WE’RE less than a month away from the launch of both next-gen consoles along with NBA 2K21’s next-gen upgrades launching on the same dates. In the lead up to their respective launches, NBA 2K Gameplay Director Mike Wang has been writing Courtside Reports detailing what to expect when NBA 2K21 comes to Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
As expected, a plethora of detailed information and videos have been included in the report which can be found here. Most of which covers the tech used to create the best experience for next-gen by utilizing the power of each console. Next-gen NBA 2K21 isn’t a simple copy-and-paste from Xbox One/PS4 as it’s been rebuilt from the ground up. By using the technology made available, Wang and the team at Visual Concepts are changing the way players move and interact on the court to make it feel even more realistic.
“There’s so much more that happened on the engineering front to raise the bar in building NBA 2K21’s next-gen tech, but these are just the main ones I wanted to bring to your attention for today.” Mike Wang explains, “New technology is always exciting and I love seeing how advancements in the hardware lead to advancements in the software, which then birth new gameplay features and push the genre forward.”
Improvements made include on-court locomotion (moving around the court with or without the ball), dribbling and foot planting to name a few. But gamers getting the Playstation 5 will have an even more realistic next-gen experience. Visual Concepts have taken advantage of it’s new controller technology to create the strain felt when a players energy has started to deplete. Pressing down on the Adaptive Trigger when sprinting will now come with resistance as you lose energy. This will also apply when backing down weaker or stronger opponents. The stronger they are, the more resistance that’s applied to L2.
Playstation 5 Haptic Feedback technology has also been taken advantage of when it comes to collisions. In the words of Mike Wang, feeling the severity of player impact in your hands is “dope”. Small bumps will come with a slight vibration while the hard hitting collisions will lead to an even greater vibration. The use of both Haptic Feedback and Adaptive Triggers together are going to create one hell of an experience that I’m personally excited to try out when the PS5 launches on November 12.
There are more next-gen details to come in the coming weeks in Mike Wangs third and final Courtside Report.
