I know they kept 2K9 online around until 2K11 came out, so it would seem to be a two year thing, but I don't know for sure.

Yep, the servers do appear to be online. Some 8,000 players were online when I checked. And there were still tourneys to be entered as well.

Welp, my webmaster finally received NBA2k12 (forgot to ask which cover we received) and he wil be sending it to me shortly. A little late, but certainly better late than never. Hopefully I can have the review up by Halloweenie.

Played this for the first time over the weekend for a few games and as bad as the passing was last year, they actually made it WORSE this year. Last year you basically had to use icon passing to prevent the dumb shit that would happen with directional passing. Now this year icon passing doesn't even work right.

The passing is near impossible unless the guy is right next to you. Even then, often some quirky animation takes place between you pushing the icon button and the actual pass, and by then the defender has miraculosuly jumped between the two players.

I almost put my controller through my TV today playing this game. Trying to unlock the Jerry West Lakers. Tie ballgame, 20 seconds left, I have the ball. I'm holding my dribble between the circles just letting the clock wind down before I try to take it to the hoop. Without me calling a play, Wilt decides to come up and set a pick, and gets called for a foul - Hawks ball. They score the winning basket with a second left. It's kind of B.S. that your CPU-controlled teammate can cost you a game like that completely on his own.

That's disheartening. I was pretty hard on passing last year when I reviewed 2k11 and then they actually patched it later. That's my main concern, when I look back at the game when I first got it, its was just better than average imho. But by mid-season, the little patch improvements and everything they did with it made it a lot better and it was arguarbly the best basketball game I've ever played (minus the myplayer part which I could never get into). Now it seems like we are taking two steps back again. Does sliders help at all, I wonder.

Sliders can't help with the issues I have with the passing. With directional passing you will be pressing in one direction and it passes in a totally different direction just like last year. And with icon passing when I am trying to inbound the ball I want to throw it to the SG since my buddy steals it every time I pass to the PG so I bring up the icons with my right bumper and press B and nothing happens. Those are broken gameplay controls that sliders have no control over.
And on another negative note, why do they make some of the player faces look LESS like the player than they did last year? It is supposed to be the other way around.

It should switch your control to the SG, but you still need to press A to pass it in - at least that how I recall it working

Did something change from last year? On 2k11 you hit the right bumper and it brings up the B button over the shooting guard and you hit B to pass it to him (or any other player with the other buttons). This year it still brings up the icons but doesn't pass the ball when you press the button.

Not sure - cuz I don't use it that much, but the way it works now does require the extra button push. So RB/B to control the SG, then A to actually inbound it to him.

Ok, I got it now. Thanks. So icon passing does work fine now that I know how to use the new inbounding. Directional passing is still (and I assume always will be) a mess though.

Played this for the first time last night (had finally made headway through my review pile). Lordie. Always like when a game forces me to make an account before doing anything else. /sarcasm I'll probably forget the password in a month.

Played a fairly quick game, 3 minute quarters, Bulls versus Nets on Pro. Should be a gimme right? I wanted to cry. 36-18 when the final buzzer sounded and I was not the victor. It was actually 13-10 at the half, so I thought I had a chance.

Passing is a complete joke, while I was able to get some inside passing...it usually led to a block when I tried to shoot. No matter which direction they were turned either. And then I did get a couple of turnovers because my players were bumping into me. I really hope it gets better or else I'll be playing on Rookie with sliders. *sigh*.

At least, I got a Larry Bird cover as well as the Preorder code for the Kings and Warriors teams. Unfortunately, I have to review this. (I'll get it done by the end of the week/Fridayish). But this is not a good start.

Has anyone played all 15 NBA Greatest games and managed to Unlock all the old teams?

Okay, I know that's probably asking alot since alot of the NBA fans here since I recall a few mentioned they haven't purchased 2K12 yet or haven't gotten their money's worth of NBA 2K11 yet.

Or better yet, don't give a crap about the NBA.

I did unlock them all, although I have to admit I had to play with the steals slider for some of the real old school era games - I rely on the three too much - I'm not worth spit without a three point line

Speaking of threes, the hardest one of the 15 for me was the Knicks vs the Magic. They killed me always finding the open man for a wide open three. I'm not the best defender in the first place, for starters. And it's impossible to guard Shaq one on one, so you almost have to double - and then Penny, Nick, and Dennis are just standing around waiting to bury it from downtown. In one attempt, they were 10 for 12 in the first half alone.

I had a hell of a time with that one too. It took me 4 or 5 tries and I don't remember Shaq ever missing a shot in all those games. And yeah, Anderson and Scott are LETHAL. I have only played a handful of games but I could definitely see them being the best team in the game.

I broke down and bought this game when Target had their B1G1 free glitch on Sunday. For $30, I just couldn't skip it even if the online sucks as bad as 2K11.

So they announced that 2K11 servers will go down "the middle of this month" despite the challenges the 2K12 servers are facing. Just a FYI.

Well that sucks, I am sure I will get my account back about the same time the servers go down. I wonder if they are doing this because of the strike.

So how common is it for games to close down their server a year after their release? I would think that these games would last more than just a year for playing on-line. It really is a disincentive to buy these games. It is also unfortunate as 2K11 is probably my favorite NBA game in a long while. But unfortunately right now, they're the only (NBA) game in town.

Unfortunate about the 2k11 servers, I also loved the game (especially after some of the initial patches). I've been playing more and more of 2k12 but I'll be honest with you folks; I had to tone it down to Rookie. This is the first basketball game I've played where I've had to play it on the easiest difficulty. I don't think it is age either cause just last year I was playing 2k11 on half the time Pro and half the time way beyond.

The game did become more fun on Rookie, but these guys still make way too many of their shots and block like beasts. 30 Foot shots in somebody's face, no problem from them. I can be Moses Malone in front of the basket and get blocked repeatedly. I'm fairly good with my turnovers, it's just that darn blocking. It might also be one of those situations where I go back to Rookie and maybe a month later switch back to Pro and do just fine.

Hopefully, they fix some of the obvious issues. I'll write the review today and tomorrow and finish trying out all of the modes. We shall see. I just feel like they phoned in a good portion of this game because of the lockout.

EA Sports will shut down there servers almost the day that the new version of a game (NCAA, Madden, etc) is released. In the past 2K has kept their servers online a lot longer, I think I saw NBA2K09 was up for 2-3 years.

I have heard bad things about 2k12 and was skipping it since I have 2k11. I have some nephews that have this that I was going to play online once my account is settled. I still think the NBA strike is hurting sales and shutting down the server is a move to push sales.

2K Sports announced on their facebook page the addition of 45 new Legends player through downloadable add on content:

Complete List of New Legends
■George Mikan (1951 Lakers)
■ David Thompson (1978 Nuggets)
■ Derek Harper (1990 Mavericks)
■ Bob Cousy (1957 Celtics)
■ Jamaal Wilkes (1981 Lakers)
■ Tom Chambers (1990 Suns)
■ Bob Pettit (1959 Hawks)
■ Jack Sikma (1982 Sonics)
■ Kevin Johnson (1990 Suns)
■ Nate Thurmond (1967 Warriors)
■ Alex English (1983 Nuggets)
■ Reggie Lewis (1993 Celtics)
■ Lenny Wilkens (1968 Hawks)
■ Adrian Dantley (1984 Jazz)
■ Dan Majerle (1993 Suns)
■ Dave Bing (1968 Pistons)
■ Bernard King (1984 Knicks)
■ Kenny Anderson (1994 Nets)
■ Wes Unseld (1969 Bullets)
■ Rolando Blackman (1984 Mavericks)
■ Cedric Ceballos (1994 Suns)
■ Connie Hawkins (1970 Suns)
■ Kiki Vandeweghe (1984 Nuggets)
■ Dee Brown (1995 Celtics)
■ Dave Cowens (1973 Celtics)
■ Mark Eaton (1985 Jazz)
■ Gheorge Muresan (1996 Bullets)
■ Tiny Archibald (1973 Kings)
■ Sleepy Floyd (1987 Warriors)
■ Glen Rice (1997 Hornets)
■ Spencer Haywood (1973 Sonics)
■ Fat Lever (1988 Nuggets)
■ Shawn Bradley (1997 Mavericks)
■ Bob McAdoo (1975 Braves)
■ Mark Jackson (1989 Knicks)
■ Steve Smith (1998 Hawks)
■ Elvin Hayes (1975 Bullets)
■ Kenny Walker (1989 Knicks)
■ Jalen Rose (2001 Pacers)
■ Rick Barry (1975 Warriors)
■ Dale Ellis (1989 Sonics)
■ Jamal Mashburn (2003 Hornets)
■ Bob Lanier (1977 Pistons)
■ Artis Gilmore (1978 Bulls)
■ George Mikan (1951 Lakers)

This is for the new Legends Showcase patch you will need to download. They said there is now about 300 Legends for it.

I guess they really couldn't get Barkley (unless I'm missing something)? Any other glaring omissions?

Yep, looks like there still is no Barkley. He was my favorite player growing up, but unfortunately it looks like he turned into a grade A money hungry asshole .

No real glaring ommissions. Though, I struggle with some of them being called "Legends" . With this group, I'm surprised we don't see like Ralph Sampson or Manute Bol.

2K just announced the release of a new patch for NBA 2K12:

Here are the official patch notes:



GAMEPLAY
■On-dribbler steal success rates have been tuned down.
■Tuned accuracy of directional passing in order to more reliably pass to the intended target.
■Improved help defense, specifically for rotations on pick-and-roll situations.
■Defensive tuning on 3PT shots to reduce the success of contested threes.
■Addressed an issue on drives to the basket where the help defender wouldn’t fully engage in the double team.

ONLINE
■Several matchmaking optimizations have been made in order to help users get into games quicker. This will reduce the amount of time the “Searching For Opponent…” screen is displayed for.
■Addressed a number of network errors that would cause games to end prematurely.
■Addressed an issue in Team-Up where certain conditions would lead to a player standing idle for prolonged periods of time.
■Corrected a Win/Loss streak tracking issue such that the “Back to Back to Back” achievement/trophy will now unlock at the proper time.


It's currently available on the PS3 and is coming soon for the 360.