NBA 2K12 Legends Showcase DLC is now available for $10 via PlayStation Network and for 800 Microsoft Points via Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
“2K Sports is committed to supporting NBA 2K12 by providing fans with exciting and engaging downloadable content,” said Greg Thomas, president of product development for 2K Sports. “We’re proud to present Legends Showcase as the first add-on package for the franchise. The new modes and legends will provide NBA fans with even more content to satisfy their professional basketball fix.”
NBA 2K12 Legends Showcase DLC Game Modes include:
2v2 Teammate Challenge
Find out who the greatest teammate pairing of all-time is. You choose from one of 15 preset duos and try to take out the rest in games to 11. From MJ-Pippen to Bird-McHale to Wilt-West, you can try your luck with some of the best individual players paired up or go with a team like Stockton-Malone that is best known for playing together. Or maybe you have a soft spot for one of the more recent pairs, like Kemp-Payton, LJ-Zo, or Hardaway-Mullin, all of whom are tons of fun to play with. And let’s not forget my personal favorite team of Shaq-Penny. With all the different styles of play and interesting strengths and weaknesses of the teammate pairs, there are so many ways you can challenge yourself when approaching this mode. And as an added bonus, once you’ve beaten the 2v2 Teammate Challenge, all of the players in the NBA’s Greatest mode become unlocked for use in NBA: Creating a Legend mode. Much like you were able to bring MJ into today’s NBA in NBA 2K11, you can now see how Bill Russell or Oscar Robertson would fare in the current game.
3v3 Era Challenge
The 3v3 Era Challenge is structured a lot like the 2v2 Teammate Challenge. Here, however, players are grouped by era, with two teams of three players from each decade of the NBA represented (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s). Again, you choose from one of these teams and battle it out against the rest to see which era comes out on top. You can go old school with Russell-West-Oscar, well-rounded with Robinson-Pippen-Stockton, or stay a bit more current with Duncan-Dirk-Kobe. Once you’ve made it past each of those teams, you get one final test against the newest generation of NBA stars. Take those last two teams out, and you’ll unlock the ability to use the NBA’s current stars throughout the Legends Showcase.
H-O-R-S-E
H-O-R-S-E is one of my personal favorite parts of the DLC. It’s pretty much exactly what you would think – use the Legends players in a game of trick shots to see who can come out on top. What’s most exciting about this mode is that it’s something very different from anything we’ve done before. Not only did we motion capture a wide variety of trick shots (some of which are standard H-O-R-S-E shots and others which are a little more creative), we also allow you to move freely throughout the environment and shoot from pretty much anywhere. If you want to try a desperation heave from over 100 feet away, go for it. And to take it a step further, we even added several specific locations for shots where you are interacting directly with the environment, like on top of the basket stanchion or on top of the stage used intros. We leave it up to you to discover those spots as you’re exploring the environment.
Because of the nature of H-O-R-S-E shots being so different from regular jump shots, we wanted to use a completely new mechanic here that better reflected the difference between an easy shot and an extremely difficult one. First, you decide which shot you want to take and from what part of the environment. Then, determine the shot’s arc (anything from a flat beeline to a steep rainbow). And finally, as your shot is initiated, follow the power meter as it travels along the arc and stop it in the designated sweet spot. The general difficulty of the shot, the distance from the basket, and the players’ abilities all factor in to how fast the power meter is moving, so make sure you’re prepared to react quickly if you decide to do something like a drop kick from the other end of the court. And just like on the playground, you can call a bank shot or a swish (or the vaunted bank/swish combo) to add some additional flair to your shot. Bank shots will be more difficult to make, of course, and you better get your arc and timing just right if you want to hit nothing but net.
Think of it like the old Jordan vs. Bird McDonalds commercial come to life, only with a Times Square cell-shaded twist and way more competitors to choose from. All in all, it’s an interesting departure from everything else that’s available and more centered around standard basketball and it’s a mode we had a lot of fun putting together.
Game of 21
With all of the Legends available in an outdoor fantasy environment with a street sort of feel to things, we felt like it made a lot of sense to include 21 as one of the available options. With all of the standard rules from needing to hit 21, it’s a fun representation of the classic playground game we all remember playing as kids. And with the opportunity to pit MJ vs. Dr. J vs. Kobe vs. LeBron or whatever insane match-up you can think of, there are all sorts of possibilities. One of my favorite things to do is take a player like Kobe and go up against Russell, Olajuwon, and Mutombo. Just seeing those three guys lined up, knowing you’ll have to beat of them to get to the hole, is pretty intimidating.
Pick-Up Game
Pick-Up Game is pretty much what it sounds like. This is the mode where you have the most freedom to create whatever match-ups you want with plenty of customizable rules option to select from. You can play from 1-on-1 up to 5-on-5 with the ability to choose what you want for things like Difficulty, Game Style (Casual or Simulation), Winning Score (5-50), Clear Ball (On or Off), Win By 2 (On or Off), and Winners Outs (On or Off). This is the best place to really determine who is the best player of all-time. Once you’ve unlocked the current NBA players, you can do things like pit Kobe vs. Jordan, Howard vs. Wilt, or Oscar vs. LeBron. One of the other things I like to do here is play all-time franchise teams against each other. For example, you can run out a Lakers Five of Magic-Kobe-Worthy-Gasol-Kareem against a Bulls 5 of Rose-MJ-Pippen-Rodman-Gilmore. And if you really want to mix things up, try a trio of Shawn Bradley-Gheorghe Muresan-Mark Eaton against Muggsy Bogues-Spud Webb-Nate Robinson and see what happens.
About NBA 2K12
The NBA 2K franchise is back and bigger than ever, providing fans with the opportunity they’ve always dreamed of – to finally END THE DEBATE as to who are the best teams and players of all time. Featuring such NBA legends as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird as well as all of your favorite NBA players of today, NBA 2K12 will be packed with new and exciting features that will be revealed in the weeks and months ahead that, come October 4th, will put fans center court of an unprecedented basketball experience.
Release Date: October 4, 2011
Publisher: 2K Sports
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, PS2, PSP, Wii, Nintendo DS