NBA Live 13: These Screens Show Where We’re Headed (PHOTOS)

Once upon a time I was convinced that the rebirth of EA SPORTS' NBA Live 13 --it's been three years since EA SPORTS' last NBA sim-- would be one of the biggest stories in sports games if not games in general. I'm not so sold on that now given Live 13's appearance at E3. It's not that NBA Live didn't look good, it's that NBA Live only looked good. The character models (meaning how accurate the players look) have been the focus of everything EA SPORTS has shown so far.

We had a brief eyes-on preview but the animation and basketball "infrastructure" of the game were both very rough and not really worth evaluating....and that's for Live 13's own good. Yes you can see Kevin Garnett's jaw jutting out and read the text on LeBron James' tattoo. That's all wonderful for screenshots like the ones we have for you here. However, if we slide into August or September and EA is still talking about how good the players look, as opposed to groundbreaking basketball controls or A.I., NBA Live 13 is in trouble.