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Tag: NBA 2K13

  • LeBron James is the NBA 2K14 Cover Athlete

    While EA Sports has been canceling its yearly NBA video games, 2K has been dominating the basketball video game segment. This year appears to be no exception.

    2K Sports today announced that LeBron James will be the cover athlete for NBA 2K14. In contrast to EA Sports titles that partially take fan voting tournaments into consideration, 2K seems to have chosen James for his broad popularity and for being NBA MVP for the past two seasons.

    “My friends, family, and fans all know how much I love NBA 2K,” said James.” “I remember, as a kid, getting so excited for the game to come out and see who was on the cover and it’s amazing to be a part of this great tradition. I love partnerships and opportunities that connect me directly with fans. I know from my own experience and now watching my own kids, NBA 2K is among the coolest and purest ways for fans to connect to the NBA. I love being a part of it.”

    James will also be a part of NBA 2K14‘s pre-order DLC, which has been titled the King James Bonus Pack. The add-on content comes with extra “virtual currency,” extra content for the “Path to Greatness” mode, a “LeBron James Signature Skill” for players’ “MyPlayer,” and unlocks James for “Blacktop Mode” play.

    NBA 2K14 cover

  • Borderlands 2 Sells Through 5 Million Copies

    Borderlands 2 was a big deal for both Gearbox and Take-Two Interactive. The game received rave reviews, and it was expected to be a top performer for Take-Two’s bottom line. Take-Two just released its second quarter financial results, and Borderlands 2 was the company’s top performer.

    Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of 2K and Rockstar Games, announced that Borderlands 2 has sold through five million units since it launched in September. The company notes that the game has seen strong digital sales no doubt backed by PC gamers wanting to support one of the rare console ports that received special attention on the PC.

    “Take-Two’s second quarter revenue and earnings exceeded our outlook, driven by the breakout success of 2K’s Borderlands 2 and robust demand for our catalog and digitally delivered offerings,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two. “Our business continues to fire on all cylinders, led by terrific early results from 2K’s NBA 2K13, and the outlook for our upcoming releases such as BioShock Infinite is stronger than ever. As a result, we continue to expect to deliver revenue growth and Non-GAAP profits in fiscal year 2013. Moreover, with Grand Theft Auto V slated for spring 2013, we are poised to generate substantial revenue and earnings growth in fiscal year 2014.”

    The company announced that NBA 2K13 is the best selling entry in the sports franchise yet. It sold through 49 percent more units than NBA 2K11, the previous sales record holder, in its opening week.

    XCOM: Enemy Unknown was the wild card in 2K’s lineup for the year as it was a traditional hardcore strategy title. The genre isn’t as popular as it once was, but Firaxis, developers of the Civilization franchise, made the game a critical and commercial darling. The company notes that XCOM also received strong digital sales.

    As for future titles, 2K is now working with South Korean studio XLGAMES to develop an MMO based on its popular Civilization franchise. It’s unknown if the title will make it west as Take-Two said the title will be developed for the increasingly lucrative Asian markets.

    As for Rockstar Games, it was reiterated that Grand Theft Auto V will be launching in the spring of next year. The game is scheduled for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but a PC version should be in the works considering that GTAIV was released for the platform.

    The company also announced its intentions to release the Rockstar Games Collection: Edition 1 on November 6. It features four of Rockstar’s most acclaimed games from this generation including Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City, and Midnight Club: Los Angeles Complete Edition. It will be available for both PS3 and Xbox 360.

  • NBA Live 13 Canceled At The Last Minute

    NBA Elite 11 has kind of turned into a big joke among the sports gaming community. EA Sports had hoped to reinvent the basketball franchise to take on 2K Sports’ immensely popular NBA 2K series. Needless to say, the project was canceled at the last minute. EA transferred the game to another team and gave them a year off to fix it for NBA Live 13. Turns out a year wasn’t enough.

    EA Sports announced today that NBA Live 13 has been canceled. The decision came at the last minute, as was the case with NBA Elite 11. Andrew Wilson, Executive Vice President for EA Sports, said the decision was based on the quality of the product. He said that “it’s clear we won’t be ready by October,” the time when basketball video games are released.

    This is the third year and the second cancelation that has hit EA Sports’ basketball simulation. The past three years have been dominated by 2K Sports’ critically acclaimed NBA 2K series. This year’s game, NBA 2K13, has many critics saying it’s the best game in the franchise yet. The game even has a playable 1992 Dream Team.

    So what does the future hold for the NBA Live brand? Wilson says that the team is currently “delivering new innovation in online, and [their] progress in the visual presentation continues to take big strides.” He also acknowledges that gameplay is king, and that it remains a “huge priority” for the team at EA Tiburon.

    Despite promises that the game will be out next year, it’s hard to trust EA anymore. Kotaku’s Owen Good makes an excellent point by saying that it will take a game of “surprising and undeniable quality” to build back the trust that EA Sports has lost as a brand today. We’ll now have to wait until next year to see if NBA Live is still a thing.