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XCOM: Enemy Unknown Invades PSN Today

Garth DeAngelis — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:02:42 +0000

XCOM Commanders,

2K and the development team at Firaxis Games are excited to announce the release of XCOM: Enemy Unknown for PlayStation 3 on PlayStation Network in North America and Brazil on Tuesday, April 9th! We hope the PlayStation community is ready to save Earth in a way they may have never experienced before.

As a lifelong PlayStation gamer, and a huge fan of PlayStation-bred squad-based tactical games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Valkyria Chronicles, Disgaea, and Vandal Hearts, I’m proud to have something fresh and so easily accessible within Sony’s amazing game catalog. If you missed XCOM: Enemy Unknown’s launch in October, this is a heck of an opportunity to see what the fuss has been about.

We’re humbled by the 18 Overall Game of the Year wins we’ve been awarded, but even cooler to us as game creators are the individual stories we hear from gamers regarding their play experience. In XCOM: Enemy Unknown, you’ll defend the world against a global alien onslaught, making epic decisions via your secret underground base, and then deploy your squads into heated battles against the universe’s nastiest aliens. Fear the Chyrssalid — you’ve been warned.

Who will you save Earth with? Family? Friends? Movie stars? Who will survive? And most importantly: are you good enough to win?

Feel free to reach out to the XCOM: Enemy Unknown development team via @2KGames, or leave a comment below. We’d love to hear your story.

Good luck, Commander.

NBA 2K12 Brings the Legends Showcase DLC Today

Ronnie Singh — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:01:59 +0000

Hey all! Several weeks after launch, everyone is still talking about the NBA’s Greatest Mode where we ask fans to play and debate the greatest NBA teams of all time. Some remarkable reviews have been pouring in, including a 9.5 out of 10 score from one IGN critic who said that NBA 2K12 “takes everything I love about last year and makes it better. Then it takes nearly all the parts I didn’t like and turns them awesome. Hey, other sports games, you just got schooled. Again.” For those of you who don’t have a copy of NBA 2K12, this is the perfect time to get in and take advantage of the all new DLC – Legends Showcase.

All the conversation about the greatest team of all time made us wonder about matching up the greatest players of all time, even taking that wonderfully fun My Player mode (which, as you can see from my stats, I can’t get enough of) and facing off against the likes of our NBA 2K12 cover athletes Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird along with current greats like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Kevin Durant, and more. Wanting to give you guys more info, I got together with Producer Ben Bishop to discuss and asked him what we can look forward to in Legends Showcase.

Ben Bishop here, one of the producers for NBA 2K12. I’m going to get into some of the details regarding our latest addition to the game, the Legends Showcase DLC. This is a project we’ve been pretty excited about for quite some time. We felt like with all the great things we were doing with Legend players in NBA’s Greatest mode, there was still room for more. We really liked the idea of the NBA’s Greatest teams helping to end the debate about the greatest team of all-time. But that left open a pretty big follow-up question: who is the greatest player of all-time? And with that, the Legends Showcase was born.

As I’m sure many of you have already heard, there are over 150 Legends to choose from in the DLC. Obviously you’ve got the best of the best available, with players like our three NBA 2K12 cover athletes: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird. And along with them come all of the biggest names that were a part of our NBA’s Greatest feature.

We also felt it was important to include as many of the other all-time greats as we could that weren’t a part of NBA’s Greatest for whatever reason, so that means players like George Mikan, Rick Barry, Elvin Hayes, and Alex English are a part of this experience too. Further, we wanted the Legends Showcase to include, not just Legends in the standard sense, but also players that were simply memorable or would be fun to play with. That means you’ll also see guys like Shawn Bradley, Dan Majerle, Craig Hodges, Gheorghe Muresan, and Kenny Walker there for you to do your best with (or against). While we couldn’t get every single player from NBA history that we would have liked, the available pool is quite extensive and offers a wide range of play styles and personalities that give Legends Showcase a lasting appeal simply due to the sheer amount of match-up possibilities. Oh, and as an extra nice touch, all of these players have the uniforms that go along with the team they were a part of in the peak year we assigned for them (you can see the full roster here). So you’ll see a ton of new uniforms (both home and away) in Legends Showcase, which was one of the bigger undertakings for our art team once development on the main game finished up.

Before talking specifically about each of the available modes, I wanted to single out some additional visual and presentation aspects that are a big part of the Legends Showcase. First, as you’ve probably seen, all the games are played on a fantasy court in New York City’s iconic Times Square. Since we are already stretching the boundaries of reality a bit by bringing together all of these Legends in their primes, we thought it was appropriate to give them a unique and exciting environment to compete in. Second, we created a special cel-shaded effect that gets applied to everything (from the environment, to the crowd, to the players themselves) to really help set the experience apart from anything else we’ve ever done. Presentation has always been a strength in our games, so we made sure to extend as much of that to the DLC as we could. Legends Showcase has completely new overlays, wipes, and replays, all designed to fit in with the cell-shaded Times Square atmosphere. There’s an emcee calling out the action as it happens, introducing players, pumping up the crowd, highlighting key plays, and even getting as specific as talking about the various unique shots in H-O-R-S-E. All in all, we took significant steps to make sure that the Legends Showcase had its own special visual and presentation package that not only fit in with the impetus behind the mode, but that also achieved the same level of quality people are used to seeing in the NBA 2K series.

And now for the available gameplay modes. We’ll take them in order:

2v2 Teammate Challenge

Find out who the greatest teammate pairing of all-time is. You choose from one of 15 preset duos and try to take out the rest in games to 11. From MJ-Pippen to Bird-McHale to Wilt-West, you can try your luck with some of the best individual players paired up or go with a team like Stockton-Malone that is best known for playing together. Or maybe you have a soft spot for one of the more recent pairs, like Kemp-Payton, LJ-Zo, or Hardaway-Mullin, all of whom are tons of fun to play with. And let’s not forget my personal favorite team of Shaq-Penny. With all the different styles of play and interesting strengths and weaknesses of the teammate pairs, there are so many ways you can challenge yourself when approaching this mode. And as an added bonus, once you’ve beaten the 2v2 Teammate Challenge, all of the players in the NBA’s Greatest mode become unlocked for use in NBA: Creating a Legend mode. Much like you were able to bring MJ into today’s NBA in NBA 2K11, you can now see how Bill Russell or Oscar Robertson would fare in the current game.

3v3 Era Challenge
The 3v3 Era Challenge is structured a lot like the 2v2 Teammate Challenge. Here, however, players are grouped by era, with two teams of three players from each decade of the NBA represented (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s). Again, you choose from one of these teams and battle it out against the rest to see which era comes out on top. You can go old school with Russell-West-Oscar, well-rounded with Robinson-Pippen-Stockton, or stay a bit more current with Duncan-Dirk-Kobe. Once you’ve made it past each of those teams, you get one final test against the newest generation of NBA stars. Take those last two teams out, and you’ll unlock the ability to use the NBA’s current stars throughout the Legends Showcase.

H-O-R-S-E

H-O-R-S-E is one of my personal favorite parts of the DLC. It’s pretty much exactly what you would think – use the Legends players in a game of trick shots to see who can come out on top. What’s most exciting about this mode is that it’s something very different from anything we’ve done before. Not only did we motion capture a wide variety of trick shots (some of which are standard H-O-R-S-E shots and others which are a little more creative), we also allow you to move freely throughout the environment and shoot from pretty much anywhere. If you want to try a desperation heave from over 100 feet away, go for it. And to take it a step further, we even added several specific locations for shots where you are interacting directly with the environment, like on top of the basket stanchion or on top of the stage used intros. We leave it up to you to discover those spots as you’re exploring the environment.

Because of the nature of H-O-R-S-E shots being so different from regular jump shots, we wanted to use a completely new mechanic here that better reflected the difference between an easy shot and an extremely difficult one. First, you decide which shot you want to take and from what part of the environment. Then, determine the shot’s arc (anything from a flat beeline to a steep rainbow). And finally, as your shot is initiated, follow the power meter as it travels along the arc and stop it in the designated sweet spot. The general difficulty of the shot, the distance from the basket, and the players’ abilities all factor in to how fast the power meter is moving, so make sure you’re prepared to react quickly if you decide to do something like a drop kick from the other end of the court. And just like on the playground, you can call a bank shot or a swish (or the vaunted bank/swish combo) to add some additional flair to your shot. Bank shots will be more difficult to make, of course, and you better get your arc and timing just right if you want to hit nothing but net.

Of all the modes in the Legends Showcase DLC, H-O-R-S-E is probably the one where we stretch the limits of simulation basketball the most to have a little fun. While all of the shots you can take are generally physically possible, you’ll see them go in more than you would in real life. But hey, these are Legends after all, right? Think of it like the old Jordan vs. Bird McDonalds commercial come to life, only with a Times Square cell-shaded twist and way more competitors to choose from. All in all, it’s an interesting departure from everything else that’s available and more centered around standard basketball and it’s a mode we had a lot of fun putting together.

Game of 21
With all of the Legends available in an outdoor fantasy environment with a street sort of feel to things, we felt like it made a lot of sense to include 21 as one of the available options. With all of the standard rules from needing to hit 21, it’s a fun representation of the classic playground game we all remember playing as kids. And with the opportunity to pit MJ vs. Dr. J vs. Kobe vs. LeBron or whatever insane match-up you can think of, there are all sorts of possibilities. One of my favorite things to do is take a player like Kobe and go up against Russell, Olajuwon, and Mutombo. Just seeing those three guys lined up, knowing you’ll have to beat of them to get to the hole, is pretty intimidating.

Pick-Up Game
Pick-Up Game is pretty much what it sounds like. This is the mode where you have the most freedom to create whatever match-ups you want with plenty of customizable rules option to select from. You can play from 1-on-1 up to 5-on-5 with the ability to choose what you want for things like Difficulty, Game Style (Casual or Simulation), Winning Score (5-50), Clear Ball (On or Off), Win By 2 (On or Off), and Winners Outs (On or Off). This is the best place to really determine who is the best player of all-time. Once you’ve unlocked the current NBA players, you can do things like pit Kobe vs. Jordan, Howard vs. Wilt, or Oscar vs. LeBron. One of the other things I like to do here is play all-time franchise teams against each other. For example, you can run out a Lakers Five of Magic-Kobe-Worthy-Gasol-Kareem against a Bulls 5 of Rose-MJ-Pippen-Rodman-Gilmore. And if you really want to mix things up, try a trio of Shawn Bradley-Gheorghe Muresan-Mark Eaton against Muggsy Bogues-Spud Webb-Nate Robinson and see what happens.

It’s also important to note that, while the Legends Showcase takes place in more of a street environment in Times Square, it’s still a simulation at heart. While we captured some fancier passes, dribble moves, and dunks to make the Legends stand out and differentiate the gameplay, it’s all still grounded in reality. Think of it as a sort of a street simulation. We even made sure to spend a significant amount of time honing the AI for this type of game. We want 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 games to feel special not just because of the Legends involved, but also because the game is being played the way you’d expect it to be.

And finally, don’t forget that with the Legends Showcase, you will open up a new option in the Online portion of the main game called Classic Quick Match. This gives you a chance to play online with all of the NBA’s Greatest teams in a standard simulation setting. This is completely outside of the Times Square, cell-shaded DLC environment and with only these all-time teams to choose from, it will hopefully help maintain an even playing field. Additionally, you’ll also now have full roster control over all those NBA’s Greatest teams, so if you want to bring them into Association mode, or edit, trade, and release players, you can do all that too.

With the debate about the greatest team of all-time hopefully being settled with NBA’s Greatest, one of the coolest elements about the Legends Showcase DLC is that it gives you the opportunity to answer a few more of those burning questions. Who is the greatest individual player of all-time? Who is the greatest teammate duo of all-time? Which era is the best of all-time? Who is the greatest trick shot artist of all-time? To put it simply, our main goal with Legends Showcase was to create an entirely new experience centered on the Legends. We feel like there’s a ton of content here that can be appreciated, whether you’re a hardcore basketball historian or just a casual fan.

Before I finish this up, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one other key piece of the Legends Showcase: Where do YOU fit in against the greatest NBA players of all-time? That’s right, you can import your My Player (as Ronnie2K has done here) and see if you can compete with the best of the best. Want to find out if you can take MJ 1-on-1? How about teaming up with Bird and McHale to see if you can take out an Isiah Thomas-Joe Dumars-Bill Laimbeer or Magic Johnson-James Worthy-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar trio? Or what about trying your hand against Pete Maravich in H-O-R-S-E? Any match-up you can think of with almost all of the significant players in NBA history is right there at your fingertips.

I could keep going on about some of my other favorite things to try (Shaq vs. Mikan, Thompson vs. Gervin, Wilt vs. Russell, Chris Paul vs. Isiah, to name a few more – sorry, I couldn’t resist), but it’s probably about time I wrapped this up and left the rest of the fantasy scenarios to everyone else. Keep an eye out for the Legends Showcase on the PSN Store this week – it’ll be available on 11/29. — Ben Bishop

That’s a ton of content to look forward to, and for just $10 on the PlayStation Store this Tuesday! I want to thank Ben for his in-depth description of Legends Showcase and the people at PlayStation for giving me this time to tell you more about NBA 2K12’s hottest DLC. Let me remind you to follow us on Facebook to see the most new and exclusive info for the NBA 2K Franchise.

If you missed my last submission on the PlayStation.Blog where I discussed the all-new feature “On the Move” along with a background on all the great features 2K12 has to offer, you can catch it here. If you ever have feedback on a feature, don’t hesitate to hit me up Twitter and make sure to follow us on Facebook if you are a fan of the franchise.

NBA 2K12: Introducing “On The Move” exclusively for PlayStation Move

Ronnie Singh — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:00:49 +0000

Ronnie here from 2K Sports. I am the Community Manager and the point person for our fans. Have feedback on a feature for NBA 2K12? Want to get an idea in the game? You have my ear and can always reach me on my Twitter account. Drop me a line anytime!

You may remember me from a post earlier this year on NBA 2K12 or my posts last year on NBA 2K11. NBA 2K11 was an enormous success for us as we brought Michael Jordan back to the virtual hardwood for the first time in years. That was followed by extremely remarkable reviews, many calling NBA 2K11 “the greatest sports game of this generation”.

People asked how we could possibly come close to matching last year’s success. It started with unprecedented success at E3 where we picked up multiple Best of E3 Nominees/Awards and even had NBA superstar Kobe Bryant show off NBA 2K12 using the Move at the PlayStation Press Conference. Many have said we’ve achieved the impossible, somehow surpassing 2K1. And with launch Tuesday, the hype is at a fever pitch. This game is better than ever, and this past Friday’s IGN score of 9.5, saying “NBA 2K12 has dethroned its predecessor as the BEST basketball game of all time.”

How have we accomplished this? In addition to our innovative gameplay controls and unrivalled realistic NBA action, this year, we decided to above and beyond last year, not saving any punches. Yes, Michael Jordan is back but this year he is bringing some friends to NBA 2K12 (in stores in the US 10/4/2011, internationally 10/7/2011). How many friends? How about 14 of the greatest: Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jaabar, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Bill Russell, Jerry West, Isiah Thomas, Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon, Oscar Robertson, Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing, Wilt Chamberlain, and John Stockton. All the legends have a game against one of their fiercest rivals in the new “NBA’s Greatest” mode.

Each game in the NBA’s Greatest Mode will have its own look and feel depending on the era it took place in. Our gameplay and presentation teams have painstakingly researched player tendencies, rule changes, and even era-specific television presentational styles for these games. It’s really an astounding experience to play a game in grainy black & white with no 3PT shots, old-school scorers tables, baskets, and of course, the shortest of shorts. You’ll be doing that in NBA 2K12, and let me tell you, it’s a lot of fun! You can read about how each of the “NBA’s Greatest” games/match-ups here.

But NBA 2K12 also has a brand new feature on PlayStation 3 called “On The Move,” obviously using the PlayStation Move. Recently, I got the chance to interview one of our Producers, Ben Bishop, to provide some exclusive info to those that follow the PlayStation Blog. Ben was influential in making this feature a lot of fun and a cool experience for 2K veterans and newbies alike. After Ben gives you some background on the use of Move, I will share some other features to be unveiled in NBA 2K12. So without further adieu, here are highlights from our conversation:

Hey Everyone,

Ben Bishop here. I’m one of the Producers who worked on NBA 2K12. I was fortunate enough to be involved with many different facets of the game this year. Probably one of the most unique and exciting though, and the thing that I’m here to give some details on today, is our NBA On the Move feature, exclusively available for you fine readers of the PlayStation.Blog and PlayStation 3 gamers everywhere.

While we supported the Move controller in NBA 2K11, we really felt like there was something more we could do there. In particular, we wanted to get away from the standard gesture-based controls that many sports games have used and, instead, figure out a way to utilize the Move that wasn’t so involved. Let’s face it, waving your arms around for an entire game can get old quickly, so it made sense to pick our spots a little better and choose ways, that used the precision of the Move, work best.

Additionally, we wanted something that could appeal to newer fans of the series. The standard gameplay controls have an unbelievable amount of depth, with nuances that can take quite a bit of practice to master. This can be daunting to inexperienced users so, hopefully, NBA On the Move will create just the opposite effect.

While we hope that players, of any skill level, will quickly be able to feel like a superstar in this mode, that doesn’t mean we didn’t include our typical extra layer for anyone who wants to take it to another level. There is a whole set of advanced Move controls, that really deepen the experience and can make a huge difference the more you play the game, which I’ll detail below.

But one last thing before getting into some more of the control: It’s worth mentioning that we created a specific NBA On the Move mode just for this feature. We really felt like it was something that needed to stand on its own. It’s the type of experience that really shines when you’ve got some friends over, so we wanted it to become a specific destination rather than a side feature that gets lost in the midst of all the other regular game modes.

Okay, enough background. Now it’s time to jump into what NBA On the Move is all about. To start with, the entire mode is driven by the use of the Move controller pointer. You use your controller to point directly at the players on the court you want to interact with. Along with that, there are two additional essential buttons to worry about – the Move button on the top of the controller, and the T button on the back.

Here is the breakdown of the basic controls:

Offense (Basic)
Move Button – Pass (when pointing cursor at teammate)
Move Button – Drive (when pointing cursor at basket)
T Button – Shoot
T Button (Quick Tap) – Pump Fake

Defense (Basic)
Move Button – Steal (with player closest to ball handler)
T Button – Block/Rebound (when pointing cursor at player)

One of the most unique aspects of NBA On the Move is that you focus on the things that matter most – passing, shooting, stealing/blocking, and rebounding. We’ve spent years refining our AI and doing everything we could to get it to play a smart and realistic game of basketball. And in this mode, you really get to see it shine. In many ways, NBA On the Move is like the perfect hybrid of a Coach Mode and playing the game in the standard way.

And to all of you NBA 2K veterans, don’t fret. As I mentioned before, there is a whole extra level of controls that allow you to influence player movement and really get into more of the subtleties of the game if you so desire.

Here’s the breakdown of the advanced controls, starting with offense:

Offense (Advanced)
Square – Drive/Cut to Basket (when pointing cursor at player)
X – Alley-Oop (when pointing cursor at player)
O – Pick and Roll (when pointing cursor at player)
Triangle – Post Up (when pointing cursor at player)
Move Button – Lead Pass (when pointing cursor into open space near teammate)

Notice that you can get players to do things like cut, set picks, and post-up, and you can even throw up alley-oops or guide them into open space with the Lead Pass feature.

And now, here are the advanced defense controls:

Defense (Advanced)
Square – Toggle Team Defense (Trap/Press/Man-to-Man)
X – Take Charge (when pointing cursor at player)
O – Toggle Individual Defensive Pressure (when pointing cursor at player)
Triangle – Double Team (when pointing cursor at player)
Select – Intentional Foul

Run different styles of defense depending on the situation and the match-ups, call for double teams, or instruct your players on how tight to play or when to stand their ground and take a charge. There is a variety of ways for you to influence the action.

As you can see, anyone should be able to pick up a Move controller and play NBA On the Move using just the two basic buttons. This was evidenced by a demo we did a few months back at E3. Former NBA 2K cover athlete Kobe Bryant was kind enough to stop by and show everyone an early preview of the mode, and he jumped on stage with essentially no practice and was able to start making plays after only a brief period of adjustment.

But again, there is a lot more to it than that. It is definitely a new and unique way to play NBA 2K12, and whether you’ve got some friends over and want to sit down on the couch and see who’s best, or if you simply want to take on the CPU and player-coach your way to victory, the choice is yours. It’s a great alternative to the standard simulation basketball you’ll get everywhere else in the game that we’ve built up for years. So pick up a Move controller and give it a try – I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

I want to thank Ben Bishop for taking the time out of his busy schedule to give us insight on how to get the most out of using the Move. I have been playing “On the Move” and it’s a really extraordinary time. I am sure you hardcore fans and people new to the franchise will also enjoy.

I want to mention a few other features that are making waves in the gaming industry. Now that I’ve discussed “NBA’s Greatest” and how you get the use of deep rosters of 34 legendary teams (more than 400 players in all) at the beginning of the blog, you’ll be ready to play and see what the Greatest of All Time is. But our game has always been rooted in the current game so, in the meantime, here are some other things to look out for when the game hits stores October 4th (make sure to click the links for even more information):

My Player Mode – Live the entire life of an NBA star. After Pre-Draft Interviews, David Stern will announce what team has drafted your services to their squad. They will build marketing campaigns around you and hope that you’re on your way to being the face of the Franchise. You will fight for playing time, discuss your accolades in Press Conferences, and emerge as a starter, perhaps even a player that will go down as one of the greats. If you are, you could be signed to a lucrative Shoe Deal, be on the cover of Magazines, star in commercials, and so on. If you’re one of the greatest ever, you could even write your Hall of Fame speech.

New Post Play System / Defense – Become a force to be reckoned with in the post via full 360 degree player movement, an innovative defensive counter system, and a whole arsenal of moves such as drives, step-backs, and aggressive back downs. Moves can be queued ahead of time and combined together allowing you to dominate the paint in true big man fashion.

The Association: Online – For the first time ever, you and up to 29 friends can form your own NBA league and manage it all from your computer or console.

Bonus Gift with Purchase – Customer who purchase their copy of NBA 2K12 will receive two bonus, historic NBA team featuring their own NBA greats – 1990-91 Golden State Warriors and 2001-02 Sacramento Kings. Bonus content available on launch orders only, while supplies last.

Well, I have probably gone on way past my time! I want to thank the people at Sony for giving me this time to tell you about NBA 2K12. Let me remind you to follow us on Facebook to get exclusive info on the NBA 2K Franchise.

Feel free to drop me a line below or on Twitter and I’ll do my best to get back to you ASAP. Thanks for reading!

NBA 2K12: Jordan, Magic, Bird, and PlayStation Move

Ronnie Singh — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:59:38 +0000

Ronnie2K here! I have been a contributor on the PlayStation.Blog many times, and I am back again for the yearly NBA 2K news cycle. Today I am extremely excited to announce the cover for NBA 2K12, the latest game in the unrivaled basketball video game franchise that sold over 5 million units last year and garnered over 20 ‘Sports Game of the Year’ accolades.

As a kid, I remember watching basketball religiously. Looking back, there were three icons in the basketball world that stood out for me, all for their different strengths. I imagine you late 20s-early 30s gamers know exactly who I am talking about.

Fast forward to 2011. Yes, this year we have not one, not two, but three cover athletes! And not just any three players. We’re talking about three of the NBA’s greatest legends: Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

As you can see, the new stylized NBA 2K12 covers are a unique, one-time departure from the traditional 2K Sports brand artwork and spotlight each legendary athlete on his famous team: Michael Jordan on the Chicago Bulls, Larry Bird on the Boston Celtics, and Magic Johnson on the Los Angeles Lakers. The Bird and Johnson covers will be available only at launch while supplies last for PlayStation 3 so you’ll have to jump on the game early to make sure you get your favorite.

I thought that we couldn’t do things bigger and better after last year’s first-time inclusion of Michael Jordan. But by putting three legends on the cover, we’re really speaking to fans across all generations and celebrating the legacy of legendary ballers, past and present. Larry Legend with his unmatched jump shot, Magic with the unstoppable Showtime Lakers, along with the incomparable Michael Jordan are players that gamers of all ages can appreciate. From a marketing point of view, this will be an unprecedented year for things we can do to bring the only basketball simulation game to your homes.

In the coming months, we will be discussing the various countless features and modes that make NBA 2K12 unrivaled. In the meantime, for those who missed it, please feel free to check out Kobe Bryant showing off NBA 2K12 using the PlayStation Move at the Sony Press Conference a few weeks ago at E3. Yes, the PlayStation Move will be back and better than ever in NBA 2K12 so more news on that soon. Also, below you will see the first screen shot from NBA 2K12.

As always, thanks to the great people at PlayStation for giving me this time to talk to you about the NBA 2K12 cover. And of course, thanks to you passionate Sony fans who have helped us make the NBA 2K Franchise what it is. Make sure to follow us on Facebook to see exclusive info for the NBA 2K Franchise in the coming months or hit me up personally on Twitter anytime.

I’ll be taking questions below so feel free to ask any follow-up questions. I am sure I will be posting another blog in the coming weeks. Thanks for reading!

Mafia II’s PS3-Exclusive DLC: The Betrayal of Jimmy

Jeff Rubenstein — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:19:28 +0000

Last month, the name “Jimmy’s Vendetta” leaked out, along with a list of PlayStation 3 Trophies that appeared to be from the previously-confirmed PS3-exclusive Mafia II downloadable content.

As it turns out, that DLC will be coming down the line. Before Jimmy can get going on that vendetta – he’s got to be double-crossed. That, as it turns out, is the source material for The Betrayal of Jimmy DLC, available at free at launch, exclusively for the PS3 version of Mafia II.

The Betrayal of Jimmy is almost an arcade-style take on the Mafia II experience. The team took the most fun elements from the game: shooting, driving, stealing, etc in a open world, and made it a point-based romp, complete with leaderboards. It’s all about fast cars, blowing stuff up, hitting top speeds, and really taking advantage of the open city. If Mafia II is an expansive story, then The Betrayal of Jimmy is instant gratification.

Unlike in the main Mafia II storyline, you’ll rack up points for drifting, high speed driving, headshots, kill combos and more. Points pop up right on the screen, arcade style and giant, flashy icons like arrows point at targets – something you’d never see in the more authentically 1940s and 50s setting from the primary game mode.

That’s not to say it’s all run and gun – there’s some story to give the mode substance to bring it together. 2K included new cut-scenes and voice acting to keep production quality consistent from the main game.

About that story… Jimmy’s a lot different than Vito, the protagonist in the main game’s plot. While Vito is more of a Henry Hill-esque character – a good guy that gets drawn into becoming a goodfella, Jimmy’s been getting his hands dirty for a long time. With a shaved head, all-black attire, and dark shades, Jimmy’s the kind of guy who you’d cross the street to avoid.

When Jimmy gets screwed over and doesn’t know what’s going on, he starts taking on missions from different crime families to try to uncover the truth. You’ll see some new families here, but some of the characters cross over the storylines, including the main character – the city of Empire Bay.

While you can download The Betrayal of Jimmy on August 24th, the day Mafia II hits shelves, you’ll definitely wanna play through the main storyline first. There’s not a lot of exposition in this content pack; you’re immediately dropped into a gunfight where you’re outgunned and outflanked. Unlike Vito’s slow introduction to the world of organized crime in the main game, Jimmy’s already “leveled up” and spawns initially with multiple weapons. The whole city is open to you right at the start.

Now I tried to anticipate a few questions you Blog readers would come up with when we visited 2K this week to see the game in action:

The Betrayal of Jimmy is not included on the disc – new copies of the game will contain a voucher to download it. If you pick the game up used, you’ll be able to purchase the DLC for $9.99.
While you can unlock Trophies during The Betrayal of Jimmy (we saw one earned during our playthrough for getting significant airtime in a car), there aren’t any mission-specific Trophies for this DLC.
The Jimmy’s Vendetta DLC will become available post-launch. No word on price.

With over 25 different missions, The Betrayal of Jimmy promises a meaty additional gameplay experience, and a nice bonus for PlayStation 3 owners looking to pick up Mafia II later this month.

Mafia II on PS3: Your Questions Answered

Jeff Rubenstein — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:02:01 +0000

Last week I attended a Mafia II preview event, armed with a list of questions you wanted me to investigate. After speaking with Director of Creative Production Jack Scalici, I left with those answers… and a tommy gun filled with tequila (seriously). Since there isn’t enough in there for me to mix margaritas for all of you, I’ll just cut straight to the interview.

PlayStation.Blog: Why go with Empire Bay instead of New York City?

Jack Scalici: It’s New York, with a little bit of influence of Chicago, with a bit of San Francisco mixed in there. But when you do New York you have to do it right, and it has to be exact, and you’ll get some psychopaths on the forums who’ll take a map of New York City, and a map of your game and point out everything that you did wrong and bad and why go through that? And also, if you’ve ever driven through New York, it’s not the most gameplay-driving-friendly city. There are a lot of one way streets, and it’s not as much fun as it could be if you were driving around doing 90 mph in a convertable blasting 1950’s rock ‘n’ roll. So you take reality, and you bend reality into what’s going to equal great gameplay.

PSB: How will Mafia II be connected to Mafia? (VesterDK) I haven’t played the first Mafia game, and I’m wondering if I jump right into the second installment, will I miss out on important story lines, controls or game play techniques? (luckyinlove777)

JC: It’s a completely new story with completely new characters. There are a couple of links to Mafia I, but you won’t really pick up on those unless you played Mafia I. Mafia I fans will have something that they’ll jump out of their seats when they get to a certain part of the game’s story, but you don’t need to know anything about Mafia I to play Mafia II. You don’t even need to know anything about the Mafia to play Mafia II.

PSB: What differentiates this game from other open world games? (skynidas) Is Mafia 2 just like GTA4? (asked on Twitter)

JC: You’ve played it, there’s nothing else out there like it. It doesn’t feel like anything else out there, does it? If some people did certain things right, and we wanted to do them right, instead of re-inventing them for no other purpose than being different, we didn’t do that; we did it right. So there will be some similarities to some other games. But in Mafia II, the core focus is on the epic Mafia story; Playing through it as this guy Vito, going through what he’s going through. It’s also staying true to what the Mafia is, you have to behave a certain way or they’re going to kill you. So rather than allowing the character to do silly things like “the old lady wants you to rescue the cat from a tree,” or whatever, you can’t do s— like that… because a wiseguy would never do something like that.

To me, the open city you can drive around is just icing on the cake. If, after killing [the target of Chapter 9 in the game], we just warped you back to the restaurant and Vito said “I did it,” that robs you of the magic of driving around in the 1940s and 1950s in Empire Bay. You’d really be hard-pressed to communicate “it’s the 40s” or “it’s the 50s” if you didn’t have this magic city to drive around in, and see the advertising, the fashions, the cars, the music.

PSB: How does the city change over time?

JC: The cars are completely different in the 50s than there were in the 40s. In the 40s you have these dull-colored, boxy people movers, some of which are fun to drive. But once you get into the 50s, you get this cherry-red convertable that just tears ass. You get up to something like 120 MPH, you can fly in those cars, it’s amazing. That’s my most favorite thing to do in the game, driving around in a convertable, listening to rock ‘n’ roll in the 50s.

PSB: Yeah, the soundtrack’s great. There’s, what, 120 tracks in the game?

JC: Over 120… Nothing defines an era like the music. Goodfellas is one of my own personal favorite movies. I thought one thing they really did amazing is, I don’t remember any kind of score. I only remember that music defined every scene. That’s how you knew where you were. You start off with “Rags to Riches” in the 50s and you end up on “Layla.” Every song that they chose was perfect, and they really set the tone for every scene.

This is something we did in Mafia. There’s a radio everywhere in Mafia II… and we scripted certain tracks to be playing on the radio when I knew you were getting into a car. So you’ll see it when you kill [that Chapter 9 dude] and you steal his car, and you start driving away and there’s a song that plays and it’s like “yes!”

PSB: Will there be some sort of customization in Mafia II? Such as clothing, weapon customization, etc. (Ar4chNova89)

JC: Well the cars can be tuned for performance, you can change the wheels, you can repair them, you can change license plate, you can paint it any color you want. That level of customization we really encourage because we want people to fall in love with their cars the way America did in the 50s.

PSB: Will this game be more of a free world type of game or will you be locked in to the storyline? (Ftwrthtx)

JC: When we looked at all of our potential sidequests we looked at them and said “which ones would a wiseguy just not do, period?” “What makes sense for a guy who wants to move up in the mob?” So we removed all this other stuff and said “OK, so this is all stuff a wiseguy would do, why isn’t it integrated with the story?” Everything he does has to be integrated into the story or has to fit with his motivation to move up, get rich, and get out. So everything that did fit, fit with the story, so we made it mandatory.

There are some little random things that happen that you can get involved in if you want. You may have seen there’s a greaser who gets into an accident with [a supporting character]’s girlfriend, and if you want to intervene, you can beat the s— out of the guy. That makes sense in the story, and it’s also an optional thing. You can just let it play out like “f— it, it’s probably her own fault.”

PSB: Will it have functionality with the Move Controller and can u just use one move or two, if so? (polo155)

JC: At this time no. Possibly in future games because I think there’s a lot of cool potential there… melee combat especially.

PSB: Will There Be any multiplayer/ co-op in the game? (Harlemz-Prodigy and others)

JC: Not currently at this time. We wanted to keep it story-based and focus on that and have that be the experience you remember. We don’t want people running around as these characters in the game world behaving as those characters never would. It just doesn’t fit with Mafia at this point in time.

PSB: Tell them thanks for the exclusive content for our system, that was really nice of them :) (Fallen_Guardian)

JC: It is really cool. We came up with the ideas of this character, Jimmy, who exists outside of the main story of Mafia II. Jimmy is just a total badass. He’s sent in by the mob to clean up the mess, like when you have a dead body or when something’s really going wrong. He’s like a combination hitman/cleaner. He’s this badass bald dude who basically does whatever the hell he wants.

The beginning of the Jimmy stuff [multiplatform DLC] is he gets out of jail and he wants to kill those people who wronged him and forced him to go to jail for them. For the PS3 [exclusive] stuff, we thought it’d be really cool to tell the story of what happened to Jimmy. How did Jimmy get here? That’s what the PS3 stuff is.

Mafia II – What Do You Want to Know?

Jeff Rubenstein — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:00:41 +0000

The typical “Summer Drought” will soon give way to a flood of holiday titles, and one of the first major titles we’ll get our hands on is Mafia II.

Now, as we creep closer to Mafia II’s August 24th release date, the extent of the game’s PlayStation-exclusive content is becoming clearer; this week, the Trophies for “Jimmy’s Vendetta” came to light, and it’s looking pretty extensive.

A few weeks ago, Mr. Sid Shuman had a few words with 2K Senior Producer Denby Grace about Mafia II’s gritty look and feel, its upcoming demo, and how differs from other games in the genre like GTA (hint: it’s *way* different).

Today I’ll be attending a Mafia II event where new content will be revealed, and I’ve got a few more minutes with the developers. We’ve asked our questions – now what do *you* want to know about Mafia II? Comment now, and we’ll have the answers for you on Tuesday.

E3 Encounters: Spec Ops: The Line for PS3

Sid Shuman — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 20:30:59 +0000

Sand. It gets everywhere. In your undies, in your flip-flops, in your tactical military shooters. In 2K Games’ upcoming PS3 third-person action game Spec Ops: The Line, catastrophic sandstorms have assaulted Dubai and left the City of Gold’s famous gravity-defying skyscrapers entombed under mountains of choking, swirling sand.

I sat in on a demonstration of Spec Ops: The Line at the 2010 E3 Expo, and learned more about the game’s improvisational combat and tense atmosphere, as well as the difficult decisions you’ll face as a Delta Force squad leader.

The story finds inspiration in the film Apocalypse Now. As Delta Force Captain Martin Walker, your team ventures into the Dubai wastes to track down a distress signal from Colonel John Konrad, who went AWOL following the sandstorms. The fate of Col. Konrad and his men will be revealed as you play, but if you’ve seen Apocalypse Now, you might have some clues about the dark territory this tale will explore.

Post-apocalyptic imagery aside, sand plays a key role in The Line’s action mechanics. During the third-person shootouts, you can target barricades and barriers to unleash sand avalanches on top of nearby enemies. Enemies can also exploit the sand traps, so it will pay to keep a close eye on the treacherous, ever-shifting terrain. At times, the action will migrate into the tomb-like skyscrapers that lay beneath Dubai’s suffocating sand dunes. These scenarios are tense and atmospheric, veering closer to survival-horror territory as Cpt. Walker and his men try to piece together the bigger picture while fending off surprise attacks from squatters and survivalists who have reclaimed the ruined city.

In firefights, Cpt. Walker can issue commands (flank, advance) to his Delta Force squad mates — though the developers promise that the computer-controlled allies can easily take care of themselves if you’d rather focus on the dirty work. Combat is up close and visceral, with a large arsenal of high-powered military shotguns, rifles, and carbines at your disposal.

Other surprises abound, such as a white phosphorus attack on Cpt. Walker’s team that sets an entire city block ablaze and sends fireballs drifting lazily through the air. Your decision-making prowess will also be put to the test during the game. In one scene I saw, Cpt. Walker had to choose between interrupting the execution of an ally or holding fire in order to conceal his presence and succeed in a larger objective. Choosing between what’s “moral” and what’s “necessary” will be a reoccurring theme in Spec Ops: The Line, meaning that your gameplay decisions will have a direct outcome on the characters, relationships, and outcomes of the game. And yes, there will be multiple endings.

Spec Ops: The Line hits the PS3 in 2011 and will support multiplayer features, though specifics aren’t public yet. If you have questions about the game, ask away in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.

PlayStation Publishing Partners make E3 Announcements

Rob Dyer — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 22:01:12 +0000

Hello PlayStation Fans,

E3 may have come to a close, but we couldn’t be more excited by the plethora of great games and content available for PlayStation fans. Along with PlayStation Move and a host of exclusive titles coming from our first party developers, our publishing partners were out in force taking full advantage of everything PS3 and PSP have to offer.

One of the biggest surprises at E3 was Gabe Newell from Valve’s arrival on the stage at the press conference earlier this week. He acknowledged his appreciation for the PS3 as “the most open platform of all the current generation consoles.” He went on to not only announce that Portal 2 was coming to the PlayStation 3, but also to state that it’ll be the “best version on any console.”

EA also introduced several exclusives to PS3 including the special edition version of Medal of Honor that comes with the 2002 classic Medal of Honor Frontline, which has been updated and re-mastered with HD visuals. And those of you looking forward to Dead Space 2 can pick up the premium edition, which includes Dead Space Extraction. A prequel to the original Dead Space, Dead Space Extraction will be fully Move compatible and also offer trophy support. Offering these packed-in hits like Medal of Honor Frontline and Dead Space Extraction is something only possible on PS3 because of Blu-Ray.

Fans of Assassin’s Creed can look forward to an exclusive beta of the new multiplayer campaign within Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, with the beta hitting PSN in late summer. 2K Games’ Mafia II will also feature unique content for PS3, including exclusive day-one content including missions, story and gameplay. There’s also the much-anticipated shooter from Crytek, Crysis 2, which will sport 3D-compatible graphics on the PS3.

These along with other great titles, including Kojima’s recently-released masterpiece Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Sony Online Entertainment’s much-anticipated MMO DC Universe Online, are expanding our library of titles and offerings for gamers, and help make our family of products some of the best of the industry.

Once you’ve digested all things E3, keep an eye out in the coming weeks and months for further news and updates from our publishing partners.

Coming to PSN: BioShock 2 Rapture Metro DLC

Jordan Thomas — Mon, 10 May 2010 22:39:43 +0000

Hello there! I’m Jordan Thomas, creative director of BioShock 2, returning with another PlayStation.Blog post to offer a few thoughts about the Rapture Metro downloadable content pack and the free Kill ‘em Kindly downloadable mode that we’re releasing simultaneously tomorrow, May 11th, 2010.

So, both of these DLC offerings are multiplayer-focused. The Rapture Metro Pack contains a rank increase to 50 and, when you reach it, you’ll win the opportunity to begin anew with Rebirth mode. This resets you to Rank 1 with a Golden Bunny Mask, and a prestigious indicator next to your name to taunt lesser organisms. But wait — there’s more!

If you make it all the way to 50 again, you secure the coveted Golden Bucket, which basically tells the world that you’re so damn good you don’t have to care.

More meatily, the Rapture Metro Pack contains six new playable locations from Rapture’s history, many of them offering a distinctly different tactical focus than the original set we shipped with in BioShock 2. Design lessons from the live release of the shipping maps have been taken heavily into account with these babies.

Let me give you the nickel tour:

Pauper’s Drop: The Hooverville-like shanty which sprang up during the construction of the Atlantic Express. With long sightlines and open courtyards at the center, the Drop opens up opportunities for honest-to-gosh sniping in a way that our release maps weren’t as focused around.

Dionysus Park: The single best example of the gleaming, Utopia-in-peril setting of the BioShock Multiplayer experience, Dionysus Park is an art gallery owned by Sofia Lamb. It appeared in the BioShock 2 single player component as a filth-encrusted, recently flooded garden of goop. But here in 1959, all that pain and decay have been peeled away, and it can be enjoyed in its original, golden splendor. Territory and security control feature prominently in the park’s tactical terrain.

Fontaine Fisheries: A key location from the original BioShock, the Fisheries were home to Fontaine and his gangland allies. It’s symmetrical in nature, with the icy freezers as the center of conflict. You’ll battle through dock areas, salt ponds, and more as you make shady new friends and then gut them like fish.

Fighting McDonagh’s: This is a zoomed-in, intimate look at one of the Fisheries’ most famous locations. The Fighting McDonagh’s tavern was the favored watering hole of the city’s underclass, who took the frustration of their broken utopian dreams out on each other in sponsored boxing matches. It’s dense and highly interconnected, serving up plenty of chances for a close-range ambush.

Smuggler’s Hideout: This cavernous, once-secret location was where Fontaine’s smuggling operation docked a private submarine and moved contraband into Rapture, daring Andrew Ryan to stop the people getting what they wanted. The bulk of it favors long range skirmishing, but it has a number of back routes and semi-secret tunnels to help you sneak up on snipers and ventilate ‘em.

Siren Alley: Shaped like a big, sexy donut, Siren Alley was the red-light district in Rapture. The looping path means it’s easy to find the action, and the footbridges and overlooks allow you to snipe from higher ground. Shortcuts through the interior flophouses give you a chance to bushwhack someone whether they take the high road or the low.

The Rapture Metro Pack also challenges you to earn three new Trophies, because hey — you’re going to want something to show Rapture who’s top dog.

Finally, let’s talk about the free Kill ‘em Kindly mode. This melee-only game is all about stalking the dripping halls with a golf club and looking for prey — and then bludgeoning all & sundry to death. You might also offer a pithy quip of some kind, espousing your personal philosophy to the sub-human lump of gristle who had the temerity to face you on the field of battle. It’s entirely up to you.

It’s kind of a playable in-joke for BioShock fans. I probably don’t need to explain why.

Did I mention that it’s free? Have fun!