Aha a sad super mega info

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1. NBA All-Star Weekend
After viewing EA's preview trailer for the new NBA All-Star Weekend I was quite eager to try out this brand new game mode. The mode includes the All-Star game, Rookie challenge, slam dunk competition, and the three point competition. I will focus on the slam dunk competition and the three point competition since I did not delve too deeply into the All-Star and Rookie games. I will mention that the All-Star and Rookie games are designed to be wide open, offense orientated games with lots of fast breaks and alley-oops. Apparently during these games you are even able to toss the ball of the backboard for a self alley-oop ala Tracy McGrady etc.
The dunk competition starts by presenting a few standard game options (rookie, superstar etc.) and then lets you choose which 4 players should compete in the event. Only a few players from each team can be chosen for the event as the game filters out players who can not realistically compete in the event (based primarily on jump and dunk ratings).
The three point competition starts by presenting a similar set of standard game options and then lets you choose which 8 players should compete in the event. Any player in the game can compete in the event although don't expect to hit many shots with players who are not good shooters. I accidentally started a competition that included 7'-1" center Jerome James of the Seattle Supersonics and laughed as I watched him toss up air-balls, and bricks off the side of the backboard etc.
The controls
The control system for the All-Star Weekend dunk competition is entirely new for NBA Live gamers but is quite straight forward. Relatively simply dunks can be performed with a minimal learning curve allowing the user to quickly jump into the flow of the competition. While these simple dunks will not win you a slam dunk title they will get you playing the mode quite quickly. With time and practice more difficult dunks with countless variations including ball tosses and player acrobatics can be performed to keep both the novice and expert gamers interested. A practice/tutorial mode is available in the game to help gamers practice their dunks away from the pressures of the competition.
There are 5 main types of controls used for the dunk competition.
1) Player movement: Player movement as always is controlled by the left analog stick.
2) Take-off: As you move your player towards the basket you press any of the face buttons to initiate your take-off (this controls whether the player takes off from 1 foot, 2 feet, with rotation etc.).
3) In air tricks: Once you have initiated your take off you can press any of the face buttons to choose your style of dunk. The length you hold down the button determines whether you successfully complete the in air tricks and the dunk itself.
4) Modifier buttons: The trigger buttons are used as modifier buttons and can be used to add further variety to your dunks.
5) Ball toss tricks: The right analog stick is used to control the ball tosses. In addition to tossing the ball off the backboard or tossing a high lob with a bounce off the floor the ball can be thrown off the jumbotron screens, shot clock, crane camera etc. for a wide variety of fancy tricks. To obtain winning scores during the dunk competition you are going to have to master the ball toss tricks.
The control system for the three point competition is very simple as it consists of a button to pick up the ball off the rack and a button to shoot. I would expect this mode to be a great game that can be played with a group of friends since the only requirement to play this mode is some basic hand-eye coordination (no real basketball knowledge is required to play this mode).
Graphics
The All-Star Weekend is visually very impressive. The Pepsi Center (Denver will be hosting the 2005 All-Star Weekend) is full of special All-Star features such as jumbotron screens, decorative banners, and a crane camera etc. The arena building is limited to half the arena to keep the visual detail high and a curtain hangs down at midcourt to act as a visual boundary. I know there are some realism buffs who will be asking for a full arena but I don't think the half arena detracted from the event. In reality, the half arena probably adds more to the game in increased detail than a full arena would anyway. The arena is very dark which does not totally represent the lighting found at an NBA All-Star Weekend event but it does help create a fun and festive atmosphere.
I felt that players looked stunning...their bodies seemed well proportioned and the player faces have all been redone from NBA Live 2004. When Jason Richardson walks onto the court to perform a dunk it is hard to tell the difference between his player model and his photograph displayed on the screen.
Animations
Each dunk performed in the competition consists of 7 animation stages strung together to form a seamless dunk. Each animation stage is controlled by the user and numerous dunk variations can be performed as a result. The animations seemed to flow together nicely and when viewed during the instant replays the dunks were very smooth.
Each player in the game has been assigned one of approximately 30 unique shooting styles which are displayed while competing in the 3 point competition. Shooting animations for Reggie Miller, Peja Stojakovic, etc. add variety to the game and are a nice feature considering the whole point of the 3 point competition is to shoot the ball.
Audio
Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith provide the commentary for the three point and dunk competition and definitely make the mode feel more authentic. Kenny's real life personality shines through as he is not afraid to praise you when you pull off a fantastic dunk or ridicule you if you miss. Special sound effects including approximately 5-6 new dunk sounds are used during the dunk competition (depending on how a dunk is missed or completed) and the famous "five...four...three...two...one" countdown for the three point competition is also present in the game.
2. Gameplay
Anyone who has played NBA Live 2004 will immediately feel a strong familiarity when playing NBA Live 2005 as the gameplay for 2005 is an improved version of the gameplay for 2004. The general look and feel of NBA Live 2005 is very similar to NBA Live 2004 as EA has chosen to build upon their core gameplay from last year to bring out a more realistic and better game experience. I'm sure this is partially due to the fact that they assigned much of their time and manpower to developing the incredible All-Star Weekend feature...but it was definitely not necessary for EA to totally re-write the gameplay code used for NBA Live 2004 either.
EA has added numerous small improvements to NBA Live 2005 over what was present in NBA Live 2004. A few of the changes I noticed are:
1) The user can now queue substitutions at any time during gameplay and the game will automatically make the substitutions at the next stoppage in play.
2) The game will highlight the key performers for each team at the half.
3) An International All-Star team and a Euro All-Star team have been added to the game.
4) A game slider has been added to control the effectiveness of the pro-hop and another slider has been added to control the effectiveness of the drop step moves.
5) I'm not sure if player injuries have changed but I know that player injuries are still in the game as Steve Nash got hurt in the last few minutes of a game while driving to the basket.
The Controls
All the control features available in NBA Live 2004 can also be found in NBA Live 2005. The separate shoot and dunk/lay-up buttons, pro-hop/drop step button, alley-oop button etc. are all present in NBA Live 2005. However, this year EA has added a new rebound control feature (known as freestyle air) which can be seen in this video found on EA's website. The new control arrangement allows the user to choose whether to rebound the ball, perform a tip-in shot, or perform a put-back dunk after an offensive rebound. I was somewhat concerned that the new rebound/tip-in/dunk control buttons would bring back the offensive rebounding madness found in NBA Live 2001. However, in the short time that I was able to test the gameplay I did not see any indication that the user or the CPU could exploit this feature. The CPU did attempt a few tip-ins and/or dunks during the games I played but only a couple were successful and the attempts did fit in with the flow of the game. I was able to attempt a couple of tip-ins myself but I found that most of the time the CPU defender was in good position to block me out and prevent me from grabbing the offensive rebound.
The revolutionary freestyle control that was first introduced for NBA Live 2003 is of course still present in the game. I never noticed any new freestyle moves while playing NBA Live 2005 but according to the interview on EA's site there are supposed to be some new moves in this years' game. The crossover(s), dribble fake left/right, shoulder fakes in the post etc. were all the same from NBA Live 2004. Maybe some of the new freestyle moves involved some of the "half moon" rotations of the right analog stick etc...since I never tried anything like that.
The pro-hop and drop step controls have been tweaked and the addition of the game sliders I mentioned above give the user further control over these features.