Developers Saber Interactive promised to add to and improve NBA Playgrounds after the game’s release, and now in keeping with that they’ve released the first major patch on Xbox One. Let’s break it down for all you ballers…
The biggest new feature to arrive is in regards to challenging friends and specific players online to a game of hoops. All that’s needed to directly challenge another player via the Challenge feature is a code for you both to enter and voila, an unranked game can occur. Those players currently put off playing ranked games due to quitters will be glad to know that deliberate disconnections from the matches will be penalised from now on. Voice chat is enabled too.
There’s also a relatively significant change to the shooting system, meaning that the timing has been redone and a meter is present. This tweak impacts on every type of shot; from three pointers and layups, to jump shots and dunks. So the previous confusion of when to release a shot should no longer be an issue.
Update 1.1.0 doesn’t just ensure an influx of improvements and fixes though, as more players have been added to the roster too, 15 in fact. Ballers will also find Shaquille O’Neal in player packs rocking outfits for five other teams he’s played for throughout his career – Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic.
The entire list of new players are as follows…
Dennis Rodman | Isaiah Thomas | Larry Bird | Giannis Antetokoumnpo | Kenny Smith | Gary Payton | Klay Thompson | Devin Booker | Tony Parker | Kemba Walker | Seth Curry | Tiny Archibald | John Starks | Tracy McGrady | Pete Maravich
If you still haven’t grabbed NBA Playgrounds as of yet, give our review a read to find out how good it is. For those who already own it, be sure to have a gander at full list of other tweaks, amendments and fixes included in this update:
Notable Changes
– Adjusted: Shots were adjusted to make the system more accessible and unified throughout all variations
– Adjusted: Timing for layups and 2-pointers from under the hoop was adjusted. Layups are now easier to perform, and players with low stats for 2-pointers are slightly better than before
– Adjusted: The steal action was adjusted to better fit the intended gameplay
o It is now possible to perform a steal action when behind an opponent
– Changed: The Stars Lottery Pick will only be awarded if a team is at least 6 points behind
– Changed: 3 pointers no longer fill lottery pick bar
– Improved: Rebounding accuracy improved
– Improved: The online matchmaking algorithm
– Increased: The duration of the 3 points x2 Lottery Pick was increased
– Increased: The difficulty of 3 pointers was increased
– Reduced: The duration of the Stars Lottery Pick was reduced
– Reduced: The number of steals required for the Las Vegas Challenge #2 was reduced to 10 (was 15)
– Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the Paris Challenge #4 was reduced to 6 (was 7)
– Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the London Challenge #1 was reduced to 6 (was 10)
– Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the Las Vegas Challenge #3 was reduced to 8 (was 12)
– Reduced: The inbound time was reduced to adjust it to the overall style of the gameNotable Fixes
– Fixed: An issue that occasionally caused the ‘Lighting Ball Lottery Pick’ not to score from longer distances was fixed
– Fixed: A misspelling of a player’s name was corrected
– Fixed: An issue that prevented users from seeing off-screen markers sometimes was fixed
– Fixed: Several desync issues in bad network connection scenarios were addressed
– Fixed: A problem where a dunk could score after the match ended was solved
– Fixed: Several problems that made the ball getting stuck on the top of the backboard were fixed
– Fixed: A problem that prevented the ball from stop spinning after scoring was fixed
– Fixed: A problem in which failed dunks could score if the teammate was performing an alley-oop was fixed
– Fixed: Issues related to the strength of the force feedback effects were addressed
