NBA Live 09 demo is up on Xbox LIVE Marketplace

If you are an Xbox 360 owner, you can download the new NBA Live 09 demo from the XBL Marketplace. I did, and gave it a quick whirl today. Right off the bat, I can tell you that they have a great presentation and have clearly spent a lot of time on the player models. They still look a bit lanky to me, though.

Right when the demo boots up, they have a quick presentation that draws attention to their new feature: NBA Live 365, which tracks the progression of teams and players throughout the season and updates the game accordingly on a daily basis. This means, for instance, if Dwyane Wade is going through an amazing hot streak and is shooting particularly well from the corners, you will see the changes made in his attributes to reflect that. Same goes for cold streaks, and team transactions. This means your game will always be up to date with the current season. You also will be able to play specific games after they have been played, reinacting the game based off of the results of an already played game in real life. Pretty damn cool if you ask me.

This years demo actually allows you to have some in game action (two 2-minute quarters) with the Lakers vs. Celtics. The gameplay was still a bit clunky to me. That being said, it is always difficult to get a good feel for a new basketball game. Once you get used to how the previous year is, any new iterations make the game feel weird. It happens every year. Anyway, I felt a bit limited in what I could do on the court, but this is likely due to unfamiliarity with the controls. Chris Mihm dunked on a computer defender twice - I had to scoff at that. I also don't like having one button be assigned for dunk/layup. I accidentally pressed it when Garnett had the ball right around the elbow. Without dribbling, he took two steps to the hoop for an easy layup. How difficult is that? One thing that I loved (which may or may not be new) was their free-throw shooting system. It was simple but effective.

I will give EA some props for getting the demo out there early, and really showcasing some of the cool stuff they are doing with this years game. However, I'm a 2k guy at heart, so I will still be going that route. While we have yet to see their new demo, I think 2k is truly committed to demonstrating realism and smooth controls into their gameplay. That's what is important to me, so I will excuse the shiny bells and whistles that NBA Live 09 is bringing out this year. I will say that it looks like the gap between the two games might be getting a bit closer than it has in the past.