EA Sports officially released the “NBA Live 14” cover last yesterday featuring point guard Kyrie Irving—giving us one more thing to use in the early “NBA Live 14” vs. “NBA 2K 14” debate.

Let’s take a look at the two covers.

First “NBA 2K14.”

The cover uses the same red background (as far as colors go) from the past few NBA 2K games. LeBron James is doing his vintage powder throw. And his face is featured in the background. The “NBA 2K14” sign is also the same design as the past few years.

“NBA Live 14”:

Kyrie Irving takes up much of the cover with “NBA Live 14” plastered over him. In the back is what looks like a stream of light. Also featured on the cover is the “EA Sports: IGNITE” logo which identifies the new “IGNITE” engine.

Verdict:

The “NBA Live 14” cover is nice but pretty ordinary. It looks as if it was more of a safe choice—which is understandable since the franchise is rebuilding.

Therefore the vote goes to “NBA 2K14.” With the display of both the powder throw and James face in the background, they’ve managed to show their cover athlete and his persona all at once.

As more details come out there will much more comparisons between the games. So far we’ve gotten more information from the “NBA Live 14 team.” They’ve been on a PR rampage with Twitter interviews and articles explaining the new features. They are to be commended for trying to regain the trust of gamers.

The “NBA 2K14” team has not released as much features but, quite frankly, they don’t have to. We are very anxious to see what they are going to bring. However, because of their track record, we expect great things.

Both games will hit stores for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 later this year. “NBA 2K14” will be released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on Oct. 1.