NBA LIVE '08 FREE Demo of up XBL Marketplace!

Basketball fans should start up their 360s just about now as Microsoft has just made available a playable demo of NBA LIVE 08 up on the service. The demo of course is free, but you won't have many teams to choose from. The demo of NBA LIVE 08 features just two playable teams: the Cleveland Cavaliers and the San Antonio Spurs.

According to xboxusersgroup.com, a similar downloadable demo is also on the way for the PS3, available via the PlayStaion Store. Here's what the site posts: "A full playable demo of NBA LIVE 08 for the Xbox 360 is now available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Play as the Cleveland Cavaliers or San Antonio Spurs and experience NBA basketball at its best before it ships to a store near you. If it's the International game you crave, suit up as France or Spain under our new FIBA. On the perimeter, in the paint, and with complete authenticity to the sport of basketball, dominate with your Go-To Move with NBA LIVE 08. A PS3 downloadable demo is also coming soon to the PLAYSTATION Store."

It has been confirmed that the full game is going to be available in stores Tuesday, October 2nd, under EA's label (of course). I've listed some gameplay features below:

￭ All-New Quickstrike Ballhandling
￭ Own the Paint
￭ See Who's Hot and Who's Not
￭ Dominate with Your Go-To Move
￭ A New Look and Feel
￭ All-New Shooting Mechanics
￭ The NBA Goes Live
￭ Like Butter

Having played the demo myself, all I can say is that basketball games still have a lot of evolving to do. How come that everything is in the right place with basketball games, except for how the player shoots? The shot looks absolutely horrible sometimes and while I have to admit I've just given it a quick go, there seems to be no way to make the player jump straight up and shoot.

Why do the players have to jump forward? That's not how it's done... Surely, there's a way to shoot jumping straight up, jumping to the back and to the front, but I just couldn't find it. And don't even get me started on how difficult it is to just steal the ball on rookie.

Overall though, the game does have good looks and a good control scheme. Replays also look quite spectacular. But why don't you experience everything with your own eyes? Oh, and leave a comment if you find out how to jump straight up and shoot.