NBA Elite (series)

The NBA Elite (formerly NBA Live) series of basketball video games, published by EA Sports, is currently one of the leading National Basketball Association simulations on the market.

NBA Playoffs
The first predecessor of the NBA Elite series was the NBA PLAYOFFS series, which featured Lakers vs. Celtics, released first in 1989 for MS-DOS-compatible PCs and later adapted for consoles in early 1991 for the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis. This game was played from a horizontal view (while later versions moved to an isometric view before ultimately moving to 3D on newer consoles). The game was one of the first to feature an NBA license, containing both real NBA teams and player likenesses and signature moves. Details such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's goggles are clearly visible, and Michael Jordan's "Air Reverse Layup" is animated with very high accuracy. Detailed player numbers were also visible. The game featured only eight of the sixteen teams that qualified for the NBA playoffs that year, as well as both NBA All-Star teams.

The next game in the series was Bulls vs. Lakers, released in 1992, followed by Bulls vs. Blazers in 1993. Unlike the first game, these two releases were titled after the two teams who were in the NBA Finals the previous season, while the original release apparently chose the Lakers and Celtics due to both teams' historical success. Each revision added more teams and players, as well as more signature moves. The series also included an Olympic basketball game, Team USA Basketball (1992) which uses the same engine. The final game in the series was NBA Showdown 94 for SNES before the transition to the NBA Live series.

NBA Live
The second predecessor of the "NBA Elite" series, the NBA Live series was originally released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and SNES with NBA Live 95. The naming was changed from utilizing the last two digits of the year to the entire year number from 2000–2005, but returned to the original naming convention with NBA Live 06.

The Create-A-Player feature was not available in the 1995 versions of the game, but have been a mainstay since NBA Live 96. NBA Live 98 in 1997 was the last NBA Live game for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and the SNES. NBA Live 98 also was the first NBA Live series game to support 3Dfx graphic cards. Only first generation Voodoo and Voodoo Rush cards were officially supported.

Starting from NBA Live 2000, the series featured NBA Live Legend All-Stars Teams, that included some biggest names from five decades (50s to 90s). These teams could be used instantly, but to use the players as regular players (e.g. traded, played on regular NBA Teams) they needed to be unlocked. Along the series, some of the rosters were changed due to many reasons as Michael Jordan was on the 90's team through 2004 and then, Spud Webb and Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Tom Chambers were added to the rosters in NBA Live 06.

NBA Live 2005 brought the addition of the Freestyle Air, NBA All-Star Weekend which includes the Rookie Challenge, Three Point Shootout, Slam Dunk Contest, and the NBA All-Star Game, and Freestyle Challenge which 2 players or more can play the Three Point Shootout or the Slam Dunk Contest.

NBA Live 06 was released on September 26, 2005 for the Xbox 360, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, PC, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2 Mobile. It features Dwyane Wade as the cover athlete.

NBA Live 07 was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC, PlayStation Portable, and the Xbox360. The major new feature for this year was an evolution of the freestyle superstars system.

NBA Live 08 was released October 2, 2007 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Wii and PC and Gilbert Arenas is the cover athlete. This was the last edition of NBA Live to be available on Windows.

NBA Live 09 was released on October 7, 2008 and Tony Parker is the cover athlete. The game is available for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, and Wii. It features the first concept of daily updates changing stuff like tendencies, rosters, and hot-cold streaks. The PS2 game featured Dynamic DNA, Be a Pro Mode which you create a player and put him in the NBA (Be a Pro is also in EA Sports NHL and FIFA series and its similar to Madden's Superstar Mode), a deeper practice mode, expanded FIBA world championships, Hot Spots 2.0 and an improved dynasty mode.

NBA Live 10 was released on October 6, 2009 and the cover athlete was Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic. NBA Live games have been released for the Sega Genesis, Super NES, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Sega Saturn, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Windows, PlayStation Portable and most recently with the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

The final game in the series was NBA Live 10, before being renamed NBA Elite.

NBA Elite
In 2010, the NBA Live series was branched into two series: the NBA Elite series for Xbox 360 and PS3 plus the NBA Jam series for Wii.