NLSC Your source for basketball video 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 a forgotten NBA 2K14 MyCAREER game.

I’ve been having a blast with MyCAREER in the PlayStation 4 version of NBA 2K14 since I revisited it a couple of years ago to write a retrospective. I got hooked on it after giving NBA 2K14 PS4 a second chance following an uncommonly negative first impression, and it’s become one of my favourite basketball video games. It’s why I’m currently in my sixth season in that MyCAREER, with an eye towards somehow, some way, playing through to the current day. Truly experiencing an NBA career is far more fun than grinding and worrying about the online meta!

However, while that specific game is a fairly recent kick, it wasn’t actually my first foray into MyCAREER in NBA 2K14. When it was released, I did begin a new MyCAREER in the PC version of NBA 2K14, intending to continue the fun that I’d had in NBA 2K13. That didn’t come to pass, as I struggled to enjoy the game, and didn’t warm up to NBA 2K14 until almost a decade later. I did keep the save file though, and it was interesting to revisit it now that I have a more positive view of NBA 2K14. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #485 of the NLSC Podcast!

The NBA 2K24 preview season is officially underway, with the reveal of this year’s cover players and a few interesting tidbits that have the community buzzing. To that end, we break down and react to everything we know so far. That also includes confirmation that the PC version will be a prior gen port once again, which has naturally drawn some strong reactions! Speaking of reactions, one of Dee’s Tweets about NBA 2K14 Next Gen really resonated with the community, demonstrating how it’s still held in extremely high regard. We share that sentiment, especially after a co-op session that earned the game a place in our Parsec rotation! We also touch on devious practices, and the latest ridiculous comments from online cheesers.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:07:16 — 46.6MB)

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!

Thanks to a combination of Parsec and the Xbox App, Dee and I have further expanded the range of basketball video games that we can connect on to play.  This past weekend, Dee hosted a session of NBA 2K14 for Xbox One, and put together the highlights for our YouTube channel.

The reel is from a co-op game in which we took on the Orlando Magic with the Chicago Bulls. As you can see, our aim was to emulate the style of play of the 2014 Bulls, and use the players to their real strengths, while obviously having a blast and producing highlights. You’ll see Derrick Rose doing D-Rose things, Joakim Noah contributing everywhere with great energy, and a young Jimmy Butler demonstrating flashes of brilliance. As sim gamers, we pride ourselves in playing a realistic style, and assembling highlight reels that are fun to watch. Check it out!

We discussed our game of NBA 2K14 and our satisfaction with the highlights it produced in this week’s NLSC Podcast, which will be out soon. 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 us up with suggestions of any games that you’d like to see us play, and we’ll do our best to get them into the rotation.

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 a comparison of the benefits and drawbacks of depth and simplicity in basketball video game modes.

Generally speaking, we want to see deep, engaging modes in sim basketball games. Whether it’s a franchise or career experience, or even a card collecting/team building mode, depth is a vital ingredient to them remaining immersive and engaging. On top of being a more accurate representation of the NBA – wherever applicable – there’s simply more to do and care about. As modes have become deeper throughout the years, our expectations have naturally increased proportionately. Shallow modes are criticised for their lack of features and detail, and considered to be behind the times.

At the same time, there’s merit and appeal in simplicity. I’m not just talking about retro gaming either, though that can be part of their draw. Even in modern games though, there’s an argument to be made for simplicity and streamlining in modes. This runs contrary to calls for deep and comprehensive experiences, but for some gamers, that depth and detail can be overwhelming. While having more to do and care about sounds like a great time for many of us, many still see too many moving parts, and tasks that distract and detract from the point of the games: playing virtual basketball. As such, developers are challenged to a balancing act as far as depth vs. simplicity.

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Because I’ve neglected to post bulletins for them over the past couple of weeks, it’s time for another roundup of recent uploads to the NLSC YouTube channel! In addition to the weekly Top 10 Plays and NLSC Podcast episodes, Dee and I are regularly uploading highlight reels from our basketball gaming sessions. To that end, some fun videos have gone up recently that you’ll really want to check out!

First up is a continuation of Dee’s campaign in NBA 2K23 MyTEAM Domination. This time, Dee plays through all three difficulty levels of the Orlando Magic challenge, with his squad sporting custom NBA Legends jerseys. There are plenty of spectacular moments as he truly dominates the competition!

Next up, I posted a quick reel of rookie Derrick Rose highlights in NBA Live 09 for PlayStation 3, from a game I played while grabbing some screenshots for future features. While I had my PS3 hooked up, I also revisited NCAA Basketball 09 and took on the 1992 Duke Blue Devils with the 1993 Michigan Wolverines, after adding real names for all of the players.

NBA 2K11 PC is a classic that stands the test of time, as Dee demonstrates with a game between the rival Celtics and Lakers. The authenticity is off the charts in this reel, not only spotlighting the realism in NBA 2K11’s gameplay, but Dee’s understanding of hoops and the players on the floor, and his ability to play beautiful sim basketball.

I’ve been playing NBA 2K6 recently, and I plan on covering it in Wayback Wednesday soon. In the meantime however, I had an exciting comeback victory with the Bulls when I took on the Knicks, with Ben Gordon leading the charge. I also had a blast putting some 90s Legends on the Rucker Park blacktop in Street mode; you might recognise a couple of the highlights from this week’s Top 10!

Finally, Dee revisited the PS3 version of NBA 2K13 – another game that holds up superbly – to take on the Bucks using the Wizards. You can check out all of those great videos below, as well as on the NLSC YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe for more great basketball gaming videos, 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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Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee4Three! 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, or hit up Dee on Twitter.

It’s awesome to see the community hitting the virtual hardwood in the offseason, and getting even more enthusiastic about the NLSC Top 10 Plays at the same time! Dee received a truckload of submissions as a result, so there are some bonus highlights (or double features, if you will) at some of the spots in this week’s countdown. The top spot goes to NBA 2K24 cover player Kobe Bryant though, with a highlight that’s almost ten years in the making. Eight different games are featured this week, once again spotlighting the variety that the community enjoys. 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.

Pre-orders for NBA 2K24 are now open, and the pre-order bonuses have subsequently been revealed. As usual, they consist of VC, MT, MyTEAM packs and cards, boosts for MyCAREER, and MyPLAYER gear. All of the pre-order bonuses for each edition of NBA 2K24 can be found below.

Speaking of editions, two more have been announced, and their covers revealed. There will be a 25th Anniversary Edition of NBA 2K24, with a cover featuring a custom championship ring. It’s the premium edition of NBA 2K24, and once again includes a one-year NBA League Pass subscription, as well as additional bonuses if you pre-order by July 25th. This year’s WNBA edition features Sabrina Ionescu on its cover, and is once again exclusive to GameStop and North America. A first look screenshot of Ionescu has also been posted.

Following up on the leak from the 2K Intel account, crossplay has also officially been announced. It is a Next Gen/New Gen exclusive however, but it does mean that PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S gamers will finally be able to meet up in cooperative and competitive play in NBA 2K24. A trailer touting crossplay has also been posted, which you can check out below along with the latest covers, Sabrina Ionescu screenshot, and details on the NBA 2K24 pre-order bonuses.

Got any thoughts? Feel free to share them in the comments below, as well as join in the discussion in our NBA 2K24 Forum!

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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 taking a look at five devious practices in basketball video games.

I’m not one for conspiracy theories as a rule, but when it comes to devious practices in basketball video games – and gaming in general for that matter – there’s no need for wild speculation anyway. Publishers are shockingly, brazenly open about their anti-consumer practices these days, mainly because they’ve become normalised. As such, whenever you bring up a troubling issue, there’s a swarm of smug shills waiting to tell you that this how gaming is now and that it’s just business, as if you don’t understand the concept of a billion dollar corporation being concerned with making money.

As I’ve said before, I prefer to stand with my fellow gamers, rather than blindly defend companies that will happily take advantage of their customers. Yes, video game development is a business, but to that end it’s providing a product that we can evaluate in terms of quality and value for money. Good, valuable video game critique requires looking through the spin and hype to identify flaws and drawbacks, including devious practices. The problem is that some of those devious practices are dressed up as generous and beneficial features, in order to disguise their motives and deflect criticism. Even when they are useful, it’s important to recognise the deviousness.

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In the wake of the cover reveal, 2K has also released some first look screenshots of Kobe Bryant in NBA 2K24; one of young “Frobe”, and one of prime Mamba from the 2000s. You can check out both screenshots below, as well as in the Screenshots section of our newly-launched NBA 2K24 hub!

As a number of people have noticed, the older Kobe is wearing an NBA Finals patch on his jersey. The NBA 2K Leaks & Intel Twitter account – which has been extremely reliable in recent years – has stated that there will be a Mamba Moments mode in NBA 2K24, which will basically be a Kobe Bryant version of The Jordan Challenge. The NBA Finals patch certainly seems to back that up, and suggests the possibility of at least one new classic team.

The Intel account also mentioned a new Next Gen feature called ProPLAY. This tech will reportedly directly translate NBA footage into gameplay to deliver authentic animations and movement. Combined with their leak of a blurb about MyCAREER in Current Gen/Old Gen, this seems to confirm that the PC version will be identical to the PlayStation 4/Xbox One version once again. The Neighborhood will be returning in that version, along with streamlined quests. Keep in mind that this hasn’t been officially announced, but the account’s track record for accuracy has been exceptional.

There’s also a tidbit about a new salary cap mode in MyTEAM, revamped controls and roster authenticity, and the continued inclusion of WNBA content. The release date is September 8th 2023, as also confirmed by ESPN. The ESPN article also mentions crossplay, though no further details are available at this time.

That’s the NBA 2K24 info that’s currently circulating, along with the first look Kobe screenshots. What are your thoughts? Share them in the comments below, as well as join in the discussion in the new NBA 2K24 section of the Forum! Once again, I’ll be aggregating news throughout the preview season, and Dee and I will be breaking it down with our commentary on the NLSC Podcast.

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Another preview season is officially underway, and usual, it begins with a cover reveal! 2K has revealed that there will be two Kobe Bryant covers for NBA 2K24: one for the Kobe Bryant Edition, and one for the Black Mamba Edition.

Although further details are yet to be revealed, it seems safe to assume that the Black Mamba Edition is this year’s premium edition of the game. Pre-orders will open tomorrow, so it’s possible that we’ll get some preliminary info about the bonuses at that time.

Judging by recent years, we probably won’t get a ton of details about NBA 2K24 until August. That’s usually when the developer blogs and gameplay trailers drop, with 2K revealing their roadmap for the preview season in late July as part of the hype train. In any case, I’ll be aggregating the news throughout the preview season, and Dee and I will of course discuss the developments on the NLSC Podcast.

In the meantime, you can check out both NBA 2K24 covers featuring Kobe Bryant below. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, as well as join in the discussion here in the Forum! Please note that I’ve added a page for NBA 2K24 in our Wiki; as always, I invite you to add information as it’s confirmed. I’ll also be launching a portal for the game here on the main site soon, so stay tuned.

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Today’s NBA 2K14 mod releases include a new Sacramento Kings jersey pack from Pep, and an updated custom soundtrack by collectedechoes. Download them at the links below!

Pep
NBA Nike Sacramento Kings 2023 Uniforms

collectedechoes
Collectedechoes’s NBA Jams (Updated to v4.0)

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

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 Ben Wallace and his short stint with the Chicago Bulls, and how I associate it with NBA Live 07.

I had to check the archives to see if I’ve ever listed my favourite players in any of my articles. The closest I’ve come was naming my All-Time Starting Five in The Friday Five back in 2014, though I’m not sure I’d still choose that lineup today! One of those players definitely isn’t a favourite of mine, while another one is rapidly becoming a former favourite (seriously, Pip: stop it, get some help!). In any event, while my favourites have come up on the NLSC Podcast and I’ve alluded to them in various articles over the years, I haven’t yet dedicated an entire feature to discussing them.

By the same token, I haven’t ever discussed my least favourite players, except in passing. One name that you may have heard me mention on our podcast is Ben Wallace. Although I acknowledge his talent and importance as a member of the 2004 Detroit Pistons, I’m absolutely not a fan of Big Ben. That’s not to cast aspersions on him personally, as I obviously don’t know him. We all have our sporting villains though, and ironically, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year was solidified as one of mine after playing for my favourite team. It’s a stint that’s represented in one of my all-time least favourite games, NBA Live 07. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #484 of the NLSC Podcast!

The community has spoken: whether it comes from EA Sports, 2K Sports, or indeed both, many of us are very keen to see a new college basketball game! From licensed players and gameplay to presentation and features, we join the community in discussing our expectations for a hypothetical NCAA title. Elsewhere, we’ve noticed a couple of Tweets attempting to rehabilitate NBA 2K18’s image. Naturally, we have a few thoughts on that! We also discuss Damian Lillard’s trade request and big contracts for NBA role players, react to the recent separation of EA Sports and EA Games, and open up this week’s mailbag for some NBA 2K17 Overall Ratings trivia.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:12:06 — 49.9MB)

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!

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 free agency follies I’ve experienced while playing Franchise and Dynasty mode.

Part of being a diehard NBA fan is taking a keen interest in what happens when there’s no basketball being played. You’ll find some fans that describe the offseason as their favourite part of the year, or at least consider it as exciting as the Playoffs. It makes sense. There’s optimism as teams are making moves to gear up for a new season, and drama when the biggest names change their jerseys. Of course, most of that drama is over within the first couple of weeks. These days, teams are in a bigger rush to get deals done, so we don’t see many situations like Michael Redd in 2002.

Since franchise modes emulate the key aspects of the NBA offseason, we’re able to experience virtual free agency. For those of us who like to play (or simulate) multiple seasons in franchise modes, the offseason and free agency reflects the anticipation and enthusiasm of the real event. There’s the added fun of being in control, and signing the players that we wish our favourite team would, or could. To that point though, virtual free agency can likewise end up being a disappointment. We might also discover that even if we make desirable moves, being a successful NBA GM is easier said than done. I know that I’ve had a few franchise mode free agency follies over the years.

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Fantastic news for NBA 2K19 gamers who have been waiting to play with more Classic Seasons! Stildo33 has updated the project with a roster for the 1996 season, which was of course a very memorable campaign. In case you missed it, the 1987 and 1995 seasons have also been added since my previous bulletin, meaning that the project now features a decade of rosters!

As with the other rosters in the NBA 2K19 Classic Seasons project, the 1996 mod is a comprehensive retro conversion. It features accurate player faces, along with proper jerseys, courts, and logos. A ton of effort has gone into the ratings and tendencies, as well as the suggested slider tweaks, to provide an authentic retro experience. Indeed, if not for the quality of the graphics, it’s all too easy to forget that you’re playing a game originally released for the 2019 season! Details such as the NBA on NBC scoreboard definitely help as well.

Note that both the rosters and art pack are distributed the old fashioned way, so the servers being offline isn’t an issue. However, in order to play with the 1996 rosters, you’ll need to download the entire pack again. You can find it here in the NBA 2K19 Modding section of the Forum, along with previews, installation help, and news on further updates. Congratulations to Stildo33 and company on another outstanding release!