NBA Live (video game series)

NBA Live
Developers EA Canada (1995–2010)
EA Tiburon (2010–present)
Publishers EA Sports
Platforms Game Boy
GameCube
iPhone
iPod Touch
Android
Nintendo 64
PC
PlayStation
PlayStation 2
PlayStation 3
PlayStation 4
PlayStation Portable
Sega Saturn
Wii
Xbox 360
Xbox One
Platform of origin Super NES, Sega Genesis, MS-DOS
Year of inception 1994
First release NBA Live 95
October 1994
Latest release NBA Live Mobile
July 6, 2016

NBA Live is a series of basketball video games published by EA Sports. The series, which has had releases annually from 1994 to 2009 and 2013 to the present, is the successor to EA's previous NBA Playoffs and NBA Showdown series. Live primarily competes with the NBA 2K series and formerly NBA ShootOut.

NBA Playoffs

The predecessor of the NBA Live series was the NBA Playoffs series, which featured Lakers vs. Celtics, released first in 1989 for MS-DOS-compatible PCs and later adapted for consoles in early 1990 for the Sega Mega Drive. This game was played from a horizontal view (while later versions moved to an isometric view before ultimately moving to 3D on newer consoles). The game was one of the first to feature an NBA license, containing both real NBA teams and player likenesses and signature moves. Details such as Horace Grant's goggles are clearly visible, and Michael Jordan's "Air Reverse Layup" is animated with very high accuracy. Player numbers were also visible. The game featured only eight of the sixteen teams that qualified for the NBA playoffs that year, as well as both NBA All-Star teams.

The next game in the series was Bulls vs. Lakers, released in 1991, followed by Bulls vs. Blazers in 1992. Unlike the first game, these two releases were titled after the two teams who were in the NBA Finals the previous season, while the original release apparently chose the Lakers and Celtics due to both teams' historical success, in particular their rivalry in the 1980s. Each revision added more teams and players, as well as more signature moves. The series also included an Olympic basketball spinoff game, Team USA Basketball (1992) which uses the same engine. The final game in the series was NBA Showdown 94 for the Sega Genesis before the transition to the NBA Live series.

Year Game Title Features
1989 Lakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs NBA team and players, signature moves in team game.
1991 Bulls vs Lakers and the NBA Playoffs Co-operative play, instant replay in team game.
1992 Team USA Basketball International player licenses.
1992 Bulls vs. Blazers and the NBA Playoffs Basketball game officially by EA Sports, custom team
1993 NBA Showdown Multiple custom team, 3rd party in game advertisement, white box cover, all NBA teams.

NBA Live

History

In the fall of 1994, the annual EA basketball release received a simpler title of NBA Live 95. This naming pattern using the forthcoming year has continued, except for varying to use of all 4 digits of the year from 2000 to 2005. Each version's initial release was in the fall near the start of the NBA campaign, though additional ports were sometimes delayed until as late as January or February. After 16 consecutive seasons of releases, an effort to retool the game as NBA Elite 11 met with development troubles, and put the game on hiatus for three years. The series returned with NBA Live 14 in November 2013.

The pioneer NBA Live 95 release was for fourth generation video game systems Sega Genesis and SNES, as well as the MS-DOS operating system. NBA Live 96 included the first fifth generation version, with the PlayStation, and also the first handheld games version, on the Game Boy. Sixth generation production started with NBA Live 2001 and continued all the way through NBA Live 2009 on the high selling PlayStation 2. NBA Live 06 was the first to hit seventh generation consoles, after its release to the Xbox 360. Finally, with the release of NBA Live 14 for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, EA continued its run on into eighth generation machines. The game was released on PC each season until support was pulled after the NBA Live 08 season.

The Create-A-Player feature was not available in the 1995 versions of the game, but has been a mainstay since NBA Live 96.

NBA Live 99 was the first to feature Practice Mode and Multi-season play.

Starting in NBA Live 2000, the series featured NBA Live Legend All-Stars Teams, that included some biggest names from five decades (50s to 90s). These teams could be used instantly, but to use the players as regular players (e.g. traded, played on regular NBA Teams) they needed to be unlocked. Through the series, some of the Legend rosters were changed for various reasons. Michael Jordan was on the 90's team through 2004 before being removed due to licensing in later versions. Spud Webb, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Tom Chambers were added to the rosters in NBA Live 06.

NBA Live 2005 brought the addition of the Freestyle Air, NBA All-Star Weekend which includes the Rookie Challenge, Three Point Shootout, Slam Dunk Contest, and the NBA All-Star Game, and Freestyle Challenge which 2 players or more can play the Three Point Shootout or the Slam Dunk Contest.

In NBA Live 08 a limited number of international teams were added under FIBA's license.

NBA Live 09 added a feature called Dynamic DNA, the first concept of daily updates changing tendencies, rosters, and hot-cold streaks.

After the release of NBA Live 10, EA attempted to retool the series under a new name with NBA Elite 11. However, the game was met with bad publicity and development problems before release and was cancelled (though a playable demo was released for download, and several copies of the full release found their way to customers). In November 2010, development of the franchise was moved from EA Canada studio to Florida-based Tiburon studio. It was eventually announced that the series' next installment would be released in Fall 2012 and would return to the NBA Live name as NBA Live 13,[1] but it would later be announced, on September 27, 2012, that they would cancel the release.[2] It wasn't until the fall of 2013, that the next game, NBA Live 14, would be released. NBA Live 16 was released on September 29, 2015. NBA Live Mobile was released on July 6, 2016 and it is currently the latest of the NBA Live series. NBA Live 18 is set for a September, 15 2017 release and will feature players of the WNBA.

Games

Game Title Release date Platforms Cover
NBA Live 95 December 16, 1994 Super NES, Genesis, DOS Seven player action shot from 1994 NBA Finals, Knicks vs. Rockets
NBA Live 96 December 31, 1995 Super NES, Genesis, DOS, PlayStation, Game Boy Tip-off before Game 1 of the 1995 NBA Finals, Rockets vs. Magic (SNES and Genesis)

United States Shaquille O'Neal (PC and PlayStation)

NBA Live 97 October 31, 1996 Super NES, Genesis, DOS, PlayStation, Saturn United States Mitch Richmond
NBA Live 98 June 17, 1997 Super NES, Genesis, Windows, PlayStation, Saturn United States Tim Hardaway
NBA Live 99 October 31, 1998 Windows, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 United States Antoine Walker
NBA Live 2000 October 31, 1999 Windows, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 United States Tim Duncan
NBA Live 2001 October 16, 2000 Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation United States Kevin Garnett, Lithuania Arvydas Sabonis
NBA Live 2002 October 29, 2001 PlayStation 2, PlayStation, Xbox United States Steve Francis
NBA Live 2003 October 8, 2002 PlayStation 2, PlayStation, Xbox, GameCube, Windows United States Jason Kidd
NBA Live 2004 October 14, 2003 PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Windows United States Vince Carter, Spain Raül López, France Tony Parker
NBA Live 2005 September 28, 2004 PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Windows United States Carmelo Anthony, France Tony Parker, Spain Pau Gasol
NBA Live 06 September 26, 2005 PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Windows, PlayStation Portable, Mobile, Xbox 360 United States Dwyane Wade, Japan Yuta Tabuse, France Tony Parker, Spain Pau Gasol
NBA Live 07 September 25, 2006 PlayStation 2, Xbox, Windows, PlayStation Portable, Mobile, Xbox 360 United States Tracy McGrady, Germany Dirk Nowitzki, France Tony Parker, France Boris Diaw[3], Spain Pau Gasol
NBA Live 08 October 1, 2007 PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Wii, Windows United States Gilbert Arenas[4], Germany Dirk Nowitzki, Italy Andrea Bargnani, Spain Pau Gasol, France Tony Parker, France Boris Diaw
NBA Live 09 October 7, 2008 PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Wii, Mobile France Tony Parker[5], United Kingdom Luol Deng, Italy Andrea Bargnani, Spain Pau Gasol
NBA Live 10 October 6, 2009 PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, iOS United States Dwight Howard, Spain Pau Gasol, United Kingdom Luol Deng
NBA Elite 11 November 5, 2010 iOS United States Kevin Durant
NBA Live 14 November 19, 2013 PlayStation 4, Xbox One United States Kyrie Irving
NBA Live 15 October 28, 2014 PlayStation 4, Xbox One United States Damian Lillard
NBA Live 16 September 29, 2015 PlayStation 4, Xbox One United States Russell Westbrook
NBA Live Mobile July 6, 2016 Android, iOS United States Russell Westbrook
NBA Live 18 September 15, 2017 PlayStation 4, Xbox One United States James Harden

References

  1. Hinkle, David (2012-02-23). "EA's next basketball sim is NBA Live13". Joystiq. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
  2. Suszek, Mike (2012-09-27). "NBA Live 13 canceled by EA". Joystiq. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
  3. August 23, 2006 4:55PM PDT (2006-09-25). "Dirk leads European NBA Live covers". GameSpot.com. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
  4. April 30, 2007 9:14AM PDT (2007-10-01). "Gilbert Arenas nets NBA Live 08 cover". GameSpot.com. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
  5. Bailey, W. Scott (June 25, 2008). "EA Sports puts Spurs' Parker on its cover".
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