Last week, I got the chance to speak with Erick Boenisch (lead feature designer) and Rob Jones (gameplay director) for NBA 2K10. We talked about whether or not it’s worth buying sports games every year, non-sports games that have influenced the NBA 2K series, copious amounts of missed lay-ups, Kobe Bryant, and more.

Bitmob: If you do a Google search for “NBA 2K8 missed layups” there are over 85,000 results. If you do the same search for NBA 2K9 there are 19,900. You certainly must be aware that this is an issue, yet based on my time with the game so far, there’s a boatload of missed lay-ups in the game this year. What’s the deal?

2K Sports Rob: I wouldn’t say there’s a boatload of missed lay-ups in 2K10. We spent a ton of time going through and actually analyzing every single shot we had and giving it an actual percentage based on how hard we though the shot was, distance, and that particular player’s ability.

Bitmob: That sounds like what I’ve heard you guys say before. I’m playing My Player mode and my guy totally stinks. He’s missing layups left and right.

2K Sports Erick: That’s intentional. That’s the whole point of the mode -- we wanted to give you the feeling of taking that scrub player all the way down the path of becoming an NBA superstar. It’s intended that you’re going to be a low-rated player at the beginning of your career. Being low rated, you’re going to miss shots that other NBA players would definitely make.

2K Sports Rob: I do understand that we’re stretching reality -- there’s nobody at an NBA camp that’s going to be as bad as your player when you first get started. But if we don’t do that, you can’t appreciate your progression. It’s skewed to be very heavily against you as you progress.

Bitmob: Being around the ball less is one major difference between playing as just one player in My Player mode, and playing as five different players in a regular game. I was worried the mode could be boring, but I’m having a great time with it. How hard is to make sure the game remains interesting when the ball’s not in your hands?

2K Sports Rob: I think it’s partially the objectives that you’re given before each game, and making sure that they’re centered around you being a part of a team. The end result isn’t just an individual effort -- every play matters.

If you become invested in your player, the mode becomes a lot more interesting. When you get penalized for allowing your man to score, it makes you mad.You start to feel like that guy is you and you react like it.

Bitmob: This is the eleventh game in the series. Do you feel it’s realistic to expect people to buy sports games every year?

2K Sports Rob: As long as there’s room to improve -- to make the game more realistic – then we haven’t hit the ceiling. I think the person that buys our game every year wants to try out the new improvements.

The problem is that when you reach that ceiling -- as some games have -- the year-to-year improvements become solely cosmetic. At that point, as a consumer, I’d just skip that version.

Bitmob: Among the many things included in NBA 2K10’s special edition are a poster of Kobe Bryant and a Kobe figurine. He’s on the game’s box and the disc as well. I hate Kobe. Why should I buy this?

2K Sports Rob: (Laughing) I don’t have an answer for that one. I think the making-of video is really cool. You could throw out the Kobe-related elements, or sell them, I guess.

Bitmob: The collector’s edition gives you special access to an online VIP room. You let people that purchased the separate NBA Draft Combine get a head-start on creating their player in My Player mode. That player can be taken online, which gives them an immediate advantage over someone who just purchased NBA 2K10 and hasn’t improved their player. Is that fair? Did you consider that ahead of time?

2K Sports Rob: Yes, we considered this. One of the incentives to purchase the Draft Combine is that you get a head start. Yes, it’s an advantage.

Bitmob: What’s one non-sports game that you’ve drawn inspiration from?

2K Sports Erick: One of the first games that pushed me to innovate controls in a sports game was the original Ape Escape, because they were doing so much without the use of face buttons. For the Wii version of NBA 2K10, I tried to figure out if any of the stuff I did in Zack and Wikimade sense to bring into the game. You’ve got to be mindful that it’s still a sports game, but you want to see if your control ideas work in the game and experiment a bit.

2K Sports Rob: I’m a huge Japanese RPG player. I’ve been a huge fan of the Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior series as well as the Baldur’s Gate games. I drew from how those games level-up your character when I was designing 2K’s My Player mode. You play games, you earn skill points, and you apply those points to upgrade certain skills. Our influences definitely aren’t limited to the sports world.

Bitmob: What’s something you’ve created or designed that you’re really proud of, yet for whatever reason, hasn’t clicked with reviewers and/or fans?

2K Sports Erick: The shot stick. We’re proud of it because we feel that it conveys a level of control that we couldn’t otherwise deliver. Yet there are a lot of people out there that want us to go back to the face button. I feel like you get a lot more satisfaction using the stick to decide exactly what shot you want versus hitting a button and letting the computer decide.

I know that there are a ton of people that like it, but there’s certainly a faction that don’t. We need to expand it to make sure everyone sees the same value in the mechanic that we do.

Bitmob: Anything else you’d like to add?

2K Sports Rob: We think NBA Today is the most innovative feature in a sports game this year. Every day you boot up the console we’ll take you to the NBA Today landing page that already has that day’s real-world matchups setup for you and ready to go. The second you jump into the game you’re going to notice that the commentary is using real data based on what’s actually happening in the NBA -- stats, trades, and playoff races.

2K Sports Erick: I’m really excited about the NBA Today feature, as well. Not only for what we’ve done with it this year, but its potential going forward in sports games. If we keep doing things where you’re integrating what’s really happening in the world of sports with a video game, you’re really enriching the experience of the user. I’m excited about the future of this feature.

Bitmob: Thank you very much for your time and good luck with the game’s launch.

Editor’s note: We had a system where Rob and Erick were supposed to say their name at the beginning of each response, but after a few minutes we forgot all about it. As a result, some quotes might be attributed to the wrong person. Oops!