NBA 2K14: Enhancements to NBA Today Takes Feature to Next Level

There was so much to discuss and react to at the NBA 2K14 media event in San Francisco. The visuals were stunning; the enhancements to My Career were intriguing and the tease of The Park set everyone's wheels in motion.

Amidst all the clamor about those prominent features, many of us who were in attendance may have forgotten about the new look and functions of NBA Today.

On current-generation consoles, the feature is pretty basic. The games on the real NBA schedule are there for you to play in exhibition mode with updated rosters intact. You can also get real-life scores.

As has become customary over the past three weeks, NBA 2K14 is cranking it up a notch for next-generation systems. On Playstation 4 and Xbox One, the NBA Today feature will double as a highlight hub, as well as a source for box scores and breakdowns for the games played the previous night or during the day.

If it sounds cool, it looked even better in person. The highlights were streamed in high quality and it felt like I was watching NBA TV or visiting NBA.com. To have that at your fingertips when you boot up the game is amazing.

Erick Boenisch, the senior producer of the game, told Megan Farokhmanesh of Polygon: 

"

In the [current edition of NBA 2K14], it's like 'Hey, the Lakers played last night. They lost 115 to 114. Kobe had a pretty good game.'

In this one, it's going to be like 'They lost on a last second shot. Kobe missed it but he shot 14 for 28. He had 31 points. Got in foul trouble late in the game.' And that's the kind of detail that you don't get from the old system.

"

This isn't a feature that makes a gamer go out and buy the game, but it is one of the presentation-style tidbits that increases the overall enjoyment for those who are already sold on the core product.

Over the next two to three weeks, expect to see more information and media to add even more depth to this feature and other aspects of the game. 

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