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It's not often I lead a piece with an impression, but I feel I should do so here; NBA Live was impressive, and I am left wanting to see more of it. The big news for this game was a statistical system called "Dynamic DNA," which is applied on both the individual and the team level. Dynamic DNA examines real NBA games, and tracks player behaviors and tendencies with the ball. These tendencies translate into strengths for players in NBA Live, which means that if the real Kevin Garnett tends to drop a fallaway jumper from the baseline when he gets the ball on the left low box? Your NBA Live Kevin Garnett is strongest when shooting the fallaway jumper, should he happen to get the ball on the left low box. Virtual reality will reflect NBA reality as accurately as EA can manage.

This data for this system is supplied by Synergy Sports, and creates a complete picture of player performance which will update DAILY when the season starts. Also included is a living "window" that will slide with a player's localized performances. That is to say, when a player goes on a hot streak in REAL NBA GAMES, your avatar in NBA Live will also go on a hot streak, with increased abilities to match. Tremendous amounts of historical data are included, so you can load up particular moments in time and replay games in the context which they were played. Want to stop Kobe Bryant from getting 81 in Toronto? Load up January 22nd, 2006, and away you go! You can also snapshot NBA data at any point in time, so if you enjoy playing as LeBron, and you find a particular point in time where you feel "right" about his playstyle, you can save that one for recall any time you want to use it.

But what if you don't exactly dig the reality that's defined by Synergy's dataset? What of you want to tweak it a bit and create your OWN Ron Artest? What if you think that Yao needs to do a little more isolation and less posting up, so he can break down his opponent with his sweet handles? OK, I can't say that with a straight face, but you COULD change Yao's player tendencies with the DNA editor. You could reduce his reliance on postups and mid-range shots, and have him occasionally cut to the basket. It might not jive with his hot zones, so much, but that won't stop you if you want to do it. Hot zones? Why yes, let me get into hot zones...

At any point, a player can call up an overlay that shows the ball handler's strengths and weaknesses in particular areas of the court. Big guys and cutters/slashers will tend to have "hot zones" near the hoop, so you don't have to stick'em when they've got the ball at the top of the key ... that one's obvious. Much less obvious are some of the perimeter player's hot zones, as they can be stacked fairly heavily to one area of the court, or along a particular drive path that's part of an oft-called set play. Player's with the appropriate strengths can certainly score when not in their hot zones, but not as strongly, so it gives a great idea of what a (video game) player should be doing to utilize or defend a (NBA) player on and around the court. Teams, of course, are loose summations of their players, so "team DNA" also comes into play. Team personalities change depending on what player skillsets are available, so adding, losing, or subbing a player can affect a team's ability to handle various parts of the floor to a high degree. This brings to light Live's roster features.

Synergy's data will obviously reflect if Steve Nash's back flares up and he can't play for the Suns. That loss will update the Suns' team DNA, and remove Nash from availability, just as it would have jacked up his efficiency if he had gone on a hot streak. Can't handle losing Nash? Ignore it. Just use a custom roster and tell the system to keep Nash in play with the last set of data collected. Sure, he won't evolve daily like your other players, but at least he's not on a trainer's table getting rubdowns to loosen up. Custom rosters can be used to create just about any team you want, and provides tremendous flexibility for Dream Team scenarios — and the best part about it is that you're still using REAL data! Team USA wouldn't be a random amalgamation of player stats summed and averaged, it would be a legitimate team DNA created from vast quantities of NBA tracking, and fed into an engine that analyzes what that collection of players' tendencies (and thus strengths) look like.

This creates a level of realism unheard of (to my knowledge) in previous basketball games, and it is VERY cool. But, even moving away from Dynamic DNA as much as it is possible to do so, the gameplay itself in NBA Live '09 has some solid additions in the form of "Lock Down Defense," and its effect on isolation battles as well as pick plays. Synergy data ALSO tracks play tendencies and successes in terms of driving and ball handling, so defenders can get an idea of how to "shade" in man-up defense. This data mixes in with setup dribbling moves and ankle-breakers to create a chess-match system that tells a story of ground gained in drives and defensive counters. Solid defenders can close on dribblers and prevent them from advancing, forcing the offense to react intelligently and run plays ... which leads to the next segment on offensive schema!

Depending on what the defense does, once a pick is set you can see a strong drive, a dish to the roll man, a dish to a "popper," or a pass to a third party set up by the play. All of these are tracked in Synergy. What comes of this is a system where we KNOW that Kobe Bryant passes to Lamar Odom 36% of the time when they run a play from XYZ position on the court, and Live reacts accordingly. That play will be a strong one, but the defense may know this, and if they react to stop it, they will do so ... meaning other options should be available. Once again, we are back to the chess match of playing to strengths, and playing away from them for strategic advantage. The controls for this are simple, at times as simple as a single trigger with a timed release, and this simplicity blends well with the onscreen data feeds and game-tracking elements to create a fantastic looking basketball experience. Further options for gameplay include zone defenses, press coverage and traps, as well as fast break options on rebounding, and set plays from out of bounds. All enhanced with real NBA data. A complete exploration of all of this would take, sadly, more space, time, and knowledge than I am able to provide with only a hands-on and an interview at E3. I didn't even get into the look and feel of the game! I can say that I look forward to a more complete run at NBA Live '09, and eagerly await its release.