NLSC Your source for basketball video games.
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 an old print ad and trailer for NBA Live 2004.
A few weeks ago, I was using the Wayback Machine at Archive.org to try and find a downloadable version of the official patch for NBA Live 2003. As I mentioned in a recent Friday Five feature, it’s a file that’s no longer available, and I was hoping that I could retrieve it via an archived copy of the game’s official website. Unfortunately I didn’t have any luck in that regard, but I did manage to find some old preview media for NBA Live 2004 and NBA Live 2005. Among them was a print ad featuring cover player Vince Carter, and a gameplay trailer.
NBA Live 2004 is definitely a classic, and I’m sure that long-time members of our community have many fond memories of it. Since we’re also in the thick of the preview seasons for NBA Live 18 and NBA 2K18, I thought it’d be fun to take a look back at how games used to be promoted in the lead up to their release. With that in mind, let’s take a look back…way back…