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 ideas that future basketball games should consider borrowing from titles in other genres.

Basketball games, like all sports titles, differ from other genres of video games when it comes to their nuances and our expectations. In many video games, there are several breaks from reality that are not only acceptable, but desirable. The lack of realism in specific aspects of gameplay doesn’t break our sense of immersion the same way it will in a game that is attempting to accurately depict a sport. To that end, certain features, functions, and concepts that we find in other genres of video games aren’t necessarily a good fit in basketball titles.

At the same time, while Da_Czar’s famous catchphrase of “Don’t play video games; play basketball!” is a great philosophy for developers and basketball gamers alike, the fact remains that basketball games are still video games. There are aspects of real life, such as commercial breaks, that they don’t need to replicate. Similarly, there are good ideas for features, functions, and even content that can be utilised by a wide variety of genres. Even though the concepts aren’t basketball-centric in and of themselves, they could still greatly enhance future NBA Live and NBA 2K releases. Here are five such ideas that basketball games could stand to borrow and make their own.

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NBA Live 19 has received a new official patch (1.12) on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It will come through as long as your console is connected to the Internet, but if you encounter any difficulties, try restarting or checking for the update manually.

No official patch notes have been released as yet, but it appears that it’s mainly a content update. New gear has been added to The One Store, including Halloween-themed items. The update history on PlayStation 4 also contains the usual generic note about minor bug fixes.

If any further information is released then I’ll be sure to post it. In the meantime, I’ve updated the NBA Live 19 patch history in our Wiki. Feel free to share any thoughts and impressions in the comments section below, as well as in this topic in the NLSC Forum.

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 on a retro basketball gaming challenge with the PC version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition.

It’s been far too long since I made a video feature, despite my intention to produce more video content this year. Better late than never though, as I had a fun idea for this week’s Wayback Wednesday. Whenever I played NBA Jam Tournament Edition solo back in the day, I tended to play with Tag Mode off, and scored most of the team’s points with the player I was controlling. However, playing point guard for our Pro-Am squad in NBA 2K has given me a taste for racking up assists, which left me to wonder: can I win a game of NBA Jam TE with my CPU teammate scoring all of our points?

I fired up my old favourite, and gave the No Points Challenge a shot. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Catch it here on our YouTube channel if you can’t see the embedded video, and while you’re there, be sure to subscribe! With any luck, I’ll be able to produce some more videos in the not too distant future. I’ll probably also look to upload some excerpts from the NLSC Podcast – which will also be returning soon – so stay tuned for that. I may also tackle some other retro basketball gaming challenges for future Wayback Wednesday features, so if you have any suggestions in that regard, feel free to post them in the comments below!

Patch 1.05 (also referred to as Patch 5) has come through for NBA 2K19. It’s currently available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and will be downloaded automatically as long as your console is online. If it doesn’t, try restarting or checking for the update manually. The PC and Switch patches should be pushed through soon.

The latest update addresses a variety of issues across game modes. Some of the issues addressed include incorrect VC rewards for incentives in MyCAREER, a disconnection issue in Court Conquerors events, and a pause glitch in Triple Threat Online, among others. New functionality has also been added, including the ability to see the Heat Check cards currently available in MyTEAM packs. “Pulling the chair” in the post has also received improvements in terms of logic and visuals, and several unlisted adjustments and bug/stability fixes have been made game-wide.

Please see below for the full patch notes; I’ve also added them to the NBA 2K19 update history page in our Wiki. As always, feel free to share your thoughts on the latest patch in the comments section below, as well as in this topic in the NBA 2K19 section of the Forum. I’ll update this bulletin when the PC patch is pushed through.

UPDATE: The PC patch is now available.

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Today’s file additions for NBA 2K19 PC include the latest dorna and face updates. Check them all out at the links below!

TwisT
Phoenix Suns Dornas (TwisT)
Minnesota Timberwolves Dornas (TwisT)
Chicago Bulls Dornas (TwisT)
Houston Rockets Dornas (TwisT)
Atlanta Hawks Dornas (TwisT)

Shuajota
Ricky Rubio Face (2 Versions)
R.J. Barrett Face

Torogi
Michael Beasley Face
Paul George Face & Model (Updated to v2.0)

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.

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 firing up NBA 2K17 and NBA 2K18 to see if anyone is still playing them online.

Unless 2K plans on extending their support for NBA 2K17 beyond the 27 months the company pledged following the controversy surrounding NBA 2K14, the game’s servers will be shut off at the end of this year. That gives anyone who is still playing the 2016 release a couple of months to get as much out of it as they can before online support finishes. Anyone still playing NBA 2K18 will have a little longer, as its servers aren’t due to be shut down until the end of 2019. This approach essentially affords each game two seasons worth of online support, plus three months.

While that won’t appease everyone, it’s a reasonable assumption that most gamers will have moved on to a new release in that time. Indeed, we can assume that a bulk of the fanbase has already moved on to NBA 2K19, but how many people are holding out and still playing NBA 2K18? For that matter, how many people have stuck with NBA 2K17 for the past couple of years, or picked it up again? I recently booted up both games on PlayStation 4 to see if I’d find many people still active in MyPARK and Pro-Am Walk-On, rather than hooping it up in NBA 2K19. The results were certainly interesting, at least on the Australasian servers.

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Still playing NBA 2K14 PC? Our modding community still has you covered! The newest mod releases for the game include Blang’s latest face updates, as well as a jersey sponsors mod by Pep. Check them out at the links below!

Pep
NBA Nike 2018/2019 Sponsors Update

Blang
Johnathan Williams Face
Daniel Hamilton Face
2019/2020 Prospects by Blang

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.

Today’s file additions for NBA 2K19 PC include court, dorna, and portrait mods. Check them all out at the links below!

Manni Live
Houston Rockets Toyota Center 4K

TwisT
Cleveland Cavaliers Dornas (TwisT)
Miami Heat Dornas (TwisT)
Sacramento Kings Dornas (TwisT)

keepkarlm
Toronto Raptors Full Body Portraits

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 takes a look at five features in basketball video games that have become outmoded.

Something I’ve really enjoyed doing with my Wayback Wednesday articles this year is to look at specific features in old basketball games. I do want to get back to doing some full retrospectives on older titles, but I feel that it’s interesting to look back on older features, options, and gameplay mechanics that hoops games used to have. As I’ve mentioned on more than one occasion, there are certain aspects of those older games that I’d love to see implemented once again in future titles. In some cases of course, the basic concept would have to be updated and reworked a little.

On the other hand, there are certain features and functions that can definitely stay in the past. They aren’t necessarily bad or beyond being reworked into a newer concept, but they’ve become outmoded. There simply isn’t the need for them that there used to be; either another feature or function does the job better, or advances in technology and game design have rendered them largely useless. They are nevertheless important parts of basketball gaming history though, and it’s interesting to see how some of them have evolved or been replaced over time. To that end, let’s take a look at five outmoded features that no longer need to be staples of basketball games.

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Time for another round of file additions for NBA 2K19 PC! The latest releases include another pack of custom basketballs, crowd and dorna updates, and an updated face for Juancho Hernangomez. Download them all at the links below!

TwisT
Extra Basketballs 3
Toronto Raptors Dornas (TwisT)
Detroit Pistons Dornas (TwisT)
Crowd Update – Home Opener Shirts (Updated to v4.0)

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

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 bonus teams that have been featured in various NBA Live games.

In the years following Lakers vs Celtics, it was a big deal when NBA games finally included the entire league. Once that became standard, we eventually reached a point where some sort of additional content was expected. NBA 2K has set the bar here with its historical teams, but there was a time when EA’s series was also going above and beyond simply featuring the current NBA rosters. These efforts include the Decade All-Star teams, which I talked about last week, as well as the FIBA squads that would be added in later NBA Live games.

Those weren’t the only playable squads outside of the NBA teams, though. I discussed the unlockable developer teams in a previous Wayback Wednesday, but in the years that followed that era, NBA Live featured a number of other bonus teams. While they weren’t necessarily as unique as the developer teams, or as exciting as the Decade All-Stars and FIBA squads, they were still noteworthy additions to NBA Live’s rosters. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

A new patch (1.11) has come through for NBA Live 19. It will be downloaded automatically as long as your PlayStation 4 or Xbox One has an active Internet connection, but if you encounter any difficulties, trying restarting your console or checking for the update manually.

Although it’s a patch released via the dashboard, EA Sports are referring to it as a content update rather than a title update. Indeed, this is reflected in the release notes:

• Live Events data
• Store Update
  • New BAPE items in store
  • New Halloween items in store
  • New Generic items in store
• Roster Updates

Full details on the roster updates can be found here. The notes for NBA Live 19 Patch 1.11 have also been added to the game’s update history over in our Wiki. As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below, as well as here in the NLSC Forum.

Catch up on all the latest mod releases in today’s NBA 2K19 PC file additions! Check out rosters, portraits, faces, and more at the links below!

TwisT
Crowd Update – Home Opener Shirts
Crowd Update – Opening Night Shirts (Updated to v2.0)

keepkarlm
Los Angeles Lakers Full Body Portraits
Golden State Warriors Full Body Portraits

Torogi
Tim Thomas Face
Kevin Ollie Face
Rajon Rondo Face & Model
No Injuries Roster (With New Retro Teams) (Updated to v1.2)

Shuajota
Jose Calderón Face

Manni Live
Philadelphia 76ers Wells Fargo Arena 4K (Updated to v2.0)

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.

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 few thoughts on NBA 2K19’s approach to Pro-Am and the Jordan Rec Center, and how good intentions have turned into gatekeeping.

For the past couple of weeks, our official NLSC squad – the one that has gone by the names of both THRILLHO and GrindTime – have brought back our Friday night tradition of getting together to play online. We’ve been playing a few games in the Jordan Rec Center in NBA 2K19, and while the experience has had its usual ups and downs, it’s been more fun than Pro-Am in NBA 2K18. Even at a measly 64 Overall – I’m currently refusing to buy VC to upgrade quicker – it’s been fairly enjoyable. The fact that the rest of the guys have been grinding more frequently certainly helps.

However, the experience could be a lot better and more appealing; not just for us, but for NBA 2K gamers in general. The problem is that in NBA 2K19, there’s a barrier to enjoying Pro-Am games, and getting to play at all for that matter, which wasn’t there in years past. This year, five users per side are required to start a game of Pro-Am, or a walk-on game in the Jordan Rec Center. Previously, three users per team was the minimum required to get a game going. 2K is obviously aiming for a particular type of experience with this decision, but the approach has resulted in those modes being far less accessible, essentially gatekeeping and promoting a sense of elitism.

Read More »

Today’s file additions for NBA 2K14 PC feature the latest future prospect face updates by Blang. Download them at the links below!

Blang
Josh Green Face
Antonio Vranković 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 File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.