The marketing people at 2K Sports confuse me. EA Sports has been promoting the hell out of NBA Live 365, a brand-new part of NBA Live 09 that includes Dynamic DNA and NBA Live Rewind, presumably because those features differentiate the game from its competition. Dynamic DNA in particular sounds like a potentially revolutionary addition, providing data like player streaks and tendencies so that the game is literally “made fresh daily.”
But apparently, NBA 2K9 comes with an essentially identical feature called “Living Rosters” — check out the video above for details. I say ‘apparently’ because I had no idea that Living Rosters existed until the trailer was sent to me yesterday — the day before the game’s release date. Having Living Rosters in NBA 2K9 negates one of the foremost advantages of NBA Live 09, so now more than ever, the games will have to be compared on their gameplay above all else.
Speaking of the NBA 2K9 launch, there’s new word of an interesting development. The game came out today for the PS3, 360, and PS2 — in fact, some of you may already have a copy — and as far as anyone knew, those were the only platforms for which the game was being developed. That’s no longer the case; I received a press release this morning (after the jump) announcing that NBA 2K9 will be out for the PC on October 21st.
This strategy makes a lot of sense for 2K Sports, since they can take control of a PC sports gaming market that EA has now left behind — at least when it comes to football and basketball. Do you care about NBA 2K9 on your PC?
[Editor’s note: Again, sorry about the video quality. It must be an issue with the videos for NBA 2K9, because this doesn’t happen to me otherwise. -Samit]
2K Sports Announces NBA® 2K9 for Windows PC
October 7, 2008 – 2K Sports today announced NBA 2K9 will be available for the first time on Windows PC on October 21. The NBA 2K franchise is now poised to reach even more fans on a global scale with this addition to the already anticipated console versions of NBA 2K9.
“We are excited about the growing popularity of basketball and are eager to get NBA 2K9 in the hands of PC fans,” said Greg Thomas, senior vice president of sports development at 2K. “The PC version will please even the most dedicated basketball fans with the same level of quality simulation we’ve become known for in the console versions of the NBA 2K franchise.”
NBA 2K9 is the latest edition of NBA 2K, the #1 selling current gen basketball video game* that has also been the #1 rated NBA simulation for seven years in a row**, is back for its 10th season. NBA 2K9 is the premier basketball game for serious players, and will deliver the most realistic and feature-rich simulation experience ever available in the NBA 2K franchise – from gameplay and graphics to presentation and online features. Fans will also be able to enjoy the most up-to-date basketball experience ever available in the NBA 2K franchise through Living Rosters with constant updates to player ratings and player tendencies, along with access to exclusive unlockable animation packages for players in the game. If it happens during the regular NBA season, it will happen in NBA 2K9.
NBA 2K9 is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB and now available for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and the PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems. For more information about NBA 2K9, please visit http://www.2ksports.com/games/nba2k9.
* According to NPD Funworld estimates of U.S. retail video game sales of Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 NBA titles for the period from September 2007 to August 2008.
**The NBA 2K series developed by Visual Concepts outranked competitors based on GameRankings.com average scores of 2001-2007 NBA video games.
