2K Sports adds historic modes to NBA 2K12

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Taking the Jordan Challenge and multiplying it by fifteen

It%26rsquo;s not often that we directly influence big-time sports games around here, but clearly that%26rsquo;s what happening now. After years of begging (here and here for starters), NBA 2K12 is going full-on historic on us. The eagerly anticipated follow-up to last year%26rsquo;s amazing game is introducing %26ldquo;NBA%26rsquo;s Greatest%26rdquo;, a new mode that puts us in the sneakers of 15 all-time hoops legends in their proper contextual setting.

In other words, this ain%26rsquo;t just a bunch of %26ldquo;legendary%26rdquo; players all ballin%26rsquo; it up on the same court like we%26rsquo;ve seen a million times. We%26rsquo;ll get Dr. J in short-shorts flying over a hapless Paul Mokeski (look him up, people) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar grumpily tossing sky hooks past Robert Parrish. According to 2K Sports, there will be era-specific rules and television-style presentations that%26rsquo;ll make it feel even more old-school.

This is great news for several reasons. Old-school hoops fans finally get a (hopefully) much more realistic experience of classic teams, kids can develop an appreciation for players they%26rsquo;ve never seen, and in the event of a long NBA lockout, NBA 2K12 will have an appeal that doesn%26rsquo;t depend on having updated rosters and a few slick new tweaks to the game. Not to mention our lawyers are going to call up 2K Sports to make sure we get a cut of the royalties.

Aug 5, 2011