Menu
Home | Tag: College Slam

Tag Archives: College Slam

NLSC Podcast #469: March Madness in Video Games

NLSC Podcast Logo

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #469 of the NLSC Podcast!

With March Madness underway, there’s no better time to talk about college basketball video games! This week, we’re joining the community in reflecting on our history with NCAA on the virtual hardwood, listing some of our all-time favourite college basketball titles, as well as a couple of regional variants. We also provide an update on the latest action and results from our NCAA Basketball 10 Parsec Tournament, and discuss plans for some College Slam content. Revisiting the possibility of college basketball video games some day making a return, we wonder whether an NCAA title would be EA Sports’ ticket back into the basketball gaming space, or if Visual Concepts would just swoop in and steal their thunder once again.

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!

NLSC Podcast #384: A Couple of Pre-Ordering, PC Nerds

NLSC Podcast Logo

Episode #384 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Derek (aka Dee4Three) and I are your hosts for this weekly podcast that’s all about basketball gaming.

The cover players, release date, and pre-order bonuses for NBA 2K22 have been revealed, confirming leaks and speculation, and drawing some boorish comments about one player in particular. Unfortunately, the PC version will be a prior gen port once again this year, and we have some thoughts to share on that. Despite the remarks of one wannabe content creator, PC gamers have a right to be dismayed…and to play NBA 2K, for that matter. The lack of a demo on all platforms is likewise disappointing. Elsewhere, a Tweet mentioning a partnership between LeBron James and EA has people talking, though we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves (again). We also touch on Steam Deck, and some listener responses to last week’s mailbag topics.

Join in the conversation in the comments below, or here in the Forum! Additionally, feel free to hit us up with any feedback on the episode, as well as mailbag questions and topic suggestions for future shows. For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. The show also comes out on our YouTube channel, so be sure to subscribe for future episodes and other video content.

Wayback Wednesday: Investigating NBA Jam TE’s Ratings

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! In this feature, we dig into the archives, look back at the history of basketball gaming, and indulge in some nostalgia. Check in every Wednesday for retrospectives and other features on older versions of NBA Live, NBA 2K, and old school basketball video games in general. You’ll also find old NLSC editorials re-published with added commentary, and other flashback content. This week, I’m taking a look back at the ratings in classic NBA Jam games, specifically the PC version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition.

While playing College Slam for last week’s Wayback Wednesday feature, I noticed something interesting about the individual player ratings. Since the generic players can be edited, there is a cap on their ratings to prevent you from maxing them out at nine in each category. Interestingly, the cap varies from player to player, which basically ensures that at least one player stands out as the star of the team with better all around ratings or high ratings in a few categories, while other players are capped at a lower amount of ratings points, establishing a hierarchy and balancing the squads.

Thinking back to some of the unusual ratings that I’ve noticed in the original NBA Jam games, I began to wonder if a similar approach had been taken in those titles, and whether it could account for some of the ratings that seemed too high or too low. I fired up the PC version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition to make a few calculations and comparisons, and what I discovered was quite interesting. There does seem to be a method to the ratings, and I’m not sure if it’s ever really been explored, so let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

Wayback Wednesday: College Slam

College Slam Title Screen

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! In this feature, we dig into the archives, look back at the history of basketball gaming, and indulge in some nostalgia. Check in every Wednesday for retrospectives and other features on older versions of NBA Live, NBA 2K, and old school basketball video games in general. You’ll also find old NLSC editorials re-published with added commentary, and other flashback content. This week, I’m taking a look back at College Slam.

College Slam is a 1996 title that a lot of basketball gamers may not remember, if indeed they’ve ever heard of it. I personally wasn’t aware of it until years later, since as is the case with all college basketball video games, it wasn’t available in PAL regions. Essentially an NCAA version of NBA Jam, it was developed by Iguana Entertainment and published by Acclaim, the companies who brought NBA Jam to home consoles and PC. Unlike NBA Jam, it wasn’t released in arcades, and never achieved the same level of popularity, largely due to its more limited release.

In many ways, College Slam is a re-skin of NBA Jam with NCAA licensing, but that is selling the game a little short. It did introduce a few new features that set it apart from its NBA licensed predecessor, and make it an interesting game to revisit. If the 2003 release from Acclaim is the forgotten NBA Jam, then College Slam is surely the forgotten spin-off. It’s another game worth remembering however, so let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »