Basketball Video Games

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #639 of the NLSC Podcast!

Gaming in 2026 – basketball or otherwise – is certainly a mixed bag! There are definitely some things that we’re greatly enjoying about our hobby right now, but with that being said, there are also various issues that are really bugging us! To that end, this week we present Dee’s Dislikes and Andrew’s Delights! In these two segments, we get some criticisms off our chest from issues with NBA The Run to anti-consumer practices, while also celebrating what’s bringing us joy at the moment, such as retro gaming and exciting modding discoveries. In response to this week’s community question, our listeners also share some of their recent delights and dislikes, on the virtual hardwood and beyond.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:02:08 — 43.0MB)

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 how we ignored the red flags of the original MyGM in NBA 2K14.

These are controversial times for gaming. The Steam Machine underwhelmed with its specs, and has had gamers understandably balking at its price. Sony has announced that the end of physical releases of PlayStation games is coming in January 2028, which has led to more backlash than they were anticipating. And, most recently, EA Sports were forced to walk back their attempts to gouge College Football 27 gamers at every turn. Needless to say, their attempts to implement microtransactions in single player modes had not been warmly received!

Of course, this is what companies like Electronic Arts and Take-Two have been striving for over the past couple of generations: ramping up microtransactions, and the pressure to spend. There has been plenty of criticism of modes like MyTEAM and Ultimate Team, and the grind-or-pay aspect of MyCAREER, and rightfully so. When I read about the attempts to monetise Dynasty in College Football 27 though, I was reminded of the original MyGM in NBA 2K14. Although the replacement for The Association was innovative and included some nifty attention to detail, it also brought Virtual Currency to the mode. In hindsight, we overlooked some glaring red flags.

Read More »

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.

While the offseason has us paying attention to all the off-court moves in the real NBA, the NLSC Top 10 Plays remains all about the moves on the virtual hardwood! The fun times and highlights definitely haven’t stopped with the NBA season, with this week’s countdown delivering smooth ankle-breakers, spectacular dunks, great two-way action, and a unique play at the number one spot that demonstrates why you should never give up on the play! Six different games are featured this week, from NBA 2K6 for PS2 through to NBA 2K26. 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 events that are realistic, yet feel unrealistic when they happen to us in basketball video games.

To paraphrase a couple of iconic quotes from literary giants that I mentioned in this week’s Wayback Wednesday, truth is stranger than fiction, in no small part because fiction has to adhere to possibilities that real life doesn’t. We mock events in works of fiction that seem too convenient, yet history is filled with serendipity. In a similar vein, common effects in movies and TV shows that make them more dramatic and entertaining – the sound of a blade being drawn, a bullet ricocheting, and so on – skew our expectations of reality.

In short, we’re not always as accurate as we believe when it comes to gauging whether or not something is realistic. This is certainly true of sim basketball games like NBA 2K, and NBA Live back in its heyday. We wanted to see those games become more and more realistic, and the best releases have achieved commendable results in that regard. With that being said, I’ll be the first to put my hand up and admit that my views of what’s realistic and unrealistic in sim titles have sometimes been rigid or myopic. That’s not to say that realistic moments can’t be represented poorly on the virtual hardwood, but even when they’re done well, they can feel unrealistic to us.

Read More »

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #638 of the NLSC Podcast!

Sony has announced that physical copies of PlayStation games will end production in 2028, with the console subsequently going digital-only. Despite their claims that the decision was made in response to consumer trends and preferences, gamers by and large haven’t exactly been thrilled with the announcement! This week, we join the community in reacting to the news, including a discussion of all the potential drawbacks, comparisons to PC gaming going digital-only, concerns about continued support for backwards compatibility, and whether Microsoft will follow suit. We also share some figures that call Sony’s claims into question, and note their radio silence in the wake of the announcement.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 54:29 — 37.8MB)

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!

It’s time for another round-up of recent uploads to the NLSC YouTube channel! Since the last bulletin, Dee and I have been playing an assortment of games, including NBA The Run, which has produced plenty of highlights. I’m a little behind in uploading some of the videos I’ve had planned, but Dee has been consistently sharing some of our best virtual hardwood moments.

We’ve had a lot to say about NBA The Run before and after its release, and while we have our criticisms, it’s also produced several highlights. In addition to including some of the highlights in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, Dee has been showcasing the gameplay in both the beta and full versions of NBA The Run via a handful of reels.

Some of Dee’s other uploads include highlights from our four and five-player games of NBA Live 95 and NBA Live 96 for Super Nintendo, and four-player head-to-head showdowns in NBA Hangtime and NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, from our Sunday Parsec sessions with wiscard_rush, KidKash202, and KingKongFresh00. You can also find highlight reels from NBA 2K11 PS2, NBA Jam 2004, NBA Live 2000, NBA Live 09, NBA Live 10, and NBA Bounce.

As I mentioned, I’m overdue to share highlights from my solo basketball gaming sessions, but I did upload a preview of the work-in-progress ABA roster for NBA Live 06. It’s a project that I’m aiming to spend more time on during the offseason, with an eye to getting a release out as soon as possible. I also uploaded highlights from a makeshift classic teams showdown in NBA Live 10, featuring the 2006 Nets and Suns.

Catch up on all of the recent uploads below! As always, please subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel if you haven’t already. In addition to gameplay highlights, there’s also the weekly Top 10 Plays, full episodes of the NLSC Podcast, and the occasional video essay or retrospective. Additionally, if you have any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play, please let us know and we’ll try to get them into the rotation!

Read More »

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.

With all of the aerial artistry on display in this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays, it’s certainly providing some additional fireworks for the Fourth of July! Players are showing up their opponents, from putting them on posters to messing around with multiple alley-oop passes before finally ending with a spectacular slam. You’ll also see some cool mods, a couple of unique plays, and a great gamewinner from an underdog school in College Hoops 2K8. Want to get hyped for a holiday weekend on the virtual hardwood? 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.

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 reflecting on the 1996 NBA offseason.

Another NBA offseason is upon us, and it’s off to an interesting start! Kawhi Leonard is heading back to the Toronto Raptors, while LeBron James has announced that he’ll return for his 24th season, but it won’t be with the Los Angeles Lakers. Though the offseason ultimately slows down and hardcore hoop heads get a little anxious waiting for the new season to begin, these big moves at the beginning always make it exciting. I was already planning on reminiscing about the 1996 NBA offseason this week, but these major stories involving multi-time All-Stars make it an even more apt topic!

You see, the 1996 NBA offseason was a big one, and certainly memorable for me. I was still a fairly newly-minted basketball fan, fresh off of seeing my favourite team win a championship. As such, it was my first experience really following along with the proceedings. Several big names switched teams in 1996, and although that didn’t stand in the way of the Chicago Bulls completing the Drive for Five, that offseason ultimately still played a large role in shaping the future of the NBA. As it’s been 30 years since the 1996 NBA offseason, let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #637 of the NLSC Podcast!

The specifications of the Steam Machine have been confirmed along with the prices for both models, with and without a single controller. Suffice it to say that the announced details have generated a considerable amount of commentary and controversy! To that end, this week we’re breaking down everything that we know about the Steam Machine, from specs to potential to value for money. We also join the community in discussing whether we’ll be picking one up in light of the power and price. While the Steam Machine offers some intriguing possibilities – especially for advanced users – there are certainly questions as to whether the average gamer will get adequate bang for their buck.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 41:48 — 29.1MB)

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!

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.

This week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays features it all: past, present, future, and both sim and arcade! Legends are doing their thing across an assortment of titles, but we’ve also got some current players putting on a show in NBA 2K26, as well as a future pairing linking up for an alley-oop thanks to a mod for NBA 2K16. The latest dazzling array of highlights come courtesy of ten different games from NBA Live 2000 all the way through to NBA The Run, which is always cool to see. It’s time to get fired up for another weekend on the virtual hardwood, so 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 ways that it’s getting hard to update old basketball video games.

As someone who originally got into modding basketball video games by updating NBA Live 96 more than a year after it had been superseded, I’m never going to tell anyone that they shouldn’t work on older titles! There’s novelty in updating an old favourite for the current season, combining today’s rosters with classic gameplay. Of course, it’s fun to go the other way too, winding back the clock in a new game so that we can virtually revisit and play through a nostalgic season with modern mechanics. I’ve found joy and satisfaction in tackling both kinds of projects over the years.

With that being said, continuing to update old favourites years and indeed decades after their release will only ever get tougher. Needless to say, this isn’t a new issue. Speaking from experience, choosing to mod an older release over a recent one has always meant that you’ll soon encounter technical limitations, demographic shifts, and other potential deterrents. Again, that’s not to say that you can’t or shouldn’t continue to play and update a favourite that stands the test of time. If you’re still having fun and are satisfied with what can be done, that’s ultimately what’s important. Nevertheless, if you’re looking to update older games, it would be wise to keep these things in mind.

Read More »

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 and acknowledgement of a few of the little things that used to make basketball gaming special.

For many years, NBA 2K games included the code “payrespect“. By punching this code into the Cheats menu, it unlocked the iconic red, white, and blue ABA ball. It was a toggle option, so once the cheat was entered and unlocked, you could switch between the regular NBA and ABA basketballs as desired. Obviously, it paired well with the ABA throwback jerseys, as well as ABA alumni such as Julius Erving and George Gervin. Making it an unlockable option was the right approach too, as the code was neither permanent nor had to be entered every time you played.

I realise that this probably doesn’t sound like a very exciting feature these days. If we’re talking about historical content and deep modes and features, modern games have plenty of that! Not many NBA 2K gamers are clamouring for the return of those old school cheat codes or an unlockable ABA ball. However, it’s not just about being able to change up the basketball that’s being used on the virtual hardwood or blacktop. It’s about all the little things that we’ve had and lost in basketball video games, be it NBA 2K or NBA Live. The fact that they weren’t necessarily popular features that everyone misses is part of what made those little things so special in the first place.

Read More »

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.

The 2026 NBA season is now officially in the books, but ball never stops here at the NLSC! Our community loves hitting the virtual hardwood and blacktop in a variety of titles and in all sorts of ways, and that continues to be apparent in this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays. The countdown begins and ends with some spectacular and ambitious highlights from WNBA players, and in between there are poster dunks, big blocks, and other breathtaking moves. Nine different basketball video games are featured this week, from NBA Live 2000 through to NBA 2K26. 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.

It’s always cool to see people in our community trying their hand at game design, in addition to tinkering with Triple-A and indie releases! SexCurryBeats has been doing some excellent work with NBA 2K26 mods, but he’s also been developing a basketball game of his own: Alley Hoops. The game is currently in pre-alpha, and he’s uploaded it to our database so that the community can check it out and provide some feedback.

You can download Alley Hoops at the link below! If you have any feedback, be sure to post it in this Forum topic. A reminder that in addition to NBA Live and NBA 2K, our Downloads database is open to mods and modding tools for other basketball video games, as well as game releases and demos such as this. And so, to any developers out there, please feel free to use our facilities and share your games in our Forum!

SexCurryBeats
Alley Hoops Pre-Alpha

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 1996 Chicago Bulls, and their impact on my early basketball fandom.

30 years ago yesterday, the Chicago Bulls wrapped up the 1996 NBA Championship with an 87-75 victory over the Seattle Supersonics. It’s overwhelming to think that three decades have passed since the end of that iconic 1996 season, which saw the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan ascend to the top of the basketball world once more. To put it into perspective, at this point the Bulls’ fourth title is closer to the Boston Celtics’ eleventh title than it is to today. In other words, Michael Jordan is to young basketball fans nowadays what Bill Russell was to me back in 1996.

Allow me to pause for a moment to deal with the existential dread of realising that! With that being said, 2026 marking the 30th anniversary of anything that happened in 1996 has had me feeling warmly nostalgic for that time. After all, 1996 was the year that my casual interest in basketball became fully-fledged fandom – some might even say an obsession – and the Chicago Bulls winning the championship was undoubtedly a huge part of that. And so, this week I’m reflecting on both my basketball fandom, and one of the greatest teams in NBA history. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »