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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 advice for 2026: just keep scrolling.

Nothing is for everyone. I wish I could phrase that more eloquently and profoundly, but when it comes down to it, that’s the way it is. This is as true for content on the internet as it is for TV shows, movies, music, video games, or basically anything else you can name. Not every YouTube video will be appealing to you. Not every forum, Reddit, or social media post will concern a topic that you care about. Not every article that I or anyone else writes will be interesting to everyone that happens to stumble across it. Even if you’re the intended audience, it still may not be your thing.

That’s OK, but somehow, too many people still take great exception to encountering something that they’re not interested in. Now, you could say that there are far more important matters in the world, but that’s kind of my point here. If the worst thing that happens to you today is that you’re suggested a video or a social media post that just doesn’t interest you, I’d argue that it’s been a pretty good day! And yet, some people still can’t help lashing out with snark and outright hostility when either the algorithm or a creator they follow delivers content that’s completely inoffensive, but simply not their cup of tea. It’s ridiculous because there’s an easy solution: just keep scrolling!

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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 few thoughts on the habit of tossing out confidently incorrect gotchas in online discourse.

Through message boards, chat rooms, social media platforms, and Discord servers, the internet provides us with various ways to connect and discuss the hobbies and interests that are important to us. To that point, we have numerous avenues to tell each other that we’re wrong! This is of course a very old observation about online discourse. Cunningham’s Law posits that posting an incorrect answer is the best way to get the correct information about a topic. The iconic xkcd strip “Duty Calls” sums up our need to argue with each other: “Someone is wrong on the internet!”

You don’t have to be a troll or a toxic member of an online community to have felt the catharsis of telling someone they’re wrong and setting the record straight. As much as we rightfully call out the obnoxiousness of an “um, actually“, there’s no denying its appeal. Besides, it is possible to offer up a correction and useful information without being a pompous know-it-all. Unfortunately, the appeal of being the one to catch a mistake or misinformation leads some people to be very quick on the draw. In short, some of us are way too eager to shout “wrong” in an effort to embarrass someone else and sound smart. This is how we end up with so many confidently incorrect gotchas.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #577 of the NLSC Podcast!

While we’ll never get sick of basketball gaming, we’re taking a quick timeout from the virtual hardwood this week as we join the community in listing and discussing some of the other video games that are currently in our rotations. This includes reflecting on the aspects of those games that are keeping us hooked on them, while also noting some of the similarities to our basketball gaming habits. We also discuss finding new ways to play old favourites including self-imposed challenges and choosing different classes or character builds, and fondly recall the fun we had getting a small taste of some classic games thanks to shareware and demo discs back in the day.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:22:30 — 57.0MB)

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!

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 comments that annoy content creators.

Oh, a topic like this always feels risky! It’s impossible not to sound arrogant or ungrateful, blaming the audience instead of looking inwards. Indeed, that’s the kind of attitude that I’ve readily pushed back against when developers have tried to lay blame at the feet of gamers, rather than acknowledge issues in their titles. When it comes to encouraging engagement, there are many ways that content creators can err, from subpar work to how they speak of and to their readers, viewers, and listeners. If you put creative work out into the world, you’re going to run the gamut of responses to it.

Mind you, just as some content creators have a disgracefully disdainful view of their audience – particularly anyone who dares question their opinions – people jumping in the comments can forget that there’s a human being behind what they consume (well, unless it’s AI-generated, but that’s a gripe for another time). While it’s great to receive comments and know that your work is being seen and appreciated, there are definitely some discouraging responses and needlessly unpleasant interactions. You might say that that’s just the risk we take with any creative endeavour, but if I can be frank here today, there are some comments that content creators like me would prefer not to see.

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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 23rd anniversary as NLSC webmaster, with the age of forty looming on the horizon.

Today marks 23 years since I took over running the NLSC! I feel like I say it on every anniversary, but it’s been an extremely fun and interesting ride with its fair share of ups and downs. There have been some unpleasant moments and challenging times, but at the end of the day, I’m glad that I accepted Tim’s offer to take the reins. While there are some things that I might’ve done differently given the benefit of hindsight, I’m proud of the work that I’ve done, grateful for the friendships I’ve made, and awed by some of the opportunities that I’ve had. I’ll never regret taking the gig!

With that being said, 23 years is a long time to do anything, especially an online endeavour such as running a website. I didn’t create the NLSC, but at this point, I’ve been maintaining it for about four times as long as our founders! Of course, neither I nor the site would be here without the work of the original NLSC trio, so I’ll always give them credit for tipping things off way back in 1996. To that point though, unless you’ve been around since the black background days, you may not be aware of that era! Along with turning forty in about six weeks’ time, it only further emphasises just how long I’ve been the NLSC’s webmaster, and how quickly the years have gone by.

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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 requiem for ICQ.

Alright, so this topic isn’t strictly related to basketball gaming, but hey, it’s my column and I’m essentially the editor-in-chief here, so who’s going to stop me? Besides, ICQ is certainly relevant in the history of our community, as plenty of people who were around in the early days – me included – used it to chat with each other. Indeed, for those of us who were online in the late 90s, ICQ was likely one of our first instant messaging clients along with AOL Instant Messenger, aka AIM. I’m guessing that most of us haven’t used the program in years, but ICQ has remained active as of 2024.

Until now, that is. On May 24th 2024, it was announced on ICQ’s official website that the service will be shut down on June 26th, after almost 30 years. As someone who used ICQ back in the day, I’m compelled to become the latest person to eulogise this vestige of 1990s internet. Considering that we’ve also been around since 1996 and will now outlast ICQ, it also has me thinking about the passage of time; what’s come and gone, and what the internet has gained and lost over the years. I realise that this isn’t Wayback Wednesday, but nevertheless, I wanted to reminisce about ICQ and reflect on its impressive longevity, as well as my nostalgia as an Elder Millennial.

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And so, we’ve come to the end of another year here at the NLSC! I’d like to thank everyone for supporting the NLSC throughout 2023, from the modders and frequent Forum users to everyone who checks out our original content, and of course our Patrons on Patreon for helping us to keep the lights on. We’ve been around since 1996 when our founders tipped everything off with their tools and mods for NBA Live 95 and NBA Live 96 PC, and as we’re still passionate about basketball video games, we intend to be around for some time yet! Obviously the internet has changed a lot since we were founded, but we’re grateful that so many people still see us as a destination for basketball gaming.

To that end, it was our pleasure to provide extensive coverage of the virtual hardwood here on the NLSC throughout 2023. In addition to covering any news and previews regarding the latest and upcoming iterations of NBA 2K, Dee and I produced a plethora of original content about basketball gaming. If I do say so myself, we make a great duo in that regard! We obviously co-hosted the NLSC Podcast, I continued to write multiple articles a week and try my hand at some more videos, and Dee produced a huge amount of videos for the NLSC YouTube channel, from highlight reels to the weekly Top 10 Plays. I can speak for both of us when I say that we had a blast creating that content!

Thus, as we get ready to enter 2024, we’re presenting our Year-in-Review here at the NLSC. Dee and I have made our editors’ picks of my weekly features, our podcast, our videos, and the Top 10 Plays, choosing our favourite ten of each to spotlight. Needless to say, we encourage you to browse the entire NLSC archives, but this is the content from 2023 that we’re most proud of. I’d like to thank Dee for being my co-pilot for another year, and I look forward to what we’ll be doing with basketball games in 2024. I’ll touch on that again at the end of the wrap-up, but before we get to that, here are both of our picks for our favourite articles, videos, Top 10 Plays, and podcasts throughout 2023!

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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 few thoughts on how important it is to have transparency, goodwill, and mutual respect when it comes to gamers and developers.

A point that I’ve frequently made in articles and on our podcast is that we should stand with each other, rather than shill for games and companies. Support your fellow gamers, be fans not fanboys, and be critics not haters. As such, whenever I see a developer or someone in the industry mocking or disrespecting gamers, it does bug me. It doesn’t happen constantly, but there are times when criticism is dismissed out of hand with the declaration that gamers don’t know what they’re talking about. To me, that’s demonstrating great disdain for your core audience.

At the same time…yeah, sometimes we bring those responses on ourselves! I’ve also seen unnecessary hatred spewed at developers, and comments that suggest the person doesn’t know as much about video game development as they may think. I don’t claim to be an infallible source of knowledge on that front, but dabbling with programming, and talking to people who do have experience with game development and software design, has been illuminating. I absolutely don’t condone the nastiness, either. The bottom line is that when it comes to the relationship between developers and gamers, there needs to be mutual respect and goodwill. Transparency helps to foster that.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #490 of the NLSC Podcast!

As we await the first previews of NBA 2K24, a war of words has broken out between members of Sim Nation, comp players, and the cheesers. To that end, we discuss how toxic the discourse has become, and read out some of the community’s thoughts on the matter. As always, we catch up on what we’ve been playing this past week, from MyNBA in NBA 2K23 and MyGM in NBA 2K14, to Ultimate Team in NBA Live 18 and Fantasy Teams in NBA Live 10. We’ve also got some small updates on a couple of modding projects. Inspired by Julius Erving’s recent comments, we also share our thoughts on personal bias and agendas in Top 10 lists and other rankings, noting the similarities between discussions of NBA history and classic basketball video games.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:12:08 — 49.9MB)

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!

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #474 of the NLSC Podcast!

This week, we’re joined by one of our favourite streamers and content creators in the basketball gaming community, KingJMASE! Mase shares the story of founding the Elite Street League for NBA 2K, and the inspiration behind his commentary style. We also discuss the challenges of content creation, including time management and tempering expectations, as well as the importance of authenticity and originality. Mase also recalls his history with basketball games and basketball, and recounts one of his most impressive performances on the virtual hardwood. Finally, we wrap up a fun conversation by putting him in the hot seat to answer five rapid fire questions about real and virtual hoops alike.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:48:26 — 74.8MB)

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!

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 when webrings and Yahoo! GeoCities were major parts of the basketball gaming community.

Want to make me feel old? It’s getting much easier the closer that I edge to forty, but an effective method would be to ask “Andrew, what do you mean by webrings, or Yahoo! GeoCities?” Yes, it’s a sign that I’m getting older, and that I’ve been online for a long time, and how much the internet has changed, that there are people who will wonder what I’m talking about when I mention Yahoo! GeoCities and webrings! In an era where it’s all about algorithms and SEO, with a number of platforms for content creation and self-promotion, they’re antiquated concepts indeed.

Still, like many things from the early days of the basketball gaming community that don’t need to make a comeback, they’re nevertheless nostalgic for those of us who remember them. At the same time, I’m also grateful that better solutions have been developed, because it certainly was the Stone Age of the World Wide Web. So, what’s the deal with webrings and Yahoo! GeoCities? Let’s take a look back…way back…

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Welcome to the NLSC Rewind for 2022! It feels like it was only a few months ago that I was compiling last year’s Rewind, but that’s how it goes these days. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that the last few years have all run together. That’s largely due to the pandemic, but it’s also true what they say: time does seem to go faster the older you are! In any event, it’s been another fun and productive year here at the NLSC.

Our modding community has been busy all year, seamlessly transitioning from NBA 2K22 to NBA 2K23 when the latter was released. A handful of older titles were also kept updated in 2022, including NBA 2K13 and NBA 2K14. Glancing at the various modding sections, it’s clear that even more great work will be coming in 2023, with some great projects brewing for classic games as well. As always, a big thank you to everyone who continues to release work here! I’d like to remind everyone that the upload facilities in our Downloads database remain 100% free and available to all.

With that out of the way, let’s get to the NLSC Rewind for 2022! For those who are unaware, I use the Rewind to share some “editor’s picks” of our original content from the past year. Obviously I encourage you to peruse our entire archives; as with topics in our Forum, old comments sections are still open, and I’m proud of all our work. At the same time, there were some features and episodes of the NLSC Podcast that I’m particularly proud of, and I believe that you’ll really enjoy checking them out if you did miss them the first time around (or perhaps, enjoy them again a second time!). Without any further ado, let’s rewind the year that was 2022 here at the NLSC!

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On behalf of the NLSC Team, Merry Christmas and Season’s Greetings to our community! Whatever your beliefs and traditions at this time of the year, I hope that you’re happy, healthy, and spending some quality time with friends and family.

A big thanks as always for continuing to support us throughout 2022! I hope you’ve enjoyed being a part of the community here at the NLSC this year, and are looking forward to more good times in 2023. We’re certainly keen to continue supporting our modding community, and creating entertaining original content in our coverage of basketball gaming. To that end, our gift to you today is a showdown between Santa’s Slammers and Team SSX in NBA Jam: On Fire Edition!

There’ll definitely be plenty of video content coming in 2023, so be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel! NBA Jam: On Fire Edition is also on my list of games that I’m overdue to cover for Wayback Wednesday, and with 2023 marking the 30th Anniversary of the NBA Jam series, it seems like an appropriate time to get around to it. Once again, Merry Christmas, Season’s Greetings, and a happy holiday season to basketball gamers everywhere. Enjoy these NBA Jam: On Fire Edition highlights, and if you’re hitting the virtual hardwood these holidays, have a blast!

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 frank thoughts on poor community managers, and community hires forgetting where they came from.

This is one of those articles that are difficult to write without sounding bitter, grinding an axe over sour grapes. And, to be fair, there is a touch of bitterness when it comes to this topic. However, while “you sound bitter” is a tired yet effective ad hominem, it doesn’t disprove a point; particularly when someone has a legitimate grievance. As someone who has tried to represent the community to the best of my ability whenever I’ve had the opportunity to do so, I have strong feelings about the way company reps handle themselves…especially if they were once “one of us”.

Things have unquestionably changed in the community since I took over the NLSC in August 2001. Companies are more selective about whom they work with, but not in a way that benefits gamers. Instead of connecting with people dedicated to constructive and honest feedback on behalf of gamers, they grant access to content creators who are willing to promote – or indeed, shill – and have a big enough audience to make it worthwhile. It makes sense from a business standpoint, but it’s eroded the goodwill that community programs once fostered. When it’s someone you used to know as a member of the community, it’s hard not to feel like you’ve been stabbed in the back.

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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 basketball gamers unnecessarily shame one another, and why it’s absurd.

No community is ever going to get along 100% of the time. There will always be disagreements, and things can get heated in the thick of competitive play. With that being said, general etiquette and decorum goes a long way, and avoids embodying the most unflattering gamer stereotypes. It’s not particularly complicated. Don’t be the jerk that sends threatening messages, or jumps on the mic to be abusive and throw out bigoted slurs. Don’t ruin the online scene on PC with your hacked, super-powered player. And of course, don’t foster a toxic atmosphere through elitist gatekeeping.

It’s bewildering that gamers shame each other over a hobby that’s meant to be fun. Obviously the competitive scene carries certain bragging rights, and if you claim to be an elite player, you’ll be fairly challenged to prove your mettle. Beyond that though, there are people in the basketball gaming community that indulge in gatekeeping over the pettiest of things. In games that offer a variety of modes and options to tailor the experience to maximise your enjoyment, there’s no wrong way to play basketball video games; at least outside of cheating and poor sportsmanship in a competitive environment. As such, it’s ridiculous to shame each other over these five matters.

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