Right Stick Dribbling... Its NOICE !!!

What's happening family ?

It's your man DaCzar President of the SimNation.

A couple of fantastic articles out today One by the Verge and Polygon Accessible is not a Dirty word and another by @owengood of kotaku Control Freaks Not Needed.

As well as Developer Diary number 1 Available on Operation Sports Youtube page



Twitter is ablaze this morning with all the new info but the question on most minds is how good is the system ?

While I can not answer any questions at this point I can say that 2k's implementation of right stick dribbling is the best President Czar has seen. Mike Wang proves once again that he is undoubtedly one of the best to ever do it.

This is no mere carbon copy previous games attempts at right stick dribbling. Watch the video above and notice the step forward your about to get broke off walk up by B-easy that has never been in a game prior...

The limitation of previous right stick dribbling schemes has been limitation of animations necessary to produce one to one movement. To have a huge animation variety you have to give a bit on responsiveness but to me NBA 2K13 stikes the right balance between what a person can actually do in real life and video game responsiveness as well as incorporating variety in speed and movement.

Obviously a person who has a bigger step in their cross will take more time than someone who has a basic quick cross. Yet, a top flight guard can have a quick cross with lots of movement. So it is the combination of right stick with the huge dribble move library that set's 2k's right stick dribbling mechanic apart.

In the real world you can't decide to change your dribble or intended direction when the ball in between your hand and the floor. This introduces and natural delay that actually adds effectiveness to hesitation and studder step moves.

In a video game however, users want to be able to change their mind at any point and call a game unresponsive, even if the change of direction or dribble they require, would be impossible in a real world scenario.

So while my intent is not to hype the control scheme to be simple and direct I liked it.... I liked it a lot. So much so that playing NBA 2K12 again I suddenly feel a stark lack of control and can finally see what the NBA Live fans have been screaming about at the top of their lungs. I am certain and I should underline this... That some will want even more responsiveness. Until I play something more realistic and more responsive with the same animation variety I am more than ok with where 2K13 stands at this point.



It is without doubt in my mind that this change alone will secure many who just could not get into I somotion. The clunky Isomotion control is gone. Long live the Control Stick.

P.S.  The SHOT STICK is still there family. It is simply a left trigger modifier to shoot. Should take you 3-4 games max to get used to it.