Over the last few days there has been a great deal of speculation over the "ground-breaking" new feature in NBA Live 09 that will "change the way sports games are made". The reveal of what this feature is won't come until next month at E3, quite possibly during EA's press conference which is scheduled for July 14th. Initially we had the denial of a Superstar mode but that was soon followed by the media previews stating that Be A Pro (Superstar with a different name) is actually in. The medi...

IGN has released the first hands-on preview and screenshots of NBA Live 09. You can read it in full here and see the first screens of the game here (ignore the Lakers-Celtics ones which are from 08). Interestingly IGN states that the game will have Be A Pro mode, which was denied late last night by producers on the official forum. Details are scarce though and it sounds as though it could be limited to a one game experience such as was the case with FIFA 08. Hopefully we can get clarificati...

A new Madden 09 producer blog has been posted that goes over the work that has been done to get realistic stats in franchise mode. This blog covers only the stats element and doesn't go into detail on any other improvements or additions that may have been made to franchise mode (which as of now the rivalry aspect is all that has been mentioned). You can read the full blog posting here. I know that one the top issues with the hardcore Madden fans has been the stats that the simulation engine g...

So now that much of the information around NBA Live 09 is free to be discussed, some of it is making its way out thanks to producer discussion on the official forum. It's disappointing to hear there won't be a Superstar mode, though the "ground-breaking feature" is still to be announced. That takes me back to Online Team Play as the most anticipated aspect assuming they made some of the improvements that have been suggested for it. Here are some excerpts of posts that have been made so far....

The embargo from the media event held back in May is about to be lifted for NBA Live 09. The first substantial details will be revealed tomorrow with the possibility some will even be out late tonight. Following those details will be a handful of the game's producers as they begin posting and interacting with the community. You can participate in the discussions by visiting the game's official forum and the list of producers who are going to be involved can be found here. While the "grou...

As the speculation over NHL 09's "massive" online feature that has "never been seen in a sports game before" continues, word comes that NBA Live 09 will apparently deliver something on the same scale. According to Peter Moore in his latest blog entry, the game will have the most ground-breaking feature of any EA Sports release this year. I’m not surprised that NBA LIVE, which jumped 15 points in review scores a year ago, has the most ground-breaking feature from our lineup this year an...