EA SPORTS: After the revolutionary Freestyle Control last year, you?ve added 10-man Freestyle this year. What exactly does that mean, and how will it affect gameplay?

Gary Lam: 10-Man Freestyle is our process of getting the motion of all 10 players on the court to reflect what happens in a basketball game. Until now, the majority of basketball titles have focused on two primary players: the ball-handler and the defender. There are eight other players on the court who are also involved in the game. While we (and other games) have focused minor attention to these other players, it has been minimal. As a result, you get a real static feel to the half-court offense. Guys don't move around as much as they should, players rarely call for passes, etc.

To address this, we decided to take the traditional motion-capture process and multiply it. NBA Live 2004 will be the first sports game to utilize a 10-Man Motion Capture process.

The real benefit from using this process is that you get much more realistic motion that is in context. Say, for example, you want an animation of the off-ball defender keeping an eye on his man while also cheating into the lane. In the past, you would say to your motion capture talent, "pretend you're cheating into the lane?" This is odd for an athlete since you're asking him to "act" if he were in a game situation. What you get is decent motion, but the performance is usually pretty unspectacular. This is where the 10-Man Freestyle becomes valuable. When you suit up ten guys and have them essentially play five-on-five against each other, you get that effort and energy that is sometimes lacking in the typical shoot.

When you play NBA Live 2004, pay close attention to all of the motion of the guys off the ball. There are hundreds of these animations that we were able to have because of 10-Man Freestyle.

EA SPORTS: Is it true that you?ve refined Freestyle Control to include individual signature moves? If so, what can we expect to see?

Gary Lam: Players will have specific Freestyle Control moves depending on who they are and what position they play, as well as their relative skills and attributes. For example, let's look at Allen Iverson versus Derek Fisher. Both are small-ish guards but AI plays with a much flashier style than Fisher, who is more of a solid "fundamentals" kind of player who goes about his job in a workman-like manner. Not too showy but he gets the job done. That will be reflected in NBA Live 2004.

The other thing that's new is in the "big man" Freestyle Control moves. No longer will you have Shaq or Yao Ming doing the same moves as T-Mac or Vince Carter. Shaq and Yao will hold the ball differently to take advantage of their size. They will also be much less effective with their jab steps and other Triple Threat moves. Big men will, however, have much more effective Freestyle Control moves in the post. In NBA Live 2004, you will be rewarded for getting the ball to the right man in the right situation. Don't try and go coast to coast with Shaq and crossover into the paint. You will have much less success this way.

EA SPORTS: How have you improved the animation details (like facial features, hair, tattoos, body shapes, etc)?

Gary Lam: We always update the little details wherever we can. NBA players don't have helmets and pads to hide their bodies and faces. As a result, we have to pay attention to including as many details as possible. Of course, we cannot include everything that has been seen in the NBA. No game can make that claim. I'm sure someone will start a trend in the NBA this upcoming season like T-Mac with the leg sleeve. And I'm sure we will hear from our very passionate fan base about not having this thing or that thing. It's not that we don't know or care. It's that we finish the game in August and there are limits in terms of what we can and cannot accomplish by then.

EA SPORTS: How easy will it be to call offensive and defensive plays and sets?

Gary Lam: As easy as the single press of a button. The plays are now on the Directional Pad of the controller. There are 4 plays that you can reconfigure. If you want to have all 4 be presses, you can do that.

EA SPORTS: What do the new announcers, Marv Albert and Mike Fratello, bring to the table?

Gary Lam: They are the top announcing team in the NBA, bar none. Marv Albert is arguably the most recognized voice of basketball. He is to the NBA what John Madden is to the NFL. And on top of that, he has a breadth of sports knowledge that surprised even me. I spend breaks just talking sports with him and the Czar.

And Mike Fratello. The Czar. Here you have a former NBA head coach who is an encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to basketball and the NBA. He also has way more cell phones than any one human should own.

Where these two add value is in their feedback of the game of basketball. They take an active role in making sure that what we record is true to what they would actually say. It'd be kind of odd if we took the Bobbito script from NBA Street Vol. 2 and had Marv and Mike record it. That wouldn't be them. We wanted their personalities to come across in the commentary. If you've ever watched (or heard) a broadcast with Marv and Mike, you'll know that they play off one another very well. They're constantly joking around and having fun doing what they do. This is the performance that we tried to capture.

EA SPORTS: Any cool things like old-school uniforms and teams added into the game?

Gary Lam: The Hardwood Classics (or throwbacks) were a huge hit for us in NBA Live 2003. We have added many more for 2004. Originally, we were planning to include some championship teams from the past. Unfortunately, due to some licensing issues there were way too many players whose rights the NBA could not secure. This would have meant not having some really important players on those championship teams. We didn't think this was good enough for our consumers so we had to make the difficult decision to focus our attention elsewhere in the product.

EA SPORTS: What other enhancements will help NBA LIVE 2004 build on the amazing success and gameplay of NBA LIVE 2003?

Gary Lam: There are way too many things to list. We don't look at each year as a minor upgrade. We try to give our consumers as much as possible. Of course, you do run out of time -- like I have now!