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NBA 2K24 MyNBA Adds LeBron Era

NBA 2K24 MyNBA Adds LeBron Era

The Courtside Report for MyNBA in NBA 2K24 has been posted, and it’s brought some good news! MyNBA Eras will be returning in NBA 2K24, which means that in addition to playing with current season rosters, we can still throw it back to the Magic vs. Bird Era, the Jordan Era, and the Kobe Era.

Not only that, but NBA 2K24 has added a new starting point: the LeBron Era! It begins with The Decision and a brand new decade in the NBA, with the Class of 2011 on the horizon. Additionally, players will age into different faces as the years progress, and there will also be era-specific media recapping your latest game. New CBA rules have been accounted for in the Modern Era, and MyNBA Online now features expanded roles. There’s also now a “Lite” version of the mode, if you prefer a streamlined experienced.

You can find a breakdown of all the information below, but as always, I encourage you to read the original Courtside Report for the full scoop. Got any thoughts on our first look at MyNBA in NBA 2K24? Have your say in the comments, and join in the discussion here in the NLSC Forum! You can also find my recap of the developer blog on The W here, and the gameplay blog and trailer here.

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Details on The W in NBA 2K24

Details on The W in NBA 2K24

A new Courtside Report has provided an insight into what to expect from The W in NBA 2K24. For those who are unaware, The W is the WNBA version of MyCAREER, and is exclusive to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S version of the game.

One of the biggest additions this year is the ability to choose your background. You can opt to be a top college prospect and number one pick, or an “undiscovered gem” who was an MVP overseas. The background that you select will come with its own perks and challenges, as well as different starting ratings.

There are also new rivalry features, pick-up games, and more rewards to collect. You can find my breakdown of the Courtside Report below, but as always, I’d recommend checking out the original article for the full scoop on The W in NBA 2K24. Feel free to share any thoughts in the comments, as well as join in the discussion here in the NLSC Forum! If you missed the gameplay blog, you can find my recap of it here.

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Wayback Wednesday: NBA Basketball for Intellivision

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at NBA Basketball for the Mattel Intellivision, in the form of another video retrospective.

I’ve covered some rather old basketball video games for Wayback Wednesday so far, but this is the oldest! Indeed, NBA Basketball for the Mattel Intellivision is one of the earliest hoops games ever made. It’s a game that I’ve planned on covering with a video retrospective for some time now, though I originally envisioned a different context and tone to what I’ve gone with here. I strongly believe that the approach I ended up taking was the right one, as it pays appropriate tribute to what is an important game in the history of the genre. So, let’s take a look back…and I do mean way, way back…

While NBA Basketball is a game that I’m guessing many people in our community haven’t ever played – especially if you weren’t born in the mid 80s or earlier – I hope that you enjoyed this retrospective of a pioneering title! For more basketball gaming videos, from retrospectives and essays to highlight reels and the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel. Shout out to Dee for connecting with me on Parsec to play this two player game, in order to get all of the footage! As always, feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play, as well as cover on the NLSC Podcast or in Wayback Wednesday.

NLSC Podcast #491: A Tipping Point for Microtransactions

NLSC Podcast Logo

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #491 of the NLSC Podcast!

Two tiers of Season Passes have been confirmed for MyTEAM and MyCAREER in NBA 2K24. Needless to say, it was a controversial announcement! This week we’re taking a deep dive into the issue, examining the potential impact on the game, as well as Take-Two’s history of aggressive recurrent revenue mechanics. We also read out comments from community members; it’s not a spoiler to say that we’re not alone in being unimpressed by the adoption of Season Passes for premium content! Meanwhile, content creators that shill for greedy business practices seem to be getting called out, which we’re glad to see. All in all, NBA 2K24 could prove to be a tipping point for microtransactions in the series!

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

NBA 2K24 Will Feature Season Passes

NBA 2K24 Will Feature Season Passes

As you’ll hear on the next NLSC Podcast, I’ve been under the weather this past week, and unfortunately fell behind on aggregating some of the latest NBA 2K24 news. That includes the first look at The Neighborhood, as well as the announcement that Season Passes are coming to MyTEAM and MyCAREER in NBA 2K24.

Additionally, seasonal progression in MyCAREER and MyTEAM has been combined. Progress in either mode will count towards an overall Season level, with a reward unlocked in both modes at each level for a total of 80 per Season. These rewards do not require an additional subscription, and are available for everyone to unlock as they play through either (or both) modes.

There will be two tiers of Season Passes in NBA 2K24, providing premium rewards. The Pro Pass, which will cost $9.99 USD, adds 40 premium level up rewards on top of the 80 free ones, as well as four Season Pass rewards that are granted immediately (two apiece for MyCAREER and MyTEAM). The Hall of Fame Pass, which will cost $19.99 USD, includes all of the content of the Pro Pass (and the free rewards, obviously), plus an additional immediate reward, 15% XP Boost, and 10 level skips. A Pro Pass can also be upgraded to a Hall of Fame Pass for $10 USD, and individual level skips can be purchased for $1.99 USD.

Needless to say, this has proven to be a controversial move, and we’ll be discussing it in detail on the next episode of the NLSC Podcast. In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, as well as here in our NBA 2K24 Forum! For more information on Season Passes in NBA 2K24, 2K has provided a FAQ that you can read here.

First Look at The Neighborhood in NBA 2K24

First Look at The Neighborhood in NBA 2K24

As you may have seen, the official NBA 2K Twitter/X account – and yes, that branding change is still taking some getting used to! – posted a trailer and some screenshots of The Neighborhood in the Current Gen/PC version of NBA 2K24. After two years on a cruise ship, this year’s iteration of MyCAREER on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One will be keeping the theme of basketball in paradise, albeit in a coastal location.

From the screenshots and trailer, there will be courts right down on the beach, The Rec will be located in a castle, and it seems like 2K Pro-Am will be played in an airship! A personal MyCOURT will still be available, which The City on Next Gen has notably lacked since NBA 2K21. Indeed, the new coastal Neighborhood in NBA 2K24 seems to resemble a scaled down version of The City, rather than the block, town square, or indeed cruise ship from previous games.

You can check out the trailer below, as well as the screenshots that 2K has shared so far. Got any thoughts? Feel free to post them in the comments, as well as join in the discussion in our NBA 2K24 Forum!

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Monday Tip-Off: Thoughts on “Green or Miss” in NBA 2K24

Monday Tip-Off: Thoughts on "Green or Miss" in NBA 2K24

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with some thoughts on the pros and cons of NBA 2K24 running with a “Green or Miss” approach to shooting.

As revealed in last week’s developer blog on gameplay, shooting in NBA 2K24 will come down to “Green or Miss”. In other words, precise timing will be required, as any shot that isn’t a Green Release will be unsuccessful. However, this won’t be the case across the board. In modes such as MyNBA, MyTEAM, and Play Now, the timing will be more forgiving on lower difficulty levels, meaning that you’ll be able to make some shots without getting a Green Release. However, if you’re playing on Hall of Fame difficulty, or one of the online competitive modes, it’ll be “Green or Miss”!

It’s a strict approach to the shooting mechanics, though obviously not as strict as it could’ve been. It could prove to be a controversial decision, and will certainly fuel further arguments between NBA 2K gamers. Personally, I have mixed feelings about the “Green or Miss” approach, and the way it will be implemented in NBA 2K24. The idea has merit from the standpoint of establishing a skill-based competitive scene, but the concept still has its flaws. It needn’t impact the gameplay experience on offer in the traditional modes, but it’s still there in the background. I’m sure there will be many elitist takes on this, so let’s take a more nuanced look at the “Green or Miss” concept.

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NBA Live 2005 Mod Releases: New Referee Update

NBA Live 2005 Cover Art

The latest NBA Live 2005 mod releases feature a new referee update from Swishnet. Download it at the link below!

Swishnet
Swishnet Referee Update 1.1

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week: August 19th, 2023

NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week

Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee4Three! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, or hit up Dee on Twitter.

How do you like your dunks: a nasty poster capping off an aggressive drive, or stretching and soaring to catch and finish a perfectly-timed alley-oop? Thankfully, you don’t have to choose in this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays, as both kinds of aerial artistry are on display! There’s also a great ankle-breaker, as Brandon Knight avoids carnage at the rim on this occasion, only to get taken down on the perimeter instead. A total of six different games are featured in this week’s countdown, ranging from NBA Live 2005 and NBA 2K6 – which I just covered in Wayback Wednesday – right through to NBA 2K23 Next Gen. Let’s get to the action!

What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.

The Friday Five: 5 Things You’ll See In Unpatched Games

The Friday Five: 5 Things You'll See In Unpatched Games

Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five things that you’ll see in games that are unpatched.

Patches are a contentious issue among gamers, and basketball video games are no exception. No game is perfect, and some issues are bound to slip by QA and won’t be discovered until a game is in the public’s hands. Naturally, we want to see those problems resolved via official patches, especially when there’s no viable unofficial fix. At the same time, we’re wary of undesirable changes being made to games that we’re enjoying, as we have seen games ruined by their updates. Day one patches are also the subject of scorn, being seen as an excuse to release unfinished games.

As such, many of us have mixed feelings whenever we receive a notification that a new update is waiting to be downloaded. With that being said, I’d much rather see regular updates than have to beg for them as we used to, or not get them at all. When you look back at certain titles in their unpatched state, you’ll see missing content, features, and functionality that really needed to be there, as in these five examples. Please note that I’m intentionally excluding the 1998 rosters in NBA Live 99. While it’s a notable example of the phenomenon, all games inevitably launch with outdated rosters. These five examples are more unique side effects of a game being unpatched.

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NBA 2K23 Mod Releases: Six Jerseys

NBA 2K23 Cover Art

The launch of NBA 2K24 is fast approaching, but we’re still seeing some new mod releases for NBA 2K23! Check out the latest jerseys from pinoy21 at the links below.

pinoy21
New Orleans Pelicans Statement Jersey 2023-24 (pinoy21)
USA Jersey Pack (pinoy21)
Bahamas Jersey Pack (pinoy21)
Gilas Pilipinas Jersey Pack (pinoy21)
Minnesota Timberwolves City Edition Jersey 2023-24
Phoenix Suns 2023-24 Jersey (pinoy21) (Updated to v2.0)

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

Wayback Wednesday: NBA 2K6 Retrospective (Xbox 360)

Wayback Wednesday: NBA 2K6 Retrospective (Xbox 360)

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at the Xbox 360 version of NBA 2K6.

As I’ve said before, as someone who grew up with NBA Live, it took me a while to truly get into the NBA 2K series. There was a sense of brand loyalty, but beyond that, I was accustomed to NBA Live’s approach to controls, gameplay mechanics, and modes. I remember trying out the PlayStation 2 version of NBA 2K6, and feeling somewhat underwhelmed. If nothing else, I disliked the Isomotion controls, which remained a barrier to getting into NBA 2K for years to come. I preferred to make the best of some rough NBA Live releases, rather than acclimate to a different game.

Obviously, I’ve had a change of heart! A handful of NBA 2K titles over the past decade now rank as some of my all-time favourite basketball video games. I’ve also been able to revisit older NBA 2K titles, and really enjoy them. One older 2K release that I’ve grown rather fond of is NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360. It seems only fitting, since I’ve also warmed up to the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 06 after giving it another look. However, while NBA Live 06 for Xbox 360 may be slightly underrated at times, NBA 2K6 is definitely a stronger all-around game. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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NBA 2K24 Gameplay Trailer & Developer Blog

NBA 2K24 Gameplay Trailer & Developer Blog

The preview season for NBA 2K24 is now truly underway, with the release of the first gameplay trailer and developer blog! Both the trailer and gameplay blog are focused on the Next Gen/New Gen version of NBA 2K24, with details for Current Gen/PC likely dropping soon.

Among other things, the blog confirms that ProPLAY is indeed a new method of capturing animations from real NBA footage. It’s being touted as a major improvement over traditional motion capture, though old mocap techniques apparently still played a role in development. The blog also provides a breakdown of changes to controls and mechanics such as dribbling, shooting, Takeover, and adrenaline boosts. Notably, online play and tougher difficulty levels offline will be “Green or Miss” in NBA 2K24, with lower difficulty levels offering more forgiving timing.

As always, the trailer features an assortment of stars pulling off highlights from cinematic angles. It also includes some comparisons to real footage, spotlighting the impact of ProPLAY on the animations. You can check out the NBA 2K24 gameplay trailer below, along with my recap of the key points from the first developer blog. Although I approach developer blogs with some healthy scepticism, there are definitely some promising details. I’d also recommend giving the original blog a read, as it includes some dev diary videos with further explanations from Beluba.

Got any thoughts? Feel free to share them in the comments below, as well as join in the discussion here in the NLSC Forum!

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NLSC Podcast #490: Sim Nation vs. Comp Players vs. Cheesers

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #490 of the NLSC Podcast!

As we await the first previews of NBA 2K24, a war of words has broken out between members of Sim Nation, comp players, and the cheesers. To that end, we discuss how toxic the discourse has become, and read out some of the community’s thoughts on the matter. As always, we catch up on what we’ve been playing this past week, from MyNBA in NBA 2K23 and MyGM in NBA 2K14, to Ultimate Team in NBA Live 18 and Fantasy Teams in NBA Live 10. We’ve also got some small updates on a couple of modding projects. Inspired by Julius Erving’s recent comments, we also share our thoughts on personal bias and agendas in Top 10 lists and other rankings, noting the similarities between discussions of NBA history and classic basketball video games.

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

Monday Tip-Off: The Lies of Developer Blogs

Monday Tip-Off: The Lies of Developer Blogs

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with a video essay examining the lies of developer blogs, with an example demonstrating why they should be taken with a grain of salt.

Back in August 2018, as the preview seasons for NBA 2K19 and NBA Live 19 were well underway, I wrote an article discussing the cynicism that developer blogs sadly often inspire. I drew some comparisons between the NBA 2K18 developer blogs and a Game Informer interview previewing NBA 2K19, noting that the latter revealed some outright lies in the former. I don’t like to throw around the word “lies” easily, but with some developer blogs, it’s a fair accusation. As we prepare for our first look at NBA 2K24, I wanted to revisit those blogs. They’re a reminder that while we may always hope for the best, we can’t always put much stock in what developer blogs say.

Considering how infrequently the illuminating discrepancies between the NBA 2K18 and NBA 2K19 previews are mentioned by content creators and influencers covering the games, I wanted to do my part in ensuring that the matter isn’t forgotten. It’s all too easy to write off understandable scepticism and fair criticism with the label of “hater”, or thought-terminating cliches about nostalgia and always preferring last year’s game. We have proof straight from the source that games don’t always get better, even if that isn’t admitted until later. Just something to keep in mind! Be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more video essays, and other basketball gaming content.