NBA 2K9 To Get Living Rosters At Launch

By Joe Haygood | September 22, 2008

Live, up to the last game roster updates are becoming all the rage in today’s sports games, and it appears that 2K Sports has decided to add this component to their upcoming basketball title, NBA 2K9. 

The Living Roster feature will provide not only roster updates, but new signature moves, starting lineups, and offensive and defensive styles for all the teams in the league.  One might wonder how the stats are put together, and the answer comes in the form of a dedicated statistician, along with fan input and other factors.

I do like the idea of continuous statistical updates as they really give the game you play more relavance with today’s rosters.  The fact that more moves, playbooks and other items will be brought to the game the same way just adds to the win factor of this new mode.

NBA 2K9 will drop onto the Sony Playstation 2 and 3, as well as the Xbox 360 on October 7th.  Click the jump for the press release.

2K Sports Gets More Real with Living Rosters in NBA® 2K9

Fans will receive the most up-to-date player attributes, player tendencies, and unlockable animations

September 22, 2008 – 2K Sports today announced details on Living Rosters, an exciting new innovative online feature for this season’s highly anticipated basketball title, NBA 2K9. Living Rosters will ensure dedicated fans are playing with the most up-to-date and complete basketball experience ever available in the NBA 2K franchise. In addition to delivering constant updates to player ratings and player tendencies, Living Rosters will also offer exclusive access to unlockable animation packages for players in the game. When a player starts to heat up and takes his game to the next level on the real courts, new animation packages will unlock for that player in the video game. As the NBA season progresses, so will NBA 2K9, as players will have the ability to pull off new moves never seen before in the video game, adapt their offensive and defensive rotations, and shift starting lineups as they occur. If it happens during the regular NBA season, it will happen in NBA 2K9 thanks to Living Rosters.

When the Living Rosters feature is activated and a gamer signs in online, the game automatically checks for Living Roster updates in order to download the latest real-life player information in a seamless process behind the scenes. Gamers will have an option to either have Living Rosters automatically update their in-game roster information, or they can choose to download new roster data manually.

Once Living Rosters has successfully completed an update, NBA 2K9 fans can then review the different player and gameplay updates from the NBA 2K Insider – a real person working behind the scenes, pouring over the stats and spreadsheets, and who is ultimately responsible for the content and accuracy of the Living Rosters updates. However, the Insider’s job is much more than just crunching numbers – they will interact with the community and listen to roster update suggestions to determine what the fans really want in each update. The NBA 2K Insider’s analysis and commentary will be available in-game and on the 2K Sports website, www.2ksports.com.

NBA 2K9 is the latest edition of NBA 2K, the series that has been the #1 rated NBA simulation for seven years in a row* and is back for its 10th season. NBA 2K9 is the premier basketball game for serious players, and will deliver the most realistic and feature-rich simulation experience ever available in the NBA 2K franchise – from gameplay and graphics to presentation and online features. NBA 2K9 is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB and will be available on October 7 for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems. For more information about NBA 2K9, please visit www.2ksports.com/games/nba2k9.

*The NBA 2K series developed by Visual Concepts outranked competitors based on GameRankings.com average scores of 2001-2007 NBA video games.