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NLSC Podcast #521: No NBA License? No Problem!

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #521 of the NLSC Podcast!

Could an unlicensed basketball video game possibly provide a viable alternative to NBA 2K, assuming that it had great gameplay, deep customisation and sharing options, a robust franchise mode, and a price tag of $39.99 USD? This week, we join the community in discussing this very intriguing idea, while drawing comparisons to old titles such as World League Basketball and other unlicensed sports games. It’s safe to say that there’s interest in the concept, but certainly some valid concerns as well. We also take a look back at NBA 2K8 for PlayStation 3 following a co-op Parsec session that sadly ended far too abruptly, and share an encouraging injury update with our listeners.

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: Giving NCAA Games The Old College Try

Monday Tip-Off: Giving NCAA Games The Old College Try

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 my recent interest in college basketball video games, particularly EA’s NCAA series.

As I’ve mentioned in previous articles and on our podcast, I didn’t grow up playing college basketball games, as issues with international licensing rights prevented them from being released outside of North America. With no PAL versions of the games, it was usually unfeasible to import them, since they wouldn’t work on the hardware that I own. Of course, college basketball itself isn’t as popular in Australia as the NBA or our own NBL are, so I’ve always had a more casual interest in the NCAA anyway. At the same time, I was intrigued by college basketball video games.

After all, I loved playing with the fictional players in World League Basketball, which of course was originally a college hoops title that was rebranded for PAL regions. I also read previews of NCAA games with a degree of envy, my interest piqued by mechanics such as momentum meters, the ability to shatter the backboard, and the inclusion of classic teams. When a friend gifted me his old PlayStation 3 back in 2019, I was finally able to add a few college basketball games to my collection. It was satisfying to track them down and finally check them out after all this time, as well as write about them. Recently however, they’ve been getting more time in my rotation.

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Wayback Wednesday: Regional Exclusives & Late Releases

Wayback Wednesday: Regional Exclusives & Late Releases

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 time when certain basketball video games were regional exclusives, and/or had late releases.

The basketball gaming landscape has changed drastically since our choices were whittled down to just NBA Live and NBA 2K, culminating in a virtual monopoly for the latter. When a handful of developers and publishers were throwing their hat into the ring with hoops games, we received a variety of titles of varying quality, but most brought something interesting to the table. Of course, not every game was available worldwide. While NBA Live and NBA 2K stood as examples of global brands, other games were regional exclusives, usually only released in North America.

On top of that, if other regions did receive a particular game, it might not be until several months later. It may seem like a terrible marketing decision to release an NBA game well after the season has tipped off, but there are titles that have come along quite late in a campaign, even with their domestic release. Indeed, not even NBA 2K and NBA Live have been immune to late releases, if only outside North America. It’s an interesting difference in the way that basketball video games used to be handled, so let’s take a look back…way back…

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Monday Tip-Off: My 25 Favourite Basketball Video Games

Monday Tip-Off: My 25 Favourite 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 with a countdown of my Top 25 favourite basketball video games, in celebration of another milestone here at the NLSC.

On Saturday, I celebrated my 22nd year of running the NLSC. It’s been a long ride with plenty of ups and downs, but I’m still very glad that I accepted the gig when Tim moved on to work at EA Sports, and that I stuck it out through some rough patches to enjoy the good times. To mark the occasion, I’ve decided to rank my Top 25 favourite basketball video games. This being my 22nd Anniversary as webmaster/admin of the NLSC, I was originally going to pick my Top 22 games. Top 25 has a better ring to it though, and it also serves as a belated 25th Anniversary celebration for the site itself!

Before we get to the countdown, let me emphasise once again that it is a Top 25 of my favourite basketball video games; not the Top 25 best hoops titles. That’s a different list, and if I were being more objective, there are games I’m listing here that wouldn’t make the cut. Because I haven’t spent as much time with certain NBA 2K, College Hoops, or NCAA Basketball/March Madness titles, I don’t have as much of an affinity for them, though that may well change in the future. I haven’t “forgotten” about those great basketball video games, but they haven’t become one of my personal favourites (as yet, anyway). With that being said, here are my Top 25 virtual hardwood classics!

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NLSC Podcast #469: March Madness in Video Games

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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!

The Friday Five: 5 Features NBA Live & NBA 2K Didn’t Originate

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 lists five features that didn’t originate in NBA Live or NBA 2K.

From the mid 90s through to today, NBA Live and NBA 2K are the two biggest names as far as sim basketball games are concerned. Obviously NBA Jam and NBA Street were the top dogs in the arcade space, and there have been other series of sim titles that have produced quality releases. However, when we’re talking about the brand leader in NBA licensed sim titles, it’s been NBA Live and NBA 2K for more than a quarter of a century, with the latter taking the crown from the former during the 2000s. Of course, it hasn’t been a competition for quite some time.

Nevertheless, being the two biggest names/brand leaders in sim basketball games has meant that many of the innovations in the genre did originate with either NBA Live or NBA 2K. To that end, they’ve ended up borrowing ideas from each other, which as I’ve long maintained is actually a good thing when it comes to features that should be staples of a sim game. Of course, there are also some great features that we take for granted that didn’t originate in NBA Live or NBA 2K. Some of them are older than we think, appearing in one of their predecessors, while other times it was one of their contemporaries that beat them to the punch. Either way, another game did it first.

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NLSC Podcast #458: Why We’re Thankful For Basketball Games

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #458 of the NLSC Podcast!

To all of our listeners, Merry Christmas and Season’s Greetings! We’ve got a very festive episode for you this week, as we’re reflecting on why we’re thankful for basketball video games, and what basketball gaming and modding has meant to us throughout the years. From our very first games that tipped off our love of the hobby, to the landmark releases and innovations that blew us away, there’s plenty that we’re grateful for. In this week’s mailbag, we join the community in sharing some of our favourite holiday memories on the virtual hardwood, including the hoops titles that we received as gifts.

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!

Wayback Wednesday: Virtual Stadium Technology

Wayback Wednesday: Virtual Stadium Technology

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 Virtual Stadium Technology in the early NBA Live games.

In our desire to see games and gaming technology constantly improve, we obsess over specifications. This isn’t a new phenomenon, of course. One only needs to look back at the console wars of the 90s, where the number of bits and jargon such as Sega’s “blast processing” were thrown back and forth in the eternal fanboy debates. These days, we’re also aware of the most popular game engines, and the use of technology that we hold in high esteem is often celebrated. We also speculate on how it could help the games we’re interested in. “If only NBA Live had used Frostbite!”

It’s interesting to see how the engines and tech of different basketball games have been hyped through the years. Eco-Motion may not have lasted, but it was definitely well-received in NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Conversely, although EA Sports’ IGNITE engine worked out well for other titles, it didn’t make NBA Live better than its predecessors. The Playmaker Engine in NBA Live 13 sounded good on paper, but the game shaped up so poorly that it was cancelled. And then, there’s NBA Live’s Virtual Stadium Technology. What did that entail? Let’s take a look back…way back…

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NLSC Podcast #400: Just Like We Remembered

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Episode #400 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.

Welcome to the 400th Episode of the NLSC Podcast! To mark the occasion, we’re reflecting on significant milestones in basketball gaming: the developments, good and bad, that shaped the genre. We also profile the infamous NBA Live 07 for Xbox 360. Was it as bad as most of us remember it being? Yes, but it’s still interesting to discuss! In this week’s mailbag, we provide further thoughts on the dunk meter in NBA 2K22 Next Gen. We also pick up where we left off in NBA Jam: On Fire Edition’s Road Trip, nominate games that we’d like to see re-made, and list our favourite teams to play with over the years.

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.

NLSC Podcast #395: Retro Kicks, Lucky Breaks, & Modding Ideas

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Episode #395 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.

An extended retro kick with NBA 2K14 will soon wrap up, as the end of a season in MyCAREER looms. We reflect on having a new appreciation for the game, and compare the MyCAREER experience to more recent NBA 2K titles. Patch 1.6 for NBA 2K22 Next Gen came close to causing heartbreak, but fortunately a further update seems to have resolved the issue. We share further impressions of this year’s game, and recap our adventures in MyTEAM. Super Dunk Shot and Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside were our games of choice in a recent Parsec session, with both proving to still be fun all these years later. Building off a recent NLSC Forum topic, we also discuss some creative modding ideas for the community to consider.

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.

The Friday Five: 5 Games Where Everyone Can Dunk

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Welcome to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown. This week’s Five is a list of five basketball video games where every player is able to dunk.

I realise the three-pointer is in vogue these days, but I’m all about a flashy dunk. In fact, I’m old enough to remember when the debate was between dazzling dunks and basketball bloopers! To be fair, it’s not as though the dunk has gone completely out of style. Dunks still make the highlight reels, and many gamers who play MyCAREER and its connected modes want a build that can throw it down just as well as stroke a three. Sure, it’s only two points like any other shot within the three-point arc, and analytics insists twos are bad, but many of us are still suckers for spectacular slams.

In real life, while it’s assumed that everyone who makes it to the NBA can probably dunk – even if it’s just a rim grazer – not everybody does. Smaller players who threw it down in college tend to dunk far less in the NBA, where there are bigger and stronger defenders crowding the paint. Sim games usually reflect this, with a combination of ratings and animation packages that ensure specific players will only ever perform layups. Arcade titles naturally take liberties with reality, but even a few sim-oriented games aren’t very strict about which players can slam it home. If dunks are your thing, here are five basketball video games where every player is able to throw it down.

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NLSC Podcast #374: Contractual Obligations

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Episode #374 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.

It warms our hearts that gamers are still interested in watching User vs. User gameplay videos! Sadly, not everyone is open to the idea of playing on broadcast camera angles, but gatekeepers gonna gatekeep. Reports that Luka Doncic has broken his contract with EA Sports to sign with 2K Sports have caused a stir this week. We discuss the speculation, and reflect on what it might mean – if anything – for the fortunes and future of NBA Live. In this week’s mailbag, we’re taking another look back at the rough start for NBA Live on Xbox 360, and talking about Tecmo NBA Basketball and Tecmo Super NBA Basketball.

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: NCAA Basketball Retrospective

Wayback Wednesday: NCAA Basketball Retrospective

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 NCAA Basketball for the Super Nintendo.

With Baylor’s victory and another March Madness in the books, I’m taking a look back at one final college basketball game. It’s a game that I’ve covered twice before in Wayback Wednesday, albeit under two different titles: World League Basketball, and Super Dunk Shot. As I mentioned in those features, this 1992 release developed by Sculptured Software changed its name and content according to the region it was released in. To that end, depending on whether you’re in North America, a PAL region, or Japan, you’ll be nostalgic for a different version of the same game.

Since Australia is a PAL region, the version of the game that I grew up with was World League Basketball. Now that I’ve picked up a Universal Adapter for my Super Nintendo, I’ve been able to collect Super Dunk Shot and NCAA Basketball, and play them on my PAL hardware. Obviously it’s a very familiar experience in terms of gameplay, but the different teams and format make it a real novelty to play the other versions. On top of that, NCAA Basketball holds up as one of the best college hoops titles of its era. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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Wayback Wednesday: The Space Jam Video Game

Wayback Wednesday: The Space Jam Video Game

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 Space Jam video game.

Happy 58th Birthday to my all-time favourite player, Michael Jordan! You know, it kind of blows my mind that I’m now older than MJ was when he won his final title with the Chicago Bulls in 1998. Appropriately enough, that was 23 years ago; a fact that’s also difficult to wrap my head around! In any case, I figured that since it is His Airness’ birthday today, it only makes sense to cover something related to him. The problem is that I’ve already covered The Jordan Challenge (from several angles, too), as well as Michael Jordan in Flight, his history in games, and his comeback in 1995.

What else is there? Well, how about the Space Jam video game? Yes, there was a lot of merchandise related to Space Jam when it came out, and like so many movies in the 90s, there was a video game tie-in for PC, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn. I didn’t actually play it back in the day, but I’ve since added it to my collection. We got a real jam going down, so let’s take it into overtime…I mean, let’s take a look back…way back…

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The Friday Five: 5 Crazy Roster Mod Ideas (Part 2)

The Friday Five

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown. This week’s Five is another list of crazy roster mod ideas that I’m throwing out to the community.

March Modness is fast approaching, and I’m once again hoping to be a more active participant this year. Having finished the bulk of the 25th Anniversary of NBA Live content and built up a significant buffer for my weekly articles, I’ve been able to clear some space on the workbench for a bit of modding. There’s only so much that I’ll be able to get done though, which is a shame because I can’t help thinking of fun – and sometimes crazy – roster mod ideas. I’d love to be able to give them a try, but I want to finish up the projects I’ve already started before I move on to something new.

That shouldn’t stop someone else from considering these roster mod ideas though, if the crazy concepts appeal to them. Obviously, there’s more interest in comprehensive retro season mods, current rosters for old games, enhanced current rosters for the latest game, NCAA mods, Euroleague rosters, and so on. I don’t want to discourage the creation of those roster mods at all, because they’re fantastic projects and it’s always great to see them. However, if you’re in the mood to create and play with something that’s a bit different and quirky, then you may want to consider one of the crazy roster mod ideas that I suggested before, or one that I’m putting forth today!

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