Since everyone -- at least on the Xbox 360, sorry PS3 users you all have to wait a bit longer -- is just beginning to dig into the post-patch version of NBA 2K10, I thought it would be good to look at what this patch is addressing and what could still be addressed if there is another patch down the line. (Of course, I am assuming that everything in the patch actually fixes what is promised.)

So here are some NBA 2K10 patch hits and misses.


Xbox 360 frame-rate issue - I have both systems and thankfully bought NBA 2K10 for the PS3 because this is something that has really frustrated 360 gamers, and rightfully so. Stuff like this should never happen, but thankfully it is being addressed in the first patch.

Assignment basketball – What could be more important than competent defense? Exactly. Luckily the developers have decided to enhance the ability to stay with the guys defenders should be guarding. The glitch where a second defender would automatically double down low is evidence of this, and it's something that players complained about from day one. Before the patch there were just too many instances of players either switching or not staying with the player they were defending, so hopefully this is completely addressed in the patch.

Lob passes - "Alleys" have apparently also been tuned so that "only realistic attempts should be completed." I like the sound of that.

Over the back fouls – When the game was released, the over the back foul was virtually absent from gameplay (I actually cranked the slider up to 100, and I still think I have only seen four or five in the 100 or so games I’ve played). Since the over the back foul is one of the more frequent calls in the NBA, that just should not happen. In fact, the over the back foul disappeared from the 2K series after NBA 2K7. Why? The patch is thankfully addressing this, but we would still like to see an over the back slider that actually works.

Shooting percentages - This is being tuned in the patch as well. Hallelujah! Here's to hoping the days of shooting 55 percent over the course of a game are gone.

Walk the dog – This one made it into the patch as well. Hopefully the clock will now stop until a player touches the ball, and here's to hoping we can roll the ball further than ten feet, right?

Assists - Apparently these have been tuned as well, so assists should register at the correct times now. In other words, you should not see point guards getting 20 assists per game anymore.

Inbound delay - Those annoying instances where the referee and the player making the inbounds pass cannot seem to get on the right page have been fixed as well. However, I must say that I will miss the rousing game of hot potato that would go on.


Deflected passes – All right, so this first one kind of goes in both categories. First, let me say that it is great that lead passes that go through the paint should now be deflected at a higher rate. When the game was released, it was too easy to hit a cutter in the paint. However, I'm still worried that there will be a lack of deflected passes during the pick and roll. The pick and roll is a little too powerful as of now, and a higher amount of deflected passes would do a good job of balancing out that gameplay element.

Also, let me be clear: more deflected passes does not mean I want to see more steals as well -- hopefully that's not what the patch really does. Deflected passes that go out of bounds are a nice middle ground because then you do not have to deal with an excessive amount of "cheesy" steals (like in NBA 2K3), but they still reward the defense by punishing bad passes and making an offense operate with less time on the shot clock.

I have also included two video examples of what we need to see much more of here:

http://community.2ksports.com/commun...mediaid=142131

http://community.2ksports.com/commun...mediaid=144251

Breakaway AI – The CPU defenders still turn into Usain Bolt when they are trying to run us down during breakaways. Stop that.

Accessories – This is another case of a hit and a miss. It's good that headband colors have been addressed. While this was not a big gripe of mine, I can understand it from an "immersion" standpoint -- many players like to forget that they are playing a video game, and when their favorite team does not have the right color headbands, socks or jersey combinations, it frustrates them. But what we still do not have are multiple color options for team accessories, shoes and white or black socks -- plus a setting for home and away accessories.

Free throws – There are still too many offensive rebounds after free-throw misses. It would be great if this could be addressed in the next patch (if there is one). Although, this issue could be directly related to the total lack of over the back fouls that were not being called before the patch.

Reaching fouls - Yep, this is still an issue after all this time, particularly online. The fact that reaching fouls are still not called at a high enough rate is perplexing and hampers gameplay. Calling plays is an exercise in futility because too often we give "button mashers" a chance to pick our pockets. Are we punishing the sim player now?

This issue needs to be killed and buried. The NBA game is one of position defense and playing the passing lanes, not poking away for steals. We like the animations where "reachers" get out of defensive position, but nothing will resolve the hacking issue quite like frequent and consistent fouls.

The pick and roll – As I touched on earlier, the pick and roll has been unbalanced for quite a while. The addition of more deflected passes in the paint may tone down its effectiveness somewhat, but I would have to play the game at length before saying its toned down overall.


We will be doing an update in the future to see if everything that was promised in the patch was actually fixed. As of now, though, we'll give 2K Sports the benefit of the doubt -- at least until we get a healthy amount of time with the game post-patch.
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