The NBA 2K series has been the top basketball franchise for many years, especially recently, where they have been virtually uncontested. Last year NBA 2K9 once again took the basketball crown with its smooth animation and gameplay, amazing graphics and solid online play. 2K Sports was able to bring speed to a basketball sim without making it feel like an arcade title. With EA Sports actively trying to create better game modes with their Be A Pro and Dynamic DNA system, it’s apparent that 2K needs to step up their create a pro modes and offer more to fans of the series. In an effort to do so they announced today NBA 2K 10: Draft Combine, a new download only title that gives players a head start on the new season.

The downloadable game will be available for the Xbox 360 and PS3 this September. The Draft Combine will introduce fans of the series to an all new game mode in which you take an NBA hopeful through the draft combine and hopefully to the starting line-up for an NBA team. You will be able to create your character with more detail than ever before in a 2K game. According to Greg Thomas, senior vice president of sports development for 2K, anyone who downloads this title can take their created character and import them into the full version of the game, saying “Gamers will have exclusive access to online content and get to test drive NBA 2K10’s new gameplay features, advanced player progression system and the all-new My Player career mode before the game launches this fall.”

This is a really great marketing idea and it gives die hard fans something to look forward to other than just a short demo. Below are all the features that are included in NBA 2K10: Draft Combine, straight from the source (delicious copypasta!)

• Building custom players by working with a mentor, the 2K Insider, and increasing their NBA stock through a variety of challenging basketball drills and 5-on-5 games.
• Over 300 different signature customizations, including player-specific shooting animations, dunk and dribble packages and more to allow each created player to have his own unique personal style.
• Ability to strengthen all parts of the created player’s game with a variety of drills, such as shooting, post offense and defense, attacking the basket, dribbling, challenging shots, boxing out for rebounds and more to progress through the NBA Draft Combine.
• Organized games that will allow players to gain valuable skill points and offer a variety of specific in-game objectives that will need to be accomplished in order to gain them.  At the end of each game, a full analysis will be available for gamers to review their player’s performance and strategize their further improvement.
• All players created in NBA 2K10: Draft Combine will wear a special patch on their uniform throughout the rest of that player’s career to denote that they have completed the NBA Draft Combine.
• Online leaderboards to track the highest ranking custom built players, and where a player stacks up against the competition.
• Opportunity to unlock special achievements on Xbox 360 and trophies for PlayStation 3 system.
• Fans can take their custom built players from NBA 2K10: Draft Combine and use them in the all-new My Player career mode in NBA 2K10 launching this fall, allowing them to continue their journey of becoming an NBA legend.

NBA 2K10: Draft Combine will carry the price tag of $4.99 on the PS3 and 400 Microsoft points on the Xbox 360. Not too bad for what seems to be a full fledged game mode a month before the scheduled release in October. We’ll be sure to get our hands on the Draft Combine and let you know how 2K’s new game mode fits into the already stellar franchise.

[Source: 2Ksports.com]

Tags: 2K Sports, NBA 2K10, PS3, Xbox 360

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 6:12 pm and is filed under News, PlayStation 3, XBLA, Xbox 360. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.