NBA 2K10 Kobe Bryant Trailer in High Definition
Source : 2ksports.com/games/nba2k10
Credit : youtube.com/user/machinima
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
NBA 2K10 Developer Insights: Player Tendencies
Hey guys,
Rob Jones here. You guys have known me for years as the game play voice behind NBA 2K and College Hoops. I haven’t been this excited about what we have achieved this year for NBA 2K10 in terms of Player Tendencies, since introducing you guys to Signature Style in NBA 2K7. I am truly excited about the huge step up in Tendencies that we are incorporating into our Signature Play feature. This year, we have allowed for unprecedented depth in our players from a different system of ratings, attributes, plays, and decision-making in AI. Let’s get into it.
82 Games
Last year, we introduced Living Rosters that made sure to promote players that had stepped up their game over an extended period of time. I know that a lot of you were excited by the continually updated roster and the unlocked animations. As a big fan of the sport, I watched as players changed their game due to trades, new roles within the team, and injuries. I analyzed a lot of what Synergy had going on, recording in-game box scores and categorizing how that was impacting an individual game. They do a great job of tracking many different tendencies of a player and breaking it down from position to position on the court. Synergy’s data definitely paints a comprehensive picture about what a player is doing on the court, but in my mind not a complete one. There were still questions lingering for me about a player’s tendency to use specific abilities over and over. I like to call it a player’s personality profile.
NBA players are gifted with an enormous skill set, but in the end, like all human beings, tend to rely on the things they are the most comfortable using. That, in itself, is the tell that great defensive players like Bowen and Battier have used to counter the attacks of great offensive players.
With this information in mind, we set out to build a new offensive AI with all new tendencies that mimicked what a player wants to do, instead of what he is doing. Think of it as being proactive in anticipating a player’s moves as opposed to just recording them. The AI is now meant to be fed information as to how an offensive player likes to attack his defender, from what point of the court he is coming and what he wants to do to finish a play. In essence, if he has me one on one, what is his preference?
The code that determines this choice is of course dynamic, so that it can adjust for a User trying to throw it off by using unorthodox tactics. It also understands the usefulness of certain moves in certain parts of the court, such that it will not find itself doing things that are not intelligent like double crossovers in the key.
At every point of decision, the game code now gathers all possible tendencies (and not the actual ratings themselves) to choose what to do and allows the game to be more intelligent than ever before. Say there is an animation that takes up more space than is physically allotted on the court or the opening is not there for a certain maneuver, the AI will ditch that action and find the next tendency a player would go towards. Freeing the choice up from ratings allows the AI to be given a set of directions based on their shot types and dribble types, attacking the basket versus settling for a jump shot, being a black hole in the middle versus looking to kick back out, etc.
This brings us full circle. I noticed that Synergy’s tendencies were really only changing when a player’s role would change, whether that was by injury or transaction. If a role player goes from being a garbage time player to a huge part of the rotation, obviously their stat line will see a boost but what is that based on? Only a shift in role creates this difference, but their actual play type has not changed. They would still make the same choices on certain points of the court. The stats were not really representing how they played, their decisions continued to play the largest role in the player they could be. If you looked at a player that played consistently, you would notice that what he did from week to week varied very little. This confirmed my theory of humans being creatures of habit.
Understand that I believe that all the tracking systems that are out there do a bang-up job of spitting out information about what they see players do. The simple fact is that while great players are adept at doing different things when challenged to do so, more often than not, they can rely on what they do 95% of the time, which means that over time, their tendencies flatline and change very little.
So we went to work to look for someone who could provide us more information about how players make their choices within a game so we could better present it within our simulation. This innovation would need such a large batch of data and choices that it became an undertaking that we needed to take outside our office with an organization dedicated to this practice. That was how our partnership with 82games.com was born. Interestingly enough, while they tracked some of the most obscure statistics, a lot of what we needed wasn’t in their domain… yet. While we could have taken this as a negative, we actually liked the idea that they would help us build the tendency database having our goals in mind. They physically tracked NBA games for us to derive the information we were looking for. The good thing is that while we built the system, they were flexible enough to accommodate changes to how the information was being delivered, in order to better recreate the players.
Play-Calling
With a new AI system, it was important to give our play-calling system a complete makeover.
First of all, we wanted to give the user more plays to access during the game. The old play-calling system felt very limited since we only allowed a maximum of 8 plays to choose from: 4 Quick Plays and 4 Set Plays by default. With the majority of the default plays designed for your star player(s) like Kobe, it left you with little or no plays to call for the other players on the court. This is no longer a problem in NBA 2K10 as you now have access to 4 plays per position during game play. Include the 4 Quic Plays and you have a total of 24 plays available to you.
The new play-calling system doesn’t end there. You can now assign any play to each and every position. If you like a particular Pick & Roll play, you can assign the same play to both your Center and Power Forward if you want. If you have a 3-point shooting Point Guard and Center, you can give them the same play as well. With the help of the in-game play diagram – PlayVision – you can now execute plays in NBA 2K10 like never before.
We’ve also made improvements on the overall Playbook screen UI. When you are looking for plays to assign to each position, the UI provides a filter for you based on the play types that you might be interested in: Isolation, Low Post, High Post, Three Point, Mid-Range, Pick and Roll, Pick and Fade. It makes it easier than going through a long list of plays. Another improvement to the UI that we have addressed is that when viewing a play, we now show you a ‘movie’ of the play so you can see where each player goes, as opposed to the flipbook last year.
Of course, you can set up these plays in practice mode and run them back to get your team up to speed. You can practice the same play over and over, and/or against any defensive sets. Remember, the AI will look to use these plays against you in Quick Game if it falls under their tendencies so it may take some time to learn what’s coming at you!
Living Rosters will update the playbook based on your team/coach, so your main squad will be up-to-date. Trades will happen that completely changes the team dynamics and with that, playbooks will need updating as well. I am sure that will be discussed in a future Living Rosters Insight.
Player Attributes
I also wanted to do a quick call-out on some changes I am quite excited about. As you may have heard, Player Ratings have been expanded to a 25-99 system, as opposed to a 50-99. This allows us a ton more shades of grey, as people who don’t have a certain skill in their arsenal will be awarded a 25 and there’s just more room to work with going upward from there. It allowed us to accurately drill down on each rating better. The increase in range also improved our ability to separate star from superstar. Think to how you envision Tony Parker vs Steve Nash. You might see them as equal players, but the fact is that they are separated by their skills in more ways than one. With the expanded range, it will be clearer why one player is different than the other, even if they come close in Overall Rating.
There are also a few more Player Attributes I should mention, including the all new shooting attributes Low Post Scoring and Inside Shooting. That expands shooting attributes to five from three, and differentiates Shoot Close into three different branches. We also added Offhand Dribbling and Ball Security. Ball Security in particular was one that we needed to add, because a player like Derek Fisher who is not the flashiest player would get a mid-70s score for Ball Handling last year. Sure he’s not crossover maven, but you’re not ripping him off the dribble either. You won’t see big men in the post be unstoppable as it pertains to keeping possession. If your player is not a ball handler, don’t be expecting any incredible spin moves to turn out well for you.
Conclusion
So I am really excited to hear your guys’ feedback about our integration with 82 games and what tendencies should be based off of. I think we’re offering the largest set of choices around for our AI and it will help immensely in our game play, both as an opponent and as a teammate. That’s all for now, I will be back with another Insight down the road.
Thanks,
- Rob Jones
Game Play Producer
Credit : community.2ksports.com
Rob Jones here. You guys have known me for years as the game play voice behind NBA 2K and College Hoops. I haven’t been this excited about what we have achieved this year for NBA 2K10 in terms of Player Tendencies, since introducing you guys to Signature Style in NBA 2K7. I am truly excited about the huge step up in Tendencies that we are incorporating into our Signature Play feature. This year, we have allowed for unprecedented depth in our players from a different system of ratings, attributes, plays, and decision-making in AI. Let’s get into it.
82 Games
Last year, we introduced Living Rosters that made sure to promote players that had stepped up their game over an extended period of time. I know that a lot of you were excited by the continually updated roster and the unlocked animations. As a big fan of the sport, I watched as players changed their game due to trades, new roles within the team, and injuries. I analyzed a lot of what Synergy had going on, recording in-game box scores and categorizing how that was impacting an individual game. They do a great job of tracking many different tendencies of a player and breaking it down from position to position on the court. Synergy’s data definitely paints a comprehensive picture about what a player is doing on the court, but in my mind not a complete one. There were still questions lingering for me about a player’s tendency to use specific abilities over and over. I like to call it a player’s personality profile.
NBA players are gifted with an enormous skill set, but in the end, like all human beings, tend to rely on the things they are the most comfortable using. That, in itself, is the tell that great defensive players like Bowen and Battier have used to counter the attacks of great offensive players.
The code that determines this choice is of course dynamic, so that it can adjust for a User trying to throw it off by using unorthodox tactics. It also understands the usefulness of certain moves in certain parts of the court, such that it will not find itself doing things that are not intelligent like double crossovers in the key.
At every point of decision, the game code now gathers all possible tendencies (and not the actual ratings themselves) to choose what to do and allows the game to be more intelligent than ever before. Say there is an animation that takes up more space than is physically allotted on the court or the opening is not there for a certain maneuver, the AI will ditch that action and find the next tendency a player would go towards. Freeing the choice up from ratings allows the AI to be given a set of directions based on their shot types and dribble types, attacking the basket versus settling for a jump shot, being a black hole in the middle versus looking to kick back out, etc.
This brings us full circle. I noticed that Synergy’s tendencies were really only changing when a player’s role would change, whether that was by injury or transaction. If a role player goes from being a garbage time player to a huge part of the rotation, obviously their stat line will see a boost but what is that based on? Only a shift in role creates this difference, but their actual play type has not changed. They would still make the same choices on certain points of the court. The stats were not really representing how they played, their decisions continued to play the largest role in the player they could be. If you looked at a player that played consistently, you would notice that what he did from week to week varied very little. This confirmed my theory of humans being creatures of habit.
Understand that I believe that all the tracking systems that are out there do a bang-up job of spitting out information about what they see players do. The simple fact is that while great players are adept at doing different things when challenged to do so, more often than not, they can rely on what they do 95% of the time, which means that over time, their tendencies flatline and change very little.
So we went to work to look for someone who could provide us more information about how players make their choices within a game so we could better present it within our simulation. This innovation would need such a large batch of data and choices that it became an undertaking that we needed to take outside our office with an organization dedicated to this practice. That was how our partnership with 82games.com was born. Interestingly enough, while they tracked some of the most obscure statistics, a lot of what we needed wasn’t in their domain… yet. While we could have taken this as a negative, we actually liked the idea that they would help us build the tendency database having our goals in mind. They physically tracked NBA games for us to derive the information we were looking for. The good thing is that while we built the system, they were flexible enough to accommodate changes to how the information was being delivered, in order to better recreate the players.
Play-Calling
With a new AI system, it was important to give our play-calling system a complete makeover.
First of all, we wanted to give the user more plays to access during the game. The old play-calling system felt very limited since we only allowed a maximum of 8 plays to choose from: 4 Quick Plays and 4 Set Plays by default. With the majority of the default plays designed for your star player(s) like Kobe, it left you with little or no plays to call for the other players on the court. This is no longer a problem in NBA 2K10 as you now have access to 4 plays per position during game play. Include the 4 Quic Plays and you have a total of 24 plays available to you.
The new play-calling system doesn’t end there. You can now assign any play to each and every position. If you like a particular Pick & Roll play, you can assign the same play to both your Center and Power Forward if you want. If you have a 3-point shooting Point Guard and Center, you can give them the same play as well. With the help of the in-game play diagram – PlayVision – you can now execute plays in NBA 2K10 like never before.
We’ve also made improvements on the overall Playbook screen UI. When you are looking for plays to assign to each position, the UI provides a filter for you based on the play types that you might be interested in: Isolation, Low Post, High Post, Three Point, Mid-Range, Pick and Roll, Pick and Fade. It makes it easier than going through a long list of plays. Another improvement to the UI that we have addressed is that when viewing a play, we now show you a ‘movie’ of the play so you can see where each player goes, as opposed to the flipbook last year.
Of course, you can set up these plays in practice mode and run them back to get your team up to speed. You can practice the same play over and over, and/or against any defensive sets. Remember, the AI will look to use these plays against you in Quick Game if it falls under their tendencies so it may take some time to learn what’s coming at you!
Living Rosters will update the playbook based on your team/coach, so your main squad will be up-to-date. Trades will happen that completely changes the team dynamics and with that, playbooks will need updating as well. I am sure that will be discussed in a future Living Rosters Insight.
Player Attributes
I also wanted to do a quick call-out on some changes I am quite excited about. As you may have heard, Player Ratings have been expanded to a 25-99 system, as opposed to a 50-99. This allows us a ton more shades of grey, as people who don’t have a certain skill in their arsenal will be awarded a 25 and there’s just more room to work with going upward from there. It allowed us to accurately drill down on each rating better. The increase in range also improved our ability to separate star from superstar. Think to how you envision Tony Parker vs Steve Nash. You might see them as equal players, but the fact is that they are separated by their skills in more ways than one. With the expanded range, it will be clearer why one player is different than the other, even if they come close in Overall Rating.
There are also a few more Player Attributes I should mention, including the all new shooting attributes Low Post Scoring and Inside Shooting. That expands shooting attributes to five from three, and differentiates Shoot Close into three different branches. We also added Offhand Dribbling and Ball Security. Ball Security in particular was one that we needed to add, because a player like Derek Fisher who is not the flashiest player would get a mid-70s score for Ball Handling last year. Sure he’s not crossover maven, but you’re not ripping him off the dribble either. You won’t see big men in the post be unstoppable as it pertains to keeping possession. If your player is not a ball handler, don’t be expecting any incredible spin moves to turn out well for you.
Conclusion
So I am really excited to hear your guys’ feedback about our integration with 82 games and what tendencies should be based off of. I think we’re offering the largest set of choices around for our AI and it will help immensely in our game play, both as an opponent and as a teammate. That’s all for now, I will be back with another Insight down the road.
Thanks,
- Rob Jones
Game Play Producer
Credit : community.2ksports.com
MAG Beta Test for Qore Subscribers Launching Thursday
Here’s an update about the status of the MAG Public Beta email vouchers. The first wave of voucher codes for the MAG Beta will be e-mailed to all current Qore subscribers beginning today and continuing over the next few days. Follow the instructions so that you’ll be ready to download the Beta and jump in when the test starts this Thursday, September 17. The email subject line will be:
“You’re in: Welcome to the MAG Beta”
And, the email voucher will look like this:
Remember, you only have 4 days left to get in on the action as the Public Beta entry deadline for Qore subscribers is this Thursday, September 17. Please allow at least 5 business days for delivery once you subscribe.
Qore subscribers will have access to the MAG Beta Test from September 17 through November 8. The hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 10am-1pm and 5-8pm Pacific (PDT).
Once again, here are the eligibility requirements:
- The Qore MAG Beta offer is open to Qore subscribers only, not to single episode purchasers.
- All Beta invitations are restricted to persons 18 years and older.
- We must have your current, valid e-mail address on file.
- You must be opted in to receiving communications from PlayStation.
- Vouchers will be sent to the e-mail associated with the PSN account that purchased the Qore subscription, not to any sub-accounts.
You can update your e-mail address and check your notification preferences via your profile onPS.com or on the PS3 itself under Account Management/Account Information. Be sure that you have “opted in” to receive our communications.
We hope you enjoy the MAG Beta, and don’t forget to leave your feedback at Beta Central by following the instructions in the voucher e-mail. As this is a Beta is a work-in-progress and not representative of the final game, your input is vital.
Credit : blog.us.playstation.comFirst Look: Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines for PSP
Recently, Ubisoft invited us over to their San Francisco warren to check out Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines. I wasn’t really sure how they were planning on jamming Assassin’s Creed’s exploration, climbing, and free-running into a PSP, but I’ve got to say, they’ve done an excellent job (don’t take my word for it, IGN agrees).
In a theme we’ll be seeing a lot of this year, developer Griptonite Games didn’t produce a watered-down side-scroller and slap the Assassin’s Creed name on it – this is a true follow-up to the original, only portable.
The story picks right up where the first one let off, putting you back in the familiar boots and blades of Altair. How do the controls translate to the PSP? What tweaks have been made to the formula? Has Altair stolen any cool new moves from Ezio (the protagonist of the upcoming Assassin’s Creed II)? Producer Frederic Lefrancois and Senior Producer Dan McAuliffe answer these questions – with the added bonus of a bunch of brand new video.
Credit : blog.us.playstation.com
MotorStorm Arctic Edge – A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Making Of: Part 2
Welcome back MotorStorm fans to our series of behind-the-scenes videos that provide some unique insight into the development of MotorStorm Arctic Edge for PSP. For this week’s entry, the team at Bigbig Studios provides details as to the wild vehicles players will get to drive in the game, including two new snow-specific machines. Of course with vehicles of the same type, what good is having the same looking vehicle as everyone else? The team also shows the wide variety of customization options available for every type of vehicle from parts, to accessories, to stickers.
Enjoy the latest inside access to Bigbig and MotorStorm Arctic Edge and we’ll see you next week with a new behind-the-scenes segment.
Credit : blog.us.playstation.com
First UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves Review — PlayStation: The Official Magazine
We’re less than a month out from the launch of UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves and we’re starting to see reviews come in. We just received the November issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine in the studio which has the first world review of UNCHARTED 2. Subscribers should have this issue in the mail any time now and, if you don’t have a subscription, you can pick up a copy from newsstands in the next couple of weeks.
Cracking open the issue, which features UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves as its cover, we were totally thrilled to see that our game received a perfect 5/5 AND the Editors’ Choice award for the month! We’ve been working incredibly hard over the past two years to make UNCHARTED 2 the best game we’ve made yet and we’re all smiles to hear that we’re not the only ones who think we’ve got something really great on our hands.
You’ll have to pick up your own copy to read the ten full pages of UNCHARTED 2 details, but in the meantime here’s an image of the cover to serve as a preview:
I’m pretty sure just reading reviews of our game won’t be enough to hold you over until we launch on October 13, so be sure to check out our Multiplayer Demo. If you pre-ordered UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves through GameStop, then your early access to the demo starts tomorrow and runs up until just prior to the launch of our game. If you haven’t pre-ordered, the Multiplayer Demo opens up to everyone via a PlayStation Network download on September 29.
We’ll be back on the PlayStation.Blog tomorrow with more details about the multiplayer demo and an associated contest you’ll definitely want to know about!
Credit : blog.us.playstation.comPS3 Firmware Update (v3.01) now available
Hi everyone, PS3 system software update 3.01 is now available for download. This is an optional update that improves system stability during use of some PlayStation 3 format software.
Credit : blog.us.playstation.com
A2M celebrates WET
More pics (all taken by A2M’s Taran Matharu) after the break…
Onlookers at the show. In addition to the A2M team, the show was open to the public.
A Closer Look at the Stage
BRAINS!!!
Credit : bethblog.com
Splash Damage honored in Top 100 list
Wanted to give a shout out to Splash Damage, who last week were named one of the Top 100 Tech and Media Companies by UK newspaper/website The Guardian. Sponsored by business consultancy PwC and Kemp Little, the list “aims to identify and showcase the top 100 innovative technology and media companies in the UK.”
For more details on the list, head here.
Cheers!
Credit : bethblog.com
WET Roundup: Eve of Release Edition
We’re just a few hours from the North American release of WET, so this is my last chance to share some previews. For good measure, I’ll throw in a couple interviews, too.
Last week Mark Walton of Gamespot UK went hands-on with Rubi’s Boneyard — Rubi’s home in the game, which has plenty challenges of its own. Here’s a snippet:
“The Boneyard is a desolate place, full of broken-down planes and run-down vehicles smack bang in the middle of the desert, more than slightly reminiscent of the aircraft graveyards featured in films like Con Air. Yet this is Rubi’s home, and like any good action hero, her home is stocked full of guns and platforms to keep her amused–but make no mistake, this is no Croft Manor. The Boneyard level will be accessible at any point in the game, and you will be able to use it as a training ground for new skills picked up during the single-player campaign. You can also participate in time trials and challenges.”
For more late impressions on WET, check out UGO, Videogamer.com, TotalPlayStation.com, and IGN.
Moving to interviews, Go! Gaming Giant caught up with Creative Director Patrick Fortier for their latest podcast. Download it here. Meanwhile, Gamer Limit interviewed Senior Games Producer Avi Winkler. Here’s an excerpt:
So we know WET’s all about stylish action coupled with a Tarantino-esque narrative; how significant is the story told in the game? Do you think games have the ability to tell memorable tales just as well as other mediums such as films?
AW:I think story is important in giving context to the situations in the game. It’s more fun taking on enemies and working your way through levels if you understand why your protagonist is there and if you’re given a lot of flavour to your bad guys. I think that’s something we do quite well in WET.
That’s it for tonight. As post-release news comes out on WET, we’ll let you know.
Credit : bethblog.com
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