Wayback Wednesday: NBA 2K10 Draft Combine
This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! In this feature, we dig into the archives, look back at the history of basketball gaming, and indulge in some nostalgia. Check in every Wednesday for retrospectives and other features on older versions of NBA Live, NBA 2K, and old school basketball video games in general. You’ll also find old NLSC editorials re-published with added commentary, and other flashback content. This week, I’m taking a look back at the NBA 2K10 Draft Combine.
Our journey to the league in NBA 2K’s career modes has taken many forms. We’ve played in Rookie Showcase games, guided Freq from high school through to the pros, experienced a college career with Pres, and took a long road through China and the G League as AI. We’ve even made it to the NBA after leaving basketball behind to be a DJ, and then drawing attention in a streetball tournament. The Draft Combine has been featured in a couple of stories (including NBA 2K20’s tale), serving as another way to prove ourselves on the virtual hardwood and raise our Draft stock.
In the very first iteration of career mode – then called My Player – the combine was the starting point for the whole experience, tipping things off before the full game was even released. The NBA 2K10 Draft Combine offered gamers a sneak peek at the mode as well as an opportunity to get a head start, though only on console. Let’s take a look back…way back…
Released on August 29th, 2009 on Xbox Live and September 3rd on the PlayStation Network, the NBA 2K10 Draft Combine was standalone paid DLC. The Xbox 360 version was available for 400 Microsoft Points, while the PlayStation 3 version cost $4.99. In the Draft Combine, we were able to create a player and complete a series of drills and scrimmages to level them up and improve their prospective position in the Draft. This player and all of the progress that we made could be imported into the full version of NBA 2K10 once it was released. In short, it was a forerunner to what we’ve had more recently with the various versions of The Prelude, set at the Draft Combine.
As I noted – and as has been the case with The Prelude and other NBA 2K demos in recent years – the NBA 2K10 Draft Combine was a console exclusive. Fortunately, this didn’t mean that the PC version missed out on My Player or the Draft Combine entirely, just as content in The Prelude has been in the full versions of recent games. Of course, it meant missing out on an early look at the game and a head start on career mode, as is the case on this generation. The fact that the Combine was paid DLC did soften the blow somewhat, as not everyone was keen to pay for the experience. Also, the separate disc and digital versions possibly could’ve made a PC release difficult.
Appropriately enough, reigning Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose was the “cover player” for the game. After proceeding past the title screen, we’re greeted by the 2K Insider who introduces the game and describes aspects of My Player such as Skill Points. As you create your player, he also interjects with random stories about NBA players, and amusingly scolds you for doing nothing if you leave the game idling. Once you’ve chosen your position and play style, and customised your avatar’s bio, appearance, height, weight, accessories, and shoes, it’s on to the Attack Athletics Gym in Chicago to take part in the 2009 Draft Combine!
These steps are essentially the avatar creation and early stages of the full My Player mode in the retail game, rebranded as a standalone DLC title. The Combine itself also had a trial version in which you can only play a single scrimmage over and over again, without earning any Skill Points or making any kind of progress. In the paid version of the Combine, you’ll run through offensive and defensive drills and play scrimmages with dynamic goals to earn Skill Points, while trying to move up on the mock Draft board. Upon completion of a drill, you’ll receive feedback about your performance and comments from the 2K Insider that may or may not be helpful.
Once you’ve completed six drills, the game is basically over. You’ll see where you’re projected to be picked (and the team that holds that pick), and you can review your overall scouting report to reflect on how you performed. Apart from that, you just had to wait until the full version was released before you could do anything else with your player. You didn’t have to import anyone you created in the Draft Combine of course, but it was obviously a handy way of skipping those early parts of My Player, if you were satisfied with the starting point you’d set up for yourself. Players imported from the Combine DLC also sported a special patch in the retail version of NBA 2K10.
Looking back, I would suggest that 2K had a great idea with the NBA 2K10 Draft Combine. It gave gamers a taste of the new mode, and the notion of being able to carry progress from a demo over into the retail game was a fresh concept. Even the trial version of the Combine – essentially a demo of a demo – was worth downloading if you wanted to find out how the game felt on the sticks, and get a glimpse of what to expect from My Player. The fact that 2K has revisited the idea on this generation speaks for itself. The Prelude has been more extensive, containing part of the story and face scanning capabilities, but the concept remains basically the same.
One key difference between The Prelude and the NBA 2K10 Draft Combine is the price tag. Whereas The Preludes have been free demos, the Combine was paid DLC. At a cost of $4.99 or 400 MSP it wasn’t ludicrously expensive, but in hindsight, it was rather rich of 2K to charge for a brief demo, even if it did provide a head start on the brand new career mode. 2K has admittedly gone on to do much grubbier things as far as squeezing revenue out of basketball gamers, but in a way, the Combine was a sign of things to come. In all fairness, it also proved that a number of gamers were willing to pay for extra content that would one day be useless and inaccessible.
Was the Combine worth it in hindsight? Well, it was a standalone game that could be played while waiting for NBA 2K10 to be released, and it was a fairly comprehensive preview of My Player. It featured all of the animations and player customisation that would be available in NBA 2K10, and again, allowed progress to carry over into the full game. We can question whether it was worth paying $5 for early access, but it was ultimately a success for 2K, and gamers seemed to enjoy it as well. I’ve only ever been able to play the trial version that I was sent, as it wasn’t available in Australia. Thankfully that approach has since changed, along with it becoming a free demo.
Interestingly, it wouldn’t be until NBA 2K17’s Prelude that the idea was revisited. There was no standalone Combine DLC for NBA 2K11, but that arguably wasn’t necessary. Gamers were hooked on the new My Player mode – which would soon be renamed MyCAREER and overtake franchise modes as the flagship experience – and the NBA 2K10 Draft Combine undoubtedly helped in that regard. It likely would’ve been free-to-play had Virtual Currency been around at the time, as I’m sure gamers would’ve offset the cost by purchasing upgrades as we’ve collectively gone on to do. Nevertheless, it could be said that 2K was ahead of the game with the Combine.
Offering a free preview of MyCAREER has been the right move this generation, but looking back, I’d suggest that the NBA 2K10 Draft Combine was a brilliant idea. It successfully hyped My Player, and no doubt generated some extra sales of NBA 2K10 on top of revenue earned from gamers buying the DLC. In hindsight, it doesn’t have great value – especially after several free Preludes – but it’s a sign that the brand was already strong enough for gamers to want to pay for an early taste. Like The Prelude, it didn’t offer much in the way of replay value, but it served its purpose and paved the way for the future, helping to raise NBA 2K’s stock to a consensus number one pick.
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