November 15, 2007

Producer Zach Timmerman and Cover Athlete Greg Oden Talk College Hoops 2K8
By Louis Bedigian 

“People are really latching onto the 2K Share idea.” 
 

As the last major sports game of the year, College Hoops 2K8 has a lot going for it. For starters, the game doesn’t have to compete with the first-month sales of Madden or NBA 2K. Second, by having a later schedule than NBA 2K8, College Hoops 2K8’s developers could make changes based on what players liked or didn’t like about 2K Sports’ earlier b-ball release. Third, the game benefits from a release that’s close to Thanksgiving – a time when our wallets are open, our cravings our high, and a five-day weekend is just around the corner. 

Like NBA 2K8, the developers of College Hoops 2K8 wanted their game to be more accessible to the casual market. “We feel like we’ve done that with what we’ve put in the game,” said Producer Zach Timmerman. “Games nowadays are getting more complicated with all the buttons. We really wanted to help the casual user.” 

Talking more specifically, Zach believes that the All-American Training Challenge will win over the non-hardcore crowd. “It’s a big set of drills that you play,” with bronze, silver and gold medals to obtain. “The benefit you have of playing it is that you’ll have a better idea of how to play [the regular game]. In the end, you get to face off against college basketball great Greg Oden.” 

Oden, the former Ohio State All-American center and College Hoops 2K8 cover athlete, dropped by for a brief discussion about the game. 

“I can’t wait to show all my friends,” he boasted. “They can play with me, and if I’m on the cover, I must be pretty good at the game. I’m pretty excited just to see how I play in it.” 

Oden first learned about 2K Sports’ desire to include him in the game while signing autographs. Though he’s willing to show his excitement now, he says that he initially tried to play it cool. “I tried to play it off like I wasn’t that happy. ‘Oh, that’d be nice.’ But inside I was like, “Everybody’s gonna see me when they go to the video game store!” 

Regarding his motion capture sessions, Oden commented: “It wasn’t difficult or frustrating at all. You want to go hard and do your moves right because they’re going to show up in the game. It was a lot of fun. I had fun working with the guys they brought in for me to play against, some cool dudes.” 

Amusingly, Oden revealed that his friends aren’t jealous of his new status as College Hoops 2K8 cover athlete. The reason? “They’re all NBA players so they don’t really care.”

College Hoops 2K8 Quick Notes: 

• 60fps (on PS3 and 360)
• Same engine as NBA 2K8
• Demo coming soon (to Xbox Live)
• AI improvements lead to a more challenging offense.

To get the courts just right, 2K Sports frequently communicates with the schools being represented in the game. Photos of those courts were integral to the development process. Zacg the studio needed “baseline shot[s], ceiling shot[s], a shot from above. It’s a big undertaking.”
 

PS2 Vs. PS3 Vs. 360 

“There’s not a whole lot of difference between the PS2 and PS3 versions.” Zach noted that the SIXAXIS controller functionality – motion free throws – is one of the few differences. But unlike Xbox 360, he says, PS3 doesn’t “have friends lists.” 

“With the current gen systems,” he adds, “we’re allowed to do a lot more memory. So there are certain features we had to leave out of PS2. But we added more than we did with 2K7.” 

Across the board, the most anticipated feature is 2K Share, which allows people to disperse anything they create in the game (customized rosters, plays, chants, etc.). “People are really latching onto the 2K Share idea.” 

If this feature is successful, 2K Sports is prepared to make it a permanent part of future sports releases.

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