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Wayback Wednesday: Crazy Create-a-Player Accessories

Wayback Wednesday: Crazy Create-a-Player Accessories

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 some of the crazy accessories that were once available in Create-a-Player.

It’s stating the extremely obvious to say that basketball video games have become far more realistic over the years. From graphics and animations to AI and content, the advances in tech have facilitated sim games that resemble real life far more closely. That’s not to say that older games didn’t do their best, and sim titles were definitely aimed at hardcore hoop heads more so than arcade games such as NBA Jam. They were still video games at the end of the day though, and as such, sometimes featured elements that weren’t so serious.

A great example is the crazy accessories that were often available in Create-a-Player. I’m talking about the accessories that you’d never see an NBA player wearing during a game, but were nevertheless available to assign in Create-a-Player in many old sim games, such as the early NBA Live releases. They’re something that we don’t see today; at least in traditional gameplay. They’re a relic of 90s basketball gaming, and looking back, their phasing out heralded a shift towards a more realistic approach. It was the right move, but they did serve a purpose. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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NBA Live 2005 Mod Releases: New Net Animations

NBA Live 2005 Cover Art

As I’ve discussed before, as essential equipment in basketball, the net is one of those details that we want to see done right on the virtual hardwood. When it isn’t, the community has been eager to step in and fix things! To that end, today’s NBA Live 2005 mod releases feature a net animations update by CarolusXCI. Download it at the link below!

CarolusXCI
New Net Animations

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.

Monday Tip-Off: When MyPLAYER Isn’t Your Player

Monday Tip-Off: When MyPLAYER Isn't Your Player

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 my thoughts on a lack of true role-playing opportunities with your MyPLAYER in MyCAREER.

It’s been interesting to see the birth and subsequent evolution of career modes in basketball video games. Putting aside the story-driven campaign in Sony’s NBA series, or the single season experience in the PlayStation 2 version of NBA Live 09, the first true career mode came with NBA 2K10’s My Player. That name eventually morphed into MyPLAYER and was given to our avatars, while the mode itself was re-branded as MyCAREER. NBA 2K14 brought a more cinematic approach to the mode, and since then, MyCAREER has essentially become a basketball MMORPG.

While the core concept of MyCAREER remains the same – you’re an NBA rookie with an opportunity to play through a career in the league – these changes have obviously impacted the on-court and off-court experience. Ironically, as the mode has become more and more RPG-based, there’s actually been less opportunity to role-play with your MyPLAYER! Where we were once left to use our imaginations and project a personality onto our avatars, we’re saddled with a character that’s following a script. Whether it’s by limiting our choices, or putting the story on rails via cutscenes, there are undoubtedly times when our MyPLAYER doesn’t feel like it’s our player.

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Olympic Basketball Legacy V6 for NBA 2K20

Olympic Basketball Legacy V6 for NBA 2K20

We have exciting news for basketball gamers still enjoying NBA 2K20 PC, as RayRay_953 and company have released V6 of the Olympic Basketball Legacy mod! Originally titled Olympic Basketball History, the project celebrates the Olympic Basketball tournament, and other international competitions, with 160 playable teams. Key features of V6 are as follows:

  • 160 playable teams
  • More than 150+ cyberfaces added for retro and current players. Many of them were commissioned exclusively for the mod, while others were borrowed from Thunder Shaq’s and Shuajota’s rosters (extended credits to sticky-fingers, maumau78, Mr. Star, trevorjpt33, Dee4three84, Shuajota, Retroman, 2kspecialist)
  • Retro shoes by Mickachiste from the 2K19 Classic Seasons mod
  • New year-specific basketballs for Athens ’87, Zagreb ’89, Toronto ’94, and Indianapolis ’02
  • Improvements to many jersey textures for accuracy
  • More hidden Euroleague/NBA alumni audio added for certain players
  • Preolympic and Tournament of the Americas uniforms added for appropriate teams
  • Selecting the “Home (Tournament of Americas)” jerseys for any of the ’92 Tournament of the Americas teams will load the Portland Memorial Coliseum floor
  • Selecting the “Home (Delta Center)” jersey for the ’96 Dream Team III will load the Delta Center floor as seen during their World Tour game against Australia
  • Complete overhaul on attributes and ratings for a more realistic approach
  • Signature updates for more than 200+ players

Download the mod here! For more information and previews, please see the release and support topic in the NBA 2K20 Modding section. Congratulations again to the Olympic Basketball Legacy team on the release of V6!

NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week: December 16th, 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.

Most weeks, it seems there’s a tendency for the NLSC Top 10 Plays to organically end up with a motif, and the latest countdown is no different. Alley-oops are undoubtedly the highlight of choice this week, and the community found all sorts of exciting ways to put the ball on a wire for fantastic finishes! There’s also other acrobatic moves, a couple of signature highlights by Kobe Bryant in different games, and a putback from LookyDaGamer’s son (or should that be the Putback Prince?) in NBA 2K Playgrounds 2. It’s another exciting week of virtual hardwood highlights, so 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 Changes That Fix MyCAREER Stories

The Friday Five: 5 Changes That Fix MyCAREER Stories

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 outlines five changes that would fix some of the stories in MyCAREER.

As I’ve mentioned on several occasions, I have a love-hate relationship with the story-driven approach to MyCAREER. I can appreciate the production values and some of them have been enjoyable tales, but others have been poorly-written and intruded on the gameplay experience. I’ve made snarky jokes about them, but I also find them fascinating to analyse. Perhaps it’s because it feels like the concept of a MyCAREER story has so much promise, but the execution has too often hindered my enjoyment, or just been somewhat disappointing.

While I don’t believe in dismissing criticism with “let’s see you do better”, I do think that critique can be bolstered by identifying potential improvements. In other words, the fact that I’ve never written and produced a MyCAREER story doesn’t disqualify me from having an opinion on them, but I should be able to suggest ways in which the stories could improve rather than just dismissively calling them bad. On top of that, it’s an interesting exercise to consider just how much we’d need to change in order to provide – in my opinion, at least – a much better experience. With that being said, I’m going to give it a shot! Here are five changes that I’d make to MyCAREER stories.

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NBA 2K14 Mod Releases: Jersey Updates

NBA 2K14 Cover Art

Today’s mod releases for NBA 2K14 feature Pep’s 2024 season jersey updates, as well as kndesign’s pack of 17 custom jerseys. Check them out at the links below!

kndesign
17 Custom Jerseys

Pep
NBA Nike City Uniforms 23/24
NBA Nike 2023/2024 Sponsors Updates

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: Fun Cheat Codes in NBA Live 98

Wayback Wednesday: Fun Cheat Codes in NBA Live 98

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 some of the fun cheat codes that can be found in NBA Live 98.

For those of us who grew up in a time long before premium downloadable content and microtransactions, cheat codes are incredibly nostalgic. Whether they helped us to beat a difficult level, unlocked bonus content, or altered the gameplay in some way, cheat codes were fun and empowering. When you discovered a code or other secret, whether it was via word of mouth or printed in a gaming magazine, you couldn’t wait to try it out! Of course, there were also countless urban legends and hoaxes, as well as erroneous listings that weren’t properly vetted.

Indeed, I’ve previously debunked a handful of fake codes for NBA Live 2002. As I said at the time, while it was satisfying to do the research and get that confirmation, it’s disappointing that the game didn’t hold any cool secrets. Fortunately, there are other basketball games that have entertaining hidden content to discover! This does include sim titles, and one game with a number of fun cheat codes is NBA Live 98. Both the PC and PlayStation version of the game include bonus content and features that are hidden behind codes, and if you grew up with either release, you probably have fond memories of unlocking them. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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NLSC Podcast #507: NBA Chat, Tournament Edition

NLSC Podcast Logo

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #507 of the NLSC Podcast!

With the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament wrapping up, we have some thoughts to share, from how well we think it’s worked and how it could improve to the eyesore that is the court designs! Speaking of the real NBA, Austin Rivers’ comments on LeBron James having no successor as the face of the league prompts us to discuss the accuracy of that claim. We also reflect on a spectacular Top 10 Plays, compare NCAA Basketball 09 and 10, and advocate for exhibition play on the virtual hardwood. NOTE: Due to technical difficulties resulting in the loss of part of the recording, this week’s show is much shorter than usual. We’ll be circling back to the community’s thoughts on the NBA In-Season Tournament on next week’s episode.

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: Two Hoop Heads Are Better Than One

Monday Tip-Off: Two Hoop Heads Are Better Than One

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 reflections on the joys of co-op play, which demonstrate that two hoop heads (or even more) can indeed be better than one.

So, I’ve previously spoken out in defense of single player experiences, and I do stand by that. As someone who essentially grew up as an only child – my half-brother is sixteen years older than me – I’ve often treated video games as a solo activity. Many of my all-time favourite games are single player, or can be enjoyed just as much alone as when playing with other people. Thanks to season, franchise, and career modes, to say nothing of fun ideas for exhibition games, I’ve made many fond memories balling out alone against the CPU, rather than with or against anyone else.

My immediate circle of friends not being passionate hoop heads like me was also a factor here. Of course, basketball became very popular back in the 90s, so there were times that I hit the virtual hardwood with friends growing up, particularly in arcade titles. As such, I wasn’t always playing NBA Live or NBA Jam solo. On top of that, my cousin Clinton and I were (and still are) very close and share a love of basketball, and would play a variety of hoops games religiously when he came to visit every school holidays. We always played co-op, and so when Dee and I started teaming up in our Parsec sessions, it was a familiar experience that I’m glad to partake in again.

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NBA 2K24 Mod Releases: Courts, Sleeved Jersey Fixes

NBA 2K24 Kobe Bryant Edition Cover Art

We’ve got some new NBA 2K24 mod releases today, as bratnajbolji has released a fix for the sleeved jerseys, and a handful of court updates, including the In-Season Tournament floor and arena. Download them all at the links below!

bratnajbolji
Sleeved Jerseys Fix
In-Season Tournament Championship Court & Arena
San Antonio Spurs Updated City Court 2024
30 Team National Broadcast Arena Presentation
Los Angeles Lakers Preseason Court and Arena

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: December 9th, 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 Twitter…uh, I mean, X…Dee teased that this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays would be one of the best countdowns we’ve seen to date. I’m positive that you’ll agree that it lives up to the hype! After all, we’ve got a player throwing the ball off an opponent’s face a la And 1 STREETBALL, 360 alley-oop finishes, another ridiculous putback by the king of such things, and posters all around. NBA 2K24 has clearly been in many gamers’ rotations as of late, but three other titles are also featured in the countdown, with an arcade classic taking the #1 spot. 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 Times My Franchise Games & Real Life Imitated Each Other

The Friday Five: 5 Times My Franchise Games & Real Life Imitated Each Other

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 recalls five times that my franchise games and the real NBA imitated each other.

Last week, I recalled five times when real moves made their way into my games, thanks to trades and signings that were initiated by CPU-controlled teams. They were special because obviously, I had nothing to do with them. The AI just happened to make moves that placed players on teams that they’ve played for since those games were released. Conversely, when I don my virtual GM suit in a franchise mode and mimic trades and signings that occurred in real life, it isn’t nearly as remarkable. It’s a situation where we gamers have greater control and influence, after all.

However, it’s still fun to inject some realism into your franchise gaming by taking cues from real life transactions. Indeed, before I made a blockbuster deal to acquire Kevin Garnett in my memorable NBA Live 2004 Dynasty, I considered making the trade that brought Jalen Rose and Antonio Davis to the Chicago Bulls, even testing it out to see if the CPU would accept (as it happens, it did). There have also been times where real life has imitated what was once a fictional move in one of my franchise games, which has been entertaining to see. These five examples of times where my franchise games and real life imitated each other comprise both of those scenarios.

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NCAA Basketball 09 Classic Teams & Other Highlights

NCAA Basketball 09 Classic Teams & Other Highlights

As we’ve been doing all year – and will continue to do in 2024! – Dee and I have recently uploaded highlight reels from various basketball games that we’ve been playing. The latest batch of highlights come courtesy of the classic teams in NCAA Basketball 09, Ultimate Team in NBA Live 18, all-time fantasy rosters in NBA 2K19, and a co-op session of NBA Live 10.

I’ve been casually working on a custom roster for NCAA Basketball 09, adding real names to all of the players on the classic teams. I’ve played a couple of games with that work-in-progress roster in the past week or so, beginning with a showdown between Shaquille O’Neal’s 1990 LSU Tigers and Larry Johnson’s 1991 UNLV Runnin’ Rebels. I also re-played the 1979 National Championship game between Magic Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans and Larry Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores, which went live today in honour of Bird’s birthday. Happy Birthday Larry Legend!

I also dusted off NBA Live 18 Ultimate Team once again, in order to play with my 90s All-Stars squad. This resulted in a very fun game against the Brooklyn Nets, packed with highlights that I just had to share. Meanwhile, Dee always brings a plethora of spectacular moments with his highlight reels, as you can see in the NBA 2K19 video in which he and his brother are using a squad of 2000s Legends against a Los Angeles Clippers team built using an all-time fantasy draft. In their hands, the new stars of a new millennium really put on a show!

Finally, Dee also connected with NBA Live Dude to play a co-op game of NBA Live 10 over Parsec. As you may know, Dee has been instrumental in getting the community into Parsec, and he and I often use it to connect for co-op action on the virtual hardwood. He and NBA Live Dude showcased why NBA Live 10 is still worth playing in 2023 and beyond, and why it will continue to be in our rotations as well. Don’t forget to check out his guide on how to set up Parsec, and be sure to join us in the NLSC Discord! As always, feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play, and be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content.

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Wayback Wednesday: My NBA Live 2002 Kings Franchise

Wayback Wednesday: My NBA Live 2002 Kings Franchise

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 my Sacramento Kings Franchise in NBA Live 2002 for the PlayStation 2.

It recently occurred to me that while I have mentioned my NBA Live 2002 Franchise with the Sacramento Kings in previous articles – including a re-creation of it for our 20th Anniversary of NBA Live content – I’ve never actually profiled it for Wayback Wednesday. Writing about it as an example of a failed basketball gaming idea, and in a handful of other features, had me thinking that I’d already covered it in detail. That really isn’t the case though, and since I’ve reflected on my other memorable season, franchise, and career mode games, it’s only fair that it gets a proper retrospective, too!

On top of that, on a recent dig through my archives, I unearthed some screenshots and an article from my “coverage” of that NBA Live 2002 Kings Franchise, similar to the story topics in our Forum. Not only is it a blast from the past to see those again after all this time, but for the purposes of a retrospective like this, they also allow me to recall some details that have slipped my mind over the years. What I haven’t forgotten though is how much fun that NBA Live 2002 Kings Franchise was, at a time when I definitely sought distractions…even when I probably shouldn’t have been! Let’s take a look back…way back…

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