It’s time to enjoy some virtual hardwood highlights in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week! This is a weekly feature curated by Derek (aka Dee4Three) spotlighting the best plays from the basketball gaming community, which includes a few of our own memorable clips from time to time. Submit your clips in the Forum, or hit up Derek on Twitter!
I love the variety of games, modes, mods, and moments on display this week. Naturally there are NBA 2K21 highlights, including an impressive tribute to Vince Carter’s infamous dunk on Frederic Weis, but this week’s Top 10 Plays also stretch right back to NBA Live 2001. I won’t spoil the top play, but suffice to say, it’s one of the most unique highlights that has been submitted so far! Derek has also been leading the way with Community Showdown games over Parsec, and it’s great to see some highlights from those sessions make it into the countdown.
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 spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood or blacktop. All basketball games are welcome, new and old! Also, be sure to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.
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 more players that appeared in more video games than real NBA games.
It’s been a while since the last entry in this series about players whose appearances on the virtual hardwood outnumber the amount of games they officially played in the real NBA. I’ve covered some interesting examples of such players in the previous three articles, but since then, I’ve continued to build my basketball video game collection, and have pored over the rosters to find other players who hold this distinction. There are quite few of them, and I compiled a comprehensive list in anticipation of writing future instalments of this series.
However, I’ve actually whittled the list down to a smaller number that doesn’t include every single example. Although there are at least 80 players that I could discuss here (including the ones I’ve already mentioned in previous articles), not all of them have an interesting story. For the most part, it’s the same tale: they made the cut when a game’s roster was being finalised, but were released soon after and never played a single game. Noteworthy and kind of cool for them, but it’s a repetitive tale to tell. Instead, I’ll probably end up covering around half that number in my articles as I’d like to focus on the most interesting stories, beginning with these five players.
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 at some of the retro teams that can be created in NBA Live 10.
I’ve been having a great time with NBA Live 10 in recent weeks. From my gaming sessions with Dee4Three over Parsec and revisiting the game by myself on Xbox 360, to placing veterans in their rookie throwbacks, active players on their current teams, and portraying What If scenarios, I’ve immensely enjoyed playing a game that I wish I’d spent more time with when it was new. Of course, it’s also been something of a bittersweet experience, as I’m left thinking – and I’m sure many long-time NBA Live fans can relate to this – “Why didn’t EA just keep building off this fantastic game?”
Of course, the beauty of retro basketball gaming is that we can give games a second look, and if we enjoy them, make up for skipping them back in the day. Combing through the rosters of NBA Live 10 to put together the aforementioned articles, I’ve noticed how many veterans from earlier in the decade were still active, as well as the number of recently retired players present in the game’s Free Agents Pool. In fact, there are enough of them to create some makeshift retro teams using the Fantasy Teams mode present in NBA Live 10. Here are some examples of retro teams you can make in NBA Live 10 if you feel like going back…way back…
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 how achieving completion in basketball video games is really what you make it.
Achieving completion in most video games is fairly straightforward. Any game with an ultimate win condition such as a final boss or mission/quest can clearly be finished. There may be postscript content in games that can be played after their ending, even if it’s just an opportunity to finish side quests/missions and achieve 100% completion. These objectives are usually listed somewhere in the game, allowing you to keep track of them. To that end, I can tell you which Grand Theft Auto games I’ve finished, what I’ve done in Fallout games, and how successful I’ve been in various other titles I own.
Basketball gaming is different, particularly when we’re talking about the sim titles. There are goals that you can aim for, such as winning an NBA Championship in the various season, franchise, and career modes. Simply playing every game on twelve minute quarters could be considered a form of completion, having experienced the ups and downs of an NBA campaign…then again, games can be simulated. More to the point, the depth of modern basketball games make it extremely difficult to clearly achieve completion compared to other genres. With that in mind, we have to set our own definitions of completion to achieve satisfaction before a release is outdated.
It’s time to enjoy some virtual hardwood highlights in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week! This is a weekly feature curated by Derek (aka Dee4Three) spotlighting the best plays from the basketball gaming community, which includes a few of our own memorable clips from time to time. Submit your clips in the Forum, or hit up Derek on Twitter!
When Derek sends me the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week videos, I’m always keen to see what made the cut. Selfishly, I was stoked to see one of my plays from our recent retro Fantasy Teams game of NBA Live 10 in this week’s countdown! Less selfishly, I was also stoked to see this week’s community submissions. There’s been a lot of goodwill and community spirit surrounding the Top 10 since its return, and everyone has been keen to send in their dunks, alley-oops, big shots, and crafty moves. The variety of games, modes, and mods on display has also been great to see. Enjoy this week’s highlights!
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 spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood or blacktop. All basketball games are welcome, new and old! Also, be sure to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.
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 corrections to previous articles that I’ve written.
Guess what? I’m not perfect. Just ask former Forum members that we’ve had to show the door for one reason or another; especially the ones that email me long diatribes, or bash me in social media and blog posts! Alright, maybe don’t listen to them. For all my faults, I’d like to think I’m not the wretched stain on humanity that they paint me as being. Wry potshots at disillusioned denizens of days gone by aside, I do make mistakes. I’m not infallible in my knowledge of basketball and basketball gaming, and to that end, occasionally I’ve erred and failed to double-check for accuracy.
I’d also like to think that my features, be they articles or videos, have continued to improve. I’ve been able to develop a style, hone my writing and editing skills, and devise some interesting topics to discuss. At least, I hope that’s been the case! I’ve also made it a point to ensure that I do the necessary research regarding details that aren’t widely known, or otherwise embedded in my memory. However, there are still times when I’ve trusted my recollections when I shouldn’t have, as well as a few things that I didn’t know until I expanded my basketball video game collection. In the interests of transparency and accuracy, here are five corrections I’m making to previous articles.
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 basketball gaming on the Nintendo 64.
For basketball gamers who are at the tail end of Generation X, or Millennials/Gen Y folks like me, we’re starting to experience milestones that remind us that we’re getting older. Realising we’re coming up on the 30th Anniversary of the Chicago Bulls’ first championship – an event that was just a few years old when I really got into basketball – is a good example. Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of NBA Live over the past two years is another. We’re also starting to see a lot of classic consoles that I recall being one of the systems to own back in the day, now reaching significant anniversaries.
To that end, the Nintendo 64 turns twenty five this week, being released in Japan on June 24th 1996 and North America on September 29th. It wouldn’t be released in Europe or Australia until March 1997, and I didn’t actually own the console until I received it for my 13th birthday in October that year. Nevertheless, it’s the 25th Anniversary of the debut of the Nintendo 64, so it only seems appropriate to reflect on the history of basketball gaming on the console. 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! 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 look at the concerning complacency that afflicts many a basketball gamer, especially when it comes to NBA 2K’s practices.
There’s a well-travelled fable about a boiling frog. The story goes that if you place a frog in boiling water, it will immediately jump out. However, if you place it in tepid water and slowly bring it to boil, the frog will not react to the danger and be boiled alive. Experiments have proven the premise to be false, but the imagery is still used as a metaphor for an unwillingness to react to threats that arise gradually, compared to those that arise suddenly. While the metaphor is based on a disproven principle, its imagery aptly illustrates the process of creeping normality.
Complacency is a major factor here, and it’s certainly an issue in basketball gaming. The attitude of “well, that’s just the way it is” shrugs off valid criticism and concerns. It can be shocking to look back at some of the fantastic games from years ago, and compare them to recent releases that are riddled with recurrent revenue mechanics, gatekeeping, and other aspects that are lacking in goodwill. How did we get from there to here? As in the boiling frog metaphor, had these changes come suddenly, there’d have been a revolt. By shrewdly introducing these elements and then turning up the heat, 2K has taken advantage of the complacency of the basketball gamer.
It’s time to enjoy some virtual hardwood highlights in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week! This is a weekly feature curated by Derek (aka Dee4Three) spotlighting the best plays from the basketball gaming community, which includes a few of our own memorable clips from time to time. Submit your clips in the Forum, or hit up Derek on Twitter!
If there’s a motif to this week’s countdown, it’s alley-oops. However, as always, the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week isn’t just about dunks! From a miraculous heave from beyond halfcourt to a spin cycle move by Kobe Bryant that you’ll want to watch again and again, there are some spectacular highlights to enjoy. You’ll also notice a couple of entries from older games, including a PlayStation Portable release that you may not recall. Oh, and virtual Michael Jordan does make an appearance or two.
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 spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood or blacktop. All basketball games are welcome, new and old! Also, be sure to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.
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 annoying quirks with instant replay in various basketball video games.
If you had to name the key components of a basketball video game, or any sports title for that matter, instant replay would definitely be on that list. Of course, it’s also very easy to skip over, as it’s a function that we sometimes take for granted. We certainly notice when it’s absent though, as was the case in the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 06. Whether we want to re-watch an incredible play again and again from different angles, capture a video or screenshot, or take a second look at something that didn’t seem right, it’s great that we can pause and rewind the last minute or so of the action.
Because there doesn’t need to be much depth to the functionality of instant replay, it hasn’t really changed much throughout the years. For the most part, that hasn’t been a problem. However, the lack of innovation in the instant replay functions of basketball games has resulted in a few annoying quirks continuing to pop up through the years. We can usually work around them and they’re not necessarily big problems if you aren’t a content creator. Nevertheless, I imagine that long-time basketball gamers will recognise the annoying instant replay quirks that I’m describing here today. With that being said, let’s roll it back and take another look at them!
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 some famous NBA What Ifs, and portraying them in NBA Live 10.
What Ifs can be fun to ponder, whether they concern the NBA or video games. There are trades and signings that, if they’d happened, would’ve changed the course of NBA history. Likewise, we can point to game-changing moments in the history of the virtual hardwood. Indeed, NBA Live 10 is an example of such a turning point. If EA Sports had elected to continue building on the base it established rather than trying to reboot the series with the ill-fated NBA Elite 11, the basketball gaming landscape would undoubtedly be very different today.
As far as NBA What Ifs are concerned though, they’re something that we can play out in video games. It’s a great concept for a roster, and while that’s not what I’m doing today, I’ve decided to mix a couple of ideas together by reflecting on some of the biggest NBA What Ifs and portraying them using NBA Live 10; a game that has an air of What If about it. Obviously there are some other historical NBA What Ifs that I won’t be touching on here because the players aren’t in NBA Live 10, but feel free to discuss those in the comments as well. Let’s wonder what might have been as we take a look back…way back…
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 some advice on not falling victim to FOMO in NBA 2K.
Modern games prey on FOMO: the Fear Of Missing Out. From daily bonuses to content that is only available for a limited time, game modes are designed to get us jumping on as often as possible to boost engagement numbers, and in the best case scenario for the publisher, spend money on their recurrent revenue mechanics. It’s the same approach that mobile games have pioneered, and it’s become commonplace with Triple-A releases as well. From cosmetic items to content with a more tangible effect on gameplay, developers want us to dread missing out on acquiring goodies.
It’s effective, too. Every time they release a great Michael Jordan card in MyTEAM, I can’t help thinking “I want that”. However, the Auction House economy is broken due to MT resellers, and I refuse to pay real money to rip open pack after pack with lousy odds. Not everyone can resist the lure of appealing digital content though, and to that end, I can understand falling victim to FOMO. It’s harder to get games online – or at least be competitive – if you don’t have the best cards, quick MyPLAYER upgrades, or even the right clothing. As premium skins in Fortnite have proven, it can even lead to bullying! That’s why I’m offering up some tips to stand strong against FOMO.
It’s time to enjoy some virtual hardwood highlights in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week! This is a weekly feature curated by Derek (aka Dee4Three) spotlighting the best plays from the basketball gaming community, which includes a few of our own memorable clips from time to time. Submit your clips in the Forum, or hit up Derek on Twitter!
In the great debate between dunks and three-pointers, this week’s countdown definitely casts a vote for dunks! However, although it’s a motif, this week’s countdown isn’t just about spectacular slams. You’ll also find buzzer beaters, acrobatic moves, deadeye shooting, and some jaw-dropping dribbling in the number one play. We’re looking to feature some amazing highlights each and every week, and I’m sure you’ll agree that the latest edition of the NLSC Top 10 Plays includes some of the most fun things you’ll see on the virtual hardwood and blacktop.
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 spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood or blacktop. All basketball games are welcome, new and old! Also, be sure to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.
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 breakdown of five decisions that have to be made when making retro season mods.
When I discovered the NLSC in August 1997 via an Altavista search – yes, before Googling was a thing! – I was enthralled by modding, or patching as it was called back then. As I’ve said before, the ability to give my created Michael Jordan actual bio data and edit the jersey numbers of original players was honestly mind-blowing. Like a lot of gamers, I’d tried to keep the rosters of my favourite game up to date, but the editors that our founders made opened up the possibility of creating detailed roster modifications and then sharing them with other people. I was hooked.
As the current roster update for NBA Live 96 also featured retro season rosters, I discovered that concept at the same time, and it likewise drew me in. I went on to create several current roster updates over the years, as well as a few retro season mods. With official updates handling the current rosters – quibbles with their quality aside – big retro projects are more in vogue these days. We’re seeing some fantastic retro rosters for recent NBA 2K titles, and I love it! Speaking from experience, there are a few decisions that you have to make when you’re preparing to make retro season mods, in order to have the best chance of success. Today, I’m outlining five of them.
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 exploring the reasons why we like to go wayback, and revisit old favourites and other retro basketball games.
I’ve decided to do something a little different this week. Rather than a retrospective of a game or specific feature from an old title, I’m discussing the reasons why gamers like myself enjoy revisiting basketball games from yesteryear; indeed, why I go so far as to produce a weekly feature about the past. Nostalgia is far from unpopular, but in recent years, it also feels like there’s been a significant backlash against it. It’s likely a sign of a generational gap, and while younger gamers may not feel the need to go wayback as some of us older gamers do, I believe it’s something that comes with age.
On top of that, the passage of time leads to titles becoming nostalgic and historically significant, and that’s an interesting process. As we evaluate the best way to move forward, it’s also beneficial to look back at the past. To that end, let’s take a look at why we like going wayback…and in some cases, really way back…
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