All Articles: NBA Live 13

No XBLA update today, but it would have been NBA Live 13

Microsoft’s Major Nelson has confirmed, via Twitter, that there won’t be a new addition to the Xbox Live Arcade today. It’s the first Wednesday in quite a long time that Microsoft couldn’t add a new game to its download service.

However, a new game was in the works as of last week. According to the Major, EA’s NBA Live 13 would have appeared on the XBLA today if not for the company’s plan to permanently bench it:

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EA cancels NBA Live 13, promises new NBA title next year

In 2010, just days before it was scheduled to ship to stores, EA Sports canceled NBA Elite 11. The sports game publisher took 2011 off and moved development of NBA Live 13 to EA Tiburon in Florida in hopes of resurrecting the famed franchise. But history has a way of repeating…

EA Sports Executive Vice President, Andrew Wilson, confirmed the cancellation of NBA Live 13 on the game’s official website today. In the process, he also promised that a new NBA simulation would be released by EA Sports next year:

When we started the process of bringing back NBA Live, we knew it was going to be a long journey. We started by moving the game to a new studio. We brought in some of the best new technology that has helped fuel innovation in our other games. We launched an even deeper level of engagement with our community to gather more feedback directly from fans. And we built a whole new development team to bring it all to life. We felt like we were on the right path.

But making great games is not easy, and we’re just not there yet on NBA Live 13. Having continued to look at the game over the past few days, it’s clear that we won’t be ready in October. And rather than launch midway through the season, we’re going to sit out the full year and stay focused on making next year’s game great.

NBA Live’s only rival in the basketball video game scene, NBA 2K13, will be released as scheduled on October 2.

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Next EA Sports NBA game will be NBA Live 13

The great NBA Elite experiment is over. EA Sports has told G4TV that this year’s NBA simulation game will resurrect the NBA Live name when it’s released this Fall. Describing the game as an “all-new experience that captures the future of basketball,” NBA Live 13 is both a rebirth for the fabled franchise and the culmination of an odyssey of errors for EA Sports.

Back in 2010, EA announced plans to completely revamp their basketball sim series. With a new style of play came a new name and the game, NBA Elite 11, was given an October release date. A week before it’s release (and with some copies already shipped to stores), EA delayed the game until March 2011 to give it some more polish. But as the saying goes, EA couldn’t polish NBA Elite 11 and the game was eventually canceled outright.

EA Sports didn’t release a basketball sim at all in 2011, instead opting for the download-only NBA Live: On Fire Edition. So, needless to say, some big expectations are riding on NBA Live 13.

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Next EA Sports NBA sim coming in 2012

The cancellation of NBA Elite 11 left a big gaping hole in EA Sports’ release schedule last year. And now it looks like the simulation series will be skipping 2011 as well. In a statement released yesterday, EA Sports announced that their next NBA simulation title will launch in Fall 2012.

Interestingly enough, the NBA Elite title is never used in the statement, meaning that EA’s basketball series may receive yet another rebranding, even though a game bearing the NBA Elite name was never released.

“As planned, our next NBA simulation title is in development at our Tiburon Studio in Orlando,” said Peter Moore, President, EA Sports. “We have top talent on the game, and we’re giving the new development team time to deliver a superior experience. We’re making great strides and looking forward to launching a new game next year.”

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