NBA Live 15: Release Date, Top Player Ratings, New Features, Preview and More
NBA Live fans, your wait is almost over. On Tuesday, Oct. 28, NBA Live 15 will be released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and hopes are high that the game has taken huge strides from last year's release.
If the pre-release flow of information is any indication, it looks as if EA Sports is confident about its upcoming product. There's been a steady diet of information over the last two months to set the stage for Tuesday's release.
Player ratings have received an especially glamorous presentation. The top five players at each position were revealed on Twitter, as were the top players at specific skill sets, such as ball-handling, dunking and three-point shooting.
This tweet points out the top five sixth men in the game.
Click here to see all of the player ratings.
With every new sports video game release comes the demand for fresh and improved features. Sometimes, simply optimizing or fixing existing favorites can be sufficient if the improvement is substantial enough.
Because of NBA Live 14's imperfections, this year's release has room to grow. It could potentially make a statement with its loyal fanbase as well as grab the attention of gamers who don't currently play the game.
Here's a brief description of the features, per EASports.com.
- Enhanced Visuals - New Scanning, lighting and player-specific body types.
- Improved Gameplay - Real-time physics in the paint, better flow of action in transition, 100 new animations, more responsive controls and improved artificial intelligence.
- Interactive Tutorial - Cover athlete Damian Lillard guides you through the game's controls.
- Live Features - Live seasons allows gamers to re-create or repeat recent history in the NBA. Ultimate Team returns with an auction house, fantasy challenges and new legends.
- Rising Stars - The single-player mode is a bit more beefed up this year with player types and Jordan Brand incorporation.
- Daily Updates - NBA Live 15 boasts that it will feature daily updates powered by Synergy Sports' advanced statistics.
- Dynasty Mode - Old staple returns with improved schedule generation and trade logic.
Most Intriguing Features
Live Season
EA Sports seems to be shifting its focus to the strength of its servers.
Rightly so, as the game's biggest competition comes from NBA 2K, and while that series has dominated the virtual hoops scene for over 10 years, the servers are routinely inconsistent. The NBA Live team is smart to try and accentuate its area of advantage.
Live Seasons is a great platform to prove how dependable the game is online.
Most every virtual basketball fan loves the real NBA. Thus, most Live fans will have seen LeBron James go for 30 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists on Tuesday night, and they would be intrigued by the challenge of duplicating this feat on the game shortly after.
Those are the experiences Live Seasons creates, as it did last year. This year's version promises to bring even more challenges with pertinent detail. Rewind, Hot Spots and Big Moments challenges are all part of the feature. If this is executed correctly, it could continue to grow into the calling card for the series.
Daily Updates
Along the same lines of online functionality is the daily updates system. Synergy Sports is a firm that compiles and distributes data to real sports teams and media groups. EA Sports has partnered with the company to produce what it hopes will be the most accurate and up-to-date statistical data and video game translation of that information around.
As was told to me last year by producer Ryan Ferwerda when this feature was being initially launched for NBA Live 14, there are hopes that the concept evolves into a system that can even update the night's action hours after the last game is completed.
It's an exciting feature that could spawn things like routine, hairstyle, sneaker and accessory changes in the game as they appear in real life.
Without having played the game at any level during development, it's impossible to say how much it has grown since last year. However, it seems apparent that the graphics have taken a leap forward, and that's the first step.
We'll all get a good look at the game on launch day, even if you haven't decided to buy it yet. The free demo will be released on the same day the game is available in stores.
Xbox One users who subscribe to EA Access will get a six-hour preview of the game beginning on Oct. 25. Let the season begin.
Follow Brian Mazique, aka FranchisePlay, the Sports Video Game Journalist.
