September 27, 2006 - The NBA 2K series made its Xbox 360 debut last year and brought along all the features and modes that fans loved in current generation versions.

This year, NBA 2K7 brings the usual upgrades you might expect like enhanced visuals, but packs in a ton more features. To help guide you through the highlights, we put together this Virtual Tour. This isn't an instruction manual, so nitty gritty items like every option won't be discussed. Just the hearty meat and potatoes of what you should dig into when you start to play for yourself.

Let's start with the Game Modes. Of course you always have the option of jumping straight into a match with Quick Game, or perhaps loosen up in Practice, Situation, or Street mode. Situation is especially interesting because it let's you recreate almost any match-up and condition you want.



The mode that you really want to give some attention to is The Association. It's just insane how deep it is. First off, you can have up to eight other players managing their own franchises with everyone interacting. This is key since trades can now be conducted between three teams instead of the usual two we've seen for years



Choose your team and study your roster carefully. You'll want to get a good idea of what your needs are, players you're willing to trade, and developing the skills of the core guys who'll be with the club for a couple of years. The balance of this squad is even more important since the game now has progressive fatigue. Gone are the days you can put the same starting five on the floor for long minutes the entire season.



As in real life, the budget is always going to be a factor in everything you do. After you get all your ducks in order, it's time to hit the court. Either take control of individual games or simulate them. It's very useful to use the sim a week or two when you want to check how effective your player development and trades have been. There's plenty more to explore in Association, but that should give you a good idea of what's waiting for you.

Of course you can always play the regular Season mode that does away with the intense management or simply put together a custom Tournament with a group of friends.



Next up on the menu is 24/7: Next. As the name implies, it's very different this time out. A full-fledged story packed with NBA superstars awaits. They'll teach you the some fancy moves along your journey to making it. You'll definitely want to utilize the Create Player feature before starting. With 80 sliders for the face alone, you should be able to re-create yourself like never before in videogame form.