New NBA game to "evolve" basketball

By Robert Purchese Published 2 June, 2010

In a way we haven't seen for "a decade".

Peter Moore believes NBA Elite 11 will "profoundly evolve" the basketball genre in a way that hasn't been seen for "a decade". The game, incidentally, arrives on PS3 and Xbox 360 this October.

More goes on to claim (in a press release) that the new one-to-one control system is what fans have been "begging for" for years.

Dubbed Hands-On Control, this does away with pre-animated moves and brings in analogue-stick freedom. That probably means that twirling the stick makes your character twirl the ball around his back. It sounds similar to FIFA's skill moves.

And this this isn't just for dribbling, but for dunking, diving, fadeaways, mid-air adjustments, blocks and steals. On top of that, "skill-based" shooting requires "accurate user input" in order to score points.

Enabling all these innovations is a re-thought-out engine that thrusts real-time physics to the forefront.

"NBA ELITE 11 will give gamers the same skill set that a pro basketball player has at his disposal,” exaggerated the game's creative director, David Littman. "It is like being on a basketball court with an amazing set of skills."

This transformation meant EA needed a new name, hence Elite. Whether this will all be hot air - and whether EA can provide more than a tech demo - remains to be seen. Nevertheless, this is welcome news for fans of an undernourished sport-genre compared to FIFA and Madden.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • LiveForever #1 2 years ago

    Yawn

  • cianchristopher #2 2 years ago

    If they've been "begging for" the one-to-one system for "years" then why did it take this long?

    C'mon EA, release an NBA version of Madden Live Arcade on XBLA/PSN.
    Edited by 1 at 02/06/10 @ 15:52

  • wizlon #3 2 years ago

    Elite 11... I first thought that meant that there would be teams of 11, imagine that, 11 basketball players on a huge football sized court, that would really shake the sport up.

  • Boomerang #4 2 years ago

    "It is like being on a basketball court with an amazing set of skills."

    Really? I bet it's more like being sat on the couch with a beer playing videogames.

  • Mkwone #5 2 years ago

    More goes on to claim (in a press release) that the new one-to-one control system is what fans have been "begging for" for years.

    At least spell the guys name right. :p

  • Dolly #6 2 years ago

    baseketball?

  • Goffee #7 2 years ago

    Still won't be a patch on Dreamcast NBA 2K2 - the finest basketball game, ever.

  • Deckard1 #8 2 years ago

    the last basketball game I genuinely enjoyed for more than an hour, was NBA street on the 360. Before that it was NBA jam on the mega drive. Before that it was shaq fu.

    I dunno, realistic basketball games, for me, just turn in to a monotonous back and forth, boring crapfests. Maybe its just because I don't understand the sport properly, I dunno.

    Bring on the 50ft, double somersault, through the legs, flaming testicled shlam-a-lam dunk from downtown, and I'm as happy as a pig in a blanket, but the real sport just doesn't transfer well to games in my opinion.

  • Spongemonkey #9 2 years ago

    Did basketball games profoundly evolve a decade ago?! I must have missed that.
    I don't think anything has ever come close to basketball nightmare on the master system

  • trubadman #10 2 years ago

    Maybe I'll get this next year; I've always wanted to buy basketball games, but never got round to it except for NBA Street at launch with my PSP and NBA 2K10 for the PS3. I was debating whether to buy NBA Live 10 / NBA 2K10. Reading reviews apparently 2K's game was more realistic, EA's had better graphics etc, in the end i got 2K10 because it was cheaper, biggest mistake ever since i haven't even been able to play 1 game online.

  • Malkotheslick #11 2 years ago

    Until they revamp NBA Jam I'm not interested. I want my basketball players to be on fire

  • Nozzinja #12 2 years ago

    NBA Street Vol.2 Remake please!

  • Izsoclean #13 2 years ago

    EA can change the name but it still won't be able to compete with the 2k series in terms of gameplay. Plus the fact that it looks as though Michael Jordan is the new cover guy for NBA 2k11. It would have to be a huge step up from NBA Live 10 to be able to compete with that.
    Edited by 1 at 02/06/10 @ 20:04

  • dalleck #14 2 years ago

    Sounds like they are making the 'Skate' of basketball games.

  • Ryze #15 2 years ago

    Waits for:

    NBA JAM (Wii - but I don't have a Wii)
    NBA JAM: TE on XBLA
    NBA Street Vol.2 remake for 360/PS3

  • ThePissartist #16 2 years ago

    Am I the only one that think one-to-one control system suggests Move/Natal? Considering the game gets released in October, it all seems to be pointing in that direction.