Windows Pro Basketball 2012
Now the Screen is as Exciting as the Game Play
By Glenn Guzzo
Whether you like modern pro basketball or old-school NBA, both are yours in Version 2012 of Strat-O-Matic computer Pro Basketball.
The Windows game has never been more modern. Its new look is an interface with an arena-photo backdrop, an arena-caliber scoreboard (complete with space to display player pictures), an improved court image, and a crisp display that keeps all the content in stable locations.
The added attractions in the new arena are player and championship banners displaying the retired jerseys and the years that titles were won. Strat-O-Matic has carefully researched both so that, no matter which of its more than 50 seasons you are playing, each arena will display the jersey numbers and titles that were won by the home team at that time. Extra cool: You can edit the text to customize it as you please.
The “feel-like-I’m-there” experience is the star of this year’s upgrade.
But there’s more.
Adapting for the new realities of the 2011-12 strike season, SOM has made it possible to use 13 players in a game and to handle more roster transactions throughout the season. In fact, the game company has added transaction files for 15 seasons and updated seven more.
If a strike-shortened season is not your liking, the game offers the choice of the original full schedule. (For that matter, if you just can’t forsake the old interface, you can use that, instead.)
Few modern NBA seasons had a more-anticipated showdown than last year’s Finals showcasing the Miami Heat against the Oklahoma City Thunder. With LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh for Miami against Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden for OKC, there was never a moment when the games lacked a player capable of putting on a show and dominating the action. Now you can re-live that series. Perhaps you can coach James to his first NBA title, or swing the upset with the upstart young Thunder.
Rather take a time-travel trip? Capturing pro basketball history has long been a Strat-O-Matic advantage, so if the modern NBA is not your preference, the old-school seasons available this year are two of the most memorable: The 1969-70 NBA, when the team-oriented New York Knicks led by Willis Reed and Clyde Frazier won the title, and the 1971-72 NBA, when the Los Angeles powerhouse featuring Jerry West and Walt Chamberlain finally won a championship for the Lakers.
However you play, you can share your triumphs with the world. Strat-O-Matic has added Tumblr support to its social-media package that still includes Facebook and Twitter.