I remember the game died for me the day Steve Nash dunked over my center. I paused it, set my controller down, turned off my 360, walked out of my room and took a walk in silence. I was the Narcos alone meme before the Narcos alone meme.
Sound like my story of this years 2k24, I double teamed Mikal Bridges of the Brooklyn Nets to leave Ben Simmons open for a last minute shot at the end of the quarter……he hit a buzzer beating 3. I turned it off and deleted the game.
I can recall how bad NBA Live 2007 was when there was an achievement that so few people got, which was play NBA Live 2007 when 1,000 people were playing NBA Live 2007 online at the same time, and was considered a rare achievement even for 2007 standards. When EA pulled the servers there were message boards trying to spread the message to get everyone online so they can get this achievement before it got locked out.
I don’t think it was care as much as they already had a good reliable engine. They rebuilt everything from the ground up on the 360 and they bit off way more then they could chew. They made huge sacrifices to their envisioned goal and now that’s your foundation to build off. Half baked, not really working game engine. Madden would of ended up like live if they didn’t have exclusive rights
2K eased in the signature player moves and made them very easy to do. EA tried to do too much too fast with the Freestyle Superstars thing and it backfired in the worst way. It was incredibly difficult to do. You had to press like four buttons at the same time to do the moves. Live 06 was bad and Live 07 was even worse. 2K seized the market in those two years and never looked back. Live 10 was actually pretty solid but the series was basically cooked by that time.
@@aaronsnowden465 nigga. T-Mac was my go to. But my niggas started clownin him callin him patchy the pirate (from SpongeBob) because the people who made his character literally had patches of hair missin from his head. Good times though
So, was there a specific reason EA thought they couldn't just have all the Freestyle Superstar bonuses active at the same time? I mean, was it a technological difficulty at the time, or were they just like "The second law of thermodynamics states that it is impossible to have a player who shoots like Kobe Bryant while also being capable of throwing it down like Lebron James without switching to a different menu option."?
It seems like since they dedicated all the button combos to maximize options for the active style, they couldn't have more than one active at a time because they'd be triple-binding the buttons. That's unfortunate because honestly the idea of having a high level of user control over animations seems like it was pretty innovative for that time. The downside is long-term would it have gotten as OP as skill moves in FIFA?
@@brianp3570 Oh, I guess that's a wrinkle... I didn't play those games so I'm not sure how many options it had, but I'm used to Playstation controls where it would be like "X for pass, Circle for dribble moves, Square for shots and Triangle for whatever (I think it's a lob pass in EA's FIFA games and spin moves in 2k). I figured these freestyle options would be like an extra RT/RAnalog modifier, which shouldn't get in the way of other actions while you're holding down the "main action button". Like, Square+Modifier will never be confused with X+Modifier. I never played NBA Live though, so maybe there were just too many unique options getting in the way. At that point I wouldn't mind giving up a few animations to an RNG roll to keep the gameplay fluid though.
@@dunadan1995can confirm that you can switch it. The input for that is the same in activating your player's "X-factor" buff. Still it's not a well thought out mechanic. The CPU can switch to a specific skill instantly, leaving you in a disadvantage when you have to manually swtich through all your player's skill to get to the one you want.
@@brianp3570if it worked like live 06 for playmaker per say, you would hit a modifier button and all the face buttons would result in different pass types. I’m assuming the abilities had overlap so you couldn’t just have them all on
Right-stick in FIFA is all dribbling skill moves AFAIK. It would've been fine if they did the same for NBA Live, but just had more animations available for shooting, passing etc. Definitely seems over-complicated and cumbersome.
@atomshrek reminds of how those MLB 2K games thought it was a swell idea to add in right stick control for pitching and from personal experience the amount of wild pitches were pretty much the norm. There was no in between for them it was either me throwing too much or threw it too little, no wonder why that franchise died.
@@shawklan27 I think most sports games suffer from the yearly release cycle. They felt like they had to add new things to make the new game "worth it", but now they seem to have given up on adding new mechanics since fans have proven they'll buy the same game with a new number on it regardless.
@@atomshrekbeen playing sports games since 98. It was way easier to add big new features as games were so simplistic. Take the hit stick in madden. When that was added it was an absolute game changer and it was literally just flicking a stick. If a feature was added like that today people would scoff of “that’s all they added, you can flick a stick”. Anywho, the games are so complicated now I can’t imagine a new person trying to learn any sports game day one now. Any meaningful change now is AI and such, and that’s way harder to implement then, here’s a stock flick that results in harder hits.
Yeah my boy played with the rockets that year tmac was on the cover and could not miss tmac literally couldn't miss shot after shot after shot it was so fake
@@jaydaynonchalant5910 there was a game where Keivn Garnett was the cheese. As soon as you get across halfcourt and you're holding turbo, KG dunking on everybody.
@@KootenaiKing 🤣🤣 I'm weak. Aye I was playing with steve nash and he was like that 1 year. You get the release on his shot right and it was in every single time
As a kid, I loved Live 07 on ps2. Introduced me to the NBA and made me fall in love with basketball. Looking back, I can’t believe I liked such a buggy mess lol
@@darkellthepiercer Yeah Live felt smoother and you had more control. I feel like 2K is just a bunch of long animations I get stuck in instead of controlling my player
I like the freestyle superstar types imo. They were ahead of its time, the gameplay mechanics were implemented wrong. I would’ve been a top game if they made the Xbox 360 version play like the PS2/Xbox smh
things EA did ahead of their time 1. Freestyle Superstars 2. Using real life shooting data/shooting charts for each player in the game. 3. Real time shot release/perfect release mechanic
I wasn't playing any EA games at this time because of how badly they handled the NFL license situation. When they got competition in 2004 we see that rather trying to compete with 2k they decided to cut them out of the market all together and that right there was a message to me as a consumer to stop buying any of their products. Madden 06 was my last EA sports title I purchased and I haven't gave any of their sports entries a 2nd look ever again.
I’m heavy on the 2k train (I had a Dreamcast) but they played a part in it too. Releasing for $20 and two weeks earlier (for nfl) was such an extreme move that it warranted a response. It’s hard for me to even call that consumer-friendly on 2k’s side cause it was so clearly unsustainable. EA 100% took it to the extreme tho don’t get me wrong.
💥💥Around this time, i had already abandoned nba live, not because it wasn't good, but I was just on that NBA 2K hype train. Plus, my favorite player, Allen Iverson, was the cover athlete for NBA 2K. Then nba 2k5 they had Ben Wallace on the front, and that nba 2k was great also The last nba live i had actually played was, I think, live 01. The one that had Kevin Garnett on the front.
*NBA Live 09 and 10 were actually really good. 09 was more arcade and fun online while 10 was very simulation based and required you to actually strategize to score and stop scorers. Live 19 I think is the best balance of both worlds and IMO the best basketball game I've ever played* 🙌
Live 07 was fun on the PS2 and PSP, I remember getting it on 360 and immediately throwing up and wanting to return my copy to the store. I took it back and got 2K7 and I never looked back. Even as a 10 year-old who played pretty much anything I could get my hands on, this one I couldn't deal with. It's funny because even as shitty as this game was it was still miles better than NBA 07 on PS3. Looked gorgeous but played like absolute trash lol
NBA Live peaked 02-06 with the best being live 03 and 06. The 2k games were relevant with 2k5 and not until 2k9 was it really a serious threat. Past 09 and it was over for Live
I LOVE freestyle superstar. 2k needs to implement it in its game. It’s way more consistent and predictable than the stupid shot stick that you never know what’s gonna happen when you use it
I'm gonna say 2K5 doomed NBA live. 2005 was their best game to date. Authentic moves visual better graphics and realistic NBA gameplay was 2k's calling card... At $20 per copy... $30 cheaper than the fun game live 05. Live had a dunk contest and all star weekend that bolstered top notch freak athletic dunks that still are beast mode TODAY. The gameplay was eh... Really, eh. After that, it was over. 2k6 through current went on to greatness. Live retired in fun play by 06... That's the story of that competition
It’s funny because I love 06’s rendition for the exact same reasons; I even pretended that choosing which “power” my player had was apart of my coaching and management of the players and our strategy in the upcoming game. That said, I always treated 07’s system as a “live” version of that mental practice. Maybe I want to start Nash off as a playmaker to get my teammates involved and have fun while doing it, but then later on in the game we start to lose and I need him to be a shooter; so I switch him to 3pt shooter as an “adjustment” to give him extra options to hit the 3 if necessary. I understand that I was doing this to cope with the clunkiness of the system, but I did have fun with it nonetheless lol.
This is actually exactly how Dante's styles work in some of the Devil May Cry games. You switch between the playstyle you want to use for him on the fly. DMC4 let you switch constantly but in DMC3 you had to pick at save points and before starting levels. Regardless, DMC3 came out a year before NBA Live 07 so I wouldn't be surprised if they were a little inspired by that, but it just doesn't work in a sports game.
I’ll never forget starting this game up on Christmas. Living in Houston seeing t Mac on the cover it was everything the dunk practice was sick! the game was so easy yet fun all at the same time. Until my friend found out something so broken about this game. Dirk he was unstoppable down low there is nothing you can do 😂. I promise you go try it just do all two pointers all game dunks and lays you WILL NOT LOSE unless your opponent does the same thing.. if you miss one 3 while someone is doing it to you the chances of you loosing are very high.. lmao
This reminds me, they put the freethrow mechanic from this game (pull stick down then up to shoot while following the animation timing) as a "new" feature in NBA 2k25.
NBA Live always focused on the flashy things and never simulation gameplay. 2004: dribble stick and shoes, 05: all star weekend, 06: archetypes (the comercial showed the bounce self alley-oop), 07: had that weight system when changing directions. A lot of changes yet the game never evolved to something realistic
@@Zeronum2 Kenyon Martin wit the hadouken dunk 😂😂😂 EA went too far in the wrong direction. I wonder if they’ll ever get back, since 2k is just a ponzi scheme, atp
I think that the freestyle mode was the best thing about 07. All the things wrong with this game, that’s the one thing they got right imo. I didn’t have a problem keeping track of who was in which mode, but I really only played with the nuggets, lakers & rockets so I knew who had what atributes.
Facts 07 on 360 and Ps3 was when i realized 2k had it. 07 was so clunky and choppy / glitchy. I was sad too cause Tmac was on the cover and he was my favorite player
About your concern man, I think it'll be much better to use a keyboard when switching. I mean i had the pc version and i didnt have issues in switching into different freestyle superstar types for each player. You'll get used to it, muscle memory shall i say
I played live 03’ when I was 11 years old and it seemed great. Didn’t play another nba sim game until 2k9 and when 2k10 game out I became hooked. 2k10-2k13 are my favorite sports games ever
I remember playing live 06'-07' online and I lost to a guy that kept doing hook shots from 3 with Yao ming... That's when I knew the last days of live was upon us
Whats funny is Live 07 was the absolute LAST NBA Live game I got. Tho Live fell off, I do wish is was revamped and brought back w enhanced gameplay and immersion. If they buckled down and developed a strategy the way EA did for College football, they may mess around and gain interest in it. Wouldn't mind them adding historic wnba squads from the past, FIBA squads and perhaps set it to where during franchise mode you can set up Olympic squads every 4th season/yr of franchise.
On the 360 version, you can tell they where trying to do with the system’s performance vs the actual gameplay like ps2 and the original xbox. 07 and 08 where my favorite of the live years on ps2. Its a terrible way to shame a game especially just pulling the weaker version of the game but nevertheless, to each its own 🤷🏾♂️ 4:59 when comparing 06 to 07 also have to remember it was the older system that made the game simple vs the 360 that was a bit more advanced. Give it a shot on a older system, you just might like it 🤷🏾♂️
This game was Fire!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥 I still own it, i dont know how it was setup on the Xbox but on the PS2 you jusr click the R3 button on the joystick to change what freestyle you wanted to use in the moment...but it was optional....you dont have to rely on your freestyle moves....unless you were trash 🤷🏾♂️
I whole heartedly agree with the core argument of this vid. I LOVED NBA LIVE 06 and had never owned a 2K. NBA LIVE 07 WAS ASS and in particular the 360 version looked great but was lacking and the OG Xbox was jus 06 again but with worse controls. NAILED IT ON THE HEAD W/ THIS ONE. It was the ability to switch in game that really screwed the pooch.
one mechanic that always got me was the INSANE jump of impact players’ abilities in ncaa fb from 06 - 07 i still enjoy running dynasty & campus legend in 06 / 07 + exporting to madden, and i’ve noticed the impact players are just broken in 07 (prolly bc reggie is the cover athlete and they wanted to emphasize how he could literally break games like he did against fresno)
okay i just got done playing and i have ANOTHER gripe the momentum mechanic was a little too uneven, like if you got a big touchdown on the first drive and then made the opponent go 3 & out, that momentum was basically impossible to overcome until halftime… also the “jump snap” mechanic just didn’t work on any level higher than all-american - still love these games tho 😭
Live 06 was shht. Live 06 was my last Live game, but 2k7 wasnt my first 2k game. scoring 180+ after 4 quarters on 7 minute quarters on the hardest setting with the Lakers, was the last time I tried it. that was horrible
This is exactly when I made the shift from live to 2k. I had both 2k6 and live 6 with wade on the cover. even then, i was leaning towards 2k because it was more sim. once 2k7 / live 7 came out… i never looked back at live. sadly, 2k is becoming what Live was.. cheesy animation based games. And to nobody’s surprise, the same person who ruined NBA Live, is the same guy ruining 2k. Mike Wang.
This game killed the realevance, was. A group of people saying 06 wWade version wasn’t gud enuff and the next year they complained so much 07 got 2 where live didn’t care anymore
Nba Live 2007 was better on the Original Xbox imo they had the mode where they would have X-Factor where a rotation starter/6th man /role/bench player that was good at the one skill like scoring have the role player get like 3 buckets in a row and they play at a superstar level for a few minutes. I was playing with Golden State Warriors for a season and I had my role players cooking. Ike Digou, Andres Biedris get them some buckets maybe a couple blocks had them boys playing like Shaq in the paint. It was dope making players have careers nights
I was so Hyped for live 07 because it had TMAC on the cover.. but man it was so shitty to me . That’s when I officially switched to 2k that same year and I loved it lol
when this game came out somebody in my gym class got it; we were playing 50, he said he made a shot with t-mac in the game..but the jumper was literally backwards, no fadeaway. mf had to do a demonstration to show us it was real 💀 this was when I knew ea was cooked
If Tim Duncan isn’t a gold post scorer, we’re all doomed.
Yeah they gotta switch KG and Timmy’s rating there
Immediately Went To Look For This Comment😭
Facts. Nasty work
@@GrownUpKid94kg valid
@@GrownUpKid94KG was better though. I watched the games live back then. Duncan had better role players and coaching so he won rings.
I remember the game died for me the day Steve Nash dunked over my center. I paused it, set my controller down, turned off my 360, walked out of my room and took a walk in silence. I was the Narcos alone meme before the Narcos alone meme.
the point guards were so cheese in that game
Sound like my story of this years 2k24, I double teamed Mikal Bridges of the Brooklyn Nets to leave Ben Simmons open for a last minute shot at the end of the quarter……he hit a buzzer beating 3. I turned it off and deleted the game.
@@chadcassee that might happen irl, the other one not so much
I have a Nash horror story too lmfao I remember dude chase down blocked my 99 MyPlayer with max dunk and vertical in 2k14 lol
Lmfao
I can recall how bad NBA Live 2007 was when there was an achievement that so few people got, which was play NBA Live 2007 when 1,000 people were playing NBA Live 2007 online at the same time, and was considered a rare achievement even for 2007 standards. When EA pulled the servers there were message boards trying to spread the message to get everyone online so they can get this achievement before it got locked out.
😭🤣meanwhile 2k7 I’m positive had over 1k people
From my area of the world and from what i recall 2k didnt really beat live til around 2k9 @@kjjr6713
i got every achievement except that one, and i played the game since day one
The PS2 version up until 08 was actually pretty good. It feels like they cared about that generation more than the “newer” generation.
Same the maddens in that era till 08
@@clevercode30so 2007 was the FINAL year for prime games on PS2 wow
Negative, the ps2 version of 07 was absolute garbage it was the exact same thing as 06 but with more bugs and glitches
Game was cheeks. 😂
Didn't even ask for it back, after letting my boy borrow it.
I don’t think it was care as much as they already had a good reliable engine. They rebuilt everything from the ground up on the 360 and they bit off way more then they could chew. They made huge sacrifices to their envisioned goal and now that’s your foundation to build off. Half baked, not really working game engine. Madden would of ended up like live if they didn’t have exclusive rights
Series was cooked after 06. 03, 04, and 05 were the pinnacle
2003 🔥🔥🔥
03 first game I ever begged my mom to buy. the right stick dribble and triple threat moves changed everything
@@lloydstanford6070 if I could play that game with updated rosters and any type of dualshock controller, I definitely would
@@Progressive.G03 was great but hasn’t aged well. 06 ps2 era was the last good live game
2003 was the peak
2K eased in the signature player moves and made them very easy to do. EA tried to do too much too fast with the Freestyle Superstars thing and it backfired in the worst way. It was incredibly difficult to do. You had to press like four buttons at the same time to do the moves. Live 06 was bad and Live 07 was even worse. 2K seized the market in those two years and never looked back. Live 10 was actually pretty solid but the series was basically cooked by that time.
Miss the NBA live games. The nostalgia for sure. With J Kidd on the cover.
NBA Live 2003 is the first sports soundtrack to go platinum!
i have a copy of live 2003 that doesn’t work but i’ll always keep because the cover was so tuff
I loved that game use to average 100pts 30 rebs and 20 blks with Michael Jordan 😂😂
I concur. I was a Live player and stopped at Live 06 because of how bad Live 07 was. I played Live 06 until 2k11 came out.
U missed out 2k8 was nasty good 🙏🏾
@@aaronsnowden465 nigga. T-Mac was my go to. But my niggas started clownin him callin him patchy the pirate (from SpongeBob) because the people who made his character literally had patches of hair missin from his head.
Good times though
So, was there a specific reason EA thought they couldn't just have all the Freestyle Superstar bonuses active at the same time? I mean, was it a technological difficulty at the time, or were they just like "The second law of thermodynamics states that it is impossible to have a player who shoots like Kobe Bryant while also being capable of throwing it down like Lebron James without switching to a different menu option."?
It seems like since they dedicated all the button combos to maximize options for the active style, they couldn't have more than one active at a time because they'd be triple-binding the buttons. That's unfortunate because honestly the idea of having a high level of user control over animations seems like it was pretty innovative for that time. The downside is long-term would it have gotten as OP as skill moves in FIFA?
@@brianp3570 Oh, I guess that's a wrinkle... I didn't play those games so I'm not sure how many options it had, but I'm used to Playstation controls where it would be like "X for pass, Circle for dribble moves, Square for shots and Triangle for whatever (I think it's a lob pass in EA's FIFA games and spin moves in 2k). I figured these freestyle options would be like an extra RT/RAnalog modifier, which shouldn't get in the way of other actions while you're holding down the "main action button". Like, Square+Modifier will never be confused with X+Modifier.
I never played NBA Live though, so maybe there were just too many unique options getting in the way. At that point I wouldn't mind giving up a few animations to an RNG roll to keep the gameplay fluid though.
I'm like 90% sure you could switch them in NBA Live 07 on PC, but not on consoles for some ungodly reason.
@@dunadan1995can confirm that you can switch it. The input for that is the same in activating your player's "X-factor" buff. Still it's not a well thought out mechanic. The CPU can switch to a specific skill instantly, leaving you in a disadvantage when you have to manually swtich through all your player's skill to get to the one you want.
@@brianp3570if it worked like live 06 for playmaker per say, you would hit a modifier button and all the face buttons would result in different pass types. I’m assuming the abilities had overlap so you couldn’t just have them all on
They tried to make it fifa, but they couldn't execute it as well
Right-stick in FIFA is all dribbling skill moves AFAIK. It would've been fine if they did the same for NBA Live, but just had more animations available for shooting, passing etc. Definitely seems over-complicated and cumbersome.
@atomshrek reminds of how those MLB 2K games thought it was a swell idea to add in right stick control for pitching and from personal experience the amount of wild pitches were pretty much the norm. There was no in between for them it was either me throwing too much or threw it too little, no wonder why that franchise died.
@@shawklan27 I think most sports games suffer from the yearly release cycle. They felt like they had to add new things to make the new game "worth it", but now they seem to have given up on adding new mechanics since fans have proven they'll buy the same game with a new number on it regardless.
@@atomshrekbeen playing sports games since 98. It was way easier to add big new features as games were so simplistic. Take the hit stick in madden. When that was added it was an absolute game changer and it was literally just flicking a stick. If a feature was added like that today people would scoff of “that’s all they added, you can flick a stick”. Anywho, the games are so complicated now I can’t imagine a new person trying to learn any sports game day one now. Any meaningful change now is AI and such, and that’s way harder to implement then, here’s a stock flick that results in harder hits.
@@snc237madden 05 is the best madden till this day
I still have this game as my profile pic all these years later. Tmac was one of my favorite players growing up.
Yupp TMac is my guy. I used him on every nba game i played. My buddies didn't like to play me because I scored everything with TMac.
thats awesome bro
Yeah my boy played with the rockets that year tmac was on the cover and could not miss tmac literally couldn't miss shot after shot after shot it was so fake
@@jaydaynonchalant5910 there was a game where Keivn Garnett was the cheese. As soon as you get across halfcourt and you're holding turbo, KG dunking on everybody.
@@KootenaiKing 🤣🤣 I'm weak. Aye I was playing with steve nash and he was like that 1 year. You get the release on his shot right and it was in every single time
As a kid, I loved Live 07 on ps2. Introduced me to the NBA and made me fall in love with basketball. Looking back, I can’t believe I liked such a buggy mess lol
Live 07 is buggy on PS2? Are you sure you're not confusing it with the PS3 version?
@@Supersonicspyrolive 07 on ps2 was essentially an update 06 version which played very well at the time
@@snc237 yes I know, 07 on OG Xbox and PS2 is good, unlike the 360/PS3 versions
@@MLaw18 this video isn't about the PS2 version which is actually good, it's about the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions which were bad lmao
Nba Live 2019 was really good....i dont understand why they didnt follow that up.
I agree I actually like Live 19 more than 2k19. They said they were taking a year off but scrapped it altogether
@@JayBarty Yea that sucks because I was looking forward to it....they did good with 2018 and improved upon that with 2019...I can't get with 2K 🤷🏾♂️
@@darkellthepiercer Yeah Live felt smoother and you had more control. I feel like 2K is just a bunch of long animations I get stuck in instead of controlling my player
Live 07 was good on PS2. NBA Live 05 best basketball game ever
Crazy how 2K watched them create this archetype/badge feature in a sense…now they use it lmao
I like the freestyle superstar types imo. They were ahead of its time, the gameplay mechanics were implemented wrong.
I would’ve been a top game if they made the Xbox 360 version play like the PS2/Xbox smh
things EA did ahead of their time
1. Freestyle Superstars
2. Using real life shooting data/shooting charts for each player in the game.
3. Real time shot release/perfect release mechanic
I wasn't playing any EA games at this time because of how badly they handled the NFL license situation. When they got competition in 2004 we see that rather trying to compete with 2k they decided to cut them out of the market all together and that right there was a message to me as a consumer to stop buying any of their products. Madden 06 was my last EA sports title I purchased and I haven't gave any of their sports entries a 2nd look ever again.
I’m heavy on the 2k train (I had a Dreamcast) but they played a part in it too. Releasing for $20 and two weeks earlier (for nfl) was such an extreme move that it warranted a response. It’s hard for me to even call that consumer-friendly on 2k’s side cause it was so clearly unsustainable.
EA 100% took it to the extreme tho don’t get me wrong.
In with you bro. I’ve been anti EA ever since.
Trust me you’re missing absolutely nothing lmao madden is so trash
💥💥Around this time, i had already abandoned nba live, not because it wasn't good, but I was just on that NBA 2K hype train. Plus, my favorite player, Allen Iverson, was the cover athlete for NBA 2K.
Then nba 2k5 they had Ben Wallace on the front, and that nba 2k was great also
The last nba live i had actually played was, I think, live 01. The one that had Kevin Garnett on the front.
*NBA Live 09 and 10 were actually really good. 09 was more arcade and fun online while 10 was very simulation based and required you to actually strategize to score and stop scorers. Live 19 I think is the best balance of both worlds and IMO the best basketball game I've ever played* 🙌
Live 07 was fun on the PS2 and PSP, I remember getting it on 360 and immediately throwing up and wanting to return my copy to the store. I took it back and got 2K7 and I never looked back. Even as a 10 year-old who played pretty much anything I could get my hands on, this one I couldn't deal with. It's funny because even as shitty as this game was it was still miles better than NBA 07 on PS3. Looked gorgeous but played like absolute trash lol
1. QB vision cone in madden 06
2. Lead blocker playmaker in madden 07
NBA Live peaked 02-06 with the best being live 03 and 06.
The 2k games were relevant with 2k5 and not until 2k9 was it really a serious threat. Past 09 and it was over for Live
2k11 really put the final nail in the Live coffin too
@:30 They weren't just neck and neck Live was in the front until this one on PS3
That set jumpshot animation was brung to 2K11 and the animation has been stuck ever since 😂 2K “learned” a lot from NBA Live .
07 just felt like an odd year for EA sports games. I gave up and played 2K7 after seeing how 07 felt so off in comparison
What console did you play it on?
Ong this was the year I switched to 2k , had PS2
I really believe 2k and ea came to an agreement not to compete with each other and just get all the money in each sport
I LOVE freestyle superstar. 2k needs to implement it in its game. It’s way more consistent and predictable than the stupid shot stick that you never know what’s gonna happen when you use it
facts
I'm gonna say 2K5 doomed NBA live. 2005 was their best game to date. Authentic moves visual better graphics and realistic NBA gameplay was 2k's calling card... At $20 per copy... $30 cheaper than the fun game live 05.
Live had a dunk contest and all star weekend that bolstered top notch freak athletic dunks that still are beast mode TODAY. The gameplay was eh... Really, eh.
After that, it was over. 2k6 through current went on to greatness. Live retired in fun play by 06... That's the story of that competition
It’s funny because I love 06’s rendition for the exact same reasons; I even pretended that choosing which “power” my player had was apart of my coaching and management of the players and our strategy in the upcoming game.
That said, I always treated 07’s system as a “live” version of that mental practice. Maybe I want to start Nash off as a playmaker to get my teammates involved and have fun while doing it, but then later on in the game we start to lose and I need him to be a shooter; so I switch him to 3pt shooter as an “adjustment” to give him extra options to hit the 3 if necessary.
I understand that I was doing this to cope with the clunkiness of the system, but I did have fun with it nonetheless lol.
NBA Live 07 on PS2 was incredible. NBA Live 08 on PS2 was when they started to go downhill.
The ps2 version of this same game they weren’t consistent with the character development when it came to trying to level it up
Yeah this is what fucked it up…. This is when I took this back and got 2k… turnovers we’re crazy
Take a shot for every “as you can see here”
Pun intended?
Live 06 was great on PS2. Soundtrack was a banger too. The 76ers were absolutely unstoppable in that game lol
I missed a post up with kg then shaq came down and hit an off the dribble 3. I blacked out and never played a basketball game again
This is actually exactly how Dante's styles work in some of the Devil May Cry games. You switch between the playstyle you want to use for him on the fly. DMC4 let you switch constantly but in DMC3 you had to pick at save points and before starting levels. Regardless, DMC3 came out a year before NBA Live 07 so I wouldn't be surprised if they were a little inspired by that, but it just doesn't work in a sports game.
I’ll never forget starting this game up on Christmas. Living in Houston seeing t Mac on the cover it was everything the dunk practice was sick! the game was so easy yet fun all at the same time. Until my friend found out something so broken about this game. Dirk he was unstoppable down low there is nothing you can do 😂. I promise you go try it just do all two pointers all game dunks and lays you WILL NOT LOSE unless your opponent does the same thing.. if you miss one 3 while someone is doing it to you the chances of you loosing are very high.. lmao
They had Steve Nash looking like Steve Blake
Live 96 to ‘06…2K8 took the game by storm for me. Never looked back.
This reminds me, they put the freethrow mechanic from this game (pull stick down then up to shoot while following the animation timing) as a "new" feature in NBA 2k25.
NBA Live always focused on the flashy things and never simulation gameplay. 2004: dribble stick and shoes, 05: all star weekend, 06: archetypes (the comercial showed the bounce self alley-oop), 07: had that weight system when changing directions. A lot of changes yet the game never evolved to something realistic
live 05 could be the goat of all lives but 06 mastered it... but shouts out Live 10 tho
There was no time in life where NBA Live was on par with NBA2K. NBA2K came out in October 1999 and has been the King ever since.
Watching this video explains why I was already out on Live by 07. They added a SNK move list to a basketball game 😪
Cant wait for Lebron to pull put a raging storm
@@Zeronum2 Kenyon Martin wit the hadouken dunk 😂😂😂
EA went too far in the wrong direction. I wonder if they’ll ever get back, since 2k is just a ponzi scheme, atp
Once they've changed the mechanics to the dunk contest on the 360/PS3 consoles, it was a wrap for the NBA Live series.
My first basketball game was live 2003 live was ahead until about 2k8
I think that the freestyle mode was the best thing about 07. All the things wrong with this game, that’s the one thing they got right imo. I didn’t have a problem keeping track of who was in which mode, but I really only played with the nuggets, lakers & rockets so I knew who had what atributes.
Also great video. It’s dope how in depth you can go with these bc of how familiar you are
Facts 07 on 360 and Ps3 was when i realized 2k had it. 07 was so clunky and choppy / glitchy. I was sad too cause Tmac was on the cover and he was my favorite player
The thing that killed live was not having my career that was it
Shit gameplay on next gen **
I always thought it was hilarious that players in nba live dribbled the ball like they were angry at the ball
About your concern man, I think it'll be much better to use a keyboard when switching. I mean i had the pc version and i didnt have issues in switching into different freestyle superstar types for each player. You'll get used to it, muscle memory shall i say
You forgot another issue but that is on the older gen - separate layup and dunk buttons
I played live 03’ when I was 11 years old and it seemed great. Didn’t play another nba sim game until 2k9 and when 2k10 game out I became hooked. 2k10-2k13 are my favorite sports games ever
I remember playing live 06'-07' online and I lost to a guy that kept doing hook shots from 3 with Yao ming...
That's when I knew the last days of live was upon us
Live fucked up when ps3 and 360 dropped simple. Shit couldn’t compete with 2k6-2k8 and by 2k9 everyone knew what the better basketball game was
Facts started at 2k6 & never looked back
you should take a look at the madden 18 pinpoint passing feature, was similar to this in that it was way too slow to actually use
Live was the move back in the day better than 2k what a time
Bro definitely played Nintendo Switch in the back of the classroom😂😂
Whats funny is Live 07 was the absolute LAST NBA Live game I got.
Tho Live fell off, I do wish is was revamped and brought back w enhanced gameplay and immersion.
If they buckled down and developed a strategy the way EA did for College football, they may mess around and gain interest in it.
Wouldn't mind them adding historic wnba squads from the past, FIBA squads and perhaps set it to where during franchise mode you can set up Olympic squads every 4th season/yr of franchise.
NBA LIVE 06 Yao "post scorer" jump hook = GAME BREAKING
On the 360 version, you can tell they where trying to do with the system’s performance vs the actual gameplay like ps2 and the original xbox. 07 and 08 where my favorite of the live years on ps2. Its a terrible way to shame a game especially just pulling the weaker version of the game but nevertheless, to each its own 🤷🏾♂️
4:59 when comparing 06 to 07 also have to remember it was the older system that made the game simple vs the 360 that was a bit more advanced. Give it a shot on a older system, you just might like it 🤷🏾♂️
I stopped when you could dunk on people often with Billups and Nash. It felt like Streets but not fun
kids these days will never know how cold live was.
The problem with Live is that the defense sucks
Foundation of 2k badge system
Loved 07 on the PS2. Looks weird seeing it played on 360.
Graphics’s was before current…cross overs always been more pure than the other one
04-05 Houston McGrady was special
07-09 on 360 & P3 was the first downfall for live
Can I add that they did this cause in madden 08 they did something similar
New Orleans Hornets NBA Live 07 is 🔥🔥🔥
This game was Fire!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥 I still own it, i dont know how it was setup on the Xbox but on the PS2 you jusr click the R3 button on the joystick to change what freestyle you wanted to use in the moment...but it was optional....you dont have to rely on your freestyle moves....unless you were trash 🤷🏾♂️
Live 08 was actually pretty good but 07 was so bad it didn’t really matter
hook shot special with yao ming was deadly
I whole heartedly agree with the core argument of this vid. I LOVED NBA LIVE 06 and had never owned a 2K. NBA LIVE 07 WAS ASS and in particular the 360 version looked great but was lacking and the OG Xbox was jus 06 again but with worse controls. NAILED IT ON THE HEAD W/ THIS ONE. It was the ability to switch in game that really screwed the pooch.
No, they were never equal, NBA was THE GAME to play. It was way superior, but then they stopped making an effort to improve the game.
Sounded like a really solid idea, I wonder if they had a few yrs to tweak it if it could have been a good idea
I remember me and my lil bro buying this and instantly taking this back and got 2k7. I never owned a NBA Live again
one mechanic that always got me was the INSANE jump of impact players’ abilities in ncaa fb from 06 - 07
i still enjoy running dynasty & campus legend in 06 / 07 + exporting to madden, and i’ve noticed the impact players are just broken in 07 (prolly bc reggie is the cover athlete and they wanted to emphasize how he could literally break games like he did against fresno)
okay i just got done playing and i have ANOTHER gripe
the momentum mechanic was a little too uneven, like if you got a big touchdown on the first drive and then made the opponent go 3 & out, that momentum was basically impossible to overcome until halftime… also the “jump snap” mechanic just didn’t work on any level higher than all-american - still love these games tho 😭
Myplayer is what did them in
They was not even in 2005 live was it 😂😂😂
Live 06 was shht. Live 06 was my last Live game, but 2k7 wasnt my first 2k game. scoring 180+ after 4 quarters on 7 minute quarters on the hardest setting with the Lakers, was the last time I tried it. that was horrible
This is exactly when I made the shift from live to 2k.
I had both 2k6 and live 6 with wade on the cover. even then, i was leaning towards 2k because it was more sim.
once 2k7 / live 7 came out… i never looked back at live.
sadly, 2k is becoming what Live was.. cheesy animation based games.
And to nobody’s surprise, the same person who ruined NBA Live, is the same guy ruining 2k.
Mike Wang.
O6 was the best live the player raiting was basic on how they played that day in real life
This game killed the realevance, was. A group of people saying 06 wWade version wasn’t gud enuff and the next year they complained so much 07 got 2 where live didn’t care anymore
I never forget the first time i played live 07 and i was like HELL NAH,took that shit right back to gamestop.
The jump shot and set shot is cool for a old game
Damn I think this was my first basketball gang besides V2 I was like 10. This threw me back
they lost me when they put all the superstar moves in the game. gameplay became atrocious after that
How was Timberwolves Garnett better than Tim Duncan?? Blasphemy!
Live use to be the game everyone played. They messed up and let 2K take over
It was not equal footing. Nba Live was THEE NBA game.
Nba Live 2007 was better on the Original Xbox imo they had the mode where they would have X-Factor where a rotation starter/6th man /role/bench player that was good at the one skill like scoring have the role player get like 3 buckets in a row and they play at a superstar level for a few minutes. I was playing with Golden State Warriors for a season and I had my role players cooking. Ike Digou, Andres Biedris get them some buckets maybe a couple blocks had them boys playing like Shaq in the paint. It was dope making players have careers nights
NBA Live 07 soundtrack was goated
I had the PC version and it sucked . I always wanted to have the PS3/xbox360 version.
I was so Hyped for live 07 because it had TMAC on the cover.. but man it was so shitty to me . That’s when I officially switched to 2k that same year and I loved it lol
Nba live was above nba 2k at one time... Not equal... 2009 was the breaking point
Nba live was good until xbox 360 and ps3 came out when they tried to transition to next gen.. it was horrible
when this game came out somebody in my gym class got it; we were playing 50, he said he made a shot with t-mac in the game..but the jumper was literally backwards, no fadeaway. mf had to do a demonstration to show us it was real 💀 this was when I knew ea was cooked