The NBA content is the more appealing of the two, Sony promising "select games" will be made available every week of the season, while the first two rounds of the playoffs will also be covered.

The hockey stuff is a little less current, with twenty "historic" matches going up for sale.

Everything is priced between $2 and $3.

The newspaper was profiling Kevin Durant, guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder has chucked his controller many a times while playing games such as NBA 2K10.

Star player he may be on the real basketball court, but it seems that he stinks on the virtual one.

He's put his lack of gaming skills to good use.

He told the paper:

"People might not believe me, but when I go home (after practice) I play video games and I lose all the time," Durant said. "And I get so mad that I come back and I want to win everything. Something that small puts that winning mentality into my head."

That quote ran in the paper on Friday. That night, Durant scored 25 points against the Detroit Pistons, leading his team to victory. See? Controller-throwing pays off.

Kevin Durant finds the key to winning [The Oklahoman]

(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Earlier this week, Pasta Padre found a forum post - since taken down - in which a 2K Sports representative questioned whether NBA Live 10's massive patch that went out this week deserves the praise it's getting for using community feedback. The 2K guy more or less called B.S., and said there was no way devs could have rolled out something based on community feedback and pass certification that fast, unless they were working on it prior to release. Which would imply EA Sports knew it was sending out substandard code. (Pasta Padre points out that the NBA Live 10 demo went out early, and so community feedback on the game could predate its full release.)

EA Sports has responded with an NBA Live 10 blog that features, among other things, 20 screenshots of NBA 2K10 being sold on Craigslist, all with some reference to NBA Live 10 being the better game. Other testimonials from fan email include direct shots at the competition, including this gem: "I can't stop playing this game i am hooked, good bye 2k garbage."

If Metacritic is a judge of things, the games are neck and neck - 2K10's 83 to Live's 80 - for the first time in years. And it's the first time Live has seriously challenged 2K in quality on the current generation of console. The fact this comes during NBA 2K's gala 10th anniversary year is probably frustrating to them. But he who makes the first game without framerate drop or patchable bug, throw the first stone.

While both sides might want to cool it, and focus on their own game, both of which have issues to be patched, they seem to be taking this very personally. Next year, I'm sure both shops will remember what those corksuckin' icehole bastiges on the other side said and did, and it'll be an all-out battle for the crown. That's good old-fashioned competition. Just so long as no one gets run over by the Schlitz malt liquor bull.

EA Strikes Back With New Blog [Pasta Padre]

Dynamic DNA, now in its second season, draws on analysis provided by Synergy Sports Technology, and breaks down the trends, tendencies, streaks and performances of players across the entire league. That's be incorporated into your own NBA Live 10 gameplay, both in how these players and teams perform and how the announcing team calls the action.

Just as important, a huge patch has rolled out and is now available for for owners of the Xbox 360 version, and will be available on Thursday for PS3 players. It delivers a multitude of gameplay fixes and enhancements drawn from community feedback during the game's first month on the market.

Most notably, backdown postures have returned with a click of the right thumbstick, returning a more familiar presentation of post play to the game. A lockdown perimeter defense feature also has been added, plus better touch on keeping your defender in front of his man.

The entire list of enhancements and fixes, according to an EA Sports news release, is below.

Enhancements:

• Auto-switch to PG on defense after a made basket
• Enabled rim stuffs. Now when you try to dunk in traffic, there's a chance you'll brick the dunk.
• Tune nets to make them a bit less stiff
• Added more variation to "get back" animations after made shots. Less "skipping" back.
• Disabled the canned scenario steal that happens when you rip the ball from a player who is sizing up. Instead, we allow actual collision with the ball if the defender performs a steal while a ball handler is making a dribble move. Makes for a much more read and react, twitch game on defense.
• Improved Freestyle pass animation selection to prevent guys from bursting into a sprint while passing on the move.
• Backdown button is back. Enabled right thumbstick click to toggle between face up and backdown postures.
• Disabled the turnaround jumpshot that would play if the shooter is facing away from the hoop when outside of 18 feet. So instead of a turnaround three, players will pivot and shoot a regular jumpshot.
• Minor tuning to shot and layup percentages.
• Improved responsiveness and AI's usage of off ball cuts.
• Stop the rebounder from running up court too early after securing a rebound
• Improvements to reception logic, specifically square up catches
• Improve player reaction to loose ball situations
• Left analog passing improvements: Update analog angle metric to consider the receiver's destination so you can lead the receiver with the pass
• Improved the logic of when to play a standing reception vs. a moving reception based on the receiver's momentum and position on the court.
• Added the ability to "lockdown" perimeter ball handlers (by pressing into them) and force them into a protect dribble state.
• Ability to shoot "runners" on demand by driving toward the basket, neutralizing the left analog stick and hitting the Shot Button. Works inside of 18 feet.
• Improvements to user on ball defense. Made it easier to stay in front of the ball without "slipping off" when you move your left stick toward the ball handler.
• Anti-cheese code. Prevent users from being able to take off ball control of players and run them under the hoop for the cheap pass and dunk.
• Inbound flow improvements. Allow the inbounder to move to multiple (closer) locations along the baseline after picking up the ball.
• User control over shot contest vs. block. Tap of the Block button will always yield a contest animation. Regular press will always jump to block.
• Several improvements for end of game AI logic. When the AI is ahead, they'll do a better job at recognizing time and score and use more clock. If they're trailing, they'll accelerate the offense.
• Improve AI logic for pump fake biting. AI defenders will be smarter about defending pumpfakes according to difficulty level. Previously, the higher the level, the more often they'd bite. Also, if user is pump faking multiple times in succession, the AI will stay down.

Bug Fixes:

• Smooth out some of the gameplay by tuning blend times for passes as well as some various fixes for blend pops across the board.
• Exploit fix. Fixed bug in shot calculator that would make stepback jumpshots that crossed the 3pt line have unrealistically high FG%s.
• Fixed sliding and warping during standing rebounds
• Addressed issue where defenders would sometimes watch the ball fall off the rim. Increase the allowable distance for a teammate to come help.
• Player Lock fixed. AI teammates will now make decisions on their own when user is player locked off ball.
• Put the ball handler into protect dribble if the on ball defender attempts to crowd him. Previously, the ball handler would not recognize the defender and just expose the ball.
• "Rocket dunks" fixed. Fixed a bug that was causing dunks to speed up by 30% and added code to have dunks retain the shooter's on-ground velocity, preserving his momentum after takeoff. Also applies to layups.
• Various post play fixes, including the case where two guys would stand next to each other while one of them was posting up.
• Addressed a potential exploit where it would be too easy to pass to cutters for dunks. As part of this fix, we now allow ball collisions on passes when passing into the paint.
• AI Stagnation fixes: Ball handler would sometimes not properly pass to receivers in a play. Also, we allow the ball handler to "improvise" if we detect he's been idling for too long.
• Fixed an issue where sometimes an off ball cut animation wouldn't properly settle into the correct spot.
• Restricted the post up and under move to within 12' of the basket. No more ridiculous up and under heaves from deep.
• Fixed an issue where off ball post players would sometimes quickly go in and out of post battles, significantly cutting down on jitter.
• Fix for big men waiting too long to outlet the ball after rebounding
• Fix for fidgety box outs. They should kick in more reliably now.
• Prevent user passes to teammates who will be out of bounds or to teammates in the backcourt after they've crossed the timeline.
• Improve goaltending calls
• Fixed ball physics for blocked layups/dunks. There was a mirroring issue that was causing the ball to shoot off in the complete opposite direction of its intended path.
• Fixes for animation oscillation on defense (i.e. jittery movement)
• Fixed a bug that would cause certain off ball movement animations to not mirror properly
• Series of small fixes to prevent balls from hitting the floor during rebounds.
• Fix for shooting fouls not properly getting called on collision layups. This will yield more realistic free throw attempts for both the user and CPU.
• Put in a fix to mitigate the excessive turnovers inside the paint, specifically after pulling down an offensive rebound. Gives users a little more time to pass out or attempt a shot when they get in congested areas in the paint.
• Smoother ball handler post up entries. Sometimes guys would "pop" into place.
• Fixed issue where players would sometimes "freeze" in an off ball post battle before receiving a pass.
• Fixed bug where the "check assignment indicator" would draw on one of your own teammates in LIVE RUN games.

As detailed earlier, the set is a sports locker with shelf space for 25 games inside. It also comes with a combination lock for your front door latch. A poster, Kobe Bryant figurine and, of course, the game itself, are included. Only 30,000 were made, this one is No. 986.

This was unboxed - why else - for sports gamers to drool over, but we won't be keeping it. Only the outer seals were broken, but the whole package is going into our charity item warehouse. Later this year someone will be happy to claim it in the name of a worthy cause, with thanks to 2K Sports for a well made game and a worthy shrine to it.

Last year's version of NBA Live finally helped the franchise pick itself off the mat in the next generation of consoles, where barely acceptable offerings had trailed NBA 2K10's best-in-class effort for years. This year EA Sports Vancouver pushed the focus to team play rather than flashy individual performances and animations. The product is a clean, accessible game with a strong underpinning of realism, and a level of player control that sets it apart.

Edit: In the interest of accuracy, the opening sequence does not use the word "revival." Instead it's "arrival." However, the sentiment stands. It's a revival of the franchise.

Loved
Everyone's under control: Whatever your style of play, the ability to custom-move off-ball player with a trigger-button-stick combination is a strong positive. This isn't a command to an AI, this is you physically moving one player while another has the ball. It creates lots of catch-and-shoot opportunities at the perimeter and do-it-yourself plays that are more technically satisfying than run-and-gun basketball. They're also more efficient - sometimes a little too efficient - than some of the set plays you draw up. You also have the "dynamic quick play" button which basically tells your hottest (or nearest) scorer at the moment "get open." These wielded in combination with the quick pick-and-roll's improved control, give you an impressive sense of power getting the ball in the basket, without ever beating your man off the dribble or going one-on-one. It rebalances the focus on team play and easily does the most to recommend this game.

Fancy passing is no passing fancy: In addition to the above, freestyle passing allows you greater directional control over where you whip the ball, even in traffic, rather than hoping the game AI doesn't send it to an unintended man covered up on the play. With this and the trigger/button direct-pass mechanism, there's almost never a reason to flick A/X unless you're just bringing the ball up. Like Magic and Bird, the controls make the assist cool again. Hell, it makes the outlet pass cool. More importantly, with a clampdown on speed and what you can get away with taking the ball to the hole, NBA 10 places a greater premium on spacing and open shots, and with the passing controls, it gives you the tools to create those opportunities.

Dynamic DNA: It's back again with another layer of fine-tuning and a year's worth of data to build upon. Not only do you get players whose performance is broken down by attribute score and tendency, you're presented with a thumbnail scouting report of your AI opponent in every game and the means to go much deeper in your franchise mode. By no means do I study player or team tendencies of the NBA, but I could sense that, in certain game situations, bad teams defaulted to type, superstars tried to take over (sometimes succeeding), and many other AI choices that seemed to be based on the game's breakdown of players, and not a coaching directive. You get the Lakers down by eight late in the game and Kobe's going to start bombing away, I assure you. Yeah, that's an easy call for any AI to make, but I swear that players who would prefer drives to one direction would hit a point in the game where they would take whatever was in front of them, suddenly defense got a lot easier, and that point at which every team in the NBA makes its run had passed.

Dynamic Season: This is fast becoming all the rage in games, and I don't know who exactly innovated it. But once the season gets going NBA Live 10 will allow you to drop back in time and replay any game on the schedule. That's different and that's a plus. Right out of the box you can pick key moments from the 2008-2009 regular and postseason, and almost immediately I started playing the epic Bulls-Celtics opening round series from the playoffs. It's not integrated into Dynasty Mode; but diehards can play along with their favorite team and change history for any disappointing result in real life.

Hated
Tone-deaf defense: Compared to 2K10, there's less subtlety in the distance your player covers when you move the stick even minutely, and playing man-to-man defense really exposes this. I overran a lot of plays and couldn't quite find the touch necessary to keep from being beaten off the dribble constantly. The standard ball-you-man fundamental, to cut off passing lanes, is hampered by an imprecise way to engage and stick to your man. In defending a shot, getting your hands up seems to have no effect, unless you keep them down, in which case you can count that bucket. It's the cross borne by defense in a game style that largely entertains with scoring, but the defensive controls doesn't feel as responsive as the offense. As such, it is more work and less fun in NBA Live 10.

Setting boundaries:: Again, pointing to the lack of finesse in player motion, there seemed to be some real AI issues with the boundary lines. Passes to the corner can be a faith-based affair, because your man will sometimes set up with a foot over the line and sit there. It does not happen all the time, but it's often enough to be unacceptable. There were also some backcourt violations that defied reality - I had a player run back across the timeline to take a pass in a kind of reset-the-offense way, even though we'd already inbounded the ball to that side of the court. The upside, I guess, is you can work this to your advantage. Sideline traps work often enough to feel like an exploit. Just call a double team, get the hands up and wait for the opposing ballhandler to step out of bounds. I got to the point where I did it on three straight possessions in a Finals game.

Who's (play) calling?: If you're not familiar with what basketball looks like beyond screens, picks, and drive-and-kick, calling set plays in this game will still be a puzzle for you. I'd order a play that had Nene posting up and he'd stand there, facing the basket, while Chris Andersen was backing down his guy and everyone had a full-color pass icon overhead. So I'd wonder if I was supposed to start the play by passing to someone else first and if so, who. Some icons are grayed, some are not. Pretty sure this exposes my lack of proficiency and familiarity with the game, but hey, I don't study the triangle-and-two in my spare time. The game touts playcalling that was advised by NBA scouts for added realism, but the execution was nowhere near as intuitive as NBA 2K10's, where icons on the floor direct you every step of the way. Plus, there's no practice mode in Live to try this out. Your games are your practice.

Postal Disservice: Down on the blocks you are on your own this year, big fella. The trigger/right-stick combos that formed your post-up offense are gone and replaced by ... nothing actually, which is a curious choice for a game featuring Dwight Howard on the cover. It's now entirely handled by the CPU whether your player posts up or not, and much like defensive engagement, I never got a feel for what automatically got me backing my guy down, ass to the basket. My advice is to wait for your swingman to do it on his own and then pass to him, maybe even direct him there with the off-ball control. But taking away post-up is going to leave some feeling really exposed, especially since the game's tightened up on what you can get away with in the lane and in traffic this year. Without the assuredness that you will actually stick your big ass into the defender and not face him head on and start running, interior play feels arbitrary and can make you look silly at times.

Sure, that's a lot of red ink up there, but on the whole, these are problems you can overcome or work through. NBA Live 10 is still a very inviting game. The crowd reaction is exceptional and the atmospheric difference between a regular season tilt - even a tight one - and the drama of the playoffs or the Finals, is quite palpable. To motion your man to the top of the key, shedding his defender as if you'd called for a screen, and then bury an overtime jumper provides a cathartic feeling of satisfaction. And the ability to order up this emotion in a quick play game is a definite plus, indulging the prototypical hoop dream of playing for the title, even when all you want to do is just play one game.

NBA Live 10 will deliver great moments and, especially with Dynamic Season, the individual games you want to play. The long haul of a season's worth of play is a different measure. With a direct competitor in 2K10 the first, if not only question for many is simply which one wins this year. But it is not a zero-sum proposition. I do consider NBA 2K10 to be the better package of the two, but NBA Live 10 is no less a worthy and enjoyable game in the presence of competition than it would be in the absence of it. It may not be a triumph over its rival. But in delivering a strong game for a second straight year, NBA Live is seeing the revival EA Sports wants it to be.

NBA Live 10 was developed by EA Vancouver and published by Electronic Arts for Xbox 360 and PS3 on Oct. 6. Retails for $59.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played all game types in singleplayer mode and tested online multiplayer.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

To continue the metaphor, NBA 2K10 delivers both. All sports titles face a justify-your-existence question of what to offer every year beyond a roster update. NBA 2K10 has been such a clear leader that it's almost exempt from such what-have-you-done-for-me-lately questions, and has the luxury of refining its visuals and presentation. That's not to say the game doesn't add new ways to deliver, and experience, the performance art that can happen any given night in the NBA.

Loved
Where Basketball Happens: So much of a sports game review fixates on what's new in a game, but the guts of it still have to be there, and NBA 2K10 shows restraint in its gameplay tinkers. This year's update focused more on nailing down animations for players' signature moves and even facial expressions, rather than how you manipulate them. But the most conspicuous control is how your speed burst works. You have a finite supply of it, and not only can it run out over a single play, going to the well too often will deplete his overall stamina. You cannot sit on the trigger in this game and expect to get away with it for long. This brings some useful balance, especially to run-and-gun multiplayer games. Shot selection is more of a key this year as the game seems to have tightened up on on the ease of shooting. That could also be because of changes in shooting animations, as your point of release means everything to whether the ball goes in. Otherwise, the control scheme remains solid and caters to your preferred style, whether that's set plays versus a more freelancing approach, or basic player manipulation vs. more advanced shooting and post play. If you prefer to make things up as you go along, you can still have a great time in NBA 2K10. My only gripe is that players seem slow to get open on their own, meaning you'll need to do so at least through a quick play from the menu or draw the defense and kick it out yourself.

This is a presentation of the NBA: I halfway expected to hear a 4th quarter announcement that any rebroadcast without the express written consent of the NBA is prohibited. Out of the box, the commentary of Kevin Harlan, Clark Kellogg and Cheryl Miller is much stronger and less repetitive than the competing title from EA Sports. Although the season has not started yet, when it does their remarks, supported by on-screen graphics, will reflect what's taking place in the league, such as recent big performances, slumps, etc. I'm assuming. The point is that the game will serve you up - even if it's just for a one-off matchup - more than the current rosters but the current state of the league and its players. This may not as technically detailed as NBA Live 10's Dynamic DNA, which will break a player down to his tendencies, not just his skill strengths. Gamers who can make use of that information will have to make the choice for themselves; what 2K10 has done here is good enough for me.

That's My Player: This is a compelling mode of play, one that really makes you want to be a better player and learn the game. But you really have to know what you are getting into because you will be judged very strictly in it. In My Player, you are starting off with a rookie rated near the bottom in everything and only slightly better in some core positional attributes. Then, through conditioning drills and scrimmages in a summer league you build yourself into a draftable talent. Or not. Most everyone will head through the NBA Developmental League first. I just don't see how you can accrue the points necessary to make an NBA roster right off the bat and even then, I'm not sure what good it would do because your playing time would be minuscule. But back to the development - your success will depend upon knowing your position and how it contributes to a game. And I mean, if you have no organized basketball experience and are only a casual spectator of the game, it will be rough on you. You need to pay attention to your teammates if someone's calling for a pass. You've got to proactively set picks. You've got to call for the ball only when you're open and even then, you'll be bitched at for doing it too often. You need to do these things more than you need to score, because the development places a premium on being a good teammate. Even burying an spot-up jumper will get you tsk-tsked for taking one too soon, with an attendant reduction in teammate grade. All this said, I know I am a bad baller, so even if I was frustrated I didn't feel like I was being judged unfairly. And I can see that for someone who knows and loves basketball, how the challenges offered and won by My Player stand out not only for this sport, but among all career modes of pro sports gaming. If you're not 100 percent sure you know what you're doing in the game, you should stick to the team mode, unless you are really committed to using My Player to teach yourself video game basketball in a very granular, intensive way.

Multiplied multiplayer: The first two days of the release I could not connect to the 2K servers at all. As of the weekend, the problems appeared to be solved, but this was still an unfortunate black mark against a game going out the door packed to the gills with multiplayer modes. The most intriguing of these is the Team-Up, where you can form or join a crew and run ball in a virtual league against teams comprised entirely of other users. If you don't want to commit to that you can create a pick-up game for a single instance only. My preference trends strongly to singleplayer in sports titles and getting my ass kicked online in this game definitely reinforced that. But the game's deep multiplayer offerings, along with its season simulation, once again make it this year's winner.

Hated
Fritzy framerate: Certain shots during cutscenes, or certain gameplay sequences - especially going into heavy traffic with everyone breaking back to the rim - dropped the framerate quite noticeably on my 360 version. It may be, unfortunately, because of the superior character modeling combining with the crowd animations and background to overwhelm the console. 2K says it's working on a patch, but others have noted that even 2K9 still had its own framerate stutters in some of the same situations.

Information overload: The game triples the number of plays you can call this year, breaking them out by the five positions on the floor plus a menu for calling quick picks and isolations. Unfortunately, the menu deals in floor positions, not which player's number is being called. So if you're running automatic substitutions and don't know everyone on the floor by name and position, you might find yourself in the dark about who you're dialing up. It's petty to gripe about greater options, but it can feel like a big one when you're getting run out of the gym by a superior opponent and trying desperately to think of something that will work.

(No) thanks for the advice: I did not care for the Stephen A. Smith-esque cartoon figure who appears in your season sim and who pretends to be a mentor in My Player. No, his voice isn't as obnoxious as Screamin' A, HOWEVAH, I found him to be condescending to the point of discouragement in My Player, and I could have just taken the pointers in a bullet-point text box. For someone who's pretending to have a close relationship to your player, he needs to have a real face, or at least a more recognizable voice. I'd respect what this guy says a lot more if I knew who it's coming from, instead of someone who passes off another player's quotes as inspiration.

The little things that NBA 2K10 does right could fill a review twice as long as this, but of course they should get a nod here, for pushing the whole enterprise over the top and again delivering this year's NBA choice. Your crowd will chant MVP! when a star player on a hot streak comes to the line for his and-1 free throw. When this happens in the playoffs, it just feels right. The off-ball players' animations, usually where you see forced or sped-up repositioning when the AI has to move them, are very refined and build that overall sense that you're watching an NBA telecast. The players and the coaches' features are mesmerizingly accurate - I loved any cutscene with George Karl in it and could instantly pick out Stephen Curry - a straight-up rookie - from the standard camera angle.

NBA 2K10 represents the brand of choice among hardcore ballers and reputation counts for plenty in both real-world professional basketball and its virtual counterpart. Outside of My Player and the multiplayer modes, the game delivers more subtle changes than profound to your experience. When it's in control of a game, a winning team maintains that lead, and focuses on execution. That's NBA 2K10.

NBA 2K10 was developed by Visual Concepts published by 2K Sports for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Wii. Retails for $59.99 USD (PS3 and 360) and $49.99 (Wii and PC). A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played all singleplayer game types and tested multiplayer quick play mode.)

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Many have complained of bad framerate issues that some say render the game almost unplayable, although I myself have not encountered it. That said, some of the problem may involve multiplayer games - which I and many others have found difficult if not impossible to connect to over the past two days. The problems seem mostly to involve the Xbox 360 version. (Clarification. They only involve the 360 version because I forgot the PS3 version is not out yet.)

"We're diligently working on a game update for NBA 2K10. Our primary focus is on addressing the framerate issues and online concerns that are being reported," says 2K Sports forum admin SimBaller. "In addition to this, we are planning to address a number of other issues that you have reported to us."

The patch 2K Sports plans to roll sounds like it will be available by the end of next week, as that's when SimBaller says he will "be publishing a full list of all the issues fixed in the patch. I'm confident you will be more than satisfied with the changes we are making to every aspect of the game."

Players have complained of black screens and freezes. Some complain of a framerate degradation that renders the game almost unplayable. Others say the it drops noticeably during cutscenes and spots in the game where a lot of players are clustered together.

I've been playing the game this week and find the framerate drops noticeably - but not to an unplayable degree - when I get into camera angles with a ton of people on the screen - crowd shots after timeouts, huge traffic jams in the lane, that sort of thing.

As far as multiplayer, that is its own set of problems. Pasta Padre's sports blog has mentioned troubles on the 2K server involving very problematic lag or the inability to connect to the 2K Sports server which some have experienced over the past two days, myself included.

If any of this concerns you, head on over and make yourself heard. But it's definitely not the kind of forum post 2K Sports would rather read in this games launch week.

NBA 2K10 Game Update - READ POST 1 and 2, REOPENING TOMORROW [2K Sports Forums]

Apropos of nothing, Kobe Bryant looks a little like Lt. Daniels from The Wire in these shots.

NBA 2K10's Draft Combine released Thursday for the PS3, a week after it went out to Xbox Live. The $5, 362-megabyte package is thought to be unique. Whereas everyone releases a demo, Draft Combine delivers a standalone game experience of its own as well as one teasing the full release, and then integrating into its gameplay. Draft Combine's impact - read: the money it makes - is far from being known. But a preseason game of this type can make a lot of sense for sports publishers. For if leagues increasingly have no offseason, why should their video games?

"The jury's still out on this," said Mark Goodrich, senior brand manager of basketball for 2K Sports. "But I would not be surprised if, say this is a roaring success, we start asking ‘What could baseball do?' and ‘What could could hockey do?' and what makes logical extensions there."

Draft Combine is an extension of NBA 2K10's single-player career mode, new to this year's version of the game. This will be the second year 2K Sports hasn't produced a college hoops title, so "My Player" takes the place, and expands on, importing draft classes from the 2K college game. Draft Combine is set in the offseason period during which college talent visits the NBA's cattle call to showcase their talent and improve their draft position. Gamers create a player, customize his attributes, take him through a series of drills, scrimmages and workout games, and produce a draftable player who will then be imported into the full game once it releases Oct. 6.

Eric Boenisch, the lead feature designer for NBA 2K, said Draft Combine's genesis is purely borne of game design; it wasn't conceived of as marketing content, although Goodrich said he and his team were delighted to have it as such.

"One concept we wanted to is this My Player career mode, which we're doing in NBA 2K10," Boenisch said, "but we were wondering, ‘How can we give this to fans without them waiting until the release date?' We came up with the Draft Combine, where we can show off the gameplay, and allow people to start their careers early and continue that on."

Boenisch said his team "kicked around the idea for a few months" after NBA 2K9's release last October, eventually coming up with the game out now. It did not have its own separate cycle, per se, but was instead written concurrently with the rest of the NBA 2K10 content.

"You never want to do anything to hurt the full version of a game," Boenisch said, "but by making Draft Combine a part of the My Player mode, things really worked hand in hand in our favor."

Draft Combine's counterparts are, roughly speaking, something like last year's Fable II: Pub Games, definitely not a sports title, but one that allowed players to begin the full title with gold carried over from the downloadable game. In sports, this year's NCAA 10 Teambuilder was a free experience and not tied to downloadable content. But it, too, allowed its fans to tinker with their game experience and get fired up for the release.

Pub Games so far has proven to be a one-off, not really a proof of concept to the rest of the industry. And maybe Draft Combine will too - Boenisch says there are "no promises" that it will continue for future releases too. But at least the idea adds another dimension of the reality sports gamers prize.

Pre-season and draft activities are increasingly important to the major sports as they search out ways to market themselves and extend paying-fan experiences. Baseball's Hot Stove League is the original offseason intrigue, and observing the day its pitchers and catchers report for spring training is a celebrated tradition. When you think about the NFL's scouting combine and draft, covered in greater intensity than their NBA counterparts, both motive and opportunity would exist for EA Sports to do something similar in its Madden NFL series, with its Superstar mode.

In fact, it would not surprise me to see EA, in NCAA football, take its Road to Glory into some sort of preseason DLC. The player creation, high school playoffs and signing day in NCAA 10 could conceivably be stripped down to a game the size of Draft Combine, maybe even with room left over for your player's first college two-a-day practices. All of the preceding is speculation of course, but you'd be a fool not to think EA Sports is at least examining the trend.

And here's a big reason for that: Goodrich pointed out that leagues now dictate the earliest release date for a title, both to forestall a first-to-market arms race among competitors, and not to overshadow the league's debut itself. So preseason content is a bonus because it can get the title out ahead of that window without violating that league's edict.

On the flip side, anything licensed by a league is going to surrender a percentage of its sales to that league. So creating this kind of DLC is not the kind of no-brain moneymaker that creating solid original IP would be, Goodrich points out.

If preseason games become a new feature, create-a-player modes, such as Draft Combine, are the most suited to the experience. They allow you to do ahead of time all the dirty work in visual customization and attribute management, so on the day of release your virtual phenom is ready to storm the league. But the barrier to the acceptance of this kind of game experience is the superstar mode itself, in which you are fixated on the performance of a single player and not the entire team - which has been the norm in sports games for three decades.

Boenisch acknowledged that some in sports game forums have found Draft Combine difficult, albeit compelling. He chalks it up to the team-vs.-player mode disconnect.

"It's a different way to play the game; it's the God-mode," Boenisch said. "You always control the ballhandler. But in this experience you're locked on to your player. If you're the guy trying to grab a rebound or set picks, some people need a few games to adjust to that. But it allows people a different way to play the game."

And it allows publishers a different way to play their game. Both Boenisch and Goodrich acknowledge Draft Combine's dual marketing/gameplay role, and so its success will necessarily be judged on how well it fulfills both purposes. If downloads of Draft Combine dive off a cliff after Oct. 6, it's not a good thing for them; but it's not necessarily fatal to the concept.

"There's still the fundamental issue of how much did this cost to make, and if we lose money, is it then an acceptable marketing expense - did we see that parlay into sales of the regular game," Goodrich said. "If the game is well received, and is viewed as enhancing the 2K experience, then we'll have a strong case for looking to next year. But it's too early to call the ball."

Stick Jockey is Kotaku's column on sports video games. It appears Saturdays at 10 a.m. U.S. Mountain time.

In this, you'll be picking more than jump-shot animations, cornrow patterns and your college alma mater. Your player will have to be built along some well-known templates - distributor, wing threat, post menace, etc. - and from there certain attributes will be made available to you. Then you turn him loose in the combine, which will feature full games as well as skill tests, the goal being get drafted as high as you can.

Or is it? Then you could end up with the Bucks. Or the Clippers. And I don't think people are beating down the doors here to get ultra-realistic, 17-games under .500 in February, who-gives-a-crap season progression.

Draft Combine ain't free, but it's no demo, from the looks of this, anyway. Aug. 26 for Xbox Live, Sept. 3 for PSN.

Draft Combine Trailer [GameTrailers]

More than just facial features and uniform choices, you see here how the game allows you to give your guy traits based on existing players - Jason Kapono's jump shot is listed in the video. Kwame Brown's hands, probably not. Also, is that Shock G/Humpty Hump in the mix?

Draft Combine comes to Xbox Live Arcade, for 400 Microsoft points, a week from today, Aug. 26. It hits PlayStation Network Sept. 3, for $4.99.

In terms of value, we're on the fence. $99 is a lot to pay, but then, you're getting a lot of stuff, including a Shepard Fairey poster of Kobe, a Kobe action figure and a freakin' metal locker that holds 20 game covers.

In terms of portability, though...it's a little ridiculous. For the box to include that locker, the figure and the poster, we're talking a crate as big as a Guitar Hero/Rock Band bundle. Only, for an annual sports title. Wonder how that'll fly with retailers.

Note: the image and info above come courtesy of IGN's Team Xbox, not publishers 2K themselves, so until announced officially consider this one over-sized, expensive rumour.

NBA 2K10 10th Anniversary Edition Discovered [Team Xbox]

A bottom-of-the-press-release surprise from Tecmo today was the news that the publisher is backing an NBA game, NBA Unrivaled for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade later this year.

Tecmo joins a field currently occupied by EA and Take Two's NBA Live and NBA 2K series, respectively, though only Tecmo's game is announced as download-only.

NBA Unrivaled is said in Tecmo's press release to feature a "contemporary retro design" as well as full NBA team licenses and player rosters. The game supports two players competing head to head or against the computer. It also features a momentum bar that rewards players who perform in a crowd-pleasing manner.

We would have screenshots for you, but Tecmo bundled them in a 2GB file. So expect them later. Much later.

MacCulloch was forced into retirement at age 28 by a nerve condition in his foot — basically, parts of his feet would be completely numb, other parts too sensitive — that made playing basketball impossible. Idle, rich, and concerned that his condition might sink him into depression, MacCulloch looked for support from an old love — pinball machines.

He now owns 80 machines, valued at $200,000, and he's trying to fit in with a new competitive life on the pinball tournament circuit. MacCulloch, who is far from an elite player, swears he's not using pinball to replace the NBA, and readily admits his shortcomings, is nonetheless committed to "win some pinball hardware and get a trophy one of these days."

This is particularly interesting:

"I still get nervous in big tournaments where there has been some big money on the line and it might have been a fraction of what I made in a check in the NBA," he said. "But it's still the pressure of the moment — the heart starts beating a little bit, the games are designed to increase the music just to make you feel something, to make you feel the pressure and rush your shots. When I've needed to I haven't been able to pull some games out of my, um, hat."

In basketball he always had the ability to do what athletes call "slowing the game down," seeing every possibility, making careful, methodical decisions even as he was running full speed. In pinball he feels himself speeding up, the game too often spinning out of control. He wonders why this happens and figures it is simply because he hasn't played as much as the other players, some of whom have been competing for 30 or 40 years.

Bullet-time jokes aside, do you think it's possible to slow down your experience in the midst of a full-speed game? Or is that something restricted to full-motion, athletic competition?

Former NBA Player Todd MacCulloch is Now a Pinball Star [Washington Post, with photo]

The 30 second spot will air sometime after the start of the Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers 8:30 p.m. ET game on ABC.

There was a time when cover athletes for sports titles were a big deal, but they don't seem to get as much buzz as they used to. Maybe it's me, and I'm not a sports fan really, but do people who play sports video games really care who's on the cover of the title they're going to by? More importantly, if you buy sports games, has it ever effected your decision?

Either way, if you're into sports games you should probably hop over to the official 2K site and try to predict who the cover athlete will be. If you get it right you could win a copy of the game as well as the athlete's autographed NBA jersey.

Tune in Tomorrow for the Revealing of the Cover Athlete for 2K Sports’ NBA® 2K9 during the NBA Pre-Game Show at 8:30 pm ET on ABC

June 4, 2008 – Tomorrow, 2K Sports will reveal the cover athlete for the highly anticipated basketball video game, NBA 2K9, in a 30 second TV spot scheduled to air during the NBA Countdown pre-game show for Game One of the 2008 NBA Finals, Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers, June 5th at 8:30 pm ET on ABC.

As part of revealing the new cover athlete, 2K Sports has launched a new community web site, www.2ksports.com/nba2k9, where registered participants can predict the cover athlete for NBA 2K9 from a selection of 16 NBA players. Fans have until 11:59 p.m. ET tonight to make their predictions, and participants who select correctly will be entered into a special drawing for the opportunity to win exclusive prizes. One grand prize winner will receive the NBA 2K9 cover athlete’s authentic, autographed NBA jersey, along with a copy of NBA 2K9 on the platform of their choice. Ten other first prize winners will also receive a copy of NBA 2K9. All winners will receive their copy of NBA 2K9 upon release of the game.

NBA 2K9, which is being developed by Visual Concepts, is not yet rated by the ESRB and will be available this fall for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system. For more information, please visit www.2ksports.com.

By John Gaudiosi

With the NBA starting off the 2007-08 season, Stacey Kerr, senior director of entertainment products and licensing for the NBA, took some time to talk about the growing role videogames play in the league. Unlike some other major sports, which focus all of the attention on the start of the season and the playoffs when it comes to gaming, the NBA works with its five licensing partners (Sony, Electronic Arts, 2K Sports, Atari and Midway Games) throughout the year.

"It's not just launch the game at the beginning of the season and that's it," said Kerr. "They work with us all year long. We did a season simulation on NBA Live 08 for the upcoming season. EA Sports also sponsored our recent six-city pre-season European tour, which featured gaming in each of the cities."

2K Sports is introducing a brand new virtual card game available exclusively on NBA.com in conjunction with the new season. NBA 2K8 Top Trumps Stats Challenge is a new variation of the classic card game, "War," which features in-game characters of NBA stars from NBA 2K8. Players can compete against the computer to win up to 20 percent of off merchandise at NBAStore.com or take on a friend.

"As the season progresses, the player stats are updated to reflect each players' on-court achievements," said Kerr. "As a result, Kevin Garnett could start as an Ace but drop to a King or a Queen if he runs into a string of bad games on the real hardwoods."

2K Sports also promoted its new game with several press events featuring NBA 2K8 cover athlete Chris Paul during the summer, including the first-ever outdoor motion-capture session for an NBA game. 2K Sports will sponsor the 2008 NBA All-Star Game ballot program and they have a tie-in with Gamestop stores throughout the season for that.

At the NBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas this past February, videogames were front and center at the NBA Fan Access at Mandalay Bay Casino. Kerr said that 2K Sports used that All-Star Game to work with Chris Paul.

"It was a great opportunity for them to work with players," said Kerr. "They had an opportunity to see how Chris would be as a spokesperson for them through some promotional appearances and that led to him being on the cover."

One of the reasons the NBA is so focused on games is because 75 percent of the league's players are avid videogamers. That explains why when the Philadelphia 76ers revealed their new uniforms screenshots of players in the new videogames were included with the press announcement. In addition, the NBA reveals the new All-Star Game uniforms during the season and releases codes to unlock them in the latest videogames.

"We're excited because the game publishers have focused on putting cover athletes on their games that are big gamers," said Kerr. "Chris Paul is a big gamer. Gilbert Arenas plays all kinds of games and talks about them on his blog. I think that helps spread the word about how authentic the videogames are and how passionate our players are about games. It's almost become a big criteria now for picking a cover athlete that are into games."

Back in March 2005, while leagues like the NFL, PGA TOUR, NASCAR and FIFA were cutting exclusive game licensing deals, the NBC decided to work with five game publishers.

"We like having the competition on the simulation side, which NBA Live 08, NBA 2K8 and NBA 08 offers us," said Kerr. "And then with our arcade, over-the-top style games with NBA Street and NBA Ballers rotating every other spring. Atari gives us a youth product offering with Backyard Basketball. That gives us a full portfolio for our NBA fans. We like all of these companies pushing each other to make great products year in and year out for the consumer."

Kerr said the NBA works closely with all five game publishers.

"It's very collaborative," said Kerr. "We're always talking with the game publishers, especially early in the development cycle to make sure the new features they're going to hone in and the improvements they're going to make, particularly on the simulation side, make sense, are authentic and go well with our game and will continue to push the bar of innovation with the product. We make sure they have access to photos, video and players for motion-capture sessions."

When it comes to what new features are in the latest NBA games, Kerr said the league tries to keep the three simulation games as close to real-life as possible.

"If it doesn't happen in the NBA, we probably won't approve it," said Kerr. "We want things to look and feel like the NBA. We feel like consumers who buy these games want the NBA experience. We do have some flexibility with one-on-one, two-on-two and three-on-three games with NBA Ballers and NBA Street, which ship every other spring. We allow showmanship and more over-the-top gameplay in those titles. With the kids titles, they have a nice approach to their business. They show NBA players as kids and it's set on playgrounds. They've really revamped that franchise and we let them take the lead in that game, although we work with them closely."

It's one thing to cheat at blogging, but quite another to cheat at Halo 3.

While we're not certain Gilbert Arenas is cheating to up his in-game stats, it certainly looks that way and a whole bunch of Bungie forum-goers agree.

Look at all his games that he gets 1st place in. He joins up with a friend and has his other account quit out so he gets 1st place every time. How can this be allowed?

Checking out his stat page you can see that he does play an awful lot of Social Doubles and always ends in first place. Oh and that the lifespan of many of his "matches" is under five seconds.

Hey Arenas, I hate to break it to you, but matching and dumping just pumps up your experience, it doesn't do a thing for your Rank. To boost that you're going to have to actually play a game. Hit me up at Gamertag Crecente anytime so I can show you what a teabag is.

NBA player Gilbert Arenas cheating at Halo 3 [Bungie Halo 3 Forums]

Update: The Washington Post got Arenas to fess up.

It's a glitch," he explained. "It's a glitch in the game. I seen some kids that were like 600s, they won 600 Halo games and we only had that game for two weeks. And all the kids go to school. So I'm like, 'What the hell you all doing?' And they said that's what they doing, two-on-two."

And Bungie has released this official statement to Kotaku:

"As Gilbert Arenas himself admitted, his EXP is suspect. What isn't suspect, however, is his skill level, a far better gauge of a player's ability than the grinding of EXP. He is a level 42, which is pretty exceptional, especially considering all of the time he's likely putting into grinding."

Skill level? One word Arenas: Teabag