Unit 3- Peer review draft!

i am so sorry for the delay! i have done some major surgery with my paper since the forst draft. please leave comments which will help improve it. thank you!

Student: Nadib Al-Islam                                                                    English 1000C Essay Number: 3

 

ESSAY COVERSHEET

 

Instructions: For each essay, complete a coversheet after you have written a discovery draft and then submit the coversheet with all subsequent drafts of the essay, revising the coversheet as needed if your approach to the essay changes.  You may write on the back of this sheet if you need more room.

 

1.         In a word or phrase, describe your topic. : Basketball video game

 

2.         In a word or phrase, give your working title. NBA Live 2008 Review

 

3.         Complete the following sentence that tells why you are an insider on this subject; that is, what qualifies you to write on this subject.?

 

            I am an insider on this subject because I have played the game and can criticize by means of the good and                         bad sections.

 

 

 

4.         In two to four sentences complete the following, which should describe your target audience in specific terms: class, gender, race, age, educational level, geographical location and the like.

 

            My target readers are gamers.

 

 

            I have chosen this specific audience because I know what they look for in a game.

 

 

5.         Complete the following statements that indicate (a) the purpose that you want to achieve in writing this essay for this specific audience and (b) the response you expect from this audience.        

 

            My purpose in writing this essay is to inform and persuade my readers that I am correct.

 

 

            I hope my audience will respond by agreeing with what I have to say about the game.

 

 

6.         Complete the following sentence to indicate what value your essay holds for its readers.

 

            My readers will benefit from reading this essay by gaining the insight of the game.

 

 

7.         In a word or phrase, identify the role you are playing as the author of this essay:  Are you writing in your role as a university student, new parent, concerned citizen, dedicated worker, or what?

            I am writing as a game critique.

 

 

8.         In a complete sentence, state your thesis.  Be sure that this statement is the same thesis that appears in your essay.

 

            It was only natural that when video games became a mainstream form of competitive entertainment, sports games had to follow.

 

 

Nadib Al-Islam

Dr. Robert Leston

ENG1000C- 123

April 23, 2008

Peer Review Draft: Writing a Critical Review

NBA Live 2008

It was only natural that when video games became a mainstream form of competitive entertainment, sports games had to follow. Basketball was no exception, though the sport was not as popular back in the day as it is now. The genre was born in the 1970s and over a period of more than 30 years we looking at the freakishly new NBA live 2008 for the HD-ready game systems such as PS3 and Xbox 360. In between the long time period of more than 30 years, there have been many hoop games than you can imagine, many of which were baby steps to what we take as for granted now. Seasons, franchises, real teams, and real players were features that were not feasible or expected on the ancient hardware where gaming was first born. Recently EA has just launched its latest addition to the NBA game series, NBA Live 2008. 

EA (Electronic Arts) is the world’s leading independent developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software for advanced entertainment systems. Since the company was founded in 1982, EA has been a creative leader and today, the company continues to innovate and evolve the interactive entertainment medium. EA markets its products worldwide under four brand logos: EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG, EA and POGO. EA’s broad portfolio of franchises includes global perennial sports blockbusters from its EA SPORTS™ brand including Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer, and NBA Live. Its revenues are worth $ 3.091 billion.

With the production of NBA live of 08, considered to be the latest and greatest NBA game built, brought a lot of excitement. Along with excitement, there were many upgrades and faults if compared to the Live 07 game. The purpose of creating a new chapter every year is to show the improvements made from the pervious year.

One of the biggest differences between the 07 and 08 game was the practice gym. In 07, you had the futuristic look at the gym. There was the big mirror behind your basket which showed your reflection of ball handling, shooting and everything. This year was a total make over. In 08, there is the actual court where you practice by yourself and improve you skills with the lights off. Another difference was the shooting arc created after you shoot the ball. The arc was very high last year, but it seems like an actual shot this year, which adds to your total experience of the game.

This year, the producers of the game mainly focused on the fundamentals of the game; shooting, passing, dribbling, rebounding, dunking and layups. In last year’s edition, the dribbling aspects were terrible. You couldn’t see the basketball touching your hands and seemed as if the ball was on a string. In 08, the dribbling motion seems more realistic and way more responsive; the ball stays in your hand. It’s a piece of cake to perform a crossover, pass the ball, perform a hop-step, and then decide whether to dunk or shoot. This results in a fast-paced game with lots of sharp passing and great finishes. The post up play of the different players can be seen in 08. The makers of the game added little subtleties that define each player where as in the 07 all the players perform the same move. The next big improvement in 08 was the actual presence of defenders around the basket. In 07’s game, you could literally go through as many three defenders and throw down a dunk on the basket. Unlike in 08’ version, the presence of the body of a defender can cause you to change your shot at the very last second. A key improvement in 08 was the default angles of the game. It is actually playable of starters because the default angle has been changed to a more dynamic broadcast-style perspective. It’s easier to see what’s going on.

Just because I am talking about the upgrades do not mean that there is not a downside to the new game. There are also areas, some small and some not-so-small, where NBA Live 08 stumbles. Rebounding is an area that has stayed fairly stagnant since last year. There are slight modifications that have been made so that the ball doesn’t warp into a player’s hands quite as often as it did, but you’ll still see instances of a power forward jumping to clutch a rebound a split second before the ball even hits the rim. Either it’s a flaw in the game or NBA players have suddenly developed some impressive clairvoyance. There’s the new lock-on defense which essentially makes playing defense as easy as holding down the left trigger and maneuvering the left stick a bit. You no longer need to worry about switching players to follow the ball; the game now handles that for you. The whole defensive play experience has been taken out of the player’s hands a bit too much.

Fast break lay-ups are still missed a bit too often, though it’s not nearly as frustrating as it was last year. Developers need to realize that NBA players, at least the upper echelon athletes, do not miss lay-ups, even when contested. Inbounding the ball can be a bit of a challenge for the CPU. On occasion you’ll see five-second violations that shouldn’t happen, and others where you should have been able to steal an inbound pass, but can’t. There’s another issue that stems from inbounding the ball, one that has been in every NBA Live in recent memory; that being a backcourt violation which occurs when tossing the ball in from out of bounds. Anyone who knows the game of basketball knows that this should never happen; no matter where you throw the ball in from, there’s no way that it can result in a backcourt violation, yet it will happen every time in Live 08 if you pass the ball from out of bounds, back over the centerline. One oddity that pops up while selecting your team comes in the form of some mislabeled attributes. The attributes are broken up into adequate categories but things just don’t shape up like they should for example; how the Cavs are said to have no athleticism. LeBron is the second coming of Michael Jordan, and his team has an empty meter for athleticism?

With all those internal aspects being mentioned, we can’t forget about the external one. The offering of game modes has been expanded on a bit. NBA Live 08 offers the FIBA World Championship, an eight-team tournament that pits the mighty USA against the rest of the world. Just because they expanded their game modes, would that mean you are going to have more fun? None of the new game modes really advance the overall NBA Live experience all that much; the Quick Pick Play, for instance, is held back by the fact that the CPU will pick some of the same players as you for its own team.

I personally had a hard time getting used to this game since some of the controls were changed. It was a bit confusing at first, but when you love basketball games, you won’t stop at anything to get better at it.  I am most impressed by the visuals and graphics which portray the realism of the game; you can see really the fine models of players and droplets of sweat. In terms of rating,  I would give the NBA Live 08 an eight out ten.