Hot out of the oven and freshly available on the XBLM to most Live members (except some European countries and Japan) is a brand spanking new NBA Live 08 demo. This basketball demo-o-fun clocks in at a mere 562MBs and we're guessing it features lots of enjoyable basketball gameplay. Although, we will not be held accountable if the demo turns out to be a dud.

Get your download on, give it a whirl and maybe, just maybe you'll get a shoe named after you or your favorite Xbox news site if your skills are unrivaled. We can see it now ... Air-Fanboys FTW!

As children, the entirety of what we knew about the game of basketball was gleaned from NBA Jam and Slam Dunk Ernest. As such, you can imagine our confusion when we played the new demo for NBA Live 08 now "hooping it up" as the kids say, on Xbox Live. We asked aloud, why is our head so small? Why does the ball never catch flame? Where is the angel version of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar bearing a pair of magical sneakers?

Sadly, NBA Live 08 seems to have little to do with real basketball, seeming to focus on "passing" and "shooting" mechanics rather than "fly towards the hoop for a dunk while making a sandwich in mid-air" mechanics. We hope you can still find some redeeming qualities.

Today is apparently sports day here at PS3 Fanboy and you know what? That's just fine. Next, we've got a glimpse of the latest entry in the NBA Live franchise -- this one brings us into the '08 realms of dribbling goodness. We hope. Ever since getting moved onto the 360, let's face it, EA hasn't tried very hard to make the best of the new hardware. The games have been lackluster, lacking polish, lackadaisical, lack-a-lack-a-lack... you get the idea. They've not been the best they could be. So where's '08 going that the previous entries didn't, aside from to the PS3?

Back to basics. Before adding any crazy control gimmicks, EA is building the game from the basics up. Vastly improved character animations, ball physics (passing and shooting, etc), improved framerate, not to mention the characters actually appeared to walk on the court instead of slide around on top of it. From what all was mentioned in GameSpot's preview, it appears that (dare we say it?) EA is actually trying to make a great game instead of updating a roster, tossing in a gimmick, and rolling around in their mountain of gold coins, a la DuckTales. We'll see how it pans out later this year.

Today, EA unveiled the new NBA Live 08 cover featuring Wizard's own Gilbert Arenas and also released a few screenshots to boot. And as you can see from the screen above, the face mapping on the models is quite lovely. We also noticed the muscle definition, the subtle vein effects, the jersey fabric and the forehead lines ... it's like a sensory overload. Make the jump to see the official cover art and treat yourself to another screenshot. Anyone hoping NBA Live 08 will end up being something special?