College Hoops 2K8

The latest and possible the last in the College 2K series. Many improvements are subtle, but the changes and additions to College Hoops 2K8 make it the best game in the series.

Overview

2K Sports' latest College basketball game, developed by Visual Concepts. The game was released on the Xbox 360, and both the Playstation 2 and Playstation 3 on November 19, 2007. College Hoops 2K8 was the last NCAA basketball release by 2K Sports and is still being supported by the company today. Greg Oden was the featured player on the game's cover.

Gameplay & Presentation

Gameplay was slightly modified through the "Maximum Passing" feature. This allowed the player to pass to any on-court teammate at any time, with varying degrees of skill. "PlayVision" was also added, allowing players to run the team as a coach sees it, with the proverbial "X's and O's" sprawled out on the court during game play. The infamous "Lock-On Defense" from the 2K basketball series' was added to 2K8 as well, allowing players to guard a player with ease; by pressing one button and holding it down.

Presentation was slightly changed, mostly in the manner that coaches were not named in the game. This is because 2K did not have the rights to publish the official coaches in-game, and therefore they are referred to as "coach". The announcers for the game were the same as in the past, featuring Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery.

Albeit the game only comes with the 2008 college rosters, many unofficial rosters have been released each respective year since release by other members of the community via the 2K Share feature.

The game also suffered from frame rate issues on the Playstation 3, particularly when the vast amount of polygonal models in the crowd stood up.

Improvements for the 2008 Season

All-American Training Challenge

Improve your game skills in the All-American Training Challenge. The all-new practice mode pits you against some of college basketball's greats to test key passing, shooting, and defensive abilities in a series of drills and duels. Challenge the likes of Mike Conley, Glen Davis, Greg Oden, J.J. Redick, Al Thornton, Alando Tucker and Julian Wright to complete each drill and advance to the next challenge. Track your high scores and best times to measure your improvement, or compare stats against other aspiring All-Americans in multiplayer mode.

6th Man Advantage

Excite your home team crowd like never before. Get the energy of your fans behind you to fill up the 6th Man Meter. Once it is full, your team will get a surge of strength, confidence and hustle while your opponent's confidence will be rattled.

Play Designer

Got a new play on your sleeve? Play Designer allows you to create your own plays and run them exactly the way you want to. Save your plays into a custom playbook and use that playbook to your advantage.

Improved Legacy Mode

College Hoops 2K8 over-delivers on Legacy Mode as always, adding such exclusives features as Amateur Basketball Leagues, Create-a-Recruit, user controlled player progression and more.

2K Share

2K Share lets you save and swap your customized settings with friends online. Create your own rosters, school chants, customized playbooks, Legacy files, and game sliders, then share them with other players to expand your all-around college experience.

Game Modes

Legacy

With Legacy mode you can create a new legacy or load an existing one, labeled through either "Open Legacy" or "Career Legacy", respectively. In Career Legacy the goal is to take a relatively unknown team and improve them until they are national champions. In Open Legacy the player can enroll in any school and begin their basketball journey. Both modes allow you to recruit players from the High School level.

Pontiac Tournament

Create a new tournament and see who can make it to the final game. Do you have what it takes to lead your squad to the championship?

College Hoops Classic

Live this premiere preseason tournament with the four exciting host schools - UCONN, Memphis, Kentucky, and Oklahoma.

All-American Training Challenge

See the New for College Hoops 2K8 section for more information on the All-American Training Challenge.

Coach Mode

This mode is based on your skills as a coach rather than your skills on the court. Are you the floor general that can lead your school to victory?

Tutorial

Follow the instructions that teach you how to do each move in the game and master the control scheme.

Practice

Work on your game in Practice mode. Run plays and find out how to best use your team.

Discontinuation

In 2008, 2K Sports announced that it had declined the option to pursue the license for any future releases and was discontinuing the series, citing low sales. This led to EA Sports acquiring the college basketball license.