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Just a few impressions I have after spending a little quality time with the Xbox 360 demo.

• Right off the bat I noticed a marked upgrade in player models and animations. The game does not feel like NBA Live Lite anymore, though it does resemble it’s pro counterpart more this year than last – without sacrificing the college atmosphere though.
• The Dynamic Update Hub is listed as a new feature on the menu. I imagine this is an expanded version of last year’s Blue Ribbon updating system that really didn’t seem to be put to good use. I wonder if this new system will be utilized more like NBA Live’s dynamic season.
• The controls aren’t all that different. From off the top of my head I know that Motion Movement is a new and welcome addition. Sometimes just setting the offense in motion can open up a shot, esp. when you get stuck late in the play clock with limited options. Motion options can be set before the game as well (there are four different types of motion packages to pick from). The quick strike dribble moves are similar to NBA Live.
• Freestyle passing is quite nice!
• Set the Tempo is back and seems relatively unchanged.
• The commentary isn’t the absolute best I’ve seen, but the CBS Sports integration is a fantastic upgrade over what we had last year. I’m anxious to see the re-tooled ESPN package as well. Gus Johnson and Bill Rafferty talk enough to keep things interesting and the Gus Johnson emotion shines through well. There were some slipups (I was fooling around with controls and found myself down 10-2 yet the guys still said it was a close game. Sure 8 points is “close” in a general sense I suppose, but I was being thoroughly outplayed).
• I like how the camera pulls back to get some of the crowd positioned in front of the camera when the arena really comes alive during big game moments.
• Much like NBA Live, the CPU tends to try (and fail) too many alley-oops.
• Arena player is Blake Griffin – obviously – and the campus background hasn’t changed in this mode since last year.
• As far as settings are concerned – the demo is set to All-Conference right out of the gate, but can be downgraded to Junior Varsity or Varsity or you can play on All-American as well.
• It seems all the camera views were included in the demo. This includes (Broadcast, Broadcast ZOOM, Classic, Overhead, Sideline, Sky Box and Floor).
• I don’t know if it’s my Xbox but a few games had herky jerky moments/transitions in them. I imagine it might be a memory deal and the way it is stored (I had similar issues with Live as my HD is feeling the space squeeze lately). Has this happened to anyone else?
• Someone asked me to post the game controls. I figured this could save people some time from writing them down for reference when they play the game. They are as follows: (OFFENSE: Left Stick – move player; A – Pass; X – Shoot; RT+X – Standing Dunk; Hold B – Pick and Roll; RB – Alley Oop; LT – Icon Pass/Switch; LB (Tap) – Motion Movement; RT – Turbo/Size up; Hold LB – Play Calling; Right Stick – Quick Strike Dribble Movies; D-Pad – Quick Strategy; LT + RS – Freestyle Pass; BACK – Call Timeout. DEFENSE: Left Stick – move player; A – switch players; X – Steal; Y – Block/Rebound; Hold B – Double team; RB – Defensive Assist; RT – Turbo; LT – Icon Switch; Hold LB – Play Calling; Right Stick Up – Hands up; Right Stick Down – Take Charge; D-Pad – Quick Strategy; BACK – Intentional Foul; Click Right Stick – Team Info; X or B – Free Throw Distract.)