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Monday Tip-Off: Being Broke Isn’t The Problem

Monday Tip-Off: Being Broke Isn't The Problem

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 how accusations of being “broke” are justifying predatory practices in gaming.

It’s time once again for me to attempt the impossible task of shutting down an ad hominem that’s become far too popular in basketball gaming discourse (and gaming discourse in general). Spend enough time talking about microtransactions, pay-to-win (or pay-to-enjoy) mechanics, and tedious grinding, and someone will accuse you of being “broke”. For you see, the only reason not to want to pay above and beyond the cost of a game is – apparently – because you can’t afford it. Conversely, being willing to dump disposable (or not-so-disposable) income into a game is somehow virtuous.

There are so, so many problems with that line of thinking. Sadly, however, shills continue to trot out that argument to shut down any criticism of recurrent revenue mechanics. “Broke” has become a buzzword along the lines of “cartoonish“, only it’s far worse because of how judgmental it is towards your fellow gamers. Obviously, there are hobbies that are expensive, and given the cost of hardware alone, video games do arguably qualify as such a hobby to some extent. There are still reasonable and unreasonable costs though, and focusing on personal wealth overlooks that the problems with recurrent revenue mechanics have nothing to do with being broke.

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NBA 2K14 Mod Releases: Euro Jerseys & Courts

NBA 2K14 Cover Art

The latest NBA 2K14 mod releases include Euro jerseys and courts by kndesign. Check them out at the links below!

kndesign
FINAL POLSKA 2023 2 Versions
FINAL LIETUVA ARENA and 2 JERSEY (NBA2K14) 2023

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: July 29th, 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.

It’s great to see regulars in the NLSC Top 10 Plays, and as Dee noted over on YouTube, it’s fair to say that the frequent contributors have their own signature styles! This week, we’ve got another jaw-dropping putback by LookyDaGamer, Kenny fires away with another full court buzzer-beater, and TeddyBearTheGamer has a dazzling dunk using college rosters. Dee and I are throwing it back with retro kicks, namely the original NBA ShootOut, and NBA Live 18 Ultimate Team. Six different games are featured this week, along with current stars, Legends, and MyPLAYERs. 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.

NBA 2K24 Previews Tipping Off August 14th

NBA 2K24 Kobe Bryant Edition Cover

Although the cover reveal technically tipped off the previews for NBA 2K24, the preview season obviously isn’t quite in full swing until we learn more concrete details about the game. As announced by the official NBA 2K Twitter (or X) account, in-depth previews for NBA 2K24 will begin the week of August 14th.

The schedule is as follows:

  • Week of August 14th: Gameplay with ProPLAY
  • Week of August 21st: The W, MyNBA, Mamba Moments
  • Week of August 28th: MyCAREER, The City, MyTEAM
  • Week of September 4th: Season 1 in MyTEAM and MyCAREER

A reminder that ProPLAY, The W, MyNBA, and The City will be exclusive to the PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X|S version. The prior gen consoles and PC port will retain MyLEAGUE, basic WNBA content, and The Neighborhood in MyCAREER. However, this roadmap does confirm the leaked Mamba Moments mode, and seemingly for both generations.

NBA 2K24 is scheduled for release on September 8th. Pre-orders have been open since July 7th; if you’re interested and need a refresher on the bonuses, you can find them here. I will of course be aggregating the news throughout the preview season, and discussing it with Dee on the NLSC Podcast, so stay tuned!

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The Friday Five: 5 Players Who Only Appeared on Certain Teams in Games (Part 14)

The Friday Five: 5 Players Who Only Appeared on Certain Teams in Games (Part 14)

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 Part 14 in an ongoing series looking at players who only appeared on certain teams in video games.

As I’ve said before, when I started this series of articles on players who only appeared on certain teams in games, it seemed as though I’d found some unique examples. The more I went back and combed through rosters however, the more players I ended up discovering! I thought that I’d exhausted all of the players worth mentioning, but not long after I posted Part 7, it became apparent that there were several that I missed. Thanks to the research of David L, I’ve been able to go back and cover them. It’s certainly been a fun trip down memory lane, looking into all of those names!

However, now that we’re up to the fourteenth instalment, many of the most prominent players who only appeared on certain teams in games have already been mentioned. A majority of the players I’m covering today had fairly short careers – indeed, only the very last player truly became an NBA veteran – and none of them were ever All-Stars. Three of them did become key role players though, and long-time NBA enthusiasts and basketball gamers will likely recognise the other two. There’s also some fun trivia here concerning their real life careers and the virtual hardwood, so let’s once again take a look at some phantom stints that were captured in video games over the years.

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NBA Action 98 Highlights: Bulls vs. Pacers

NBA Action 98 Highlights: Bulls vs. Pacers

As we discussed in Episode #487 of the NLSC Podcast, over the weekend Dee and I connected on Parsec to play a couple of games of NBA Action 98, with Dee compiling and uploading the highlights. In case you haven’t seen them yet…here they are!

The game was a re-creation of the epic 1998 Eastern Conference Finals showdown between the Chicago Bulls and the Indiana Pacers. As was the case at the time, Michael Jordan is absent, but in his place is #98, 1 Guard. As you’ll see, 1 Guard shares MJ’s legendary talents, pouring in the points in a variety of ways as we picked up the victory. You’ll also see Dennis Rodman sporting his colourful hair, Scottie Pippen doing his thing, and Virtual Hardwood Legend, Scott Burrell. On the other side, Reggie Miller, Rik Smits, Mark Jackson, Chris Mullin, and Dale Davis were doing everything they could to stand in the way of the win. Check it out!

NBA Action 98 is just one of many games that we’ve posted highlights from over on the NLSC YouTube channel, so be sure to subscribe for more basketball gaming content! Once again, Dee and I both have extensive basketball video game collections, so feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play.

Wayback Wednesday: The Dream Team in NBA 2K17

Wayback Wednesday: The Dream Team in NBA 2K17

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 Dream Team in NBA 2K17.

They’ve often been cited as the greatest basketball team ever assembled. They swept their way to the gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, famously winning by an average of 44 points per game while never calling timeout. Eleven of its players are enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame for their individual accomplishments, and the team itself was collectively inducted in 2009. Eight years later, the team would also be inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame. Simply put, the Dream Team was a squad for the ages.

As far as the virtual hardwood is concerned, the Dream Team has made a handful of official appearances in video games. They were the cover stars of EA Sports’ Team USA Basketball, and were included in NBA 2K13; appearances that I’ve previously covered here in Wayback Wednesday. The most recent game to officially feature the Dream Team was NBA 2K17, an appearance that stands out as somewhat different – and indeed slightly controversial – compared to previous releases. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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NLSC Podcast #487: NBA 2K’s Origins, Legends, & First Titles

NLSC Podcast Logo

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #487 of the NLSC Podcast!

We’re taking a look back at NBA Action 98 – the forerunner to NBA 2K on PC on Sega Saturn – after connecting to play a couple of games over Parsec. Naturally we compare it to NBA Live 98, as well as the PlayStation version, which was released as NBA Fastbreak ’98. We’ve also been drawn back to Ultimate Team in NBA Live 18, and reflect on the fun we’ve been having with our Legends squads. We also discuss a surprising teaser regarding MyCAREER in NBA 2K24, and our first virtual NBA Championships. In this week’s mailbag, we challenge the community to match Overall Ratings to the players in the default rosters of NBA 2K13.

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: Making The Case for Basketball Game Demos

Monday Tip-Off: Making The Case for Basketball Game Demos

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 by making a case for releasing basketball video game demos.

It’s strange how when I think of basketball video game demos, they feel like such an antiquated concept. That may be because video game demos in general have fallen out of vogue – much as shareware did – but it hasn’t actually been that long since we had a demo for an upcoming hoops title. The last NBA Live demo came in 2018, while we had a small preview of NBA 2K21 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Now, that is indeed going back a few years at this point, but for some reason those demos don’t immediately come to mind. Instead, demos seem like a relic of the 90s and 2000s.

Of course, one could very well argue that that’s when basketball game demos were far more relevant. There was legitimate competition between NBA Live and NBA 2K right through to the end of the decade. The preview season for both games began around June, and there was a steady stream of information as they competed for attention and pre-orders. There was value in both companies dropping a demo a few weeks before the full version was released, to show off a few key improvements and possibly change some minds. Even with NBA 2K’s virtual monopoly over basketball gaming, however, I maintain that there’s still value in providing a pre-release demo.

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March Modness 2023 Giveaway Winner: Pep

NLSC March Modness

This is a very late announcement, but since NBA 2K24 pre-orders are now open, we’re getting closer to having a prize to deliver! Congratulations to Pep, winner of our March Modness 2023 giveaway! Pep released some retro Charlotte Bobcats jerseys during March, and continues to do awesome work for NBA 2K14, all while upholding the spirit that our modding community was founded upon. Once again, his prize is a copy of the standard edition of NBA 2K24 PC. There’s still much to learn about NBA 2K24, though we do know that the PC version will be a prior gen port again this year.

A big thanks as always to everyone who entered this year’s March Modness contest, and continues to share their mods here at the NLSC! Don’t forget that we offer free and permanent file hosting for our modding community, in order to preserve these great releases for years to come. Whether you’re modding NBA 2K23, an older favourite like NBA 2K14 as Pep is, or indeed a very old NBA Live game, I encourage everyone to make use of our facilities. For more information on uploading and adding files to our Downloads database, be sure to check out this tutorial.

NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week: July 22nd, 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.

On top of the usual assortment of poster dunks, the theme of this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays is variety and Legends. From throwback rosters in NBA 2K23’s MyNBA Eras to squads of Legends in NBA Live 06 Dynasty and NBA Live 18 Ultimate Team, many of us are enjoying taking to the virtual hardwood with players of yesteryear! This week’s countdown also answers a very important question. Who is the true GOAT: Michael Jordan, M. Guard, or Roster Player? Konami’s NBA in the Zone 2 offers up a compelling argument! As for variety, nine different games are represented this week, which is awesome to see. 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 Console-Only Games We Really Missed on PC

The Friday Five: 5 Console-Only Games We Really Missed on PC

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 console-only basketball games that we really missed having on PC.

Although we’ve come to cover all basketball games across a variety of platforms, we certainly do have a reputation as a PC-oriented site. This goes back to our roots as the NBA Live Series Center, when we were strictly an NBA Live fansite and the home of many tools and mods (then referred to as patches) for the PC releases. Even as we’ve widened our scope, we’ve continued to support and advocate for the PC as a platform. As we’ve previously discussed on the NLSC Podcast, even though PC users are the smallest group of basketball gamers, it’s a passionate and enthusiastic demographic.

There was a time when the PC release of NBA Live was the definitive version, as even the average home computer far outstripped consoles in power and storage capacity. Around the time of the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox, the PC began to receive ports of the console version of NBA Live. Of course, it was one of the few basketball games that were being ported to PC, as there were far more console-only releases than PC exclusives. Putting aside emulation and the Xbox App in recent years, this means that we’ve missed out on having some landmark basketball games on PC. Here are five in particular we would’ve loved to have had on the platform.

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NBA Live 18 Ultimate Team Highlights: Legends. vs 76ers

NBA Live 18 Ultimate Team Highlights: Legends. vs 76ers

As Dee and I discussed in Episode #486 of the NLSC Podcast, we recently had a fun session with NBA Live 18 when we connected over Parsec, using the Xbox App. It’s safe to say that the session rekindled our interest in the game, and we’ve both been (separately) spending some time with NBA Live 18 Ultimate Team. To that end, Dee has put together a highlight reel from one of his recent LUT games.

The game features Dee taking on the Philadelphia 76ers with a squad of Legends that includes Julius Erving, Shaquille O’Neal, Drazen Petrovic, Steve Nash, Bill Walton, Larry Nance, Spud Webb, and World B. Free. You’ll see Dr. J, Spud, and Nance soaring to the rim for athletic finishes, excellent ball movement culminating with long bombs (no meter required!), and great all around action. Legends were definitely underutilised in NBA Live 18, but as this Ultimate Team highlight reel demonstrates, they were a blast to play with when you managed to collect their cards. Check it out!

I’ll likely have an NBA Live 18 LUT reel of my own to share soon, so stay tuned! Be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content, including video essays, our podcast, and the weekly Top 10 Plays, curated by Dee. As always, feel free to suggest games that you’d like to see us play!

Wayback Wednesday: Weird Stints & Retro Gaming

Wayback Wednesday: Weird Stints & Retro Gaming

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 how weird stints can enhance the retro basketball gaming experience.

A topic that I’ve managed to get a ton of mileage out of for Wayback Wednesday is the phenomenon of familiar faces in strange places. It even spawned a companion series: familiar faces back in familiar places! Both are part of the interactive almanac aspect of basketball video games that I’ve frequently touted. It’s what makes revisiting old games and combing through the rosters so much fun, especially when there are weird stints that you’ve forgotten about. Together, they’re a great way for me to indulge my interest in NBA history and basketball video games alike.

However, these weird stints aren’t just fodder for creating content. Seeing them in games and reminiscing about them in articles makes me want to spend more time with those titles whenever I’m looking for something to play. That may seem odd, since the players usually aren’t in their prime and playing for the team that we mostly associate them with. Needless to say, I enjoy revisiting classic games that capture famous stints too, as they involve historically significant matchups. There are some rather intriguing scenarios involving those weird stints though, so let’s take a look back…way back…

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NLSC Podcast #486: Our Excitement Level for NBA 2K24

NLSC Podcast Logo

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #486 of the NLSC Podcast!

As we await the next round of news and previews, how hyped are we for NBA 2K24? Along with the community, we rate our excitement on a scale of one to ten. Of course, some of us break the scale in both directions! We also recap what we’ve been playing this past week, including a surprising session of NBA Live 18, testing out a work-in-progress mod for NBA Live 08, throwing it back with NBA Basketball for Intellivision, and tackling a tough challenge in NBA Jam: On Fire Edition. There’s also some more virtual hardwood elitism on Twitter to push back on, and the reveal of some interesting clutch ratings in this week’s mailbag trivia.

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!