[quote name='FriskyTanuki']Is 2K9 really not a game anymore, but a simulation? I keep seeing 2K fans saying that like there's no questioning it, but the demos confuse me about that claim. 2K9's players move like their skating when using the boost button, as I twirl them around and around with ease like they have no weight at all to their movements, which is quite different in Live 09. I don't know about the shot stick 2K9 has either, as my first four shots with Kobe were perfect if I just pulled the stick down, like it was a glorified win button. Otherwise, both games look really good this year, for the first time in a long time.
At least 2K9 looks like a next-gen game this year, as it looked like absolute garbage compared to Live like year. It's strange that it seems like all 2K fans can not even acknowledge that Live could even be a remotely good game this year while claiming 2K's not a game, but a perfect simulation that can never be topped. You can't be a real basketball fan if you're not down with NBA 2K, but just a pretender. Seems like the old Madden vs. NFL 2K days all over again.[/quote]
I downloaded both demos and the 2K demo was better IMO. Granted, I was never and NBA player, but I played competive basketball for a large portion of my life and 2K is vastly superior to Live in representing basketball.
Live has never had great control even in the Genesis days. The skating you refer to in 2K9, I didn't see it, but I saw it in Live. The physics in Live just aren't as good and the controls aren't as tight as 2K9. Post game, defense, off-ball movement, it's all better in 2K.
In regards to Madden, Madden was always a better game than 2K in regards to football. I don't owe allegiance to EA or 2K. I call them like I see them.
Live is better than years past, the demo was good, but it has a way to go to compete with 2K. There is a reason the NBA didn't just hand over the NBA license to EA unchallenged.