EA have officially given up on their decaying NBA Live franchise, with the announcement of NBA Elite 11. After owning the market for about a decade, 2K Sports' NBA 2K series soon took control, as critics often cited it as the best basketball sim available several years in a row. EA now hopes to grab some footing with a new NBA-game brand, while ditching the previously-iconic NBA Live name.
EA will be implementing a technology base, a new control scheme, and, for the first time ever, it hopes to introduce real physics to a basketball game.
“We have a great opportunity to profoundly evolve the interactive basketball experience in a way that the category has not seen for a decade,” says Peter Moore, President, EA Sports. “In NBA Elite 11, we’ll introduce a gameplay experience that’s as enjoyable for sports fans as anything in our lineup.”
The game will supposedly have more of a "hands-on control"scheme to allow for better one-one-one responsiveness. Hands-on control applies to everything within a player’s offensive and defensive arsenal, including: dribble moves, dunks, drives to the basket, fadeaways, mid-air adjustments, blocks, steals and more.
NBA Elite 11 will be available for the Playstation 3 and XBOX 360 this October.