After trying all three of the BB games this year I went back and bought NBA 2K2. It will have to last me another year. Wasn't happy with any of the offerings for the 2K3 games.

ok, i rented live this past weekend. now, i haven't played 2k3 yet, but so far, live is the best basketball game i have ever played, hands down. it is unbelievably fun. the freestyle control thing with the right analog is truly a genius addition to the game. with the right movements, you can do crossovers (between the legs, in front, behind the back), killer crossovers, stutter steps, spins, etc. and the awesome thing is, it is not random. what you do depends on what hand the ball is in and what joystick movement you do. it is incredibly fun.

now, i have seen screenshots of 2k3, and i agree, the players faces do look more realistic, but live's graphics (players' faces) are not "horrible" they are just not as good as 2k3. however, live has done a good job with the bodies, except for the fact that everyone looks a little too muscular. and the have steve nash's long hair. ha ha. it's great!

now i have read a lot of things about 2k3 and the difficulty of the fast break. that absolutely kills it for me. but in live, you can throw alley oops on the break. i played live 2002 (which agree is not a good game) and it was impossible to do this. but when i played live, i had a 2 on 1 with nash and finley. nash had the ball, and he lobbed an oop to finley who jammed it home. i had to pause the game, because it was so awesome.

the rebounding problem in 2002 has been fixed, and the block animation is great (if you try to block a dunk or layup, the player side-swipes at the ball).

now, in all fairness, i have not plaed 2k3 yet, and i will rent it, but i am simply blown away by live. ea sports has done an amazing job with this game, and i think that all the naysayers (even those that really like 2k3) will have to admit they were wrong (not saying that it's better than 2k3, just that they have to admit that EA made a good b-ball game).

and the $5 off coupon that i got with madden may persuade me to buy live, too. also, right now at easports.com, you get free shipping on live.

anyway, to be completely fair, i will let you know what i thought of 2k3 when i rent it, but right now i will say that i was blown away by live. i was expecting 2002, and i got a complete surprise.

one gripe, it's tough to find a good camera angle (the default is way too close). i recommend the sideline camera view, zoomed out.

I picked up NBA 2K3 for PS2. It's a better game than last year's and it's online! I like the 2K series because it's realistic.

I've heard that there's a glitch with Live:

Basically the Arcade and Simulation settings were switched. So the Simulation setting is much more fast paced, and the Arcade setting is a lot slower, more sim like (less fast breaks, less blocks, etc.)

Can anyone that has this try it out, and tell me if it really makes that much of a difference?

It was already tried out on page 2 of this thread. But to me, it seems fast paced either way. Maybe it was the teams I used? Magic Vs. Nets? I like the cut scenes in Live. They were quite humorous lol.

Big Boy, by just reading your thoughts on Live, I can tell that you'll most likely dislike NBA 2K3's pace. You'll be lucky to hit double digits in fast break points. I played both and the game speed and pace are WAY different between the two. Give NBA 2K3 a try though. It may be refreshing.

Well I splurged and picked up Live today for the GC. And good God, everything I heard was true.

I swear if NBA 2K3 played like this, it'd be the perfect game. Players run fast breaks, passes lead to alley-oops, and the freestyle control....beautiful. I played on Sim and then on Arcade, and wouldn't ya know Arcade is more sim-like than the Sim mode. So I guess the "rumors" are true.

Anyways, a couple gripes. Like I heard, there are WAY too many blocks all around. It makes you take better shot selection for sure, but it gets ridiculous sometimes. Anyway to fix this?

Also, some of the player's faces are pretty bad and totally unrecognizable. Compared to 2K3 at least.

Now for more good...and there is a lot, so I'll keep it brief. I, and few others I'm sure, love the cutscenes, all the replays and just the whole feel of NBA TV style basketball. Great presentation. Amazing animations, with the dunks, layups and taunting and such. Choosing between jerseys is a great addition as well, never hurts. Love the soundtrack, I'm sure it'll get old fast though. One on one mode is a great idea. Street mode has been done, this was a great, and pretty obvious, idea....

So I am pleased nonetheless. Live is the way to go for those who couldn't stand 2K3's gameplay. Of course Sega's franchise is much more in depth, I personally couldn't care. The fast-paced basketball play does it for me. The game is far from perfect, but next should prove to be VERY interesting...for both Live and 2K3.

Can't wait.

After reading all the posts, I'm going to stick with my original plan of keeping NBA2K2 for now.

I'll wait and see how NBA2K4 and Live 2004 turn out. Maybe than can straighten out the problems in at least one of them for next years game.

I don't know if you plan on getting an Xbox, but I think you'd like Inside Drive 03.

I'm holding off for now. I hardly have time to play my GC and PS2 as is.

ok, you all know what i thought of live 2003 after renting it (if not, scroll up a bit, it's a few posts up).

so I rented 2k3 last night.

let me first start with the positives, which really all seem to be in franchise mode.

I simmed a couple seasons, and the franchise mode on this game is really VERY good (i never did the franchise or season on live, but i don't think it will even come close to being as good as 2k3). free agents, rookie scouting, the draft, etc. VERY well done. and even though i didn't play a game in the franchise mode, it was still very fun. i liked how if you offered one of your players the league minimum, their agent would get pissed off and not want to deal with you (just a minor touch, but pretty funny).

The espn presentation is ok, but like with nfl 2k3, i think they could have done better with the announcing/sound. it seems a little stale and boring during the game, especially during replays. i think the espn thing is overrated. it's really not that big of a deal. it's not like they have espn commentators calling the game. i did like the opening introductions when you play a game, i really wish live had that.

graphics: 2k3 definitely has better player faces and the front rows of the crowd actually look quite real. it's also got mascots sitting under the goal, too. not bad. but in comparing live to 2k3, the player's bodies in live actually look better than in 2k3. in 2k3, everyone looks a little dumpy. the main difference is the player faces. 2k3 has the edge here, while live has the edge in body models.



and it's a good thing i didn't try to play actual games in a franchise, because i would have shot myself. ok, maybe not that extreme. but on a fun/replay level, i would rank live a 9 or even a 10, and 2k3 maybe a 6. i just didn't have that much fun playing. first off, it took me a while to get used to the controls (minor complaint, but it's easy to learn). so that's not a big deal, except the free-throw shooting is even harder than in the past (if that's possible). instead of using the trigger buttons to align your shot, you now have to use the analog sticks. gameplay sometimes seemed kind of choppy. live is actually very smooth. and when you jump in 2k3, your player barely gets off the ground. now, i'm not expecting NBA JAM dunks, but a lot of guy in the NBA who are great athletes (like finley and kobe) were dunking like will perdue.

people say the slow pace of 2k3 is more realistic. well, 2k3 is almost TOO slow. if that's more realistic, you can have your real game, and i'll take one that's more fun. i seem to remember watching nba games in which some of the best athletes in the world are running breaks.

now, before i played, i had actually forgotten about the "stop on the fast break to receive a pass." but i quickly remembered the complaint as I was yelling at my tv when players would stop. i've read some people say that this was a little annoying. they're wrong, it's A LOT annoying.

the right annalog pass feature is ok, but not that big of a deal. ea's freestyle with the right analog is truly revolutionary and makes it even more fun. the "change your shot in mid-air" feature in 2k3 is actually a nice touch. jason kidd used that against me to no end!

ok, reading back over this, it sounds like i'm really ripping 2k3. it's not a bad game by any means, but to me, it just wasn't fun. i would not see myself playing this game that much, if at all. if i bought it, i'd probably just sim seasons in the franchise. IMO, the franchise mode should not be more fun than the gameplay. and a game shouldn't have to grow on you after playing it a bunch of times. the game is either fun or it isn't.

if you took the franchise from 2k3 and some of the features (some player faces, player introductions, etc.) and added that to live, you would have god's gift to basketball games, but as it stands, i'm definitely getting nba live 2003, which i still say is the best basketball game i have ever played.


ok, i think i covered everything. now, this is my opinion. if you like 2k3, by all means buy it. but i won't be touching it.

If Live had better faces, reduced blocks, a little better presentation and a deeper franchise mode, it'd be the end all of basketball games. As it stands it's pretty damn good and seems to be the best choice this year. 2K3 is a good game, but its flaws are just glaring compared to those in Live's. SEGA just doesn't get it sometimes...

Agreed. It looks like basketball games still have a long way to go.....

It depends. If you haven't bought a b-ball game in years, then it's a good year to get back into it. However, if you still have 2K2 in hand, it is worthless to upgrade....

...unless you are a basketball nut. I personally have to own the new b-ball title every year, but that's just me. I agree though, after ALL the hype, this year was kinda weak. The b-ball games have years to go before they reach the level of Madden and NFL 2K3. However, I'm sure Live and the NBA 2K series will be great next year...I think a big change is about to come, and it started this year (freestyle control).

About the blocking in 2K3.. I would much rather have them jumping like this than jumping like in Live. You can still block shots in 2K3. I've blocked a fair amount of shots with Grant Hill and T-Mac. But not with small guards. Unlike in Live where Daryll Armstrong got 8 blocks in one game. lol.

I hear your complaints about fast breaks though. It's just a problem with the cpu controlled players. When you throw to a human teammate that is running with you on a break, they don't stop. When you call for a pass while running on a break, you don't stop. But when you pass to a cpu controlled player, they'll stop. Not all of the time though. It depends on when you throw it to them. I play 2k3 on pseudo player lock mode. All of the player auto switching is turned off so I control one player throught the whole game. I go on fast breaks with ease.

But with the huge problems with these 2 games.. you'd think some monkeys were beta testing them. I have no idea how some of these problems came through..

I thought you could call plays on the fly in 2K3 and adjust it so there are more fast breaks?

Yes you call plays on the fly in 2K3.. It's extremely useful. Especially on defense since you can switch between man-to-man and zone defense very quickly.. and also full court and half court press.

You can adjust the fast break slider in the game, but it doesn't help as much as you would hope it would.

You know I'm not even sure if you see a lot of fast breaks in bball. Depends on the team. If every NBA team does fast breaks like crazy in NBA Live, that would piss me off. On the other hand, if the Kings are weighted more heavily to do fast breaks than say the the Bulls, than that would be cool. I watch a lot of T-Wolves games and they really don't pull a lot of fast break stuff unless they are down a lot of points. I would expect it to be the same in a game, unless we are talking about NBA Jam.

Oh yeah, does 2K3 still have that cool street mode? That's about as arcadey and fun as you can get.

There are definitely fast breaks in Live, but it's way overblown...switch the game to "Arcade" mode (yes Arcade) and learn to play D and the fast breaks are cut down big time. At least in this game you can pull a true fastbreak...try that one twice in a game of 2K3.

2K3 still has the street mode...although there are just a couple new levels and its pretty much a weak addition. For real Street ball, pick up NBA Street. Even Live's one-on-one mode is better than 2K3's Street mode. It's gettin' old.

Well I'm an Inside Drive guy. I love that bball game. Great graphics, nice controls. Talk to Joltaddict about it, he's a huge bball freak and that's his favorite game too. I was just curious about 2K3..

Didn't you find Inside Drive's blocking a little ridiculous too? I'm always curious about this issue I could always block dunks in that game. It seemed that your best chance to score was to hit jump shots.

It's easy to stop the fast break in live, but how about the AI in the game? You'll just blow by them if you call for the ball everytime.

Street mode in 2K3 is ok. I'm curious as to how Live's One-on-One is better though. They're both totally different types of gameplay. It's one-on-one half court vs. 2-on-2 up to 5-on-5 full court. Street mode is mostly used by the online people. At least that was my experience with Sega Online for 2K1 and 2K2. Most games are preferred on Street mode.

I bought both and I love live's fast paced action. They're Both great games. But I'd have to admit, I'm leaning more towards Live than 2k3. Anyone here actually tried playing online with either one? I have a network adaptor with pacbell DSL. It is connected and set up properly. But for some reason, I can never start a game with anyone. For instance, in 2k3, I can get in the lobby and see the other players but I can never start a game with anyone.

This was probably my most played game back in the Sega Genesis days.......

I actually bought 2K3, and rented Live shortly thereafter. 2K3 was really really difficult at first but after I got used to it (especially the icon passing for fast breaks) it became a LOT more fun.

Live was good, but it felt way too hollow. No need to really pass the ball around, just juke the defender over and over. That right analog stick is a great addition though, and I may just be too used to playing the 2K series. With all the blocks, it actually felt to me like the old Konami In the Zone games for PS1, for some strange reason.

I've had no problem connecting online with either one. Can you connect with other games (Socom, etc.?) Or with the demo disk?

Only time I actually connected and played a game was on the Madden trial version on the Network Adaptor Startup disc. Both NBA games are giving me problems.

Inside Drive was really underrated last year. But the XBox Live thing made me go with 2K3 this year. For an antisocial insomniac like me getting a game against a real person anytime the mood strikes tops all.