Long time visitors of the Shack know all about my love for the NBA Live series. However, the majority of my time is spent with the current-gen release, as NBA Live 06 on the 360 wasn't exactly what they'd call "feature rich". The next-gen version of NBA Live 07 aims to fix that. I had a chance to ask next gen producer Tim Tschirner about this year's release.

Shack: The AI system is brand new in this year's release. Why did you decide to go this route?
Tim Tschirner: Re-writing the AI was a necessity for us to be able to get LIVE to the level we know it should be at. We wanted the players to look and feel like real-life athletes that play true to life to their NBA counterparts. These players need to not only move like NBA players, but think like them as well. The old AI system would not allow us to achieve this vision, so it was necessary for us to re-write everything. From shots, to dunks, to rebounds, to passing, to offense, to defense, to the way players move, everything is new. We've been able to lay the foundation for taking LIVE to where it needs to be. We also took on a new animation tool, ANT, which has allowed us to do some pretty amazing things with animations that had not been possible with our old tool. The biggest impact this tool has given us is with our player movement - now our players move like human beings. They have an understanding of their weight and momentum, and will have to plant and cut when changing directions. No longer are they able to warp around the court like a water bug. We're quite excited about what we've been able to accomplish with our AI this year. And we're even more excited about what we'll be able to do in the future.

We also have six new screenshots from the game, and at FileShack you can find movies about the Dynasty Mode and ESPN integration.