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NBA Live 17

NBA Live 17 to include Goodman League, Drew League, & Dyckman Venues

NBA Live 16: LIVE Pro-Am

While we’re still a few months away from getting a steady stream of news about NBA Live 17, some interesting details have emerged today. Goodman League commissioner Miles Rawls has announced that Barry Farms Coliseum in Washington, DC will be included in this year’s game. The article on the Goodman League website also mentions that the Drew League and the Dyckman Basketball Tournament are also going to be represented in NBA Live 17.

It seems a safe bet that these venues will be available in LIVE Pro-Am as part of the Summer Circuit and LIVE Run, though there’s no further information, nor confirmation from EA Sports at this time. While many of us are probably hoping to see deeper NBA content in NBA Live 17, such as an enhanced Dynasty Mode, Pro-Am has been fairly well received so far in NBA Live 16. It makes sense, and certainly isn’t surprising, that EA is continuing to expand upon it.

Thanks to 22cedric for the heads up on Twitter, and in the Forum. What do you make of the announcement? Are there any noteworthy venues that you’d like to see represented in NBA Live 17? Have your say in the comments section below, and join in the discussion here in the Forum. Don’t forget that we’ve tipped off our Wishlist for NBA Live 17, so if you’d like to contribute, be sure to check out this thread.

NLSC Podcast – Episode #145

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We’re back to our usual timeslot this week, with Episode #145 of the NLSC Podcast! This week, Arcane and I are talking Wishlists, our recent experiences with NBA Live 16 and NBA 2K16, the 2016 NBA All-Star Weekend, and more.

On this week’s show…

  • Our official Wishlist threads for NBA Live 17 and NBA 2K17 are now open, so start posting your constructive feedback!
  • We reflect on All-Star Weekend in NBA Live, and fantasise about its return.
  • A list of players missing from NBA 2K16’s historical teams has been posted over on Reddit, leading us to wonder about the future of retro teams.
  • What have we been doing in NBA Live 16 and NBA 2K16 this past week? We recap our latest adventures on the virtual hardwood.
  • How did we originally find the NLSC and get involved with it? We answer a mailbag question about our history with the site.
  • Who are some our favourite fringe NBA players? Have we ended up acquiring any of them in our franchise games?
  • Derek Fisher is the latest head coach to get the axe. The circus continues in New York.
  • ESPN has named Michael Jordan the greatest NBA player of all-time in a recent feature. We don’t disagree.
  • The NBA is considering changing the Hack-a-Whoever rules. We’re not heartbroken.
  • Blake Griffin has been suspended for his altercation with an assistant equipment manager. Meanwhile, Markieff Morris is still trying to force his way out of Phoenix.
  • The 2016 All-Star Weekend is almost upon us. We run down our official predictions.
  • After double-checking the date for our next show, we also give our Bold Predictions for this week.
  • We wrap up Episode #145 of the NLSC Podcast with another trivia game, and an interesting note regarding LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

Click Play to listen to the show!

Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Sound off in the comments below, or here in the Forum. Also, if there’s a topic you’d like us to discuss on the next episode of the NLSC Podcast, feel free to hit us up in this thread.

NBA Live 17 Wishlist Thread Open; Submit Your Feedback!

Dwyane Wade with the basketball in NBA Live 16

Wishlist season is tipping off, and it’s time to start putting together our feedback for the NBA Live Development Team. As such, I’ve created our official NBA Live 17 Wishlist thread, which you can find here in the NLSC Forum. That’s the place to post suggestions as to what you want to see improve in NBA Live 17, as well as features that you want to see added to the game. Lists of bugs that ultimately weren’t resolved in the NBA Live 16 title updates are also most welcome.

While no one should feel they have to sugar-coat, suck up, or otherwise be less than honest in their feedback, we also ask that everyone remains civil and constructive. Being abusive, needlessly nasty or snarky, or otherwise childish isn’t helpful, and those sorts of posts aren’t welcome in the NBA Live 17 Wishlist thread. If you want to vent about the game, the NBA Live series, or whatever, please find or create another thread. We want to keep the Wishlist threads constructive and on-topic.

Apart from that, be sure to give details where necessary. Saying things like “make the gameplay better” or “better Dynasty Mode” isn’t useful, as it doesn’t tell the developers how gameplay needs to get better, or what you want to see in Dynasty Mode. The same goes for any other aspect of the game that you want to provide feedback on.

In case you missed the link above, you can find the NBA Live 17 Wishlist here in the Forum. I’ve also included a few notes in the first post about the best way to provide feedback. As mentioned, we’ll most likely compile a “Top Wishes” list once the Wishlist really gets rolling, and we have an idea of the most desired improvements and additions. That’s about it, so start posting your feedback ASAP! If you need some inspiration, I’d recommend checking out this excellent article by cdj over on The Gaming Tailgate.

The Friday Five: Top 5 Gameplay Improvements I Want To See in NBA Live

The Friday Five

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 basketball video games, the real NBA, or another area of interest to our community, either as a list of five items or in the form of a Top 5 countdown.

Since we’re getting into Wishlist season, last week’s edition of The Friday Five covered five features that I’d like to see return in NBA Live. I’m continuing with that theme this week as I count down the top five gameplay improvements that I’d like to see, preferably beginning with NBA Live 17. While I really want to see the game modes get deeper and some more bells and whistles added, NBA Live’s gameplay still needs some polish and enhancement, as it’s obviously an important aspect of the core experience.

That’s not to say it needs a complete overhaul, or that the current tech isn’t capable of doing the job. I’ve seen some good things from the IGNITE engine, and there’s been a noticeable improvement over the past three years. However, there are definitely some much needed improvements and additions that need to be made to NBA Live’s gameplay, to get it to the level it really needs to be at. So, without any further ado, here are the top five gameplay improvements that I want to see in NBA Live, beginning with number five.

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NLSC Podcast – Episode #142

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It’s Thursday once again, so a new episode of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Arcane and I are fulfilling our digital broadcasting duties this week with Episode #142, featuring more topics related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and the past week of action in the NBA.

On this week’s show…

  • We discuss the most recent NBA Live 16 roster update, including the addition of Elton Brand and the latest ratings adjustments.
  • A rumour regarding the expansion of the NBA Live development team has been brought to our attention. We don’t have any inside information, but we have a few thoughts on the possibility all the same.
  • The good news: face scanning has come to NBA 2K16 PC. The bad news: a lot of gamers probably won’t be able to take advantage of it, at least not yet.
  • We reflect on the issue of content creators getting burned out, talking about our own experiences and offering some advice.
  • Jimmy Butler became the fourth Chicago Bulls player to score 50+ points. On a less positive note, it looks like Joakim Noah is out for the season.
  • Martin Luther King Jr. Day saw some wild games in the NBA, including a career high 52 points by Kemba Walker.
  • A couple of players from the Class of 1999 are looking to make a comeback in the NBA.
  • Matthew Dellavedova has been voted the dirtiest player in the league. Will we still defend our fellow Aussie?
  • Andre Drummond set a new record for free throws missed in a single game. We take the opportunity to discuss the Hack-a-Whoever strategy.
  • We offer up some suggestions of players who may be traded before or at the deadline.
  • The NBA might appeal to international fans – like us – by scheduling some morning games in the future. Yes, we’re all for it.
  • This week’s Bold Predictions see…well, more bold predictions. Last week wasn’t kind to us.
  • We end Episode #142 of the NLSC Podcast with an interesting trivia note coming out of the Chicago Bulls/Golden State Warriors game.

Click Play to listen to the show!

Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Sound off in the comments below, or here in the Forum. Also, if there’s a topic you’d like us to discuss on the next episode of the NLSC Podcast, feel free to hit us up in this thread.

The Friday Five: Top 5 NBA Live Features I Want To See Return

The Friday Five

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 basketball video games, the real NBA, or another area of interest to our community, either as a list of five items or in the form of a Top 5 countdown.

In recent episodes of the NLSC Podcast, Arcane and I have been discussing the future of NBA Live, particularly how it’s a case of “now or never” when it comes to certain features and improvements. Likewise, back in October of last year, I engaged in a little early Wishlist talk in The Friday Five, with a piece titled 5 Things NBA Live 17 Absolutely Has To Do. Suffice to say, we have some strong feelings about what we feel the series has to achieve with this year’s iteration, as do other members of the basketball gaming community.

Since it is just about time to start creating our official Wishlist threads, I thought I’d use this week’s Five to revisit the topic of what needs to be done with NBA Live. There’s obviously going to be some overlap with the previous discussions, as I haven’t changed my mind about what I believe are the most important areas that Live needs to improve in. That said, on this occasion, I’m focusing on five features that I’d like to see return, and prioritising them in the form of a Top 5 countdown. Without any further ado, let’s tip things off with number five.

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NLSC Podcast – Episode #141

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It’s Thursday, so it’s time for another episode of the NLSC Podcast! In Episode #141, Arcane and I discuss the future of NBA Live and NBA 2K, NBA Jam trivia, and the latest NBA news and results as we find ourselves at the midway point of the 2016 season.

On this week’s show…

  • Has EA Sports done enough to create interest in NBA Live 17, or will the plug be pulled? Do they need to be doing more with NBA Live 16 to drum up interest for this year’s game?
  • What’s holding EA back from releasing a game that can compete with 2K?
  • We discuss some of the issues with animations in both NBA Live 16 and NBA 2K16.
  • With the NBA All-Star festivities not too far away, we reminisce about All-Star Weekend in NBA Live. Do we want EA to bring it back? You can probably guess our answer to that one!
  • Fox Sports Australia recently posted some NBA Jam trivia, which we quickly recap and reflect upon.
  • Which mode do we prefer in NBA 2K: MyLEAGUE, or MyGM?
  • Moving on to this week’s NBA discussion, we mention a couple of notes from the past week, and run through a few midseason surprises and disappointments.
  • The second returns for this year’s All-Star balloting have been released. The likely starters are becoming clearer, so we talk about some candidates for the reserves.
  • Which Chicago Bulls player is most likely to be traded: Joakim Noah, Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson, or Jimmy Butler?
  • We revisit the question of which number the Los Angeles Lakers should retire for Kobe Bryant.
  • Should Kevin Garnett receive a similar send-off to Kobe?
  • In this week’s Bold Predictions for Next Week: Andrew still isn’t on the scoreboard. Will his latest prediction break the drought?
  • We wrap up Episode #141 of the NLSC Podcast by naming the team we’d buy if we won this week’s big Powerball jackpot.

Click Play to listen to the show!

Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Sound off in the comments below, or here in the Forum. Also, if there’s a topic you’d like us to discuss on the next episode of the NLSC Podcast, feel free to hit us up in this thread.

NLSC Podcast – Episode #140

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It’s the first Thursday of 2016, so we’re tipping off another year of digital broadcasting with Episode #140 of the NLSC Podcast! This week we’re catching up on all the news and events that took place over the holiday break, and discussing some topics submitted by our listeners. Seeing as how we’ve been off the air for a couple of weeks, Episode #140 is a bit longer than usual, but the show should be back to its normal length starting next week.

On this week’s show…

  • There wasn’t a whole lot of news over the break, but 2K did announce that eSports are coming to NBA 2K16 in early 2016.
  • NBA Live 16 hasn’t received any significant content updates over the past couple of weeks. Should there be more content coming through for the game?
  • Wishlist season is looming. What are some of our main wishes for NBA Live 17 and NBA 2K17?
  • What does NBA Live need to do to gain momentum and start catching up to NBA 2K?
  • We give our thoughts on the direction of Ultimate Team and MyTEAM. How interested are we in the card collecting modes?
  • Joey Crawford is finally hanging up his whistle. Spoiler: We’re not exactly heartbroken.
  • The Golden State Warriors are still on pace to challenge the Chicago Bulls’ 72-10 record. Draymond Green is turning into a triple double machine.
  • We discuss the controversy with Markieff Morris in Phoenix, and defend our generation.
  • Arcane is doing well with our weekly Bold Predictions. Andrew is yet to get on the board.
  • This week’s trivia question is about Michael Jordan. Can you get the answer before Arcane?
  • Twitter is looking to expand its character limit. Are we in favour of the change, and how many characters would we prefer?
  • We wrap up Episode #140 of the NLSC Podcast with some New Year’s Resolutions, and an unfortunate clerical error involving C.J. McCollum.

Click Play to listen to the show!

Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Sound off in the comments below, or here in the Forum. Also, if there’s a topic you’d like us to discuss on the next episode of the NLSC Podcast, feel free to hit us up in this thread.

Monday Tip-Off: My Ultimate NBA Video Game

Anthony Davis dunks in NBA 2K16

We’re at midcourt, the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Get your week started here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to basketball video games.

‘Tis the season to make Wishlists…both in the sense that development is well under way for both NBA Live 17 and NBA 2K17, and the fact that for those who celebrate it, Christmas is almost upon us. For some of you, one or both of this year’s games might be in your stocking, but at this point, you probably know what to expect when you get a hold of them. The visions of the NBA video games that dance in our heads – not unlike the sugar-plums that Clement Clarke Moore wrote about – likely won’t be coming to fruition just yet.

In interviews with us and other websites, NBA Live Executive Producer Sean O’Brien has talked about wishing he could take the game he sees in his mind, and immediately give it to us. At the same time, I have to imagine that for Leftos and the rest of the guys at Visual Concepts, the gears in their heads are always turning, as they think of ways to make NBA 2K even bigger and better. And of course, we basketball gamers can come up with some creative ideas as well.

To that end, for this week’s Monday Tip-Off, I wanted to talk about my vision of the ultimate NBA video game. I want to keep things as practical as possible, but for the sake of fantasy and what-ifs, I’m also going to assume that the available technology can handle all of the concepts competently, and that licensing, likeness rights and so on would not be an issue. With that said, what would my ultimate NBA video game be like?

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20th Anniversary of NBA Live: Sean O’Brien’s Reflections

Magic vs. Pistons in NBA Live 97

We’re picking up our 20th Anniversary of NBA Live celebrations once again with a clip from Episode #129 of the NLSC Podcast, in which I chatted to Sean O’Brien, Executive Producer of NBA Live. While the interview was mainly centred on NBA Live 16 – at the time, a couple of weeks away from its release – we also took some time out to talk about the history of the series, and Sean’s experience working on it, beginning with NBA Live 97. As noted in our chat, he was even featured as a cheat code in that game!

With such a long history working on the series, Sean definitely has some interesting stories to tell about how he got involved with the development of the game, and how things have changed over the years. He recalls his experiences providing motion capture back in 1996, and describes what it was like to develop a basketball game back in the 90s. In reminiscing about his experiences working on NBA Live, Sean also touches on the future of the series, mentioning that he’s excited about what he believes the team can do with the next couple of releases.

Catch it here on our YouTube channel if you’re having any issues with the embedded video. If you’d like to listen to the entire interview, you can tune in to Episode #129 of the NLSC Podcast here.

Stay tuned for more 20th Anniversary of NBA Live content!

NLSC Podcast – Episode #134

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Tune in to Episode #134 of the NLSC Podcast, hosted by Arcane and myself! This week we’re talking updates for NBA Live 16 and NBA 2K16, some historically remarkable numbers for Andre Drummond, and a couple of other news items from the past week.

On this week’s show…

  • NBA Live 16 is in need of a major patch and content update. When do we think we might see it?
  • We look ahead to NBA Live 17 once again, and speculate on whether major updates for 16 might be shelved in favour of ensuring a much better game next year.
  • The third patch for NBA 2K16 should be coming soon. Mike Wang has posted some tidbits on what to expect over at Operation Sports.
  • Some gamers have discovered a couple of defensive settings (and possible oversight) in NBA 2K16 that make a huge difference to the way the CPU plays defense.
  • Moving on to the NBA discussion, Andre Drummond is doing something that hasn’t been done in almost 50 years. We know that Leftos has to be pleased.
  • LeBron James supports our campaign to put an end to sleeved jerseys! OK, not really, but it’s clear The King doesn’t care for them either.
  • Derrick Rose is slowly regaining his form, which one of us is particularly pleased to see. We discuss the recent rumours surrounding Rose, and whether he’s actually on the way out of Chicago.
  • The Miami Heat have made the first trade of the regular season, sending Mario Chalmers to the Memphis Grizzlies.
  • We end Episode #134 of the NLSC Podcast with a dubious statistic involving Nick Young and Kobe Bryant.

Click Play to listen to the show!

Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Sound off in the comments below, or here in the Forum. Also, if there’s a topic you’d like us to discuss on the next episode of the NLSC Podcast, feel free to hit us up in this thread.

The Friday Five: 5 Things NBA Live 17 Absolutely Has To Do

The Friday Five

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 basketball video games, the real NBA, or another area of interest to our community, either as a list of five items or in the form of a Top 5 countdown.

Normally, this is the type of article that I would write after the most recent release has been out a little longer, but with NBA Live 16 selling a disappointing amount of copies, and NBA Live 17 really having to move the needle and make an impact, I figured I’d start early on some constructive feedback. While I do feel that NBA Live 16 is an improvement over NBA Live 15 and has some good elements and concepts, there is much that needs to be done with NBA Live 17, especially in terms of making it a deep and fully featured NBA sim.

Now, this is all stuff that I’ll be discussing in further detail in future editions of The Friday Five, as well as other articles and of course, the NLSC Podcast. This isn’t intended to be a comprehensive Wishlist article, covering every point in-depth, and listing absolutely every improvement that needs to be made in NBA Live 17. Rather, it’s meant to highlight some of the key improvements and additions that I believe need to be made next year. With that said, let’s take a look at the five things that in my opinion, NBA Live 17 absolutely has to do.

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NLSC Podcast – Episode #132

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It’s that time of the week again, as Arcane and I are coming at you with Episode #132 of the NLSC Podcast! We’ve got a lot to talk about this week including NBA Live 16 sales and the future of the NBA Live series, some exciting news for the NBA 2K16 modding community, opening night of the 2016 NBA season, and more.

On this week’s show…

  • NBA Live 16’s sales figures have been underwhelming. We discuss the reaction to the game so far, and the low number of sales following the optimism of the preview season.
  • What must EA Sports do with NBA Live 17 for the game to show sufficient improvement, and move the needle in sales?
  • We talk about a couple of things that were left on the cutting room floor for NBA Live 16. We also note the lack of an opening night roster update, and the presence of one for NBA 2K16.
  • There’s been another exciting development with NBA 2K16 modding, which we’re looking forward to seeing come to fruition. Hopefully, modding is even easier in NBA 2K17.
  • We pay our respects to the late Flip Saunders, who sadly lost his battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
  • The 2016 NBA season is underway, and it’s about time, too. We give our thoughts on the action from opening night.
  • Tristan Thompson has finally signed an extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Did they overpay for him?
  • We wrap up Episode #132 of the NLSC Podcast with a discussion of Nike’s fancy new shoe. It’s no hoverboard, but it’s still sufficiently futuristic for 2015!

Click Play to listen to the show!

Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Sound off in the comments below, or here in the Forum. Also, if there’s a topic you’d like us to discuss on the next episode of the NLSC Podcast, feel free to hit us up in this thread.