It knocked EA Sports’ NBA Live series out for the count in 2010 (although they’re making a comeback this year) and has been to go-to for NBA simulation for a decade-plus. NBA 2K had been my preferred NBA game series ever since the original came out in 1999 for the Sega Dreamcast.

It’s time to take NBA 2K13 for a spin and see how it holds up. If EA was to release something bad against “NBA 2K13,” that would probably hurt future earnings more than not releasing anything at all this year.One of my favorite (and most conflicted, as I will detail in an upcoming article) game series’ latest entry has it’s demo out of Xbox 360 now. It would take something special for that to happen, though, and with that line of thought it kind of makes sense that EA wouldn't put out something until it is very happy with it and convinced it's actually good enough to make a dent with a free pre-release demo. Of course, one could argue that “NBA Live” was once the king of this space before “NBA 2K” came in to win people over, and so it is very possible that a usurper could once again rise. The folks who play NBA video games, right now, are buying “NBA 2K,” and EA would be hard-pressed to take away much of its market share with whatever it puts out next year, because how many people are going to invest in two basketball simulators in the same year when they'll be happy with the one they've been enjoying greatly for the past four years or longer? You have to wonder if there is even a point in EA continuing to struggle to produce an NBA title. The 2K franchise, unlike most sports titles, receives universal critical acclaim, making it a must-buy for sports fans every year, and not just because it's the only game in town.

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