NLSC Your source for basketball video games.

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games. This week, I’m tipping things off with a recap of a week playing in The Rec in NBA 2K20.

Because I’ve been casually playing a bit of MyCAREER while waiting for the season to start and the rosters to be updated for a MyLEAGUE game, my player has levelled up enough to be viable to play with online. As such, I’ve gone to The Rec a couple of times to see what it’s like this year. Not much has changed in terms of the quality of play or stability of the servers, but it’s had its moments. To that end, I figured if I was able to keep my expectations low, it’d be fun to jump on every once in a while for a change of pace. It’s a way of earning extra VC for MyTEAM packs if nothing else.

That led me to wonder if there were better nights than others to jump into The Rec for a game or two. I recalled that when the NLSC squad was playing multiple sessions of 2K Pro-Am per week in NBA 2K17, some days yielded more enjoyable experiences with good competition, while other days brought frustrating times with opponents who exploited cheesy tactics. I decided that I’d play The Rec every night for a week in order to see which night – if any – was the best to jump on. I was also interested to see how quickly I’d get sick of it, and whether I’d end up too frustrated with the mode to play it any more. What follows is a recap of my week playing in The Rec!

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Episode #300 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Join Dee4Three and myself as we mark the 300th episode of the NLSC Podcast with a conversation about some recent controversies in the community, the thought-terminating cliches that bother us, Basketball Classics, and the joy of collecting basketball video games, new and old.

As we celebrate 300 episodes, we reflect on one of our favourite shows: our interview with Tim Kitzrow back in Episode #280. Recalling his passion for NBA Jam, we’re reminded of how it’s too easy to be dismissive of what came before as pure nostalgia – on the real and virtual hardwood alike – and resort to cliched buzzwords to shut down criticism of newer things. That leads us to note the fantastic fusion of the old and new with Basketball Classics, as we share some more impressions of the game. After touching on the recent hack of NBA 2K accounts and issues with ad links in our modding community, we finally get to our featured discussion topic: collecting basketball video games. We talk about our collections, the process of tracking down older titles, the problems that digital content and releases present for collectors, and the fun of playing our old favourites and checking out games we missed out on the first time around.

Tune in below!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 2:01:43 — 83.7MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify

What are your thoughts on the recent controversies? Do you consider yourself a collector of basketball video games? Sound off in the comments section below, or join in the discussion here in the Forum! Additionally, feel free to hit us up with any feedback on the episode, as well as suggestions for topics that you’d like to hear us discuss in future episodes. For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki.

Tip off another weekend of NBA 2K20 PC gaming with the latest file additions! Today’s new releases include player and jersey updates, which you can pick up at the links below.

WUSUI
Dendre Ayton by WUSUI
Bol Bol by WUSUI

pinoy21
Orlando Magic Statement Jersey (pinoy21)

TGsoGood
2K20 Skin Blemish 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 File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

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 players who only appeared on certain teams in video games.

I’ve mentioned that one of the fun aspects of revisiting old games for my Wayback Wednesday features is that they’re a snapshot of the NBA at the time. It’s interesting how it can jog your memory when you fire up an old title, see a familiar name, and think “Oh, I forgot he played for them!” For me it happens with a lot of journeyman who I recall from the 90s and early 2000s, and even a couple of stars who had brief stints with unusual teams at the end of their careers. With the way that some players change teams, it can be difficult to immediately find them in older titles.

Of course, the snapshot that games can provide of the NBA of yesteryear isn’t always completely accurate. Older titles had roster cut-off dates and no official updates, so players would end up on teams they were cut or traded from by the time a title was released. Other players might indeed spend time on a team’s roster during the season, but never actually play a single game for them due to injury or other factors, thus only appearing for them on the virtual hardwood. As with the players who have appeared in more video games than NBA games, I find it to be an interesting trivia note. Let’s look at five players whose stints with teams only came on the virtual hardwood!

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Today’s file additions for NBA 2K14 PC include a couple of player faces, updated uniforms for the Golden State Warriors, and two total conversion roster mods: College Hoops 2K20, and WNBA 2KZ. Check them all out at the links below!

Blang
Scottie Lewis Face
Matthew Hurt Face

nick15
College Hoops 2K20

Pep
NBA Nike Golden State Warriors 2019 Uniforms

ModManZZZ
WNBA 2KZ by ModmanZZZ

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 File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

Patch 1.08 for NBA 2K20 is now available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A glance at the Steam Database shows that the PC patch is currently with QA, and so should be coming through soon. As always, the update will come through automatically as long as you’re online; if you do encounter any difficulties, try restarting your console or Steam client.

As with the last update, the patch notes for 1.08 are rather lacklustre to say the least. The full notes are as follows:

• Improved performance for PS4 Pro users.
• Improvements to the MyPLAYER Nation feature in MyCAREER. Help lead your team to the title!
• Fixed an issue that would sometimes prevent users from joining their friends in the Neighborhood, and/or would sometimes load the invited friend into the wrong location.
• Many, many more fixes included to improve the overall experience of NBA 2K20!

Share your impressions of NBA 2K20 Patch 1.08 in the comments below, and join in the discussion taking place here in the Forum. You can also find a complete update history for the game here in our Wiki. If any further details come through I’ll be sure to post them, as well as update the bulletin when the PC patch is released.

UPDATE: The PC patch is now available.

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 unused retro files in NBA 2K11.

For as long as we’ve been tinkering with basketball video games and poking around in their files, we’ve been discovering unused assets and leftover data from cut content. It’s always fun to discover such content, speculate on what might have been, and in some cases put those assets to use in mods. Examples include custom coach faces in NBA Live 2004, which would appear to be remnants of a scrapped custom team feature, and the leftover retro team player data in the PC version of NBA Live 08, which hints at the original plans for the game’s bonus content.

The latter example is particularly interesting because of the history of retro content in basketball video games. NBA Live and NBA 2K had both featured Legends and All-Decade teams in some capacity, but it wasn’t until NBA 2K11 that we saw full retro teams as part of The Jordan Challenge. However, digging through the game’s files reveals that even more content may have been planned. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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Following the release of a new update for URB 2K14, skoadam and slimm44 have released V64 of U R Basketball for NBA 2K13! As with the NBA 2K14 update, the new release includes updated 2020 season rosters, this year’s schedule, and other enhancements. Key features of V64 are as follows:

• New 2020 roster
• Newest transactions
• New 2019/2020 schedule
• Updated all contracts/extensions
• Updated all jerseys numbers
• Updated height and weight for all active players
• Lot of new cyberfaces
• Updated courts
• Updated jerseys

You can find U R Basketball V64 here in our Downloads section. For more previews, support, and information on future updates, be sure to check out the release topic here.

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games. This week, I’m tipping things off by revisiting my issue with dunking back in NBA 2K18’s MyCAREER.

From the first iteration of MyPLAYER Archetypes to NBA 2K20’s pie charts, player builds have been a contentious aspect of MyCAREER and its connected modes. The approach is intended to balance the game and allow us to create the type of player that best suits us, but in reality, it’s proven to be very restrictive. Only a handful of builds are viable – especially when it comes to online play – and those tend to be noticeably overpowered. Conversely, a lot of the builds that aren’t as viable are often outright broken, and not enjoyable to play with.

I encountered a very strange issue with dunking back in NBA 2K18, playing as a Sharpshooting Playmaker. Despite increasing my ratings, equipping the appropriate animations, and being very familiar with the advanced shooting controls, I was rarely able to get my player to dunk. Hearing that there might be an issue with tendencies for point guards created in The Prelude, I contacted 2K Support. Predictably, they were no help whatsoever. I’ve since made a few observations when creating similar builds in NBA 2K19 and NBA 2K20, and so this week, I’m briefly revisiting NBA 2K18’s MyCAREER to see if I can actually resolve my dunking issue.

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Episode #299 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Dee4Three joins me again as we react to the recent announcement that the NBA Live 15 servers will soon be shutting down, and have an in-depth discussion about what basketball gamers want out of the hobby.

EA Sports has announced that the NBA Live 15 servers will be shutting down as of December 1st, 2019. We react to the timing of the announcement compared to the NBA Live 14 shutdown, and reflect a little on NBA Live 15 itself. This leads to some thoughts on why we dust off older titles, and sometimes seeing them in a new light (and sometimes not). Our feature discussion this week is a deep dive into what basketball gamers want; not just expectations of the virtual hardwood and blacktop, but also our relationship with developers, and approach to game design. We also talk about toxic attitudes, and how we clash with one another over what we want out of the basketball gaming experience.

Tune in below!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 2:09:57 — 89.3MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify

What are your thoughts on this week’s topic? What do you want out of basketball video games? Sound off in the comments section below, or join in the discussion here in the Forum! Additionally, feel free to hit us up with any feedback on the episode, as well as suggestions for topics that you’d like to hear us discuss in future episodes. For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki.

EA Sports has announced that the NBA Live 15 servers will be shut down as of December 1st, 2019. In a post over on Reddit, the Dev Team wrote:

As of December 1, 2019, NBA LIVE 15 will be retired. Until December 1, 2019, you will still be able to enjoy NBA LIVE 15 and use any existing Ultimate Team™ Points. We hope you have gotten many hours of enjoyment out of NBA LIVE 15 and we appreciate your ongoing patronage.

Online support for NBA Live 14 just ended on the first of this month, following an announcement back in June. If you have any unfinished business with online modes such as Ultimate Team, or if you’re a content creator who needs screenshots and footage, I’d suggest getting on that ASAP.

It’s interesting that the NBA Live 15 servers are being shut down so soon after NBA Live 14, and with less notice. EA’s online support for those older releases has already extended far longer than usual however, and it’s highly unlikely that there are enough gamers still playing NBA Live 15 regularly enough to justify the use of those resources.

With the cancellation of NBA Live 20, it remains to be seen when EA will pull the plug on the NBA Live 16 servers. I would assume that the servers for NBA Live 18 and NBA Live 19 will remain active for some time yet, especially with the series currently on another hiatus. I’ll be sure to post any further information as it’s made available, but in the meantime, feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section below, as well as take the discussion to the NLSC Forum.

Today’s file additions for NBA 2K20 PC include faces, courts, jerseys, and artwork for Thunder Shaq’s Ultimate Retro Roster. Check them all out at the links below!

Shuajota
Luka Doncic Face

WUSUI
JaVale McGee by WUSUI
Jaylen Brown by WUSUI

TGsoGood
Venice Beach Court (Working Version)

Thunder Shaq
Mods for Ultimate Retro Roster 2K20 (Thunder Shaq)

pinoy21
Los Angeles Clippers Jersey (pinoy21)
Los Angeles Clippers City Edition Jersey (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 File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

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 describes five ways that the basketball gaming community can be less toxic towards each other.

Toxic behaviour and video game communities: name a more iconic duo, right? I’ve talked about toxicity in our community before, and the situation hasn’t improved in the past twelve months. That’s not unexpected of course, because unfortunately it’s something that’s rather ingrained in online culture. However, with some of the issues that basketball gaming is facing at the moment, it’s a shame that we can’t all get on the same page more often. We’ve never been in complete agreement and we never will be, but it does feel like we’re more divided these days.

With that being said, there’s no reason that we can’t try to bridge the gap and strive to change the culture. If nothing else, we can set ourselves up to have more positive experiences, and simply avoid some of the more toxic aspects of the hobby. To that end, in addition to pointing out ways that we can be toxic, I’m proposing solutions to make the basketball gaming community a nicer scene. Considering how certain toxic behaviours not only cultivate an unfriendly atmosphere, but actively work against our best interests as consumers, it’s a matter of cutting off our nose to spite our face if we don’t at least try to change the way we think and interact.

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A new version of U R Basketball 2K14 by skoadam and slimm44 is now available. V71 includes updated 2020 season rosters accurate as of opening night, as well as the real schedule, new artwork, and of course, all the retro rosters. Key features of the latest version are as follows:

• New 2020 roster
• Latest transactions
• New 2019/2020 schedule
• Updated all contracts/extensions
• Updated all jerseys numbers
• Updated height and weight for all active players
• Lot of new faces
• Updated courts by Jumpman2k
• Updated jerseys

You can find V71 of U R Basketball 2K14 here in our Downloads section. Be sure to check out the release topic here for support, previews, and more information about future releases.

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 some more players that I remember because of video games.

Back in September, I listed ten players that I remember in large part because of basketball video games. I could have easily listed many more, but I didn’t want the article to be too long. I also figured that it was a topic I could revisit from time to time, much as I’ve done with my series of Friday Five articles on retro teams that I’d like to see in NBA 2K. Furthermore, it’s something I enjoyed doing the first time around, as the players we used to play with and against in old basketball games make up a big part of our nostalgia for them.

Although I may also remember these players from watching real games, or collecting basketball trading cards, video games tend to be the main reason that I recall their names and faces. Through playing with and against them on the virtual hardwood, they remain familiar to me all these years later, even though they weren’t NBA All-Stars or future Hall of Famers. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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