Fixes that would make 2k8 better...

[thetruth2k]

First of all, 2k7 is a good game; it's not a great game, and it was only worth the $59.99 purchase because EA's march madness was turd, and NBA 2K7 was uneventful.

I generally like the 2K series basketball games, but for the past couple years the xbox, 360, ps2, ps3 (all of which I've played at some time or another) versions have been sub-par. It seems like it's been the same game engine--mo-capped movements, animations, collision system, etc. since 2004...The only thing that's gotten better has been the graphics, respectively speaking.

This year, I hope you can fix some the flaws that kept it from being the best. I've been playing 2K since Dreamcast, and if I and others have to wait till mid-March of 2008 to play the same game with a few added gimmicky features, then I think you'll leave the door open for EA to steal away some of your share--provided they fix their game.

Here's a few things the developers can do to make it a better game:

1. Rebounding. Rebounding. Rebounding...Please, fix the rebounding...It is utterly
ridiculous when my 7'3" center can't grab a board--right under the basket. It's even worse when I have a player in perfect position to grab one and he's ousted by some opposing (computer) player with magic hands. Please kill the magic hands.

2. Passing. Passing in this game is as chancy as tight rope walking. What makes it worse is when I have a PG, or any other player with a decent pass rating, and he consistently throws errant passes through legs, from half court, or out of bounce. Refine the passing system; make it directional based and pressure sensitive instead of the button masher guess-game it is now. You might think it is not, but it is.

3. Player Moves and Dribbling. It isn't necessary to add a million new moves, just make the movements more fluid and dynamic. When I press a button I expect the player to do that move, but when I press another button, seconds after the first, I expect that previous animation to cease and flow into my new action. Make the moves more responsive and dynamic; excise the turtle-like animations that are fixed to points on a polygon grid and give control to the user. Oh yeah, KILL THE DRIBBLE FLOPPING.

4. Fouls. They make no sense. The collision detection is atrocious. Shooting fouls are called blocking fouls. It's impossible to get a charge--get rid of this button. I should be able to get a charge just by standing my ground, why should I have to press a button for a charge animation that misplaces the player anyway?

5. Shooting. Fix this. It may not be a problem to some, but it's never consistent. When driving thru an open lane, players should slam or lay it up--not go for a 5ft jumper. Make the fade-aways look like fade-aways. Stop the missed lay-ups. Stop the 10ft, banked tip-ins. Add a baby hook along with other fluid post moves. And, make the jump-shot a weapon instead of having us rely on 3's and dunks.

6. A.I. & Awareness. The A.I. in this games acts like it's two acid hits from being retarded. Players stand around, watching boards go into other players hand. Defense leaves gaps open for easy drives (easy 5 footers...unless it's the computer) to the basket. Computer A.I. doesn't know how to utilize their plays or star players. Players don't act according to what real players would do, and the coaching options are a joke...

The things I listed here pertain solely to the gameplay, there a bunch of other things that could be tweaked to make the it a better game overall, but these things will make an instant impact.

[grismosw7]

Get rid of or tweak the "confidence" system, its over done and leads to WAY WAY WAY to many upsets. And fix the sim engine, which may be a result of the confidence being over done.

[JeffT77]

Good observations, here's my contributions:

1) All coach settings should be saved with your VIP. Instead, every new legacy game I play I have to go in and change substitutions and timeouts to manual, along with my playcalling preferences.

2) There needs to be an opportunity to make lineup changes at half-time. How did they overlook this?

3) When a player fouls out, allow us to insert the proper sub - don't do it automatically. This can be a serious problem in a close game.

4) Allow us to edit uniforms.

5) Along those lines, the create-a-team feature is sorely lacking. Why do we have to pick from the generic logos? We should be able to select any of the 300+ logos currently in the game. Generic logos should be related to common mascots (Panthers, Warriors, Tigers, Falcons, etc...) Allow us to use a simple capital letter for a logo, as well. And, of course, allow us to create uniforms! EA had the create-a-team feature down nearly perfectly with NCAA football. Check out what they did.

6) Allow tournament creation (for use in legacy) and conference creation.

7) Allow us to choose our walk-ons from a select group, rather than generating them randomly. Sometimes I get a sophomore walk-on when I would prefer a freshman (or at least let us edit their class).

8) There should be a free-throw shooting method that combines the players FT rating with the user's ability to shoot free throws (like the target that would move faster for a poor shooter). I like the idea of letting the cpu decide whether or not the FT goes in based on player ratings, but would also like to influence this myself, too. But if I turn off real FT % in the menu, I make too many, and poorer FT shooters end up with higher percentages. There should be a happy medium between these two extremes.

9) The turn around jumpers are a bit frustrating. Perhaps there is a way to perform them without simply tapping the shoot button whith your back to the basket. Too many times I try to fake from 3 pt range but end up shooting a turnaround.

10) Is there a way to fake under and around the basket? I haven't figured out how to do this - is it possible?

11) Allow us to change the length of the shot clock, up to 60 seconds at least.

12) Whatever you do, don't take away the ability to edit players in legacy mode.

I might add some more later.

[Xboxing2006]

First of all, 2k7 is a good game; it's not a great game, and it was only worth the $59.99 purchase because EA's march madness was turd, and NBA 2K7 was uneventful.

I generally like the 2K series basketball games, but for the past couple years the xbox, 360, ps2, ps3 (all of which I've played at some time or another) versions have been sub-par. It seems like it's been the same game engine--mo-capped movements, animations, collision system, etc. since 2004...The only thing that's gotten better has been the graphics, respectively speaking.

This year, I hope you can fix some the flaws that kept it from being the best. I've been playing 2K since Dreamcast, and if I and others have to wait till mid-March of 2008 to play the same game with a few added gimmicky features, then I think you'll leave the door open for EA to steal away some of your share--provided they fix their game.

Here's a few things the developers can do to make it a better game:

1. Rebounding. Rebounding. Rebounding...Please, fix the rebounding...It is utterly
ridiculous when my 7'3" center can't grab a board--right under the basket. It's even worse when I have a player in perfect position to grab one and he's ousted by some opposing (computer) player with magic hands. Please kill the magic hands.

2. Passing. Passing in this game is as chancy as tight rope walking. What makes it worse is when I have a PG, or any other player with a decent pass rating, and he consistently throws errant passes through legs, from half court, or out of bounce. Refine the passing system; make it directional based and pressure sensitive instead of the button masher guess-game it is now. You might think it is not, but it is.

3. Player Moves and Dribbling. It isn't necessary to add a million new moves, just make the movements more fluid and dynamic. When I press a button I expect the player to do that move, but when I press another button, seconds after the first, I expect that previous animation to cease and flow into my new action. Make the moves more responsive and dynamic; excise the turtle-like animations that are fixed to points on a polygon grid and give control to the user. Oh yeah, KILL THE DRIBBLE FLOPPING.

4. Fouls. They make no sense. The collision detection is atrocious. Shooting fouls are called blocking fouls. It's impossible to get a charge--get rid of this button. I should be able to get a charge just by standing my ground, why should I have to press a button for a charge animation that misplaces the player anyway?

5. Shooting. Fix this. It may not be a problem to some, but it's never consistent. When driving thru an open lane, players should slam or lay it up--not go for a 5ft jumper. Make the fade-aways look like fade-aways. Stop the missed lay-ups. Stop the 10ft, banked tip-ins. Add a baby hook along with other fluid post moves. And, make the jump-shot a weapon instead of having us rely on 3's and dunks.

6. A.I. & Awareness. The A.I. in this games acts like it's two acid hits from being retarded. Players stand around, watching boards go into other players hand. Defense leaves gaps open for easy drives (easy 5 footers...unless it's the computer) to the basket. Computer A.I. doesn't know how to utilize their plays or star players. Players don't act according to what real players would do, and the coaching options are a joke...

The things I listed here pertain solely to the gameplay, there a bunch of other things that could be tweaked to make the it a better game overall, but these things will make an instant impact.

I think you guys are being a bit too hard on what I would call the best sports game on the market. Yes CH 2k7 was the sports game of the year. I mean what other sports game was better? PES/WE normally takes the title but it just did not translate well to next gen platforms.


I seriously wonder what game you are playing?

I’ll take it one by one

The rebounding is pretty realistic to me. Its flawed in one area but not the area you are compaling about. I’m a Razorback fan and that team has a 5’11 PG that averages more rebounds then their starting 7’0 Center. The real problem is the lack of long rebounds and tip outs. Its too hard for little guys to get rebounds.
Big men get rebounds based on their rating, how you time your jump, your opponent, and your team settings. When that stuff is favorable I don’t have a problem with rebounds.

I love the idea of pressure sensitive passing. Great passers should be able to thread the needle better. That said the icon lead passing gives both this game and NBA 2k7 an edge over anything before it.


Don’t understand your issue with the dribbling. You completely lost me there.

I don’t have a problem with shooting fouls being called blocking fouls. The college game is more conservative with giving the offensive player continuation and the fact that they let you carry out the animation is a good thing. With the charging I agree with you almost completely. I would like them to keep the charge button especially if the offence has more momentum in CH 2k8.

With your shooting issues are you using the shot stick? I never have a problem forcing a layup. If anything its too easy. Also after some 90 games or more I have only missed about ten layups that really made me scratch my head. In 90 games that’s ok with me. I contend that this game does not have a layup problem with its probability. The problem is that tough layups don’t look tough enough. Players should be forced to adjust and change their shots more so when they miss it does not look like an easy miss.

With the Ai I agree your teammates are not aggressive enough. There should be more fights for rebounds with tieups off rebounds. Some of this you can tweak though. Also the CPU does a rather inconsistent job of using its stars. They are smart enough to go to a guy who is scoring but they don’t really try to get their stars off as much as they should.

With all of that you left off my main issue with the game which is inbounding.

The CPU cant break the press to save its life. If the CPU could break the press I would have only won maybe one or two National Titles in 5 seasons. I get at least five steals off the inbound alone. Their inbound defense is also terrible. They get in their zones then just stand there while you can post your best shooter alone at the the 3 point line.

My other issue is the ease of baseline drives. This is partly related to the lack of charging calls but even when the defense is not in position to take a charge its too easy to barrel over them when driving baseline.


After close to 100 games I only have two major and very fixable issues with this game.

[steelersrule8508]

i agree that the dribbling and ball handling has to be more fluid but the biggest issue me last year was the missed layups. It was a great game though

[lawcutta]

4) Allow us to edit uniforms.

7) Allow us to choose our walk-ons from a select group, rather than generating them randomly. Sometimes I get a sophomore walk-on when I would prefer a freshman (or at least let us edit their class).

10) Is there a way to fake under and around the basket? I haven't figured out how to do this - is it possible?


These 3 things need to be added.

To me a edit uniform feature would add replay value. I know after a few seasons, I get tired of looking at the same uniforms; this feature would give you a fresh look every so often. I would also like to see a edit or upgrade court feature added. Last years edit court feature was useless.

[Xboxing2006]

i agree that the dribbling and ball handling has to be more fluid but the biggest issue me last year was the missed layups. It was a great game though


How were the missed layups an issue? Like I said before after 90 games I never had a problem with them.

[Hazzardous1]

I wouldn't want to see a total dribble revamp..maybe instead of flopping they just lose the ball from having bad handles, but only when pressured and not protecting the ball. Just face it not everyone can dribble. Allow for more physical defense where the dribbler has to actually protect the ball and/or switch hands to protect from better defensive players, thus allowing the defensive specialist to have a real role. Some of the real teams actually thrive on their physical styles to win games and don't just engage in scoring races.

Rebounding position should count more, and there should be battles in the paint for position. Maybe add more long rebounds in the game, and make mismatches make a difference in position battles.

Make it easier for the AI to beat the press. Its too easy to average over 15 inbound steals a game. On the same note, cut out those centers that routinely take 3's after the AI does beat the press. Make them take the ball in for the mismatch.

On jumpshots, a hand in the face from a bigger defender should have more of an impact in the shot result, making more use of the bank shot, and making finding an open look even more of a necessity. Add in the hook shot, and the ability to perform better fakes around the basket.

Add in some of the features that NCAA 08 has incorporated for recruiting. Add in recruiting infractions and off court player scenarios that will force the coaches to adjust their coaching and lineups on the fly and during the week. With this said, add recruits with issues that need to be addressed while recruiting and while a team member or else it has negative effects on the team morale and cohesiveness. Add in an auto recruiting toggle of your top prospects by all your coaches based on preferences, prestige, coaching ability/success, etc., for those that just want to play and not be so involved in the recruiting process.


I would suggest more, but about to try a new legacy career with Navy...still need that top 25 in the first year achievement and don't wanna be cheezy.

[jcofor25]

I have bought every college hoops game made by 2k sport and loved them. Me and my brother love the series and talk about our experiences in the game. here are some things I think should be changed in CH 2K8:

1) The rebounding could have a little more fight into it. I hate to see when they are just standing there staring at the ball and not boxing out.

2) The AI REALLY needs to be fixed. When i am on a break the CPU's press would be more of a challenge that the CPU would gaurd me instead of playing zone and backing away for the easy lay-up/dunk. The Inbounding is the worst. My PF have 20 steals & 40 pts from inbounding alone. PLEASE FIX!!!

3) The fouls have to be fixed. I have seen too many shooting fouls called as blocking fouls.

4) I don't agree with a revamp in the dribbling system. I think that the X and Y buttons should be used for crossovers/spin moves when the RT is pressed or pulled, and instead of having 2 dribbling buttons, have maybe one of them be assigned for hop steps.

5) What is up with the reelmaker? I dont know if this happend to anyone else but I can play a can with crazy highlights and when i go to add my second replay it will freeze and never get past checking my HDD. I lost count on how many times I have seen this happen to me. It cant be the disc cause my 1st CH broke and had to get another copy. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE fix this. The Reelmaker is a great add-on to the game though.

6) Free throws are way too easy. Have a different method on shooting free throws.

7) When the player falls and loses the ball, WHY DOES HE LAY ON THE GROUND AND TAKE A NAP?!?! If this happened in real life his playing time would get cut or no play at all for him.

FOR THE RECORD: There is nothing wrong with the lay-ups. Don't expect them to make it when there is a defender next to you contesting the the shot.

Out of all of these, I would really want to see 2, 5, and 7 changed in the 2k8.

[anESPNfan]

1.) Better low post defense and I'll be more than happy.

[lawcutta]

They need to:
Tweak the gamplay a little
Make the atmosphere better
Features! Features! Features!

[aandam04]

Good observations, here's my contributions:

1) All coach settings should be saved with your VIP. Instead, every new legacy game I play I have to go in and change substitutions and timeouts to manual, along with my playcalling preferences.

2) There needs to be an opportunity to make lineup changes at half-time. How did they overlook this?

3) When a player fouls out, allow us to insert the proper sub - don't do it automatically. This can be a serious problem in a close game.

4) Allow us to edit uniforms.

5) Along those lines, the create-a-team feature is sorely lacking. Why do we have to pick from the generic logos? We should be able to select any of the 300+ logos currently in the game. Generic logos should be related to common mascots (Panthers, Warriors, Tigers, Falcons, etc...) Allow us to use a simple capital letter for a logo, as well. And, of course, allow us to create uniforms! EA had the create-a-team feature down nearly perfectly with NCAA football. Check out what they did.

6) Allow tournament creation (for use in legacy) and conference creation.

7) Allow us to choose our walk-ons from a select group, rather than generating them randomly. Sometimes I get a sophomore walk-on when I would prefer a freshman (or at least let us edit their class).

8) There should be a free-throw shooting method that combines the players FT rating with the user's ability to shoot free throws (like the target that would move faster for a poor shooter). I like the idea of letting the cpu decide whether or not the FT goes in based on player ratings, but would also like to influence this myself, too. But if I turn off real FT % in the menu, I make too many, and poorer FT shooters end up with higher percentages. There should be a happy medium between these two extremes.

9) The turn around jumpers are a bit frustrating. Perhaps there is a way to perform them without simply tapping the shoot button whith your back to the basket. Too many times I try to fake from 3 pt range but end up shooting a turnaround.

10) Is there a way to fake under and around the basket? I haven't figured out how to do this - is it possible?

11) Allow us to change the length of the shot clock, up to 60 seconds at least.

12) Whatever you do, don't take away the ability to edit players in legacy mode.

I might add some more later.


I agree with these and along with that I like to see improvements with the created player mode. I figured you guys could add a better variety of accessories like ankle braces, combination of socks like putting black on top of white(etc.), and I'd like to see better hair characteristics. Like the dreads for example , there too short why can't they be as long as the mullet and the other "do" they have with the long hair. As an experienced basketball player the long dreads have been growing and popular style the last couple years.

The guard play could use a little improvement too even though it was greatly improved last year. I'd like to see the point guard have more power over the team as a leader on the court. The handles and ball moves were great but I did get irritated when the moves were slow to execute sometimes. Driving to the rim was pretty good but dishing out was kind of difficult(but i dont know if that was the game or just me). Passing could be better to, last year my guard would make some soft passes when I'm meaning for a quick-hard pass like on the break for instance. But otherwise I'm looking forward to this year's game.

[Xboxing2006]

7) When the player falls and loses the ball, WHY DOES HE LAY ON THE GROUND AND TAKE A NAP?!?! If this happened in real life his playing time would get cut or no play at all for him.


Lol man thats so true. They are on the floor for a good five seconds.

[jcofor25]

Add more shoes please. It was dumb to put a rack of shoes in the campus store and not be able to buy any of them.

[jcofor25]

oh yeah, fix some of the repetiveness of legacy. And try to make the assistant coaches attributes upgradeable. Why is a potential column on the assitant coach if they never get better. i was at Duke for 4 years with same assistants and never got better. heres a link for more suggestions http://boards.ign.com/college_hoops_2k_series/b6048/136855614/p1

[realsports]

I agree with one other poster on here, this is by far the best game this year and to me the best sports game since NFL 2K5..... I don't have any complaints, just a word of caution to 2K............ ADD DON'T SUBTRACT!!!!!! Keep the features you have and add to them. This year, I don't want to see that we don't have College Hoops weekly show or that we can't go to the NIT, or something like that, keep all that stuff in and continue to ADD.

[illsmak]

They need to change both rebounding and shot blocking. Often enough in legacy I can find time for a 7'2 walk on who is just GARBAGE but just because he is 7'2 I can get like six blocks and eight rebounds. I think rebounding should be about more position than height, and yeah there needs to be long rebounds and tip outs, good call.

Also, notice how the computer almost never gets called for over the back? Isn't that pretty lame. There are usually a few over the back calls in a game.

My main issue is how easy it is to score inside (as it has always been, just iso motion a few times then take it hard... almost always gonna be an and 1. And that's on MoP.) I probably can get 75% of my points in the paint.

Also, that crap where the fast breaking player runs faster than the trailer is BS. They need to fix that system. In NBA 2k7 the fast breaking player was majorly slow, but now he's bound to beat you down the floor no matter who you are. Speed should determine it, and there should be a small penalty for having the ball.

The computer is stupid, we all agree on that, right? It's so easy to bait them into throwing the ball away that I actually have to tell myself not to steal it and make up rules for myself... like playing on ball defense and not switching until the other guy catches it. Plus, if you trap the computer they will always try to force the ball back to their pg, where you can steal it. Inbounds passes are also easy to steal.

Basically, the computer seems to be easily controlled. Don't know if this is even possible, but I'd like to see the computer try to define your movements instead of only reacting.

BUT AS I SAID, fix how easy it is to get into the lane and stealing passes and I might actually have to try to beat the computer.

PS: Confidence must stay because that's awesome. People should play better at home or play better when they are on a hot streak. I've seen it often enough that players go into slumps that last games. Upsets are PART of college basketball. And that's another reason why Seniors can be better than Freshman (because of confidence.) It works out well.

I like the whole team unity thing, but I think it needs to be redone. It seems to make one team into superman. I think team unity should only control things like passing turn overs, alley oops, and running plays. It seems to control rebounding and hustle, too, which doesn't make much sense.

-Smak

[John M.]

I haven't posted here in a few months. Allow me to express my First Amendment rights here.

College Hoops 2K7 was the first of the next-gen action. I do have a favor to ask of 2K Sports with this multi-platform game. There were a lot of things that PS2 gamers didn't get when the XBOX 360 and PS3 versions of CH 2K7 was shipped. I heard of a lot of different arenas in the next-gen versions. There was the Create-a-Chant deal. Not a lot of us still have good money to get a PS3 or an XBOX 360. So... I'd ask not for us to be so short-changed. I know most of us don't have a PS3 or an XBOX, but we still shouldn't be so short-changed. I'd like for as many features as possible to be available for the PS2 version, just not really anything of a mildly-modified version of the previous title.

Having said all of this, I'm deeply interested in this title as are a lot of us others. I have a long Christmas list of things I'd like to see improve

* I loved hearing some of the different fight songs available for schools. This includes football schools with fight songs I've never heard before and non-football schools I've defintely NEVER heard songs for. The real gem of a college basketball game (or any college sports game for that matter) is being able to visit as many schools as possible for game action. Remember when you were fooling around with some of the non-football schools and saw vastly detailed arenas and gyms? I still remember how well of a job was done to IUPUI in the series. The 2K6 version didn't have the fight song, but 2K7 did. It's one of my favorite fight songs from non-football schools other than the fight song to the University of Illinois-Chicago. This game series has been so heralded for all the minor touches that completely outclasses the EA version.

* It may not be possible, but I'd be interested in playing as Chaminade or Alaska-Anchorage. These are the two schools that play host to the (...) Maui Invitational and the Great Alaska Shootout. Like to be able to hear the fight songs to these two schools. I don't think the EA brand had all the different exhibition tournaments. College basketball afficionados know of Chaminade's upset of #1 Virginia in 1982, and most others know of Alaska-Anchorage's upset of Wake Forest in 1993. You could even have a Divsion 2 match between these two schools.

* I've only played NCAA March Madness 2004 and 2005 (the 2005 was much better). A thing I admit not liking very much in the 2K games was being able to quickly access a batch of plays and be able to choose which play I want to execute either on offense or defense. I also liked how easy it was to pull an alley-oop play. So I'd enhance the play-calling a bit. Make it easier and have more options to use. Maybe I look at calling plays a lot because of the football guy in me.

* Most importantly is the customization. My User Team's colors are blue and gold. Blue and gold like California, West Virginia, Marquette, Canisius College, and schools like that. I'd love to be able to have nicely-detailed uniforms rather than some strangely-colored outfits. I'm also thinking of being able to have my team's nickname called out rather than being referred to as "the Home Team" or "the Away Team." Perhaps a database of nicknames should apply. For example, countless schools have common nicknames. Broncos, Wildcats, Tigers, Spartans, Yellow Jackets, Bears, Bearcats, Dragons... and all other kinds of names. We can name our teams whatever we like, but I think it would be better if there were a database of team nicknames to use so that our User Teams can be referred to as whatever. This relates to anything from common nicknames all the way to more unique nicknames like the Musketeers, Hawkeyes, Buckeyes, Silverswords, Texans, Banana Slugs (University of California-Santa Cruz, a Division 3 school), Friars, Longhorns, and that sort of thing. I'd like for there to be a service for color or alternative names. For example: Golden Eagles, Fighting Bobcats, Running Bulldogs, Blue Dragons, Crimson Hawks, Scarlet Knights, Rainbow Warriors, and that sort of thing. I'd even want this to apply to coaches. My coaches' name is in the database, but is not called by name. I think my coach for my User-Created team is Antonio Chavez, and I don't hear "Coach Chavez" when mentioned in the opening of a game with my team playing. One last thing of note: some better customizable custom logos would also be nice. I can't find a logo I like for my school. Options should include regular letters representing schools and even Greek letters. Perhaps even generic school logos that can be colored to represent a school. I'd even allow for different options to dress up cheerleaders. Not every cheerleader's outfit is a top, a skirt, and some sneakers. Some cheerleaders have a certain top, pants, and some sneakers. Some may even mix-and-match and wear boots instead of shoes (primarily more like cowgirl boots). So I'd modify this some more including having a number of options to dress up the ladies on the sidelines.

* My final bit of info relates to some graphical issues. Some schools have floors that look strange when an animation is taking place. One of them can be (for example) playing at Idaho State. When the camera pans right while a cheerleader is dancing, it looks like the cheerleader's about to be sucked into the wall as the camera is panning. Speaking of cheerleaders, I'm sorry... too many unecessary panty shots while the cheerleaders are dancing. I don't even think most cheerleaders look or dance the way they do. Even if the cheerleaders are somewhat low-res, I don't think cheerleaders wear bloomers underneath. More interesting dance manuvers would be great to see. I love Santa Clara's arena. Unfortunately, the tall glass walls don't offer much of a view of the sky. For those arenas where you get a small look at the sky, I'd be interested in seeing a realistic sky for arenas and gyms that have windows. If not that, then at least good arena models for such schools. Take Fordham University's basketball arena- Rose Hill Gym. ESPN showcased a game as the North Carolina-Charlotte 49ers took on the Fordham Rams at Rose Hill Gym. That gym is lovely and airy. I liked how it looked. Some good graphics tweaks would really set this game apart.


Other than that, I'll be awaiting College Hoops 2K8. It's a long "Christmas list," but a lot of stuff I'd love to see if it were up to me.

[CincyFan]

I haven't posted here in a few months. Allow me to express my First Amendment rights here.

College Hoops 2K7 was the first of the next-gen action. I do have a favor to ask of 2K Sports with this multi-platform game. There were a lot of things that PS2 gamers didn't get when the XBOX 360 and PS3 versions of CH 2K7 was shipped. I heard of a lot of different arenas in the next-gen versions. There was the Create-a-Chant deal. Not a lot of us still have good money to get a PS3 or an XBOX 360. So... I'd ask not for us to be so short-changed. I know most of us don't have a PS3 or an XBOX, but we still shouldn't be so short-changed. I'd like for as many features as possible to be available for the PS2 version, just not really anything of a mildly-modified version of the previous title.

Having said all of this, I'm deeply interested in this title as are a lot of us others. I have a long Christmas list of things I'd like to see improve

* I loved hearing some of the different fight songs available for schools. This includes football schools with fight songs I've never heard before and non-football schools I've defintely NEVER heard songs for. The real gem of a college basketball game (or any college sports game for that matter) is being able to visit as many schools as possible for game action. Remember when you were fooling around with some of the non-football schools and saw vastly detailed arenas and gyms? I still remember how well of a job was done to IUPUI in the series. The 2K6 version didn't have the fight song, but 2K7 did. It's one of my favorite fight songs from non-football schools other than the fight song to the University of Illinois-Chicago. This game series has been so heralded for all the minor touches that completely outclasses the EA version.

* It may not be possible, but I'd be interested in playing as Chaminade or Alaska-Anchorage. These are the two schools that play host to the (...) Maui Invitational and the Great Alaska Shootout. Like to be able to hear the fight songs to these two schools. I don't think the EA brand had all the different exhibition tournaments. College basketball afficionados know of Chaminade's upset of #1 Virginia in 1982, and most others know of Alaska-Anchorage's upset of Wake Forest in 1993. You could even have a Divsion 2 match between these two schools.

* I've only played NCAA March Madness 2004 and 2005 (the 2005 was much better). A thing I admit not liking very much in the 2K games was being able to quickly access a batch of plays and be able to choose which play I want to execute either on offense or defense. I also liked how easy it was to pull an alley-oop play. So I'd enhance the play-calling a bit. Make it easier and have more options to use. Maybe I look at calling plays a lot because of the football guy in me.

* Most importantly is the customization. My User Team's colors are blue and gold. Blue and gold like California, West Virginia, Marquette, Canisius College, and schools like that. I'd love to be able to have nicely-detailed uniforms rather than some strangely-colored outfits. I'm also thinking of being able to have my team's nickname called out rather than being referred to as "the Home Team" or "the Away Team." Perhaps a database of nicknames should apply. For example, countless schools have common nicknames. Broncos, Wildcats, Tigers, Spartans, Yellow Jackets, Bears, Bearcats, Dragons... and all other kinds of names. We can name our teams whatever we like, but I think it would be better if there were a database of team nicknames to use so that our User Teams can be referred to as whatever. This relates to anything from common nicknames all the way to more unique nicknames like the Musketeers, Hawkeyes, Buckeyes, Silverswords, Texans, Banana Slugs (University of California-Santa Cruz, a Division 3 school), Friars, Longhorns, and that sort of thing. I'd like for there to be a service for color or alternative names. For example: Golden Eagles, Fighting Bobcats, Running Bulldogs, Blue Dragons, Crimson Hawks, Scarlet Knights, Rainbow Warriors, and that sort of thing. I'd even want this to apply to coaches. My coaches' name is in the database, but is not called by name. I think my coach for my User-Created team is Antonio Chavez, and I don't hear "Coach Chavez" when mentioned in the opening of a game with my team playing. One last thing of note: some better customizable custom logos would also be nice. I can't find a logo I like for my school. Options should include regular letters representing schools and even Greek letters. Perhaps even generic school logos that can be colored to represent a school. I'd even allow for different options to dress up cheerleaders. Not every cheerleader's outfit is a top, a skirt, and some sneakers. Some cheerleaders have a certain top, pants, and some sneakers. Some may even mix-and-match and wear boots instead of shoes (primarily more like cowgirl boots). So I'd modify this some more including having a number of options to dress up the ladies on the sidelines.

* My final bit of info relates to some graphical issues. Some schools have floors that look strange when an animation is taking place. One of them can be (for example) playing at Idaho State. When the camera pans right while a cheerleader is dancing, it looks like the cheerleader's about to be sucked into the wall as the camera is panning. Speaking of cheerleaders, I'm sorry... too many unecessary panty shots while the cheerleaders are dancing. I don't even think most cheerleaders look or dance the way they do. Even if the cheerleaders are somewhat low-res, I don't think cheerleaders wear bloomers underneath. More interesting dance manuvers would be great to see. I love Santa Clara's arena. Unfortunately, the tall glass walls don't offer much of a view of the sky. For those arenas where you get a small look at the sky, I'd be interested in seeing a realistic sky for arenas and gyms that have windows. If not that, then at least good arena models for such schools. Take Fordham University's basketball arena- Rose Hill Gym. ESPN showcased a game as the North Carolina-Charlotte 49ers took on the Fordham Rams at Rose Hill Gym. That gym is lovely and airy. I liked how it looked. Some good graphics tweaks would really set this game apart.


Other than that, I'll be awaiting College Hoops 2K8. It's a long "Christmas list," but a lot of stuff I'd love to see if it were up to me.



I am not trying to be a bad guy here (actually liked some ideas) but the whole first point about ps2/xbox not getting all the treats as 360/ps3 is i am sorry not a valid point. I remember picking up the first year and sometimes the second year for 360 game and it didn't have the same or as much features as the ps2 or xbox. I remember when people were complaining on these boards and people who had the old systems just laughed and poked fun at us for not having the more feature game.

If you don't have enough money for a new system I am truly sorry since you are missing out (especially if you don't have HD), but those systems are getting old and outdated. It would be wise to upgrade, but again if you can't I am sorry.

I think they are added in more cheers with the cheerleaders this year, but i do like your thoughts on the fight songs for teams. Its always exciting to get on a run and then have the other team call a timeout and during it you hear your fight song and the crowd going nuts.

This game sounds awesome right now and like always I already have this game pre-order

[VoltronViking]

i wish rebounding after a 3pt miss was more accurate....i mean the physics on the ball is so waaay offf.....like someone here said, it never travels for a loong rebound

tooo many offensive rebounds...and they(opp. AI) are "magically" in position everytime

They don't even break a sweat to get offensive rebounds

[John M.]

Commentary
I'd really suggest more interesting commentary from Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery. I've heard Verne in college football and college basketball on CBS. The way he sounds in a real game is better than what's in this game. Like in the March Madness series, anyone who heard the commentary of Brad Nessler and D. Vitale in the game know that they bring the same passion to the game. The commentary just really sounds uninteresting. College Hoops 2K7 kind of went away from offering comments during free throws. C.H. 2K6 had comments such as "knocks down the first, and that puts them up by 5" for example in a free throw situation. C.H. 2K7 basically did away with most free throw commentary. I want to hear some comments during free throws like in C.H. 2K6 for C.H. 2K8. Something else I kind of missed from C.H. 2K6 in commentary was that of when Bonnie Bernstein(?) commented on teams losing at the half. The leading team at the half was commented only by the winning team. The overall commentary needs a shot in the arm. Otherwise, it's the deepest commentary in any sports game I've ever played. And just for fun, I kind of missed Bonnie's comment that went something like this: "he said (and I'm quoting)... 'this should be a fun game. We're two evenly-matched teams and compliment each others' style perfectly.' Uh, Verne... looks like coach is playing politally correct... at least for now." I laughed whenever I heard this. Funny stuff!

Play Calling
Just to reiterate again, I liked the play-calling system from when I played "NCAA March Madness 2005." You pressed Up (I believe) on the D-Pad to bring up your plays. You go to another batch of plays to choose from by pressing up again. This sort of play-calling was what I liked. You had plays to choose from both on offense and on defense. So I'd enhance the play-calling a bit more.

Graphical Issues
This probably isn't likely, but I'd love to be able to save whatever camera view I've saved. I always go with a Broadcast view for my games. I usually hate how I have to constantly change camera views to Broadcast. So I wish whatever view we save would be saved for each arena we go to. Most arenas are very small and don't let you see a lot of the on-court action when you play. Examples include Detroit, Texas State, Illinois-Chicago, and the College of Charleston among others. In addition to saving the camera view we choose, I'd like to see the Broadcast view be changed up for smaller arenas so that I can see the on-court action without having to change to the Iso camera for smaller arenas, for example.


I still think this is a solid game package. It can be made better with some of the tweaks we're offering.