NLSC Your source for basketball video games.

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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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.

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.

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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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!

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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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.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:21:44 — 56.5MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

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!

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 look at how NBA 2K24 can win me over.

Around this time last year, I discussed how NBA 2K23 could possibly break NBA 2K14 PS4’s monopoly over my basketball gaming sessions, and make a far better impression than NBA 2K21 and NBA 2K22 did. It was interesting to go back and read what I’d written now that NBA 2K23 is approaching the end of its life cycle, and NBA 2K24 is on the horizon. After all, NBA 2K24 will also be competing with my entire collection and a preference to diversify my virtual hardwood experiences, so once again, simply being the latest release won’t be enough.

While my criteria are essentially unchanged, my expectations have naturally been shaped by what happened with NBA 2K23, and the apparent direction of the series. As was the case last year, I must emphasise that these are personal preferences that will determine my level of enjoyment, and inclination to play NBA 2K24 over other games. NBA 2K24 is going to be highly successful regardless, and my opinion of it won’t impact its fortunes either way. I can only speak for myself, and I don’t pretend otherwise. With that being said, I do stand by my criteria and suggestions. I hope that I am impressed by NBA 2K24, but it will have to surpass what NBA 2K23 did.

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Dee and I have connected on a variety of games over the past couple of weeks, as we’ll discuss in the next episode of the NLSC Podcast. In the meantime, you can see how one of those contests went down, as Dee put together the highlights from our NBA Live 18 game.

In the game, Dee and I took control of the Los Angeles Lakers for a co-op clash against the San Antonio Spurs. Dee suggested those teams as the pre-LeBron James, rookie Lonzo Ball Lakers are not usually a team we’d use, while the Spurs also had an unfamiliar look, having entered the post-Tim Duncan era. It proved to be a fun matchup that went right down to the wire! Along the way, we were able to create several highlights, which reminded us that while NBA Live 18 was a rough release in many ways, it can still be quite enjoyable. See for yourself!

We’re frequently uploading highlights from our co-op and individual basketball gaming sessions to the NLSC YouTube channel, in addition to the weekly Top 10 Plays, video essays, and more, so be sure to subscribe! As always, also feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play.

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.

This week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays is all about poster dunks; I’m confident that there won’t be any objections! We’re tipping things off with Charles Barkley attacking the rim in NBA Fastbreak ’98 – the forerunner to the NBA 2K series – and then running through a variety of titles right up to NBA 2K23 Next Gen. There’s also an array of ankle breakers, slick passes, and other great moves along the way, and something a little different capping off the countdown in the number one spot. Without any further ado, 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.

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 frustrations that sadly didn’t have a good workaround.

We’ve been able to do some rather ingenious things in our community thanks to mods. Missing players have been added, mistakes in the default rosters have been corrected, and when we’ve discovered compatible files, we’ve been able to swap assets between different games to create our own fixes. This includes adding better net animations to NBA Live 06 PC, restoring access to the traditional reorder roster menu in NBA Live 07’s Dynasty mode, and even being able to access the hidden Player Lock option in NBA Live 08. Where official updates have fallen short, we’ve had good workarounds.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t always been possible. There are some frustrations that we simply haven’t ever been able to resolve. Even when a workaround has been devised, it hasn’t satisfactorily fixed the issue despite our best efforts. This is why I’ll always push back on the “stop whining” rhetoric that shuts down constructive feedback. Just because there is a workaround, it doesn’t mean it’s a desirable solution, and that the issue shouldn’t be addressed either in a patch or the next game. Additionally, one of these frustrations did once have a good workaround, but its disappearance suggests that it wasn’t ideal long-term. Whatever the case, these issues lack good solutions.

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Today’s NBA 2K23 mod releases feature 2024 season jersey updates for the Sacramento Kings, created by pinoy21. Download the new jerseys at the link below!

pinoy21
Sacramento Kings 2023-24 Jersey Pack (pinoy21)

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.

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 a forgotten NBA 2K14 MyCAREER game.

I’ve been having a blast with MyCAREER in the PlayStation 4 version of NBA 2K14 since I revisited it a couple of years ago to write a retrospective. I got hooked on it after giving NBA 2K14 PS4 a second chance following an uncommonly negative first impression, and it’s become one of my favourite basketball video games. It’s why I’m currently in my sixth season in that MyCAREER, with an eye towards somehow, some way, playing through to the current day. Truly experiencing an NBA career is far more fun than grinding and worrying about the online meta!

However, while that specific game is a fairly recent kick, it wasn’t actually my first foray into MyCAREER in NBA 2K14. When it was released, I did begin a new MyCAREER in the PC version of NBA 2K14, intending to continue the fun that I’d had in NBA 2K13. That didn’t come to pass, as I struggled to enjoy the game, and didn’t warm up to NBA 2K14 until almost a decade later. I did keep the save file though, and it was interesting to revisit it now that I have a more positive view of NBA 2K14. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #485 of the NLSC Podcast!

The NBA 2K24 preview season is officially underway, with the reveal of this year’s cover players and a few interesting tidbits that have the community buzzing. To that end, we break down and react to everything we know so far. That also includes confirmation that the PC version will be a prior gen port once again, which has naturally drawn some strong reactions! Speaking of reactions, one of Dee’s Tweets about NBA 2K14 Next Gen really resonated with the community, demonstrating how it’s still held in extremely high regard. We share that sentiment, especially after a co-op session that earned the game a place in our Parsec rotation! We also touch on devious practices, and the latest ridiculous comments from online cheesers.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:07:16 — 46.6MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

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!

Thanks to a combination of Parsec and the Xbox App, Dee and I have further expanded the range of basketball video games that we can connect on to play.  This past weekend, Dee hosted a session of NBA 2K14 for Xbox One, and put together the highlights for our YouTube channel.

The reel is from a co-op game in which we took on the Orlando Magic with the Chicago Bulls. As you can see, our aim was to emulate the style of play of the 2014 Bulls, and use the players to their real strengths, while obviously having a blast and producing highlights. You’ll see Derrick Rose doing D-Rose things, Joakim Noah contributing everywhere with great energy, and a young Jimmy Butler demonstrating flashes of brilliance. As sim gamers, we pride ourselves in playing a realistic style, and assembling highlight reels that are fun to watch. Check it out!

We discussed our game of NBA 2K14 and our satisfaction with the highlights it produced in this week’s NLSC Podcast, which will be out soon. Stay tuned for that, and in the meantime, be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content! As always, feel free to hit us up with suggestions of any games that you’d like to see us play, and we’ll do our best to get them into the rotation.