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This is The Tuesday Triple, where I attempt to break down random topics into three points, and maybe an “and one” if I need it. Similar to the established Friday Five by Andrew, the topics will be related to basketball video games and their communities as a whole.
Like I said in yesterday’s Dumb Monday, we are just a few weeks away from E3 which may give us our first looks at NBA 2K15 and NBA Live 15. While the information dropped may be lacking, both 2K and EA will be looking to kickstart their hype-trains for the upcoming games. In the spirit of whatever teaser or screenshot we might get, I am going to list off my top three short videos for NBA games that got me hyped up for the next game.
Free Throw – NBA 2K14’s OMG
Fresh off the release of the current gen game, this was our first real look at the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of NBA 2K14. Jaw-dropping is the correct way to describe I think mostly everyone’s reaction to this trailer dropping. It looks gorgeous, unique with Phil Collins, and emphatically announced that next gen was coming when this was used as a commercial during the early season NBA games. E3’s reveal was nice, but this looked great and still had that ‘2K’ bit of it that let us know this was gameplay and not CG.
Fadeaway – NBA 2K11’s Jordan Announcement
Jordan was back in a video game and it was nothing short of amazing. Looking back at it now, it really does have that messenjahmatt feel to the teaser, simply because all we’ve seen from MJ in previous basketball video games were through his videos or PC mods. Bringing him back officially, with official non-fanmade retro teams, and with all the Jordan specific animations made NBA 2K11 deliver on its hype.
Halfcourt Heave – NBA Elite 11’s Quick Clip
This look at NBA Elite 11 is what made that game’s cancellation hurt so much for me. EASBA was high on my hype meter too, but this clip showed that an EA Sports game could have some unique moments. The most unique thing I ever saw from NBA Live 10 was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, whereas the NBA 2K games have had rare animations and a game environment that allowed for crazy things to happen, unlike EA’s games. This gave me hope that some kind of variability would be in the game, that I would have unique experiences no one else would have. Then it got cancelled.
I hope you guys enjoyed these videos. If you have any favorite official or fan made hype videos for basketball games, leave a link in the comments below.
The OMG Trailer is obviously one of the most visually impressive teasers/hype videos to come along as far as basketball games are concerned, though the Jordan teaser is definitely a personal favourite, MJ being my all-time favourite player.
The funny thing about the OMG Trailer is, before it came out, NBA Live 14’s graphics weren’t being ripped on nearly as much. Granted, there were valid criticisms being made, but there was less “Oh, it looks like PS2” exaggerations and rhetoric. Then 2K drops the OMG Trailer and we all realised “Now THAT’s next gen”, with NBA Live 14’s graphics not stacking up so well against it to say the least.