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 thoughts on the accuracy of the word “retro” when it comes to retro gaming, basketball or otherwise.

For a few years now, I’ve preferred playing old favourites and discovering new retro kicks to spending time with the latest NBA 2K. I do always want to give the newest release a chance, but beginning with NBA 2K21 – both versions, in fact – I’ve found more joy in revisiting older titles. It’s something that Dee enjoys as well, and we’ve often advocated for retro gaming on the NLSC Podcast, as well as through our other content. “Retro gaming” is the term that we often use, but considering the recency of some of the titles, it leads one to wonder: is “retro” really the right word?

Indeed, this is a question that goes beyond basketball gaming: how old does a game need to be to truly qualify as “retro”? Is there a generational cut-off? Is there a term that’s more appropriate, or less misleading? After all, “retro” means different things to different people. Depending on how old you are and when you started gaming, the primitive titles of your youth will seem like truly ancient history to some, while others remember them as landmark jumps and technological feats. While I’m generally fine with using “retro gaming” as a blanket term for the hobby and practice of playing older video games, there’s ambiguity to the term that invites a thoughtful discussion.

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NBA Live 2003 came out during the heyday of NBA Live modding in our community, so it’s always great to see new mod releases for the game all these years later! To that end, avurto19 has uploaded another player face pack, which you can pick up at the link below.

avurto19
Player Face Pack 2

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 Dee4Three! 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, or hit up Dee on Twitter.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I don’t care what analytics and the box score watchers claim: give me breathtaking and downright vicious poster dunks over three-pointers any day of the week! It’s clear that I’m not alone in that philosophy, as this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays is another celebration of the most exciting moment in basketball, real or virtual. A combination of tough defense, pinpoint passing, and ankle-breaking moves set up these spectacular slams across four different games, from NBA Live 09 through to NBA 2K24. 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.

As you may have seen in the Forum, the NBA 2K19 Classic Seasons project by Stildo33 and company continues to expand into the early 80s and late 90s. To that end, following on from the full release of the 1997 season mod last October, the 1998 season roster is now available!

For those who are unaware, the NBA 2K19 Classic Seasons project features comprehensive retro season total conversions. As such, the newest mod features complete rosters for all 29 NBA teams from 1998 along with the necessary jerseys, courts, faces, and so on. The rosters themselves are accurate as of the end of the 1998 campaign. Note that since NBA 2K19’s in-game file sharing has been shut down for years at this point, both the roster and the art assets are distributed the old fashioned way.

With that being said, you can pick up the project here in the NBA 2K19 Modding section of the Forum! Be sure to check out the project’s release topic for support and further previews. As per Stildo33, the 1999 season mod is approaching completion, and other enhancements are also in the works, including more year-specific faces and other updates/corrections. Congratulations once again to Stildo33 and company on another fantastic release, and a project that continues to inject fun into a modern classic!

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 players whose NBA careers could (and indeed, should) inspire future MyCAREER stories.

As I’ve previously discussed, there are some real players whose careers bear some entertaining similarities to a few of the stories we’ve had in MyCAREER. I’ll admit that making those comparisons made me see those tales differently, especially the saga of the NBA 2K15 MyPLAYER! I also still really enjoy how “The Way Back” in NBA 2K19 resembled Andre Ingram’s road to the NBA, including a debut towards the end of the regular season. Obviously that was coincidental, but it does make you wonder which other players have stories that would be suitable for MyCAREER.

Now, you might be inclined to say that just about every player who makes it to the NBA had an interesting journey that would be viable as a MyCAREER story. That’s true to an extent, but many of them – while impressive and compelling in their own way – are very similar and straightforward. They don’t necessarily set up a unique scenario from a narrative or gameplay standpoint. We’ve already seen a variety of MyCAREER stories from triumphant tales of highly-touted prospects to underdogs scrapping for opportunities. Again, we’ve even seen a DJ become an NBA star! So, could any real players provide a template for future stories? I believe I can name five.

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We’ve had some great mod releases for NBA 2K24 from bratnajbolji recently and there’s a new one to check out today, namely a Minnesota Timberwolves classic 2024 Playoffs court update. Pick it up at the link below!

bratnajbolji
Minnesota Timberwolves Classic Playoff Court

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 “Jail Blazers” era of the Portland Trail Blazers, and their presence in basketball video games.

When my cousin and I were looking to move on from our 1995 Season in NBA Live 95 PC and dive into the all new Franchise mode in NBA Live 2000, we obviously had to choose a team to play with cooperatively. In the interest of neutrality, we opted not to use either of our favourite teams (the Chicago Bulls and Seattle SuperSonics). After discussing it on the phone – this was the year 2000, after all – we ultimately went with the Portland Trail Blazers, and agreed on a few trades. I set everything up ready for his arrival in the school holidays, and we won the title playing a 28-game season.

It’s one of my favourite memories, both of basketball gaming and hanging out with my cousin as a teenager, but why the Portland Trail Blazers? Neither of us had an attachment to the club, and there were other teams that could’ve been just a fun. Well, while the off-court incidents that branded those early 2000s Trail Blazers the “Jail Blazers” may have caused a number of legal headaches and chemistry problems in real life, on the virtual hardwood, they had some deep rosters that were enjoyable to play with, as well as reshape with trades. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #527 of the NLSC Podcast!

MyTEAM gamers are up in arms once again, as 2K has pulled a Kobe Bryant card that a pre-release developer insight for NBA 2K24 promoted as the top Collector Level reward, coming in Season 6. We share our thoughts on the situation and 2K’s trademark lack of communication, drawing comparisons once again to the Pink Diamond fiasco in NBA 2K19. Talk of Take-Two’s greed also has us looking beyond the virtual hardwood, as Top Spin 2K25 has presented some familiar issues. In our main discussion this week, we join the community in listing some of the most overused jargon in basketball discourse. If these terms come up when talking about hoops, it’s not going to be a fun or thoughtful conversation!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:20:12 — 55.4MB)

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!

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 habit of creating and playing with makeshift classic teams – and other minimalist rosters – while retro gaming.

There are multiple ways in which I can indulge my NBA nostalgia. I can simply revisit an old game and play with rosters that are now a time capsule. For over a decade now, the NBA 2K series has provided a plethora of historical content, from classic teams to All-Time squads to the Decade All-Stars. There are also mods that I can download, or I could always create my own retro rosters in one of my favourite games. In short, if I feel like taking a trip down memory lane on the virtual hardwood, it can be done with impressive accuracy.

As such, I will absolutely do all those things! However, cobbling together makeshift classic teams has become a consistent part of my basketball gaming over the past year or so. I’ve also tinkered with the rosters of old games I’m dusting off by rolling them back to the previous season, or creating minimalist Legends squads. It may sound highly unnecessary when there are games that already provide that content, not to mention strange that I’m not opting for more accuracy with a full retro mod. However, I’ve had a blast incorporating some minimalist modding into my retro gaming. There’s an undeniable appeal to assembling something new with only the content on hand.

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Looyh has updated the Player Editor plugin for both the NBA 2K24 and NBA 2K23 Hook tools. In addition to existing features such as the ability to edit hairstyles, unlock shoe brands, and so on, the new versions of the Player Editor add compatibility with another of Looyh’s plugins, namely MyLEAGUE Plus.

You can download V1.1 of the Player Editor for NBA 2K24 here, and V1.8 of the NBA 2K23 plugin here. Once again, a big thanks to Looyh for all of his hard work, and for making these essential modding tools freely available to the community!

Additionally, thanks as always 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 Dee4Three! 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, or hit up Dee on Twitter.

May the 4th be with you, basketball gamers! With this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays falling on a day that’s obviously very special to Star Wars fans – no matter what side of The Force you’re on – the countdown not only features players defying gravity, but also a couple of familiar faces from a galaxy far, far away. As always, it’s not just about spectacular virtual hardwood moments but also entertaining variety, as eight different titles are on display from NBA Live 2001 all the way through to NBA 2K24. 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 real players whose careers produced stories that are similar to a MyPLAYER.

Although interest has shifted towards its connected experiences, MyCAREER is a mode that has allowed us to step into the shoes of an NBA player. Mind you, while MyCAREER has tried to replicate the NBA experience from earning minutes and endorsement deals to becoming a star and mulling your options in free agency, it takes a flexible approach to realism. Most of us end up posting some truly ridiculous numbers on route to being enshrined in the virtual Hall of Fame, and the adoption of a story-driven approach has led to some weird, overly-dramatic, and unlikely tales.

With that being said, as the old saying goes, truth is often stranger than fiction. As it turns out, there have been some players whose careers bear striking similarities to our MyCAREER journeys. No, no one has ever quit basketball to become a DJ and then made it to the league following a streetball tournament – though Rony Seikaly did become a DJ after retiring – but there are players whose road to the NBA and rookie seasons can be compared to a MyPLAYER. That’s not to say that their stories are exactly the same, but there are some fun parallels between real players and our NBA 2K avatars. Indeed, some stories may not be as unrealistic as they originally seemed!

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The latest MyTEAM controversy brings to mind a scene from a seventh season episode of The Simpsons – the rather lengthily titled “Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in ‘The Curse of the Flying Hellfish'” – that like many iconic moments from the show, has found second life as a reaction meme. In the scene, Mr. Burns disdainfully questions whether Abe “Grampa” Simpson can go more than five seconds without humiliating himself. Right on cue, Abe’s braces snap, and his suit trousers fall down for a classic comical print boxer shorts gag. He can only ask “How long was that?” as Monty turns to leave, his point proven.

It’s become the go-to reaction GIF or video when a person or company seemingly can’t stop making a fool out of themselves. The “dig up, stupid” scene is another popular Simpsons meme for these situations, particularly when someone makes a remark that only exacerbates a PR blunder. As a company that has all too frequently demonstrated a failure to communicate, Take-Two has turned this into an art form. While their greedy approach sadly hasn’t burst the bubble on their recurrent revenue practices as yet, it has eroded goodwill and resulted in some degree of backlash. With the latest MyTEAM controversy, they’ve dropped their pants, Abe Simpson-style.

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Today’s NBA Live 2005 mod releases feature a retro jersey pack from Murat and company. As I noted when I posted a bulletin about the NBA Live 06 pack, it’s part of a work-in-progress retro roster project for NBA Live 2005, so be sure to stay tuned for more details on that. In the meantime, pick up the pack at the link below!

Murat, b_baller86 et al
1984-2005 Retro Jerseys Pack

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 revisiting NBA Live 2002, and creating some makeshift 90s teams.

Minimalist modding has become a staple of my retro gaming. It’s a way to indulge nostalgia in multiple ways: the mechanics and aesthetics of my chosen game, the teams that I assemble, and the process of modding. I do also enjoy simply playing with the default rosters, or a roster update set in the same season as the game, for a more authentic step back in time. However, the creativity of minimalist modding so often steers me towards discovering what I can do with the content that’s available in any game that I’ve chosen to revisit.

In games such as NBA 2K6 and NBA Live 10, it’s difficult to go back to the 90s with any makeshift classic teams, at least without creating a bunch of players. After all, by that point, most the stars and role players who were active in the 90s had retired. Not all of the big names had signed on to be Legends around the time of NBA 2K6, and NBA Live 10 doesn’t have any historical teams or players at all. However, since NBA Live 2002 came out closer to the 90s and includes several stars from that decade, is it possible to cobble together some retro teams? Let’s take a look back…way back…

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