NBA 08

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 basketball games of the 2008 season, and explaining why I believe it was the weakest lineup to date.

As much as I miss having multiple annual releases in the basketball gaming space – especially when we had at least three or four companies throwing their hat into the ring – it clearly wasn’t sustainable. The quality of those games was inconsistent across the board, and it didn’t help that some of them were console and regional exclusives. To that point, it’s no wonder that many series didn’t last nearly as long as NBA 2K, or even NBA Live. Still, it was great having so many choices that brought their own ideas to the table, and there were usually at least one or two fantastic games each year.

Nominating the best or strongest year in basketball gaming is tough; in fact, that’s a topic that Dee and I might have to tackle on the podcast, with the community’s input. If we’re talking about the worst or weakest season for basketball games though, I do have an answer that – while obviously subjective – I am confident in. After going back and reviewing NBA Live 08, NBA 2K8, and Sony’s NBA 08, I believe that 2008 is the frontrunner for the weakest season for basketball video games. I certainly wouldn’t expect everyone to agree, but I have my reasons. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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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 PlayStation 3 version of NBA 08, the 2008 entry in Sony’s exclusive NBA series.

At the beginning of 2024, I decided that I’d attempt to dip into the collection at least once per week, and spend some time with a game that I hadn’t played very much. I’ll admit that between getting hooked on other games, content creation, and of course other responsibilities, those plans fell by the wayside after a couple of months! Still, it was a fun idea, one that I’ll revisit in the future. In any case, while I was in the midst of those efforts back in January, one of the games that I fired up was NBA 08 for PlayStation 3.

I’d already covered NBA 07 not long before that, concluding that while it lacked depth and wasn’t as realistic as other 5-on-5 sim games, it was still capable of being fun on the sticks. I noted some of its novel and innovative features, as well as the importance of offering an alternative to the big two brands in basketball gaming. I also delved into some of the challenges and drawbacks the game faced, owing to its exclusivity. Would NBA 08 be more of the same, or would it step up and challenge NBA Live 08 and NBA 2K8? Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #546 of the NLSC Podcast!

NBA 2K25 has been out for about a couple of weeks now, which means the annual honeymoon phase is drawing to a close. To that end, this week we join the community in following up on our first impressions with a rundown of our key likes and dislikes of the game so far. It’s still mostly good news in our book, but we’re not quite ready to declare it the best NBA 2K ever as some of our fellow gamers are. We also recap a co-op session in which we took on Dwight Howard’s Magic with Derrick Rose’s Bulls using the LeBron era rosters, leading us to reflect on those two squads. Finally, a new segment makes its debut, inspired by a surprising observation while playing NBA 08.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:02:27 — 43.2MB)

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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!

As I’ve previously noted, one of my basketball gaming goals for 2024 is to dip into my collection every week, and play a game that I haven’t spent much time with before. Last week’s title was NBA 08 for PlayStation 3, and I’ve posted the highlights from a Seattle SuperSonics vs. Charlotte Bobcats game on our YouTube channel.

Obviously a contemporary of NBA Live 08 and NBA 2K8, as I mentioned on Twitter/X, NBA 08 was probably the third best sim title of the 2008 season. It’s lacking some of the polish of 2K and EA’s games, though the looseness on the sticks does make it surprisingly fun at times. Naturally, I had to use the Seattle SuperSonics – then in their final season in the Pacific Northwest – and take on the Charlotte Bobcats. It’s tough to go past two technically defunct teams (or at least, ones with branding that’s no longer being used) when revisiting old games! Fittingly, Kevin Calabro is on the call as I put up 56 points with rookie Kevin Durant. Check it out!

As you can probably guess, these NBA 08 highlights are a precursor to me covering the game for Wayback Wednesday in the not too distant future. Stay tuned for that, and in the meantime, be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content! As always, feel free to hit Dee and I up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play.

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 The Life in NBA 08.

Sony’s NBA series was one of the last major competitors to the two big brands in sim-oriented basketball games, NBA Live and NBA 2K. The games are part of a lineage that includes the NBA ShootOut series, known as Total NBA in PAL regions. Being developed by divisions of Sony Computer Entertainment, the games were naturally exclusive to the PlayStation consoles, with the exception of NBA ShootOut 2000 which saw the series’ lone PC release. Generally speaking, the games did receive some positive reviews, but over the years they were unable to best NBA Live or NBA 2K in terms of sales or overall quality.

Nevertheless, the NBA series did boast some innovative features, some of which have since been adopted by NBA Live and NBA 2K in some form. A prime example is the mode known as The Life, a narrative-driven experience that predates the use of stories in MyCAREER by several years. The mode and the story changed from year to year, but in this article I’m primarily focusing on the PlayStation 2 version of NBA 08, as it’s the game I have in my collection. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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