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While NBA Live 14's first patch includes fixes for some of the game's notable problems, its more important role is to facilitate the major changes developer EA Tiburon promised last month, according to a blog post from the studio today.
The title update, which was released Dec. 19 for both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of NBA Live 14, "sets the table for both small changes now and big changes down the road," said executive producer Sean O'Brien. Included in the patch are some improvements that should be immediately apparent to players, such as tweaks to the timing required to hit a jump shot (both offline and online), a reduced frequency of outside shots that get blocked and a fix for an audio bug with crowd noise in the Big Moments mode.
Publisher Electronic Arts released NBA Live 14 on Nov. 19 — four days after the launch of the PS4 and three days prior to the launch of the Xbox One — to a poor reception. On Nov. 22, the game's developers penned an open letter to acknowledge they had disappointed fans, and to say that they would make significant improvements "in the coming weeks and months" to elements like graphics and animation.
The biggest piece of NBA Live 14's first patch is an under-the-hood technology change that will allow the developers to release updates more quickly — to "update and add content such as gameplay tuning, new animations, audio and visual assets directly to you as they become available," said O'Brien. He added that Tiburon plans to say more about its plans for the aforementioned significant improvements once the new year rolls around.
"It was important to get this first content update in place, to not only provide fans with new content and game improvements as we head into the holidays, but to also put in place the pieces of technology we need to roll out some of the new additions that will be coming next year. We've promised to deliver an improved experience, and feel this is the first step down that road," explained O'Brien.
