NBA Live 18

As Dee and I have discussed on the NLSC Podcast, we both enjoy dabbling with the card collecting modes in NBA Live and NBA 2K. To that end, we’ve both recently uploaded highlight reels from NBA Live 18 Ultimate Team and NBA 2K24 MyTEAM.

In my NBA Live 18 Ultimate Team reel, the 90s All-Stars are back in action! The Glove connects with The Reignman, The Dream shakes and bakes in the post, Clyde glides before finishing with force, Shaq attacks the rim without mercy, Tim Bug breaks ankles with the UTEP Two-Step, Penny shines and drops dimes, Nique is a Human Highlight Film, and Pip does a little bit of everything! My aim was to capture the spirit of the NBA in the 90s, which had us all saying “I love this game”!

Dee’s NBA 2K24 MyTEAM reel also showcases some memorable historical players, as well as current stars. Darryl Dawkins is dominating in the paint, while Robert Pack reminds us that you don’t need to be seven feet tall to leave the basket shaking! Rick Barry and Jack Sikma also get buckets, while Steph Curry is dialled in from long distance. Cover player Kobe Bryant also dazzles and shows off the Mamba Mentality as Dee completes all three 76ers Challenges in Domination.

Check out both highlight reels below! We’ll be sharing further impressions of NBA 2K24, including thoughts on MyTEAM, in the next NLSC Podcast. Stay tuned for that, and be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content!

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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 giving NBA Live 18 a second look.

It’s fair to say that NBA Live didn’t live up to expectations on the eighth generation. We were hoping for a fresh start after NBA Elite 11 torpedoed the series during the seventh generation, but instead there were numerous unsuccessful attempts to rebuild. However, there were some flashes of brilliance and genuinely good ideas, which only makes the shortcomings of those eighth gen NBA Live titles more frustrating. Now that several years have passed and the weight of new game expectations has been lifted, those positive aspects do stand out, and can be appreciated.

As such, when I revisit an eighth generation NBA Live, I’m sometimes left surprised by how much I enjoyed dusting it off. While these second looks haven’t changed my mind to the same extent as NBA Live 10 or the Next Gen version of NBA 2K14, I do come away thinking that some of them hold up better than I remembered. This was true after Dee and I revisited NBA Live 18 using Parsec and the Xbox App, and had a really fun game. Indeed, I ended up picking up where I left off in Ultimate Team, and it inspired me to reconsider my previous critique. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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In case you missed it, Dee and I both uploaded a couple of new reels to the NLSC YouTube channel over the past week. Dee shared some highlights from a game of NBA 2K19 using an All-Time Fantasy Draft Roster, while mine are from a game in NBA Live 18 Ultimate Team.

Specifically, my reel focuses on Patrick Ewing, who celebrated his 61st birthday over the weekend. I decked out my squad with New York Knicks jerseys for the occasion, and surrounded Ewing with teammates spanning his career with the Knicks, Seattle SuperSonics, and Orlando Magic, as well as his appearances on the Dream Team and East All-Stars. As much fun as I’m having playing with a makeshift 90s All-Stars squad, I enjoyed changing it up to celebrate one NBA Legend in particular!

Once again, Dee’s reel showcases an All-Time Fantasy Draft Roster that he and his brother are playing with in NBA 2K19. The game features the Chicago Bulls taking on the Charlotte Hornets, with some familiar faces obviously in unfamiliar places! Amar’e Stoudamire, Damian Lillard, Julius Erving, Mark Price, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joe Johnson, Charles Barkley, and other stars produced a dazzling array of highlights.

Check out the highlights from my NBA Live 18 Ultimate Team game and Dee’s NBA 2K19 All-Time Fantasy Draft showdown below! Be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content, and as always, feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #487 of the NLSC Podcast!

We’re taking a look back at NBA Action 98 – the forerunner to NBA 2K on PC on Sega Saturn – after connecting to play a couple of games over Parsec. Naturally we compare it to NBA Live 98, as well as the PlayStation version, which was released as NBA Fastbreak ’98. We’ve also been drawn back to Ultimate Team in NBA Live 18, and reflect on the fun we’ve been having with our Legends squads. We also discuss a surprising teaser regarding MyCAREER in NBA 2K24, and our first virtual NBA Championships. In this week’s mailbag, we challenge the community to match Overall Ratings to the players in the default rosters of NBA 2K13.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 59:04 — 40.9MB)

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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 Dee and I discussed in Episode #486 of the NLSC Podcast, we recently had a fun session with NBA Live 18 when we connected over Parsec, using the Xbox App. It’s safe to say that the session rekindled our interest in the game, and we’ve both been (separately) spending some time with NBA Live 18 Ultimate Team. To that end, Dee has put together a highlight reel from one of his recent LUT games.

The game features Dee taking on the Philadelphia 76ers with a squad of Legends that includes Julius Erving, Shaquille O’Neal, Drazen Petrovic, Steve Nash, Bill Walton, Larry Nance, Spud Webb, and World B. Free. You’ll see Dr. J, Spud, and Nance soaring to the rim for athletic finishes, excellent ball movement culminating with long bombs (no meter required!), and great all around action. Legends were definitely underutilised in NBA Live 18, but as this Ultimate Team highlight reel demonstrates, they were a blast to play with when you managed to collect their cards. Check it out!

I’ll likely have an NBA Live 18 LUT reel of my own to share soon, so stay tuned! Be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content, including video essays, our podcast, and the weekly Top 10 Plays, curated by Dee. As always, feel free to suggest games that you’d like to see us play!

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #486 of the NLSC Podcast!

As we await the next round of news and previews, how hyped are we for NBA 2K24? Along with the community, we rate our excitement on a scale of one to ten. Of course, some of us break the scale in both directions! We also recap what we’ve been playing this past week, including a surprising session of NBA Live 18, testing out a work-in-progress mod for NBA Live 08, throwing it back with NBA Basketball for Intellivision, and tackling a tough challenge in NBA Jam: On Fire Edition. There’s also some more virtual hardwood elitism on Twitter to push back on, and the reveal of some interesting clutch ratings in this week’s mailbag trivia.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:21:44 — 56.5MB)

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!

Dee and I have connected on a variety of games over the past couple of weeks, as we’ll discuss in the next episode of the NLSC Podcast. In the meantime, you can see how one of those contests went down, as Dee put together the highlights from our NBA Live 18 game.

In the game, Dee and I took control of the Los Angeles Lakers for a co-op clash against the San Antonio Spurs. Dee suggested those teams as the pre-LeBron James, rookie Lonzo Ball Lakers are not usually a team we’d use, while the Spurs also had an unfamiliar look, having entered the post-Tim Duncan era. It proved to be a fun matchup that went right down to the wire! Along the way, we were able to create several highlights, which reminded us that while NBA Live 18 was a rough release in many ways, it can still be quite enjoyable. See for yourself!

We’re frequently uploading highlights from our co-op and individual basketball gaming sessions to the NLSC YouTube channel, in addition to the weekly Top 10 Plays, video essays, and more, so be sure to subscribe! As always, also feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play.

To mark the 25th Anniversary of NBA Live, we’re taking a look back at every game in the series with retrospectives and other fun content! This also includes re-running some features from our 20th Anniversary celebrations, with a few revisions. Whether you’re a long-time basketball gamer who grew up with NBA Live and are keen on taking a trip down memory lane, or you’re new to the series and want to learn about its history, we hope that you enjoy celebrating the 25th Anniversary of NBA Live here at the NLSC! Next up is a retrospective of NBA Live 18.

We’re almost at the end of our retrospectives, with just two games left to cover. Before we begin, which do you prefer: the NBA, or streetball? NBA Live 18 aimed to give us the best of both worlds, in the form of The League and The Streets. Even the cover emphasised the duality of the game, with two pictures of James Harden: one in his Houston Rockets uniform, the other in a plain singlet and shorts. The game wasn’t a disaster, nor was it a complete departure from previous titles in the series. It was clear that NBA Live was headed in a new direction though, and not everyone was happy about that; especially long-time fans of the series.

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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 countdown of my Top 5 favourite cards in NBA Live 18 Ultimate Team.

Ultimate Team has been my mode of choice in NBA Live 18. Despite a couple of nice additions this year, Franchise mode isn’t quite deep enough for my liking; a situation that I hope will change. Although a lot of fine work was done with The One, I’m a little burned out on career modes from playing so much MyCAREER in recent years. Being in Australia, I found the online experience to be unusually laggy for an NBA Live title, making LIVE Events somewhat less fun for me than they probably were for others. As such, it’s Ultimate Team that’s held the most appeal for me.

It’s not the first time that I’ve been drawn into the mode, either. As someone who used to collect basketball trading cards back in the 90s, Ultimate Team has brought back fond memories of opening packs and being excited at the haul, and coveting certain cards in particular. I’m clearly not alone, as the Ultimate Team discussion in our NBA Live 18 Forum has been the most popular topic in the section. With that in mind, I’m making a countdown of my Top 5 favourite cards in Ultimate Team this year. Keep in mind that they aren’t necessarily the five best cards to have, just the five that I like the best, and most enjoyed having in my lineup.

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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 clips from two recent comeback victories I earned in NBA Live 18 Ultimate Team.

As I’ve discussed in a previous article, and on several episodes of the NLSC Podcast, Ultimate Team has been my mode of choice in NBA Live 18. I’ve put together a team of 90s All-Stars that are quite fun to play with, and have generally allowed me to have a lot of success in the mode. However, some of the recent challenges have been…well, quite challenging, albeit mostly due to some cheap play by the AI. It’s resulted in few frustrating losses, though also some very rewarding victories. Over the past week, I managed to earn a couple of comeback wins that felt very satisfying.

After fighting back to pick up the victory in dramatic fashion in both games, I knew I had to keep the footage of the final minutes for posterity…and for an NLSC feature. Here for your enjoyment are the final moments of my two games against the Central Division Legends and this week’s Team of the Year Challenges. Catch it here on our YouTube channel if you can’t see the embedded video.

Even though blowout victories are fun in their own right, it’s very gratifying to be able to pull off wins like that in basketball games, especially when the CPU hasn’t been playing fair. Even though there were several moments of frustration throughout – and I do believe the tougher difficulty levels will need to be better balanced in NBA Live 19 – the furious rallies and final result made them two of my favourite games that I’ve played this year. Have you had any exciting wins in NBA Live 18 or NBA 2K18? Have you been playing Ultimate Team or MyTEAM? Let me know in the comments below, and please subscribe to our YouTube channel for more video content.

Episode #245 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Join Kenny and I as we catch up on an eventful week of basketball gaming news, discuss what we’ve been doing on the virtual hardwood, and give our thoughts on the first week of the 2018 NBA Playoffs.

On this week’s show…

• EA’s chief design officer Patrick Söderlund recently spoke out about the company’s reputation, and their intent to rehabilitate their image in the wake of the Star Wars: Battlefront 2 controversy. We discuss how continuing to adopt a consumer-friendly model with NBA Live will surely benefit the brand moving forward.
• A deal has been struck to broadcast the NBA 2K League exclusively on Twitch, which certainly seems like a good fit. Once again, we consider the League’s potential impact on the rest of us as we look ahead to NBA 2K19.
• Saber Interactive has announced NBA Playgrounds 2 for a Summer 2018 release. We’re excited and hopeful for the sequel, but there are some key areas where it must show improvement.
• Namo Gamo has released Basketball Classics on Steam Early Access. This new retro-inspired basketball gaming experience has a lot of potential, and is already quite impressive.
• Our Week in Basketball Gaming included taking on more challenges in NBA Live 18’s Ultimate Team, and a return to NBA 2K17. NLSC GrindTime may have also played its last session of 2K Pro-Am, at least for a while.
• We wrap up Episode #245 of the NLSC Podcast with some discussion of real basketball, including Andrew Bogut heading home to play in the NBL, the first week of the 2018 NBA Playoffs, and Ben Simmons’ Rookie of the Year credentials.

Click Play to listen to the show!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:42:49 — 70.7MB)

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Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Got a mailbag question or topic suggestion for the next show? Sound off in the comments section below, or join in the discussion here in the Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki.

Episode #244 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Join Arcane and I as we discuss the submission of our Wishlists for NBA Live 19 and NBA 2K19, a new event involving NBA Playgrounds, the beginning of the 2018 NBA Playoffs, and Our Week in Basketball Gaming.

On this week’s show…

• As mentioned earlier in the week, our official Wishlists for NBA Live 19 and NBA 2K19 have been submitted to EA Sports and Visual Concepts respectively. Since the topics are still open for discussion, we once again touch on what we’d like to see from the upcoming games in both series.
• Saber Interactive are partnering with Jack Daniel’s for an NBA Playgrounds promotion. While it’s put the game back into the spotlight, it feels like Saber has missed a lot of opportunities with last year’s arcade hoops title.
• Our Week in Basketball Gaming saw some trial and error as we continued to incorporate some more structured playcalling into our gameplan during our most recent session of 2K Pro-Am. Meanwhile, new cards and challenges should hopefully keep the Ultimate Team experience fresh.
• Whether you want to say that they’ve tipped off or kicked off, the 2018 NBA Playoffs are underway! We give our thoughts on the first four games of this year’s postseason, and offer up our predictions for the first round as a whole.
• We wrap up Episode #244 of the NLSC Podcast with the feel good story of the 2018 season, Andre Ingram.

Click Play to listen to the show!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:18:44 — 54.1MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Got a mailbag question or topic suggestion for the next show? Sound off in the comments section below, or join in the discussion here in the Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki.

Episode #243 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Arcane and I are back after our break for Easter last week, ready to catch up on a fortnight worth of basketball gaming news, our own exploits on the virtual hardwood, and recent goings on in the real NBA.

On this week’s show…

• We open Episode #243 of the NLSC Podcast with an amusing bit of trivia, as it seems we’re bigger fans of The Playground than Ronnie 2K!
• March Modness has concluded, and the winner of the giveaway will be drawn soon. More mods are in the pipeline, of course.
• The inaugural NBA 2K League Draft was held on April 4th. We discuss the Draft and the forthcoming League tip-off, and once again consider the future direction of the NBA 2K series.
• In Our Week in Basketball Gaming, we catch up on a fortnight of action on the virtual hardwood. Brighter days could be ahead for NLSC GrindTime, an Ultimate Team collection continues to expand, and a new squad forms in NBA Live 18.
• We wrap up Episode #243 of the NLSC Podcast with some NBA discussion. The 2018 Playoffs are looming and there are a lot of interesting subplots to consider, especially with several seeds yet to be determined. We also talk about MVP candidates, and some untimely injuries.

Click Play to listen to the show!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:15:05 — 51.6MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Got a mailbag question or topic suggestion for the next show? Sound off in the comments section below, or join in the discussion here in the Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki.

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 an update on my efforts to build a team of 90s All-Stars in NBA Live 18’s Ultimate Team.

As I’ve noted in previous articles and in episodes of the NLSC Podcast, my current mode of choice in NBA Live 18 is Ultimate Team. Unfortunately, Franchise mode just isn’t where it needs to be yet, and while I do like the concept of LIVE Events and LIVE Run, living in Australia, I’ve found online play to be very choppy so far in NBA Live 18. While I obviously hope NBA Live 19 will see an improvement in both of those areas, for the moment I am enjoying playing Ultimate Team. I was taken in by the mode when it debuted in NBA Live 14, so even if those other modes were more appealing to me right now, I know that I’d still be spending some time with LUT.

I spent a considerable amount of time with Ultimate Team back in NBA Live 15, and managed to put together a team comprised of 90s Legends. As Legends packs began to be released for NBA Live 18, I decided that I wanted to try that again, especially as it’s currently still the only way to play with Legends in NBA Live. After drawing Scottie Pippen a few weeks back, those efforts got off to a very promising start. After adding John Stockton and Karl Malone last week, I found myself with a formidable starting five that’s reminiscent of the old 90s All-Stars squad. While I’m quite satisfied with that lineup, I wanted to round out the bench with some more 90s players.

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Episode #242 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Join Arcane and I as we discuss a couple of issues regarding transparency and goodwill in NBA Live and NBA 2K, recap another eventful week of basketball gaming, and catch up on the latest NBA news.

On this week’s show…

• There’s continued debate over the presence of loot crates and similar mechanics in video games, and whether or not it’s a form of gambling. Should NBA Live and NBA 2K contain in-game warnings to that effect, and be more transparent about the odds of crates and card packs?
• With yet another Locker Code prize gone in seconds, we discuss whether something needs to change in regards to NBA Live and NBA 2K providing more in the way of complimentary content and rewards.
• Our Week in Basketball Gaming featured the regular session of 2K Pro-Am, the return of the baseline reverse (among other dunks), adventures in custom shoe creation, and plenty of nostalgia in Ultimate Team.
• We wrap up Episode #242 of the NLSC Podcast with some NBA talk, including injuries to Kyrie Irving and Stephen Curry, and a strange situation with Kawhi Leonard.

Click Play to listen to the show!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:31:22 — 62.8MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Got a mailbag question or topic suggestion for the next show? Sound off in the comments section below, or join in the discussion here in the Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki.