OMG it looks so sharp and smooth, 60fps?

this looks so much better than nba live errr elite.

I advise anyone who wants this game to wait and see if the online actually works this year. I'm sure anyone who's familiar with the NBA 2K series knows how bad the online has been for the past 2 years.

Even the "Gimmicky" inclusion of MJ can't make my buy this game if the online doesn't work. Sadly, I have a strange feeling nothing will change.

On launch day the 2K forums will prolly be full of people complaining about online issues as usual. Then the Admins will do the usual... Lie and say 2K is just having server issues and say things will be normal soon. After a few days of that, they will post a "temporary workaround" that doesn't even work.

THEN, 2 weeks later, they will announce that the issues can't be fixed without a patch that won't come out for at least a month. And even that won't fix the issues, but people don't know that, so they will stay hopeful.

Seriously people.... I would wait and read the official 2K forums on launch day before i scooped this game up.

There's no reason to wait. At least not in my opinion. Yes, when NBA 2K10 was released, the game had some glaring issues, especially in the performance area after the 1st quarter. It really angered me, but once I got used to it, I was able to enjoy the game a great deal. And then, of course, 2K resolved a lot of the issues with the game, especially the performance, making it flawless.

Yea, they may have neglected to do the proper testing before putting it out there the first time with 2K10, but we were never in doubt that they'd fix the problems, and they did and then some. When you know you're getting the best videogame basketball franchise out there, which is the case year in and year out for the 2K basketball series. there's pretty much no reason to doubt what we're getting.

I'm not certain which problems you're suggesting were not fixed, but NBA 2K10 wasn't just fixed with that major patch, and whatever updates may have followed, it was made an even better game, the kind you really thought you'd have to spend money to get after already buying NBA 2K10. They put a stain on their rep that won't disappear with the released state of NBA2K10, but there is no other basketball franchise out there even worth taking seriously. Only thing waiting accomplishes, is denying yourself of the best in the business.

Wait because you don't have the money to spend right now. Wait because you have a tough choice deciding which games you want to buy. Don't wait because you're having doubts about the quality of THIS game :P

I know I sound like a fan, but what can I say, I am. Their basketball games are damn good, and never disappoint. Been a huge fan since the Dreamcast days.

@jb457 Seriously dude, I'm pretty sure that many people are aware of the online issue over the last couple of year. But you're coming off as if it turned the game into a coaster. The fact of the matter is that less that 15% of the people play the game online. Frankly, 1vs1 games were not much of a problem. The teamups were the problem. All indication are that they put a lot of work into fixing all of those issues.

Still, the fact that you call the inclusion of Jordan as "gimmicky" shows that you have not actually looked into what they are doing with Jordan. So, you're calling the new features Gimmicky, the 2K admins liars, and you totally ignore the fact that they were quick to patch most of the issues people had with the shipped version.

Seriously, why don't you let people make their own decisions. You clearly have no intention of buying the game, so why are you even watching the videos.

Now, I don't know if they'll have perfect online play, but I'll bet it's significantly improved. It improved in each patch of 2K10 and that momentum makes me quite hopeful. But even if it's not perfect, people don't buy the game just for online. They buy it for gameplay. And these videos show that the gameplay is shaping up to be the best of all time. But I'm sure you want to cry on that as well huh?

Yo man, this game looks so damn crazy!! It's hard to go back to 2k10 looking at this. The players on the court all move so much more realistically. The rebounding looks loads better than before, where it could at times seem as if you couldn't really do much in certain rebounding situations. Looking at this, I feel like I've got a chance at those rebounds every time.

I love the way the stealing and deflecting of the ball has improved so drastically. The ball handling looks much more natural, as if they won't get stuck into certain animations. It really looks like you're able to better shake defenders, and the defending... Honestly, just go ahead and look at any lengthy NBA 2k10 gameplay video, and see how vastly improved the defending looks from all 5 players on the court, even the help defending without actually leaving off from their man.

I don't want this to turn into an argument. I'm just trying to warn people that might not know about the horrid online issues this game has had in the past. 2K WILL flat out lie to their customers and act as if nothing wrong with their game.

The issues i'm speaking of are SOLELY "Team Up", and "Crew" games. All of the frame-rate issues and stuff from last year was minimal and corrected in a patch. If your ok with buying a game that doesn't work online as advertised then that's up to you. Yes, NBA 2K is almost always a GREAT game no doubt, but the online doesn't work for the two gametypes listed above. And by not work, i literally mean they NEVER work. I, like most people now a days buy games to play online. If the online doesn't work then it's a deal breaker for me.

Also, I have NO problem whatsoever calling MJ's addition "Gimmicky". It's more like damage control from the past 2 years of constant complaints. What better way to get people interested in a heavily criticized b-ball game again than to add MJ ? I can't think of one... Another thing, I have NO problem calling 2k's admins liars because they are. They knew all along that there wasn't server issues, and that the game was broken. Sorry bro, i just don't fall for their BS anymore. The EXACT same issue doesn't happen 2 years in a row without people knowing somethings up.Just the fact that you said you didn't know if they would perfect the online play is funny to me. Why ?, because i think you know deep down that there's a solid chance that the Team-up and Crew games won't work again. If your cool with that then that's your decision.

Trust me... If the online works properly. I will TELEPORT to my local Gamestop and buy this game without even thinking about it. They burned me twice, it's not gonna happen again.

This post by an admin on the 2K forums is promising, but i'll believe it when i see it.

"There is no development with servers, but there is coding within the game that utilizes the servers. 2K is bringing forth brand new fiber optic servers. This has been confirmed to me by 5 different members of the development team. When I was playing the developers in MLB2K10, all of them said that they couldn't wait until 2K11 because of the servers they have being built. They also have new members to program the online portion of their 2K11 titles, and promise that we should not see the issues of previous years.

Because of the great success of the NBA series, which pulled an extra 110% in sales in just two years, their budget was able to provide new servers from the ground up. 2K is far from a wealthy company, and it hasn't pulled much of a profit for Take Two Interactive, which has been struggling for quite a few years now. However, NBA's success has created a bigger budget for them, and it's finally now, why we are seeing the advances we are today".

How about by consistently being the absolute best and most authentic videogame basketball experience for years? MJ is only a bonus. They don't need MJ for this game to sell like gangbusters because nothing else out there is of the same quality level as the 2K basketball games, or even comes close.

The best thing about 2K games selling well, is that you really actually see the results of those sales in each year's new iteration, where significant improvements are made across the board. And if that 2K forums admin is to believed, then that's just further evidence of money going right back into improving the experience.

And also when you refer to it as a heavily criticized b-ball game, please try to not forget that it's also the most heavily praised b-ball game out there. This is true for the franchise as a whole, and it's certainly true for NBA 2K10. Name me one other basketball videogame franchise that comes even close to the quality in the NBA 2K titles?

And, I'm shocked you were only referring to just those two online features. The way you were talking before, I really thought you were questioning the product people were getting as a whole. I honestly can say that 95% of my time playing NBA 2K10, or NBA 2K games in general, has been offline by myself, or against my friends and family.

They simply put have the best basketball videogame you can buy by a country mile, and 2K11 is going to be the best one yet. Even the online features you're criticizing are ahead of anything the competition is doing. I think they introduced the player progression and live roster things with 2K10?

Either way, nothing comes close to NBA 2K10, and nothing will come close to 2K11.

I don't know about each year being a "Significant" improvement. I'm a HUGE NBA 2K fan. Have been since Dreamcast, but lets be honest here... Aside from graphics and animation upgrades, the past 2 games have been pretty broken. Especially last years game... it was a huge step back at launch imo. Sure, they ironed out all of the glitches with a couple of patches, but that still doesn't change the fact that we basically paid 60$ to beta test for a few months.

I agree that the NBA 2K series was(Deservedly)highly praised. I was always the first to praise it in the past, but things have changed over the years. After 2 years of terrible online issues combined with the beta test people received last year, i would say 2K lost a lot of day one purchases. Or at least they would have lost a lot of day one purchases if they didn't do something drastic, *cough* MJ lol. Also, "Elite' looks pretty crap so far, so it looks like all 2K will have to do this year is show up and the game will sell like hot cakes.

Also, saying NBA 2K is better than it's competition by a country mile is just plain wrong. That could be true this year, but Last year NBA Live was a damn good game. AND, the online actually worked. Yes, the graphics/animations weren't as "Authentic", but the game was fun to play, and best of all... ALL of the online modes worked as advertised.

I'll never understand why people choose to overlook this games online issues. Yes, i understand that you get all kinds of other modes besides online when you purchase this game, but does having other modes to play really justify the online not working properly ? I say no, but i guess i'm the minority. People wouldn't accept buying a Halo or COD game and having only half of it's online modes work, so why is it acceptable here ?

I know i don't speak for everyone, but when i buy a sports game, i buy it to play online. Last time i checked it was 2010, and the days of having to drive to your buddy's house for a drunken 1v1 battle are over. The days of repeatedly bending the CPU over in season mode are over(for me at least). Online is where it's at... and 2K has dropped the ball with their online. If you advertise a feature then it should work, plain and simple.

I'm sorry jb457, you just said, in a nutshell, that NBA Live last year, was a damn good game in comparison to NBA 2K10. Is it joke day and I wasn't told? Is that suppose to somehow mean that NBA Live from last year, is anywhere in the same league as NBA 2K10? Because it really isn't. It really and truly isn't.

NBA 2K really is better than its competition by a country mile.

That isn't exaggeration, even if it may sound like it. Any fan of basketball knows just how good NBA 2K10 is. The only aspect of your argument that is true is that they did in fact drop the ball on launch with 2K10, but guess what? I say, guess what? That game at launch, even without the patches that came later on, I guarantee you is still a superior than anything that is likely to come out from the competition in the next 3 years.

I'm laying it on thick, but there are still 2K games on the Dreamcast that new versions of live can't compete with in the area of being a superior basketball sim.

Also, the use of the past tense, with regards to NBA 2K being highly praised, is just plain wrong. It is, even without including NBA 2K11, which will come out and impress just like previous versions, the currently most highly praised basketball franchise out there.

Every time I've used NBA 2K 10 online, it hasn't just worked, it's worked exactly as expected, albeit sometimes with minor lag issues that can be common in online games, but then the experience was never going to be an exact mirror of the offline experience to begin with.

The, "all 2K has to do is just show up" stuff has been pretty much all its competition has been doing for years on end, whereas NBA 2K makes legitimately major strides in gameplay and other areas every single year. I find it funny you'll be trying to associate the upcoming fantastic sales for NBA 2K11 as having all to do with MJ, and not the actual quality of the game itself.

Have you been paying attention? This game has loads more going for it than just MJ, but you can continue being in denial if you wish. Also, it's funny for a supposed 2K fan, you're here claiming that the only things that improve are animations and graphics? Really? So you're just going to up and glance over the gameplay strides they've made over the past 2 games (including 2K10)?

There is a noticeably different feeling to the ball movement. It no longer feels literally as if its this object that is out of its element when it leaves a player's hand, and gone is the feeling where it seems the pass will surely make it to its intended target no matter what. The ball now truly feels like its own independent thing. There's a true feeling that you can overthrow, underthrow, make a bad pass. This may seem like nothing, but it's a huge addition that made its way into 2k10. This isn't something I read about, it's what I myself personally feel as a fan has changed in the game.

2K dropped the ball with their online? No other basketball game comes close to 2K's online feature set and usability. I'm sorry, but try again man.

I'm a future 2K11 owner that will touch the MJ aspect of NBA 2K11 less than 1% of the time I'm playing the game, or not at all. It's there purely for my amusement as a Michael Jordan fan, but it is in no way a definitive aspect of my purchase of a game I was already guaranteed to get based on the kind of guaranteed quality basketball experience I know I get all the time with the 2K basketball games.

I won't even think to include MJ in my regular season, or put him on my current favorite NBA team (Boston Celtics) because it isn't realistic. Jordan is not a current NBA player, as much as I would love for him to be. When 2K12 starts impressing in a similar or more impressive manner a few years later, you can go ahead and say it's all thanks to MJ again.

Slap MJ on the cover of NBA Live or NBA "Elite", and it still can't see the success that NBA 2K does. That, my friend, is a fact. The way I see it is, putting Jordan on the cover this time is a good way to start apologizing for Kobe being on 2K10 last year. You have no idea how much I cringe seeing him on the cover of my favorite basketball game ever. :P

You know... this didn't have to turn into an argument. I stated above that i didn't want to argue with you, or anyone else, but you continue to push forward. Sadly, your arguments are mostly opinions presented as facts from a fanboy standpoint. All i tried to do was inform potential customers that the online didn't work as advertised for the past 2 years.

Remind me of how i was wrong in stating that the online hasn't worked properly ? Because last time i checked, everything i stated about the online was true. It's not my fault you didn't like way i went about posting it. Hell, at first, i didn't even mention how broken the game was in terms of gameplay when it launched. I thought i was more than fair with my first post.

I'm sorry bro, but NBA 2K10 wasn't better than Live by a "Country mile" last year. In fact, Live was only scored 2 points lower than 2K10 last year according to Metacritic. So i would say that me saying Live was pretty damn close to 2K last year is an accurate statement, wouldn't you agree ? Or, are you gonna speak from a fanboy standpoint and remind me of how much more"Authentic" and sim 2K is ?

2K being more "Sim" doesn't matter to everyone. If fact, lots of people prefer to play a more arcady style. i.e, NBA Live... I'm not one of them, but Live's online worked perfectly for the past 2 years, so what other choice do i have ? Like i said before... the days of me destroying the CPU and driving to play my friends are over. Online is where it's at, and Live has had a better online experience.

I question whether you've even played Live to be honest. Every NBA 2K fan i know from playing online, pretty much admitted that Live was a damn good game last year. I know that doesn't mean much here, but i know i'm not alone when i say Live was a solid game last year.

You pretty much said that old NBA 2K games on the Dreamcast are better than current NBA Live games, and that's just absurd. Also, you keep bringing up "Sim", as if being more of a simulation automatically means it's a superior game. We can sit here all day and name things that NBA 2K does better than Live to recreate "Real", but at the end of the day, none of it matters if the game is glitchy, with broken online. Does it really matter if Kobe shoots like Kobe, when you can't even join a Team-up game ?

If the online works with minimal issues for you, either you only play 1v1's, or you rarely play online. I hope to god your not claiming you play Team-up online without issues, because then you'd be flat out lying.

I really have no problem whatsoever saying MJ's addition was to gain back some lost respect. I know you'd like to think that 2K is a jolly and giving company, but the fact is that they wouldn't have spent the money to include such a thing if they didn't feel it was necessary. Why spent a sh!t load of money to include something if you don't have to ? This is a business, and the inclusion of MJ was nothing more than a quick fix for this games past criticisms. Not to mention damn near free advertisement. It's genius really...

I didn't really mean to say all 2K has updated was graphics and animation because that's obviously false. It was more of quick list of obvious things that were upgraded. We could sit here for a looong time and name upgrades that 2K has added from year to year, but they're meaningless if the game is glitchy, and half of it's online modes don't work.

If no other game comes close to 2K in terms of online, then why have i been able to play 5v5 in NBA Live for the past 2 years ? Yes, 2K may have more online modes/features, but they do NOTHING,(or VERY little) to make the gameplay better.

The main feature 2K added last year was "Crew" games. I'm sure i don't need to tell you this, but crew games were where you could take your user created player, and play 5v5 online against other user created players. It was a GREAT feature... There was a problem with crew games though. They didn't work lol... and by "didn't work" i don't mean that sometimes there were issues. I mean it NEVER worked at all. So, saying they dropped the ball online would be pretty accurate imo. Their newest and biggest online addition didn't even work. You really can't drop the ball any more than that.

(Part 2 lol)

I'm similar to you when it comes to MJ. I could honestly care less about his inclusion, but that doesn't change the fact that he's "Arguably", the greatest b-ball player of all time, and is making his first video game appearance since god knows when. I'm not saying that 2K NEEDS MJ to sell games this year. All i'm saying is that i think his inclusion was more of a way to wipe away any doubt that 2K had regarding possible sales. Like i said above... why spend money on something like this if you don't think it's needed ? It surly isn't because 2K wanted to "Give back" to the community lol. Well... imo anyway.

There's no way to determine whether or not putting MJ on the cover of Elite would help sell copies, but i tend to disagree with you. MJ sells whatever he's a part of, regardless of whether or not it's good or bad. That's a fact... The guy helps sell plain white T-shirts for gods sake lol. If that's not proof enough, then i don't know what is. I guarantee "Elite" would sell far more copies if MJ was a part of their game. Would it sell more than 2K ? Probably not, but the game would EASILY sell better with MJ, then without.

Just for the record... I'm a HUGE 2K fan/supporter.
(NFL 2K5 FTW!!!). BUT, i haven't forgotten about the problems this game has had in the past. I refuse to let MJ's inclusion make me forget about the issues this game has had over the past 2 years. I want this game to be the best it's ever been, online and off.

I don't know how we got to this point, but we are defiantly here. If and when you respond... Please try to keep the post size smaller lol. I'm obviously guilty here too, but i'm border line retarded when it comes to typing, so all of this reading and typing is melting my brain.

lol, I'll make this (Part 1 and 2) my last responses because it's obvious what I'm dealing with.

There was zero doubt about the sales that NBA 2K11 was going to get on release, zero. Any real NBA 2K fan would know that. Also, and this will be quick, but your opinions as a supposed 2K fan seem manufactured. It almost reads as if you work directly for a competing company. I suppose the counter to that would be to say I sound like a fanboy (yep, you already said that), or that I work for 2K. But ,hey, I'm just a fan attempting to cut through the nonsense. 2K10 isn't perfect, but it's as close to a perfect basketball experience in a videogame as any development team has ever come. Nothing else comes close. Find me something that does, and isn't another 2K basketball game, and I'll gladly thank you.

As a fan, I can't take serious anybody actually saying that NBA Live from last year was a damn good game when it's being directly compared to NBA 2K10. That's so absurd I don't even know where to start. The only way real fans can possibly enjoy NBA Live, is if they don't know NBA 2K exists.

You have not been honest about 2K's basketball games because it wasn't until pressed that you revealed that you weren't talking about the entirety of the basketball experience in the 2K basketball games.

Then, it wasn't until you were pressed further that you revealed you weren't speaking in regards to the total online package in the 2k basketball games, but was instead speaking about 2 features out of so many, 2 features in which I honestly can't say whether I've used or not.

And it again wasn't until you were pressed further yet again, that you acknowledged, at least in part, that it isn't Jordan that's carrying the lions share of the excitement for 2K11, but that it's really 2K11 that is carrying and re-invigorating excitement around Jordan and the players of his era in a fashion that we haven't seen in a very, very long time. Take Jordan out of this game and hype for 2K11 is still through the roof with the kinds of things they've shown and revealed about their game.

Not a single online feature that I've tried to use has failed to work as expected in 2K10.Thank you. Glad you admit it still wouldn't beat 2K's sales because the 2K games are a far superior product, and most people, including yourself, know this to be fact. MJ on the cover means nothing if the game sucks. Kobe Bryant is one of the most polarizing figures in the NBA today, and his inclusion on the cover of NBA 2K10 did nothing to meaningfully hurt or help sales. MJ being in some bad game will not lead to significantly more sales. Any boost in sales would be minor and laughable at best, if that's all they are banking on.

Jordan in any other basketball game means nothing because any other basketball game is not quite as good as NBA 2K. Leave Jordan right where he is, and take the 2K11 basketball game out of the picture, and you have nothing. 2K11 can stand on its own, just like all 2K basketball games have. Michael Jordan just being tossed into some random, far lesser quality basketball sim can not stand on its own when you have things out there like NBA 2K that it will be directly compared to.

Tell me why this, NBA Elite + Michael Jordan doesn't sound nor look anywhere as exciting as this, NBA 2K11 + Michael Jordan?

It's because the two games aren't even competing in the same league. One is the epitome of attention to detail, incredible gameplay and the perfect basketball experience in a videogame, the best possible basketball sim toolset, and the other is an unfortunate inferior that would probably need in excess of 5 years worth of refreshes just to catch up to what 2K10 and 2K11 are doing now. It may be an inconvenient truth, but it's truth.

Nothing else out there comes close. Your attempts to make it seem as if something else does are falling on deaf ears, I believe.

part (2) :P

In many of your criticisms of this game, you've handled it in such a way as to constantly instill doubt in people's minds about the overall quality of this game, and also of it's predecessor NBA 2K10, but you've done it in a very specific way. You've done it in a way that is hoping to illicit a response from anyone who reads your posts to consider the next closest alternative, which still isn't saying much because the next closest competition is so far behind it's funny, while carefully trying to hide the fact that this is precisely what you're doing.

How can NBA 2K10 or 2K11 have flaws that other competing basketball titles out there, which are all unquestionably inferior, don't have many more of in spades? It's simple, the competition is far behind, and were it not for the state that NBA 2K10 was released in before it was patched to fix the performance issues, which were not minor by any stroke of the imagination, we wouldn't be having this conversation. 2K titles aren't don't commonly release to such heavy and scathing criticism, but that's only because people have expectations based on past quality. None of this stopped 2K10 from living up to and exceeded expectations, however, it just had a rocky start.Clearly you don't pay attention. 2K regularly makes real and meaningful investments to push the envelope with their franchise whereas their competition has been stagnant and lazy for years. If you haven't caught on, then you've been missing out. They always do something big and new each year.

Also, I have never, I repeat, never, played an online 1v1 game. I've played nothing but 5vs5 online games the entire time I've owned the game. However, I can admit that I spend 95% of my time playing offline rather than online, but that's simply because I like doing my association, and a friend you want to play with isn't always online and playing NBA 2K10 at the same time you are. I've played major stretches of online 5 vs 5 games, and had no online issues, besides the minor lag that you'll notice online.

Also when live is more simplistic and limiting rubbish, can you really be surprised that you have a similar experience online? Yea, Live may be 2 points below 2K on metacritic, but it got such reviews by simply improving over previous years, not by actually truly being in the same league as NBA 2K10, and this is something even some of 2K10s harshest reviews, and some of Live's best, still acknowledged.

You notice a similar occurrence with judges scorecards in a professional boxing match. So, boxer C is getting stomped by Boxer A for 8 rounds straight since the opening bell, and the one round where Boxer C actually stops being scared and throws a few sloppy combinations that are blocked anyway, meanwhile Boxer A is still landing noticeably more, crisper, cleaner shots, 2 out of 3 judges still up and decide to award the round to Boxer C simply because it's a huge noticed improved over the crap they were dishing out the first 8 rounds.

That's all that happened with Live's reviews compared to NBA 2K10 last year. The two games aren't remotely close. You may think I haven't played it, but I did. I may have not have bought it, or dared put such trash into my own 360, but I've played it at friends, and you can tell immediately that you aren't dealing with a game in the same league as 2K10. You may think Kobe shooting like Kobe is not a big deal, or may think Kobe and other players like Paul Pierce driving to the basket and getting hacked, reacting with appropriate body language in very similar ways to how they do in real life may not be important, but that's where you'd be wrong. It shows the 2K team's attention to detail. If I want to play cartoon basketball, I'll load up NBA Jam, or my oldschool NES game Arch Rivals.

I hear if you buy NBA Jam, you get a free copy of NBA Elite, is that true? You don't have to read all of these posts, but it just needs to be said :)

I could have a field day picking your latest post apart, but it's obvious this is going nowhere, and it would take far to much time and effort. I continue to post facts about 2K's online being broken, and you continue to come up with new, "Unneeded/Manufactured" ways to strengthen your argument. I've dealt with guys like you on the internet before in the past. Your sole reason for posting in this thread is to start, and try to win an argument.

I give you evidence that PROVES NBA Live was a a solid game last year, and you go on and on about how it's only close because it was so crappy in the past. Translation... Spin in my favor because i'm wrong. The fact that Live scored 2 points lower than 2K last year is "Real" proof that it was a solid b-ball game, yet you choose to ignore it. Hey, whatever helps your cause though right ?Fudging a little to win an argument is one thing, but flat out lying is another. To this day, i have never, and i repeat NEVER played a FULL 5v5 game without it either dropping, or lagging horribly. I know i'm not alone here either. I have watched friends and even witnessed people trying to play on livestreams, (Ustream/JustinTv) with the same results. Let me guess... U must be the only person on the planet to play a full 5v5 crew game too lol ?

If anyone reading this is in doubt of my 2K online claims, just visit the official 2K forums. There's plenty of threads to support the fact that this game doesn't work online AT ALL in certain modes. This year could be different, but waiting for a few honest reviews would be wise. IMO...anyway.

Also, when you buy Elite, you get a free NBA Jam code. Not the other way around. Nice try on the spin cycle though... :)