NLSC Your source for basketball video games.

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 things that frequently spoil multi-season modes in basketball video games.

So, I’ve explained why I strongly believe that multi-season modes are awesome, and I stand by that. I wouldn’t maintain an interest in them if I didn’t! However, I also won’t pretend that they’re perfect and that nothing can spoil the experience. Please note that when I say spoil, I don’t necessarily mean that the mode is completely ruined and no longer capable of being enjoyed. Again, if these were insurmountable issues, then my interest in multi-season modes would soon evaporate, and even after all these years, that obviously isn’t the case!

Nevertheless, there are quirky things that are annoying or detract from the intended experience in some way. Even if they ultimately don’t stand in the way of enjoying multi-season modes, they’re among my pet peeves in some of my all-time favourite basketball video games, and issues that I’d prefer future games to avoid. In other words, if you were to ask me what are my least favourite aspects in some of my favourite modes and games, the issues that I’m discussing here are definitely on that list! I adore multi-season modes and will always recommend them as a fun way to play basketball games, but be warned: these are some issues that you might encounter.

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There’s a new update to PatTheHead’s comprehensive roster pack for NBA 2K13, as rosters for the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia have now been added. As Pat notes, the event saw one of the most dominant performances in the history of Olympic Basketball, as Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, and the rest of Team USA won the Gold while defeating their opponents by an average of 53.5 ppg.

That’s not all you’ll find, of course. For those who are unaware, in addition to Olympic roster mods, the project adds decades of NBA, ABA, BAA, NBL, and ABL rosters to NBA 2K13. Not only is it a fantastic celebration of basketball history, but for those who’d like to bring NBA 2K13 up to date, a recent release added an end-0f-season roster for the 2025 campaign.

Check out Pat’s release topic for the download links, as well as previews of what’s already available and what’s coming in future updates! As previously noted, Pat posts interesting trivia along with the releases, underscoring how this project comes from a true passion for basketball. Shout out as always to PatTheHead and everyone else who is keeping old favourites like NBA 2K13 alive with fantastic releases, and making them freely available to everyone!

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 putting some Legends back in uniform in NBA 2K9.

As I’ve mentioned before, whenever I’m hooked on an older basketball video game, part of my retro kick involves messing around with the rosters. I particularly enjoy this is in any game that has Legends and retro jerseys, as it allows me to set up some historical scenarios. While playing NBA 2K9 ahead of producing my retrospective, I ended up putting many of the Legends back in uniform. It turned out to be a fun way to talk about some strange stints that weren’t captured in the rosters of any other video games (aside from one that I felt was too important not to cover).

Before I re-created those examples of familiar faces in strange places using NBA 2K9 though, I was placing Legends back in the uniforms that they famously wore. It may seem like an unusual thing to do when there are so many games – and for that matter, mods – that allow me to play with historical rosters. However, there’s just something really fun and satisfying about messing around with a game’s retro content! NBA 2K9 doesn’t feature the largest selection of Legends in the 2K series, but it has enough to depict some memorable moments in NBA history. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #583 of the NLSC Podcast!

With only a few games left before a team hoists the Larry O’Brien trophy once more, we’re inclined to share some thoughts on the year that was in the NBA! To that point, this week we join the community in discussing our level of interest in the 2025 NBA Finals and whether we’ll be watching the rest of the way, as well as rating the 2025 season as a whole. This includes our thoughts on the way that the NBA is being covered right now, and the lacklustre promotion of the Finals by ABC. We also touch on whether or not parity is better for the league than the dominance of a dynasty, and Mike Breen’s recent comments regarding the philosophy behind what merits a “BANG!” from him on the mic.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 55:41 — 38.6MB)

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!

Today’s mod releases for NBA 2K11 feature a new update to SodaBig’s Prime Roster for the Wii version of the game. Pick it up at the link below!

SodaBig
NBA 2K11 Wii Prime Roster (Updated to v2.3)

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.

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 why I understand where fanboys are coming from, as well as the appeal of recency bias.

Recency bias is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to online discourse these days. New isn’t always better, because neither humans nor the world in general are perfect. There are peaks and valleys, missteps and corrections, good and bad ideas alike. In a similar vein, I don’t hold the opinions of fanboys in high esteem, either. “Stan culture” is way out of control, muddying discussions with ridiculous takes and performative debate, not to mention attacks on people who dare to disagree or dislike what you like. That isn’t a recent thing of course, but social media has made it worse.

However…I get it. As someone who has made a few more trips around the sun than some folks who insist that the latest NBA 2K is always the best, or that today’s NBA players are bigger, faster, stronger, and more talented than the “plumbers” of the past, I understand the feelings and the thought process. I disagree and may grumble about the youth of today with curmudgeonly sentiment that I’m still way too young for, but I honestly do get it. After all, I was your age once! I’ve been a fanboy too, and a victim of recency bias. It’s something that I’m pushing back on now, but it’s not just an issue with the younger generation today. It’s something that we all have to grow out of.

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NBA 2K16 is almost a decade old now, but it remains an excellent game worthy of new mod releases! To that point, with the Orlando Magic recently unveiling their new branding, Nba2kfadeaway has released a 2026 season court update. Check it out at the link below!

Nba2kfadeaway
25-26 Orlando Magic Floor

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.

Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee! 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, send Dee a message, or hit him up on X.

Earlier this week in Episode #582 of the NLSC Podcast, we joined the community in discussing our offseason basketball gaming plans. To that point, it’s clear that the 2025 season drawing to a close isn’t dampening everyone’s enthusiasm for the virtual hardwood! This week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays once again delivers the goods with ferocious dunks, nifty layups, beautiful passes, and other spectacular moves by the stars of yesterday and today. Six different games are featured in this week’s countdown, from NBA 07 through to NBA 2K25. 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 things that make multi-season modes in basketball video games awesome.

Growing up with the basketball video games of the 90s, I was able to experience some classic releases and see the genre evolve in some big ways from year-to-year. That of course includes the introduction of multi-season modes. If you go back and look at our early Wishlists for NBA Live, you’ll see that we were keen to see Season mode expand into an experience that lasted several years, and truly allowed us to play GM. Our wish was granted in NBA Live 2000 PC, and since then, multi-season franchise and eventually career modes have become staples of NBA Live and NBA 2K.

For gamers who prefer online team play and competitive modes in general, playing several full seasons against the CPU may not sound like a lot of fun. Gamers who prefer the card collecting modes may also not find the structure of the NBA-oriented modes to be all that appealing. For that matter, anyone who’s satisfied with a single, isolated NBA campaign may not feel the need to continue into Year 2 and beyond. It should be noted that these are all valid opinions and ways to experience basketball games, but as someone who has really enjoyed the extended journey that franchise and career play offers, I’ll give you five reasons why multi-season modes are so fun.

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Today’s NBA Live 2005 mod releases feature the latest cyberface from Modder27. This time it’s an update for Tyrese Haliburton, who is about to make his NBA Finals debut. Check it out at the link below!

Modders27
Tyrese Haliburton Face

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 the iconic point after a dunk in NBA Live 95.

The National Basketball Association is extremely image-conscious to say the least! Throughout the years, they’ve tried to curb behaviour by players and coaches that may harm their reputation, including taking a zero-tolerance approach to complaints to the referees after a whistle. Of course, in practice, this has usually just meant that their favoured stars still get to have their say, while role players are assessed a technical foul for rolling their eyes! The NBA has also discouraged taunting, which is why the late Dikembe Mutombo had to make a point of wagging his finger towards the crowd.

Unsurprisingly – and honestly, quite fairly – the NBA retains control over how it is portrayed in licensed products, including video games. This means that we won’t see unsportsmanlike technical fouls, brawls, or anything else the league doesn’t want to spotlight, represented on the virtual hardwood. Therefore, it’s funny to think that a blatant display of taunting was once prominently featured in an NBA video game! That is of course the point after throwing down a dunk in NBA Live 95, something that long-time hoops gamers nostalgically recall. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #582 of the NLSC Podcast!

With the 2025 NBA season rapidly drawing to a close, how will we be spending our Summer (or for that matter, our Winter) on the virtual hardwood? This week, we join the community in discussing the basketball video games that we plan to play and mod in the coming months. While NBA 2K25 will remain in the lineup, it’s clear that basketball gamers will still be sticking with some old favourites! We also discuss if and how the offseason impacts our basketball gaming habits, some of the mods that we’d like to work on, and other video games that will likely be in our rotations when we need a break from hoops. Spoiler: a new Garfield Kart game might just be among them!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 42:30 — 29.5MB)

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!

Today’s NBA 2K25 mod releases feature Froob’s custom St. Patrick’s Day jerseys for the Boston Celtics, which are based on the Vegas Golden Knights’ designs. Check them out at the link below!

Froob
Boston Celtics St. Paddys Jerseys

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.

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 response to a question that’s often lobbed at retro basketball gamers: why are you playing that?

I’m sure that at this point, it’s hardly a secret that I’m an enthusiastic advocate for retro basketball gaming. I’ve written a number of articles detailing the fun that I’m having revisiting old favourites and discovering new retro kicks, and explaining why I think it’s worth considering if you’re not enjoying newer titles. To that point, I don’t want to keep harping on points or treading familiar ground in my articles, but the fact of the matter is that there’s still pushback and scorn when it comes to playing older games. Again, “why are you playing that?” is the common refrain here.

Obviously, this is the internet where everyone has an opinion, and believes that their preferences are correct. However, I will entertain the question of why I and others still play older basketball video games, because I’m sure that some people are asking that in good faith. Considering all of the technological advances that have been made over generations of basketball games, not to mention the fact there’s a new NBA season every year, I’m sure it is quite puzzling that some of us do choose to play games with outdated graphics, simpler mechanics, and old rosters. Nostalgia is a major factor, but there’s more to it than that, and the stigma against retro basketball gaming is insulting.

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Today’s NBA Live 2004 mod releases aren’t exactly new, but they are important ones to preserve! With permission, JuicyShaqMeat has uploaded Seushiro’s custom AIACT and depth of field ENB updates for safekeeping, in a pack that you can find at the link below.

Seushiro
Seushiro’s Myxed AIACTs and ENBs for Live 2004

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.