NBA 2K23

I've been playing Live 19 again recently and as much as i liked it on release, it was missing something from 18. I built a few different slashing pg's with max dribbling but i could never break ankles where as that was my favourite thing to do in 18. Only recently, I read on Reddit that the best build is a wing shooter where you pick VC as your icon so your main skills are 3pt, Dunk & Dribbling and I have to say it's definitely the most fun I've had with 19. Even with low stats, i hit open 3's, break ankles and throw down dunks when i drive. Wish i knew that build earlier.

With the final season of 2k22 released, i installed it again and saw they are giving away 99 rated my team players so gave that a go to find my save file was corrupted and lost all my custom court and Jersey settings and it wouldn't let me play a game until i set them up again so didn't bother.

Threw on my career save, a 91 rated PG and it was so much fun to play as. Really fast, breaking ankles, dunking and 3's at will. It really shows that you have to put in money or time before you start having fun with it. I have another 90 character, paint beast, that i built with no extra VC involved but it meant finishing music and fashion quests to get a few hundred K vc to make him a proper player. I shouldn't have to walk down a **** fashion runway to upgrade my player! But again, lot of fun playing as the big with proper ratings. Compared to my 2 recent attempts at a new player where i had no extra vc and not doing the quests, it was just shyte to actually play. Infuriating game design. They have a brilliant game but it's behind a wall of 2K greed

So, looks like the base edition will be 70$, Jordan will be be 100$ and Championship edition will be $150. Last year, the editions were €80 and €100 over here so will be interesting if it's the same this year. Champ edition comes with a year of NBA League Pass which is 200 euro alone. Great deal for anyone who gets both pass and the game anyway.

Also looks like a copy and paste of last year's with city on new gen, cruise ship on last gen with seasons for both. Hopefully the season rewards this year won't be absolute crap but not holding my breath. I have 50 euro Gamestop credit and 50 euro gift card so think I'm gonna spring for the Jordan edition. If i had to pay 100 cash, think I'd wait for a sale around Christmas.

I rang gamestop and they are taking preorders. 80 euro for base game, 110 for MJ edition and 160 for champ edition. Last year the special edition was 100 and i got it for 80 by accident. 110 is an awful kick for the 100kv and other boosts.

The main leaker of NBA 2K games has gotten some info about the new city. 13 seasons with each season in a new city and country. So far, The US, UK, Australia & France confirmed. Career follows a player traveling the world to become drafted in the NBA. Not sure how that would work though, surely you'd get drafted within the first season (few weeks of the game being out). Sounds interesting though.

Courtside Report 1 - Gameplay Improvements. Some excellent updates here as long as they work as intended and as long as devs don't revert them once youtubers start complaining. Sounds much more balanced this year. Love the mechanic of controlled physics based rim hangs.

https://nba.2k.com/2k23/courtside-report/gameplay-enhancements/

It's just crazy. Are they that bad at porting over the best gen version or is there money to be made from the decision but yeah, can't think of any other game that does this.

The Jordan Challenges look so good. The gameplay differences are such a nice touch like the game being slower, the AI making more cuts to the basket instead of popping out for a 3, now post and mid range baskets. Take me back to the 90's!

https://nba.2k.com/2k23/courtside-report/the-jordan-challenge/

Courtside report for My Team. Some great changes here. Contracts are finally no more and not being replaced by anything else. Restart single player games instantly if you want. Clutch time, fast paced single quarter games with 14 sec shotclock and 4 point line is now available in single player mode. Triple Threat is now also single player and CO-OP. join up with friends to take on AI or other players online. Also, player lock is now a thing in any myteam mode. You no longer need to control the whole team if you don't want and can lock to position or player.

Apparently that courtside report will be out Wednesday. They've done the same for the last few years, courtside reports release each week covering the different modes with career and Park being the last ones, a week before release. The career trailer always has a lot of hype but it's shyte how close to release it's out. Pity they don't do the prelude/demo anymore.

MyCareer trailer. So, it looks like you pick your NBA team and instantly get drafted to them. The problem is that the team and fans in The City wanted draft pick Shep Owens instead so the goal is to win over your team by playing well and the city by doing music & fashion quests (a-fucken-gain!!) until you become the one everyone loves. 2K just can't help but go all in with these cheesy rivalry stories. They say you won't have to do any of the non basketball stuff but I know full well that there will be VC to be made from it so it will be the quickest way of upgrading your player without spending money.

Some of the streetball clips reminded me of White Men Can't Jump which I can definitely get behind but who knows what silly fetch quests they'll have you do just to have you run past their sponsor billboard hundreds of times.

One thing I'm excited about is this. It was ridiculous in 22 his high my 3pt % was every game and i wasn't even a 3 specialist. I like that it will take more skill to hit 3's this time and higher ratings. But because of the lag on park, this was the first year i could consistently score. If timing is more important now, it will be dodgy taking shots. It will be great watching other players miss though, i regeneration it was like that in 21, 3's clanging all over the shop and everyone complaining, was great. Hopefully 2K hold firm and don't give in to the YouTubers.

Lot of new vids about My Player builder and it looks way more strict than 2K22. They really want you to not only focus on certain attributes this year but also just certain badges. For 22, my PG and C could do so many things across attributes and badges, they were superstars but that meant everyone was a superstar. Now there should be easy more varied builds. Only issue is that on single player career, you might want the superstar player and that's why single player career should be separate from online park.

I get you could create a 99 player for a team in My League and play locked to him but i prefer career, just hope my player doesn't become too crap with the new restrictions.

So just played over an hour and really really like it. Mostly played My Team and the gameplay is so smooth, great animations and some nice new touches added. Started My Career but not sure on my build so might do another one tomorrow. Player upgrade is expensive, It costs 100k vc to upgrade from a 60 to 75. Now I've no idea what kind of vc the quests give, last year, you could get 200k vc doing them so time will tell on that but could be a slow start. I got the jordan edition so that will help things but positive first impression anyway. Waiting for 2K to disappoint me but enjoying the short time I've played so far.

I think last year was similar, it was nearly 200k to upgrade from 60 to 85. I'd have to double check but i remembered spending 100k vc on upgrading and then either 100k from quests got me to 85.

Clothing and stuff is **** mental. A pair of crocs is 15k, they really are taking the piss but most people are running around at 85 and in mental clothes so 2k are raking it in.

It's a real pity as it's the best gameplay in years. They added a weight to it, feels more like Live now, very physical and less floaty animations. It's a blast to play but it really needs to have career separated from park/city.