It’s ironic for the first ESPN video game title to be a
NBA game. After all, ESPN feature baseball, football and
hockey, but no sign of hoops anywhere. Still, NBA 2Night is
provides some of the best NBA coverage you can find offline
and on your TV, so it made pretty good sense to license the
name for a video game. For some strange reason, however, the
game itself has seen little to no coverage whatsoever by the
gaming public. Konami, the game’s publisher and developer,
has held out a lot of information regarding the upcoming
basketball title. Even with early reports showing strong
potential, NBA 2Night hasn’t received nearly the amount of
press that NBA 2K1 and NBA Live 2001 have. With a release in
just over a month away, this could be an early doom for Konami’s
first hoops attempt since the mediocre days of In the Zone.
Then again, In the Zone was a classic for it’s time and didn’t
get much attention either, so this could be a blessing in
disguise.
Konami is planning on delivering a blitzkrieg of ESPN
mannerisms, so look for anything ESPN trademarked and made
logos of to be in the game. 2Night will use our favorite ESPN
menus and overlays, the same authentic ones that deliver tons
of statistics on the screen at once made popular by Sports
Center. The color commentary is composed of Brent Musberger
doing the play-by-play, complimented by Sports Center anchor
Stuart Scott doing the color. While the former is slightly new
to the scene, the latter is an icon of sports journalists
around the country. Scott popularized the phrases "Booyah!"
and "Cooler than the other side of the pillow",
among others, so those who have followed his work for a long
time should see the same characteristics of his voice flow
throughout 2Night.
Graphically speaking, 2Night looks to be at a point between
Visual Concepts’ NBA 2K1 and EA Sports’ NBA Live 2001. The
color shading and light sourcing looks a bit more advanced
than VC’s hoops effort, although the textures aren’t quite
as smooth and realistic as Live. However, Konami is promoting
an unheard of 75-plus varied facial and emotional
animations. Players will be scaled to real life, including
tattoos, facial hair and body types. Early footage shows that
the animation is a tad choppy and not quite up to par with the
competition, but this could all very well be changed by the
time 2Night goes gold.
Konami is really going for the gold rings in the gameplay
department by concentrating on defensive play and (not
surprisingly) low post play. 2Night will really make you earn
your defensive position by pushing and towing back and forth
with opposers. Hand checks, blocks and backboard pins will be
designed in the game in which no other basketball sim has
really focused on. And just like all the other basketball
games set for release this fall, 2Night will be working on the
low-post play in the paint, too. Hooks, turn around jumpers
and over 40 dunks are due in line for the final copy of ESPN
2Night.
So beyond the info I mentioned, Konami has been brief on
the full features and abilities that the game should explore.
Despite this, the ESPN license (and Stuart Scott) can go a
long way in the title’s success. Polished visuals and an
interesting dedication point might just make 2Night a winner
when it hits shelves this winter.
Additional Media:
Image
1
Image
2
Image
3
Image
4
Image
5
Image
6
Navigation
menu
