News
EA Puts Synergy Out On The Court For NBA Live 09
August 22, 2008
EA Sports has been schooled in the basketball video game category the last few years by 2K Sports’ NBA 2K8. This year, as the company prepares for the October 7 launch of NBA Live 09, they’ve turned to the same stat tracking company that NBA teams use for help. The statistical analysis provided by Synergy is currently used by 20 NBA teams, including the Lakers and Celtics from the 2008 NBA Finals.
Daryl Morey, General Manager of the Houston Rockets, has used Synergy for years. He attended the EA Sports NBA Live 09 Summer Camp to discuss the implications the new technology has on videogames.
“Synergy tracks every single player in the NBA with incredible detail,” said Morey. “They tag every single event that happens on the court from the pick-and-roll to the motion offense. As a team, we use that in a number of important ways, including player acquisitions.”
Morey said Synergy allows NBA management to see how a player will work within the sets a team uses. Teams also use the technology for player development. Teams use the information to analyze every aspect of their players’ game from their shot selection to tendencies when driving to the net. Synergy is also used in defensive game planning, where a team looks at the weaknesses of the opposition’s stars and tries to force those players into their least successful option on the court.
“It’s not the data that gives you the advantage, but implementing it into schemes and then having the players on the floor execute it,” explained Morey.
For gamers, EA Sports will download the latest Synergy data from the NBA on a daily basis throughout the season and playoffs. This means that when an athlete has a hot streak or a cold streak on the real hardwoods, it will impact how he plays in NBA Live 09.
EA Sports is calling this technology Dynamic DNA. And it will dramatically change the impact of real player trades and injuries during the season for gamers.
“With Yao injured last season, we went from using him on post-ups to having McGrady triggering everything off of the pick-and-roll or high action,” said Morey. “McGrady is strongest when penetrating and passing to open shooters or getting to the rim. Unlike a lot of right-handed players, he can go to the rim from the left successfully. These are all things that would be replicated in the new NBA Live 09 game.”
Dynamic DNA updates will also include play calling tied to specific players. Plays will change based on the five players on the court as the season progresses. Percentage numbers will tell players the best plays to run using Dynamic DNA, or gamers can simply hit a button and the computer will decide which play to run based on the DNA data.
“Prior to this game coming out, there’s no game out there that can emulate an NBA game accurately,” said Morey. “How do you play a video game without this? It’s made up if it doesn’t have the real player data.”
–John Gaudiosi
