One of the more pleasant surprises in sports games this year has been NBA Playgrounds. A nostalgic game released as a NBA Jam era throwback, NBA Playgrounds garnered good reviews and is praised for both its depth and excitement.
Sunday saw the first patch for the NBA Playgrounds since the game’s launch earlier this month. The patch has already gone live for the PC with Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch awaiting certification. With this update, it was expected that a few challenges inside the game would be changed and additional players would be added to the game. The latter was correct, but also something else was done that was always an issue in games.
The names included in this patch are a who's who of the NBA’s modern era. Names like Isiah Thomas, Gary Payton and Tracy McGrady are now included in the game. Along with those modern day names are legendary names like “Pistol” Pete Maravich and Nate “Tiny” Archibald, who are playable character in the game as well. In addition, NBA Playgrounds added five different versions of Shaquille O’Neal with five different teams he played with during his career (Celtics, Heat, Magic, Suns, Lakers).
The WWE 2K series does this exact thing every year. Instead of inserting new wrestlers into the game, 2K puts in multiple editions of the Big Show or Sting for example. One version of a wrestler is necessary, not five versions. NBA Playgrounds went that route with O’Neal. Different jerseys for one version of a player couldn’t be done? Do we need five different versions of the same player? Games, especially sports and wrestling games, should begin the process of stopping this. It takes up necessary space that could be used for other additions, as opposed to versions of players that no one will use (like Shaquille O’Neal playing for the Phoenix Suns).
The full list of fixes included in NBA Playgrounds Patch 1.10 are listed below. How are you enjoying your experience with the game? Let us know in our comment section.
New Features
- Added: The Challenge Mode feature, which allows you to challenge other players to online matches
- You can now switch between unranked challenges and ranked games in the online mode
- To challenge another player, you must switch to the challenge mode in the online menu and define a challenge code. By default, your challenge code is your nickname, but you can change it to your own, personal code. The person you are challenging must enter your code.
- If you have been challenged, please enter your challenger’s code and press “Accept”.
- All challenges are unranked and your ranking/ELO will be unaffected by the results of the challenge.
- Added: Toxicity system/Disconnection Manager, which penalizes players who abandon matches in any other way than surrendering
- Added: 5 new versions of Shaquille O'Neal in various teams from his career ( Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic)
- Added: 15 new players join the roster
- The following players were added: Dennis Rodman, Isiah Thomas, Larry Bird, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kenny Smith, Gary Payton, Klay Thompson, Devin Booker, Tony Parker, Kemba Walker, Seth Curry, Tiny Archibald, John Starks, Tracy McGrady, Pete Maravich
- Added: A shot-meter was added to help finding the perfect timing for shots, dunks etc.
- Added: Steam Cloud Save support
- Added: Steam Big Picture keyboard management
Notable Changes
- Adjusted: Shots were adjusted to make the system more accessible and unified throughout all variations
- Adjusted: The steal action was adjusted further to better fit the intended gameplay
- It is now possible to perform a steal action when behind an opponent
- Changed: 3 pointers no longer fill lottery pick bar
- Increased: The difficulty of 3 pointers was increased
- Reduced: The number of steals required for the Las Vegas Challenge #2 was reduced to 10 (was 15)
- Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the Paris Challenge #4 was reduced to 6 (was 7)
- Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the London Challenge #1 was reduced to 6 (was 10)
- Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the Las Vegas Challenge #3 was reduced to 8 (was 12)
- Reduced: The inbound time was reduced to adjust it to the overall style of the game
Notable Fixes
- Fixed: Issues related to the strength of the force feedback effects were addressed
