NBA Live 09 Dynamic DNA Explained

The biggest implication of this revelation is in online play. Instead of everyone playing with the most hyped team, such as the Celtics and Lakers in '08, they would play with a team that has the player with the hot hand or is on a big-time winning streak. With the ability to mimic the real-world counterparts and starting lineups, the online matchups would have a much sweeter feel to them.

Some may say this provides an imbalance in gameplay however, and that remains to be seen, but it would be nice to see what teams are the most popular at any given time. In the same regard, it would be obnoxious if you enjoyed playing with a certain team, but at different points in the season you struggled due to underperforming players in real life.

Still, the implications of this development in sports gaming can not be emphasized enough. If you are fanatical like many of our readers, you have spent countless hours on forums trying to find out when the next roster download would be coming. Now imagine if you could play with the actual rosters every day of a game’s existence, without worry.

Taking this idea even further, this feature could be adapted into all of EA Sports' games. How fun would it be to not play every online game of Madden against Tom Brady and the Patriots or Romo and the Boys. NFL rosters can have a completely different look on a weekly basis, with nagging injuries bringing down players’ ratings or making them inactive, not to mention players shuffling around the depth chart due to good or poor performances. This would provide a much different strategy when selecting a team.

Without a doubt, EA Sports is on to something because 2K has released details about the next NBA 2K game, and included is a DNA-lite feature that seems to be based more on real-time happenings in the game, rather than real-life data downloads, which is even more exciting in a way. (And In defense of 2K, no one knows who had the idea first, nor are they identical features by any means.)

Providing updates on a constant basis only gives gamers more justification to shell out $60 on a brand new game year after year. Logging in daily, knowing you'll be rewarded with fresh gameplay and the ability to experience something new potentially every time builds up trust and accountability.

This article was written by Matthew DiStaulo for Operation Sports.  Operation Sports is the Internet's leading sports video games resource.

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