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 is a celebration of both basketball and life, with a couple of highlights paying tribute to the late Lenny Wilkens and Michael Ray Richardson. In that same vein, following on from last week, there’s another Kobe Bryant highlight backed by real game commentary. Seven different basketball video games are on display in the countdown, providing another spectacular assortment of poster dunks, alley-oops, and crafty moves that’ll pump you up for a 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.
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 features that we’ve lost, yet for some reason don’t talk about enough.
One of the unfortunate realities of long-running annual sports video games is that over the years, features will be lost. Contrary to popular belief, the code is re-written every year, as it’s necessary to accommodate new features and mechanics. As such, anything that is incompatible or otherwise causes issues with the new code is at risk of ending up on the cutting room floor, particularly if the telemetry data indicates that it isn’t a very popular feature. With that being said, some features are dropped because they’re no longer useful or relevant, or indeed, stand in the way of recurrent revenue.
I’m sure that we can all cite plenty of examples of lost features that we’ve fervently wished were still in NBA 2K, NBA Live, and other games. Indeed, I’ve mentioned some of my own picks in previous articles and on our podcast! However, there are lost features that really should receive more attention than they do, yet people seldom bring them up. To that end, I’m as guilty as anyone else of glossing over some of these lost features that were once staples of basketball video games, so I figured it’s about time that I spotlight a few of them. While some of them may not seem like a big deal, they’re still basic functionality that’s bewilderingly absent in otherwise deep games.
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 ESPN NBA 2Night 2002 by Konami.
In my retrospective of ESPN NBA 2Night, I described it as one of the absolute worst basketball video games from a Triple-A developer that I’ve ever played. That’s a bold declaration that I don’t make lightly, and I stand by it. From poorly-designed controls to underwhelming AI to unpolished animations and collisions, gameplay was a mess. It could produce a rare fun moment, but on the whole, it was a lacklustre sim-arcade hybrid. As such, some of its impressive features like the ESPN presentation and face editing deserved to be in a much better game.
To that end, there was really nowhere to go but up for its sequel, ESPN NBA 2Night 2002. Released for the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox midway through the 2002 season, ESPN NBA 2Night 2002 definitely made an effort to be an improvement on its predecessor. Right out of the gate, I will say that it was respectably successful in that regard. That may sound like a backhanded compliment, but the game did make a commendable leap from the first ESPN NBA 2Night in some key areas. Does that make it a good or even a great game, though? Let’s take a look back…way back…
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 by talking about how I enjoy tinkering with rosters.
I know I’ve said it many times before, but it’s been an absolute joy to change up my basketball gaming habits in recent years. Because I’m no longer forcing myself to play the newest game even if I don’t enjoy it, I’ve also broken the habit of grinding away in MyCAREER year after year. I’m also not beholden to any MyTEAM Agendas, and I’m avoiding the online scene. Stepping away from those modes and leaning towards retro gaming has created time for other activities on the virtual hardwood, and that’s made basketball gaming as fun as it’s ever been for me.
Obviously, this includes playing into my seventh year of an NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, and at long last returning to franchise gaming; solo in NBA Live 16, and co-op with Dee in NBA 2K9. I’ve also played through 24/7 mode in NBA 2K6 and NBA 2K7, and hit The Streets in NBA Live 18 and NBA Live 19. Something that I’ve really had fun with however is just playing an assortment of exhibition games in titles that I’ve been drawn to. That in turn has led to me tinkering with the rosters of various games. Although that can lead to more in-depth projects that I’ll release publicly – such as my minimalist 2005 roster for NBA 2K6 – I’ve had a blast just casually editing rosters.
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.
A new game has entered the countdown, as NBA Bounce makes its NLSC Top 10 Plays debut with a dunk that certainly has plenty of…well, bounce! Indeed, a lot of players are getting some serious air this week, from wild alley-oops and brutal posters to windmill jams and 360 slams. The variety also extends to the selection of games on display, as eight different titles are featured from NBA 08 all the way through to NBA 2K26. As always, it’s the perfect way to get hyped for a 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 controversial concepts in basketball video games that were ultimately abandoned.
Basketball video games have come a long way, thanks to evolving technology and innovative ideas. Of course, not all ideas pan out, and some definitely aren’t in the best interests of consumers. It’s one thing when a change to a gameplay mechanic or mode doesn’t resonate with gamers, or result in the improvements that were intended. However, when the overall experience is harmed by a controversial approach that’s sorely lacking in goodwill – such as pushy recurrent revenue mechanics – it can easily overshadow a game’s better qualities.
In the best case scenario, such concepts will prove to be so controversial that they’ll be abandoned or at least heavily revamped in the following game, if not sooner via a patch. The annual basketball titles obviously have a built-in audience, and with NBA 2K essentially having a monopoly on the sim genre right now, there’s a lot of freedom to push their luck. Nevertheless, controversial concepts do invite significant backlash, so they will be abandoned if they threaten to damage a company’s reputation; or more accurately, their profits. That said, while they may not be motivated by altruism, it’s always welcome when companies walk back on controversial concepts like these five.
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 Michael Jordan in NBA Live 2004.
These days, we think of Visual Concepts as the company to bring Michael Jordan to the virtual hardwood. After all, he’s been available as a Legend since NBA 2K11, we’ve had two iterations of the Jordan Challenge, and he’s graced the cover of four editions of the game. However, long before NBA 2K was celebrating His Airness, he was closely associated with EA Sports. From licensing him for the NBA Playoffs series as he disappeared from other early 90s titles, to games such as Jordan vs. Bird, Michael Jordan in Flight and Chaos in the Windy City, it was EA who brought us MJ.
Of course, the last time that Michael Jordan made an official appearance in an EA Sports game was in NBA Live 2004. Indeed, until NBA 2K11, it marked the last time that he was officially featured in any video games. Needless to say, adding him to the Legends Pool and 90s All-Stars was an annual task for our modding community from NBA Live 2005 through NBA Live 08, so we were still able to play with him on PC. There was something special about official appearances though, especially given MJ’s absence from the virtual hardwood in the late 90s. Let’s take a look back…way back…
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 how there’s now a ticking clock on support for NBA Live 19, and what it means for the future of the series.
When the NBA Live 18 servers were shut down last year, I speculated that it may not be too long before online support for NBA Live 19 ends as well. Although support won’t end in 2025 as I guessed that it might, it’s been confirmed that NBA Live 19’s servers will be shut down on January 30th, 2026. The game has already been removed from digital stores, but physical copies do exist if you want to get your hands on it. Obviously, the offline modes will still be available when online support ends, so as long as you own the game, it will be playable.
Of course, the end of online support is bad news for Ultimate Team; a mode that I’ve been enjoying as of late. Much like my NBA Live 18 kick last year, I’ve unfortunately allowed myself to get hooked on an experience that will soon be unavailable! I’d liken it to getting into a great television show after it’s already a few seasons in, but on the brink of cancellation or otherwise getting ready to wrap up. I’m enjoying myself and I’m grateful that I gave it a proper chance, but I’m also getting on the ride late, so the impending end of the journey feels unfairly abrupt. Beyond that, the ticking clock on NBA Live 19 underscores the current state of the series, as well as its bleak future.
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.
No, this isn’t an apparition! With today being Halloween, we’re sharing a spooktacular edition of the NLSC Top 10 Plays on Friday instead of in the usual Saturday timeslot. With that being said, there are some frighteningly good highlights this week, from bone-crunching ankle-breakers to monstrous poster dunks. You’ll also spot one of the Halloween-themed secrets that I mentioned in this week’s Friday Five! Seven different games are on display, from NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC all the way 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 times that Halloween has had a presence in basketball video games.
Back in June, I let a Friday the 13th pass without a Friday Five topic related to bad luck or the number 13. Admittedly that’s because I’ve already gone to that well a few times and didn’t have a fresh topic in mind, but since then, one has actually occurred to me. I’ll have to wait until next year to use it since we won’t have another Friday the 13th until then, but in the meantime, I can mark another famous date here in the Five: Halloween! Since Halloween has fallen on a Friday this year, I thought it’d be fun to look at how the holiday has been celebrated on the virtual hardwood.
As I’ve noted when I looked back at some creepy moments in honour of Halloweens past, horror and basketball video games don’t usually go hand-in-hand. Well, I could cynically refer to how scary it is that microtransactions have become so accepted, or the twisted tale of how there’s a monopoly in the space, but that kind of snark isn’t what I’m going for here! In any case, there are examples of basketball video games getting into the spirit of the spooky season, which include both sim and arcade titles. While they may not be anywhere near as frightening as a horror game packed full of jump scares, this Halloween content has been an extra treat for basketball gamers.
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 where a number of NBA Legends ideally should have retired.
With the 2026 NBA season underway, some of the biggest names in the league are continuing lengthy careers. LeBron James is embarking on a record-setting 23rd NBA campaign, which indeed may not be his last. Stephen Curry is in his 17th year, while former teammate Kevin Durant is in his 18th (though it would’ve been his 19th if not for missing the entire 2020 season). Of course, only Curry is still with the team that he began his NBA career with. As such, he’s the most likely of the three to retire with his original club, and having never left to boot.
Mind you, while it sometimes seems that superstars move around more often than they used to, even decades ago future Hall of Famers were wrapping up their storied careers on different teams. That’s how we’ve come to see so many familiar faces in strange places! To that end, while we focus on the accomplishments of those Legends and where they were in their prime more so than we do their weird final stints, we may still wish that they retired in the “right” place. Thanks to basketball video games, we can see what that would’ve looked like. Let’s take a look back…way back…
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 two camera angles that I prefer to use in basketball video games.
As is the case with just about any fandom, the basketball gaming community has had some silly arguments and engaged in ridiculous gatekeeping. Post a fun highlight clip, and someone is bound to sneer that you must be playing on a lower difficulty level. That may or may not be true, but it’s needlessly judgemental when the point of a clip was to show off a cool animation, not to brag about stick skills. However, nothing compares to the ridiculous gatekeeping and elitism surrounding the choice in camera angles. It truly is the most absurd thing to judge other basketball gamers on!
I find the idea of there only being one “correct” choice in camera angles particularly silly as there are actually two that I primarily use, and a couple of others that I also like. Don’t get me wrong; even if there was only one camera angle for me, I wouldn’t consider others to be incorrect, or a sign of ineptitude and source of shame. For that matter, I don’t think that my preference for multiple camera angles makes me better than anyone, either! Indeed, given that there’s a reason basketball gamers prefer a particular view over other camera angles, my approach is arguably the weird one. However, there’s a reason that my basketball gaming is a tale of two camera angles.
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 brings you another assortment of thundering poster dunks, wild alley-oops, slick dishes, and crafty layups, topped off by another cold-blooded clutch play. As usual, there’s also great variety in the games being featured, with seven different titles from NBA Live 08 through to NBA 2K26. From Legends seasons in NBA 2K17 to The Streets World Tour in NBA Live 19 to playing with current rosters in NBA 2K26, this week’s countdown is another spectacular demonstration of the fun the community is having 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.
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 mods that I’ve wanted to make for NBA Live 96 PC over the years.
As I’ve said before, NBA Live 96 PC is one of my all-time favourite basketball video games. Indeed, it’s one of the very first basketball video games that I owned, and the title that led me to discover the NLSC and modding way back in 1997. As such, even though other titles have surpassed NBA Live 96 in my personal rankings, I have great affection and nostalgia for it. Those fond memories come rushing back whenever I fire it up for a retro gaming session, or pick up the tools to tinker with it once again. In short, it’s brought me a great deal of joy over the years, and continues to do so.
Of course, when it comes to making NBA Live 96 mods, I do have a few regrets. That includes criticism of my efforts to update the game for the 1998 season all those years ago, but some of my biggest regrets with NBA Live 96 are the mods that I didn’t get to make. In some cases I made some preliminary preparations for a project, or even managed some early progress on a mod, only for it to fall through. Obviously, I could still probably attempt some of these projects as I’m all for creating fun mods for my own sessions with NBA Live 96, but it’s hard to justify that much work for such an old game. Nevertheless, here are five NBA Live 96 mods I’ve always wanted to make.
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 combining past and present by creating some 2026 rosters in NBA Live 19.
Much as I was getting back into NBA Live 18 prior to its server shutdown last year, I’ve been on a bit of an NBA Live 19 kick this year. To that end, you can expect to see it covered in future Wayback Wednesday features, including a new retrospective that reflects my current opinion of the game. It probably isn’t a huge spoiler to reveal that I’m enjoying it far more than I have previously! Indeed, my enjoyment has led to a playthrough of The Streets World Tour, completing a Legends Fantasy Challenge in Ultimate Team, and even customising the game’s rosters.
That brings us to the topic at hand: 2026 rosters, as represented by NBA Live 19! Portraying the present with a game from the past has become an enjoyable staple of my retro basketball gaming. Previously, I revisited NBA Live 10 to see how many players were still active in 2021 and 2024. Creating 2024 lineups in NBA 2K14 led to a couple of games using those makeshift rosters. Earlier this year, I played NBA Live 18 using a minimalist 2025 roster update. And now, with the 2026 season underway, I’m demonstrating how it looks in NBA Live 19! Let’s take a look back…way back…
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