''NBA Live 98'' is a
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
based on the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
and the fourth installment of the ''
NBA Live
''NBA Live'' is a series of basketball video games published by EA Sports. The series, which debuted in 1994, is the successor to the previous ''NBA Playoffs'' and '' NBA Showdown'' series.
Beginning in the late 2000’s, NBA Live sales had dro ...
'' series. Its cover art features
Tim Hardaway
Timothy Duane Hardaway Sr. (born September 1, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player. Hardaway played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets a ...
of the
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...
. The game was developed by
EA Sports
EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...
and released on October 31, 1997, for the PC, November 30, 1997, for the
PlayStation and December 31, 1997, for the
Sega Saturn. It was the final ''NBA Live'' game released for the
Super NES
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in ...
,
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
, and
Sega Saturn.
The game introduced the now-standard feature of passing to any teammate with a single button press. Its graphical improvements included new player designs modeled after actual player photographs. The PC version introduced support for
3D acceleration, utilizing
3dfx's
Glide API
Glide is a 3D graphics API developed by 3dfx Interactive for their ''Voodoo Graphics'' 3D accelerator cards. Although it originally started as a proprietary API, it was later open sourced by 3dfx. It was dedicated to rendering performance, supp ...
. The PlayStation, PC, and Saturn versions feature
Ernie Johnson Jr. as studio announcer. Play-by-play commentary is performed by
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
/
TBS color analyst
Verne Lundquist
Merton Laverne Lundquist Jr. (born July 17, 1940) is an American sportscaster.
Biography
Early life and career
Lundquist was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He graduated from Austin High School in Austin, Texas, before attending Texas Lutheran U ...
in the PlayStation and PC versions. ''NBA Live 98'' is followed by ''
NBA Live 99''.
Gameplay
The game features rosters from the 1997–98 NBA season. New features include the "Total Control" system, that allows players to choose between a dunk or layup or pass to any teammate with the press of a button. "Tight" player moves allow players to spin, crossover, back down, ball fake and more on command. Player lock lets players always control a specified player on court.
Though it is set during the 1997–98 season,
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...
superstar
Michael Jordan is not featured in the game. This was because Jordan was not part of the
National Basketball Players Association
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) is a labor union that represents National Basketball Association (NBA) players. It was founded in 1954, making it the oldest trade union of the four major professional sports leagues in the Unit ...
and at the time the cost of licensing his individual name and likeness for video games was approximately $15 million a year, beyond the total budget of most video games.
Jordan is replaced by the fictional "Roster Player" in the Bulls lineup. However,
Charles Barkley
Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on NBA on TNT, TNT. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "Chuck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley played 16 seasons ...
made his first appearance in ''Live 98'' as a member of the
Houston Rockets.
Motion capture work was done by NBA players
Tim Hardaway
Timothy Duane Hardaway Sr. (born September 1, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player. Hardaway played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets a ...
,
Mitch Richmond
Mitchell James Richmond III (born June 30, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player. He played collegiately at Moberly Area Community College and Kansas State University. He was a six-time NBA All-Star, a five-time All-NBA Tea ...
,
Larry Johnson,
Joe Dumars and
Christian Laettner
Christian Donald Laettner (, ; born August 17, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player. His college career for the Duke Blue Devils is widely regarded as one of the best in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) hi ...
.
Features
New modes introduced include
GM Mode, which lets players choose franchises, draft players and play custom seasons, and the
Three-Point Shootout
The Three-Point Contest is a National Basketball Association (NBA) contest held on the Saturday before the annual All-Star Game as part of All-Star Weekend.
The 2019 iteration of the contest involved ten participants. From its introduction in 19 ...
, which can be played using full or split screen. Four difficulty levels are available, including a new Superstar difficulty level, along with improved
AI with smarter players and more accurate stats.
With the introduction of 3D players, courts, and jerseys came an opportunity to patch and update these aspects of the game, including with the EA Graphics Editor software.
Reception
The PlayStation release received mostly positive reviews. Critics praised the detailed player graphics,
[ new animations,][ interface,][ music,][ and the full motion video sequences.][ '' GamePro'' commented, "What makes Live '98 so enjoyable to play is its fantastic mixture of NBA realism and wild arcade action."] ''GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' assessed it as an across-the-board improvement over ''NBA Live 97
''NBA Live 97'' is the third installment of the '' NBA Live'' video games series. The cover features Mitch Richmond of the Sacramento Kings. The game was developed by EA Sports and released on November 1, 1996. The MS-DOS, Sega Saturn and PlayS ...
''.[
Critics hailed the number of new gameplay features, with the three-point competition,][ custom team feature,][ icon passing,][ and direct ducking][ all earning particular mention. A few criticisms were voiced, but they did little to impact the critic's overall recommendation. For example, Jay Boor of '']IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' found the dunks were not as dramatic as they should be, but still concluded ''NBA Live 98'' to be the best basketball game presently on the market.[ Sushi-X wrote in '']Electronic Gaming Monthly
''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews.
History
The m ...
'' that weak A.I. makes it "the easiest basketball game I've ever played." However, his three co-reviewers were more laudatory, with Kraig Kujawa summing up, "''NBA Live 97'' was easily the best basketball game last year, and now ''Live 98'' has done it again."[
As with ''NBA Live 97'', critics reported the Saturn port to have much lower-resolution textures and jerkier frame rate than the PlayStation version, to the point where the action can be hard to follow.][ Critics also found the absence of play-by-play commentary in the Saturn port a severe shortcoming.][ Kraig Kujawa and John Ricciardi of ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'', who both rated the PlayStation version a 9/10, gave the Saturn version a 5.5/10 and 6/10 respectively, with Kujawa remarking, "Obviously, this was a quick and easy port that was paid very little attention. ... EA could and should have done a better job."][ ''GameSpot'' and '']Sega Saturn Magazine
''Sega Saturn Magazine'' was a monthly UK magazine covering the Sega Saturn, a home video game console. It held the official Saturn magazine license for the UK, and some issues included a demo CD created by Sega, ''Sega Flash'', which included ...
'', while noting that the Saturn port retains strong aspects of the PlayStation original, judged that it compared unfavorably with '' NBA Action 98'', another Saturn basketball game which was released at the same time.[ Gary Cutlack of ''Sega Saturn Magazine'' summarized, "Live '98 isn't that bad, it's just unfortunate for EA that Sega are releasing their better NBA game at the same time."][
''NBA Live 98'' was a runner-up for '' Computer Gaming World''s 1997 "Sports Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to '' Baseball Mogul'' and '']CART Precision Racing
''CART Precision Racing'' is a racing video game developed by Terminal Reality and published by Microsoft Studios for Windows.
Development
The game was showcased at E3 1997.
Reception
GameSpot said for the PC, "''CART Precision Racing'' raises ...
'' in a tie. Editors called ''NBA Live 98'' "the latest and best ..in EA's awesome action-oriented" series.
References
External links
IGN: NBA Live '98
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nba Live 98
1997 video games
Electronic Arts games
NBA Live
Windows games
PlayStation (console) games
Sega Saturn games
Super Nintendo Entertainment System games
Sega Genesis games
Tiertex Design Studios games
Video games developed in Canada
Video games scored by Brian L. Schmidt
Video games set in 1997
Video games set in 1998
Multiplayer and single-player video games
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