When it came to the battle of the NBA games on the console, there were two main competitors, NBA Live and NBA 2K. Both games started with a 2005 release, hoping to corner the market first and build a loyal following. Unfortunately for EA, 2K sports released the better game, especially over the first couple of years, and slow sales lead to the series be cancelled before the infamous NBA elite 11 was released. The games themselves are fine. It's interesting that both companies managed to get licensing and it has all the basic modes that you would expect. Interestingly also is that they managed to improve the games each year, especially in terms of how it plays, with NBA Live 9 and 10 much superior to 6 and 7. At the end of the day though, they lost the battle because it was a worse game. The live series is more simplistic and less detailed than its 2K cousin, feeling more arcadey and less polished. This actually makes the first few hours of play more enjoyable and for a casual player this may be a good thing. However, most people who pick up a basketball game are basketball fans and are looking for something a bit more detailed. With over 10 2K games on the console, as a serious basketball game, the only reason to play this is to compare it with them. On the casual arcade side, we have a selection of much better and more fun games to fill this void such as NBA Jam and NBA streets. Not horrible games, but pointless to own nowadays.