eight of the sixteen teams that qualified for the NBA playoffs that year, as well as both NBA All-Star teams.

The next game in the series was Bulls vs. Lakers, released in 1992, followed by Bulls vs. Blazers in 1993. Unlike the first game, these two releases were titled after the two teams who were in the NBA Finals the previous season, while the original release apparently chose the Lakers and Celtics due to both teams' historical success. Each revision added more teams and players, as well as more signature moves. The series also included an Olympic basketball game, Team USA Basketball (1992) which uses the same engine. The final game in the series was NBA Showdown 94 for SNES before the transition to the NBA Live series.

Year Game Title Features
1989 Lakers versus Celtics NBA team and players, signature moves in team game.
1992 Bulls versus Lakers Instant replay in team game.
1992 Team USA Basketball International player licenses.
1993 Bulls versus Blazers Basketball game officially by EA Sports, custom team
1994 NBA Showdown 94 Multiple custom team, 3rd party in game advertisement, white box cover, all NBA teams.

[edit] NBA Live

Originally, the NBA Live series was released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and SNES with NBA Live 95. The naming was changed from utilizing the last two digits of the year to the entire year number from 2000-2005, but returned to the original naming convention with NBA Live 06.

The Create-A-Player feature was not available in the 1995 versions of the game, but have been a mainstay since NBA Live 96. NBA Live 98 in 1997 was the last NBA Live game for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and the SNES. NBA Live 98 also was the first NBA Live series game to support 3Dfx graphic cards. Only first generation Voodoo and Voodoo Rush cards were officially supported.

Starting from NBA Live 2000, the series featured NBA Live Legend All-Stars Teams, that included some biggest names from five decades (50s to 90s). These teams could be used instantly, but to use the players as regular players (e.g. traded, played on regular NBA Teams) they needed to be unlocked. Along the series, some of the rosters were changed due to many reasons.

NBA Live 2005 brought the addition of the Slam Dunk Contest, Three Point Shootout, and Rookie Challenge.

NBA Live 07 was released for the Playstation 2, Xbox, PC, Playstation Portable, and the Xbox360. The major new feature for this year was an evolution of the freestyle superstars system.

NBA Live 08[1] was released October 2nd, 2007 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Wii and PC and Gilbert Arenas is the cover athlete.

NBA Live 09 was released on October 7, 2008 and Tony Parker is the cover athlete. The game is available for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii. It features the first concept of daily updates changing stuff like tendencies, rosters, and hot-cold streaks.

NBA Live games have been released for the Sega Genesis, Super NES, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Sega Saturn, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Windows, PlayStation Portable and most recently with the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii.

Game Title Cover
NBA Live 95 Seven player action shot from 1994 NBA Finals, Knicks vs. Rockets
NBA Live 96 Tip-off before unnamed game of 1995 NBA Finals, Rockets vs. Magic (SNES and Genesis)

Flag of the United States Shaquille O'Neal (PC and PlayStation)
NBA Live 97 Flag of the United States Mitch Richmond
NBA Live 98 Flag of the United States Tim Hardaway
NBA Live 99 Flag of the United States Antoine Walker
NBA Live 2000 Flag of the United States Tim Duncan
NBA Live 2001 Flag of the United States Kevin Garnett
Flag of Lithuania Arvydas Sabonis, Flag of Spain Pau Gasol
NBA Live 2002 Flag of the United States Steve Francis
NBA Live 2003 Flag of the United States Jason Kidd
NBA Live 2004 Flag of the United States Vince Carter
NBA Live 2005 Flag of the United States Carmelo Anthony
Flag of France Tony Parker
NBA Live 06 Flag of the United States Dwyane Wade
Flag of Japan Yuta Tabuse, Flag of France Tony Parker, Flag of Spain Pau Gasol
NBA Live 07 Flag of the United States Tracy McGrady
Flag of Germany Dirk Nowitzki, Flag of France Tony Parker/Boris Diaw[2], Flag of Spain Pau Gasol
NBA Live 08 Flag of the United States Gilbert Arenas [3]
Flag of Germany Dirk Nowitzki, Flag of Italy Andrea Bargnani, Flag of Spain Pau Gasol, Flag of France Tony Parker/Boris Diaw
NBA Live 09 Flag of FranceFlag of the United States Tony Parker[4]
Flag of the United Kingdom Luol Deng, Flag of Italy Andrea Bargnani, Flag of Spain Pau Gasol
NBA Live 10 Flag of the United States Dwight Howard
Flag of the United Kingdom Luol Deng, Flag of Italy Andrea Bargnani, Flag of Spain Pau Gasol

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.easports.com/nbalive08
  2. ^ http://www.gamespot.com/news/6156387.html
  3. ^ http://www.gamespot.com/news/6169887.html?tag=latestnews;title;0
  4. ^ http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2008/06/23/daily19.html?tag=latestnews;title;0
v • d • e
NBA Live
Video games
95 · 96 · 97 · 98 · 99  · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 06 · 07 · 08 · 09 · 10
Cover athletes

'95: 1994 NBA Finals action shot • '96: Shaquille O'Neal • '97: Mitch Richmond • '98: Tim Hardaway • '99: Antoine Walker • '00: Tim Duncan • '01: Kevin Garnett • '02: Steve Francis • '03: Jason Kidd • '04: Vince Carter • '05: Carmelo Anthony • '06: Dwyane Wade, Yuta Tabuse (Japanese cover) • '07: Tracy McGrady, Pau Gasol (Spanish cover), Boris Diaw and Tony Parker (French cover), Dirk Nowitzki (German cover) • '08: Gilbert Arenas, Dirk Nowitzki (German cover), Andrea Bargnani (Italian cover) • '09: Tony Parker, Luol Deng (UK cover), Andrea Bargnani (Italian cover), Pau Gasol (Spanish cover) • '10: Dwight Howard
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