Tuesday, February 2, 2010

BREAKING NEWS: Mike Wang leaves EA and returns to 2K Sports

Read the full story here.

EA Sports' media blitz for "NBA Live 10" was led front and center by their acquisition of "NBA 2K8's" lead gameplay designer Mike Wang. But now, one year later, 2K Sports is back to announce Wang's shocking return to the company and to the "NBA 2K" franchise after only releasing one game for the competition.

"When I went over there (to EA), a lot of it was for personal reasons. I wanted to try something new, try a new challenge. But after being there and spending some time over at EA, it was clear that they do things a different way, and in a way it's just inefficient and just not the place to be to make the best games," said Wang in a recent conference call with ESPN to announce his return. "When I went there, I immediately missed VC (Visual Concepts), and it's just one of those things where I tried to stick it out as long as I could, but I wanted to come back. With some of the creative decisions over at EA, it just made it difficult to stay there. They just want to make a different game than I had a vision for.


Wang returns to his role as lead gameplay designer of the "NBA 2K" series, and the team is already hard at work on "NBA 2K11."


My brother recently purchased NBA Live 10, and from what I've seen, I just can't see myself ever playing the series again (my last straw was the dreadful 2002). 2K feels more like a real basketball game with each passing year, while Live 10 to me looks like Live 04 with better graphics.

2K did just fine without Wang this year, but I suppose the return of a motivated and dedicated employee can't hurt. Particularly since Wang is the one largely credited with bringing 2K to it's current state.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow i know nba 2k series is #1 and everything but they sound like a bunch of cocky jerks. Yeah its a great game but Nba live 10 did hold its own this year. And Rashidi Nba live 10 is nothing like Nba Live 04. The dynamic dna ,simengine, dribbling, post up, defense, play calling, rebounding and running physics are all new.

Rashidi said...

My brother likes to run drafts, so maybe that throws off the continuity of the teams.

Anonymous said...

2K10 really isn't that impressive when it's all said and done. Yes, the inside scoring and shooting are all toned to make for an extremely realistic gameplay, but if you compare it to the graphics and presentation of NBA 2k10, it's exactly the same. They use the same T Mobile starting lineups to begin each game, the faces are the same if not worse, and the overall presentation hasn't really changed even though there's a lot to improve upon. Also, the music has gotten a lot worse...

Hopefully the return of Mike Wang can change all of this...

Anonymous said...

I meant to say: "when you compare it... to NBA 2k8."

Anonymous said...

Im the guy who posted first. On Nba 2k8 it was easier to play defense but wat i didnt like about it was the cpu shot selection was horrible. I think there is better cpu shot selection on nba 2k9/2k10 but its too difficult to play defense. Bring back the defensive system from nba 2k8. And stop taking indirect shots at Nba Live.

Swank Lax said...

NBA Live '10 might be the worst basketball game I have ever seen. To play the Live series after playing 2K, is like driving a Toyota Corolla after driving a Corvette...