You've probably heard this said often when discussing sports: defense wins championships. In this year's release of NBA 2K, it wins virtual basketball games, too. The launch of NBA 2K22, available now for PC, PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and the Nintendo Switch, gives players some fresh help on defdense, along with a handful of new features across the platform's vast selection of game modes. I've been playing NBA 2K22 on both a PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 for over a week now. So far, the results of 2K's renewed commitment to playing defense are mixed.

First up is MyPLAYER Builder, which 2K says is all about customisation for next-generation consoles. Here, you no longer select from preset skill breakdown pie charts for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and instead are given control over setting individual rating to your preferred cap. Meanwhile, Badges have been overhauled and there's many returning favourites, although a lot have experienced'significant functionality changes.' Here's a list of of some of the Badges included: Circus Threes – Improved ability to hit pull-up and stepback 3's Elsewhere, the Takeover feature has been further enhanced for next-gen platforms. Now, instead of simply featuring eight archetype-based takeovers, 2K has split them into 24 more specific takeover abilities, which are thought of as unique badges that'you can fire off when you get hot.' Finally, AI has been further enhanced. In terms of defense, on-ball and off-ball screen logic has been revamped and auto-switching logic refined to reduce bad switching instances.

It can't dribble, let alone slam dunk, but Toyota's basketball robot hardly ever misses a free throw or a 3-pointer. The 207-centimeter-tall (6 feet 10-inches) machine made five of eight 3-point shots in a demonstration in a Tokyo suburb Monday, a ratio its engineers say is worse than usual. Toyota Motor Corp.'s robot, called Cue 3, computes a three-dimensional image where the basket is, using sensors on its torso, and adjusts motors inside its arm and knees to give the shot the right angle and propulsion for a swish. Efforts in developing human-shaped robots underline a global shift in robotics use from pre-programmed mechanical arms in limited situations like factories to functioning in the real world with people. The 2017 version of the robot was designed to make free throws.

When we look at how big data analytics has enhanced Customer 360, one of the first disciplines that comes to mind is sentiment analytics. It provided the means for expanding the traditional CRM interaction view of the customer with statements and behaviors voiced on social networks. And with advancements in natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning, one would think that this field is pretty mature: marketers should be able to decipher with ease what their customers are thinking by turning on their Facebook or Twitter feeds. While sentiment analytics is one of the most established forms of big data analytics, there's still a fair share of art to it. Our take from this year's Sentiment Analytics Symposium held last week in New York is that there are still plenty of myths about how well AI and big data are adding clarity to analyzing what consumers think and feel.