Menu
Home | Tag: Anthony Davis

Tag Archives: Anthony Davis

Wayback Wednesday: When The Lights Are Brightest in NBA 2K20

Wayback Wednesday: When The Lights Are Brightest in NBA 2K20

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 MyCAREER story in NBA 2K20, titled “When The Lights Are Brightest”.

Following NBA 2K18’s ridiculous MyCAREER tale starring a prospect who quit basketball to be a DJ, finally makes it to the NBA following a streetball tournament, and is flanked by his annoying best friend/roommate B-Fresh, NBA 2K19 featured a much better written story. “The Way Back” not only boasted impressive production values from a cinematic standpoint, but also attempted to spice up the journey with mini-games and other interactive elements. It wasn’t perfect, but it stood out as one of the better MyCAREER stories, and a tough act to follow.

To that end, Visual Concepts collaborated with Maverick Carter and LeBron James on the story for NBA 2K20’s MyCAREER, “When The Lights Are Brightest”. Indeed, Carter, LeBron, and their production company, Springhill Entertainment, are credited on the cover as executive producers for MyCAREER. The story has been shelved for good following the shutdown of the NBA 2K20 servers, since MyCAREER is no longer playable. With that being said, what was the story, was it any good, and are we missing out since we’re now unable to revisit it? Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

The Friday Five: 5 Cover Players That Won Titles The Same Year

The Friday Five: 5 Cover Players That Won Titles The Same Year

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 a list of five cover players that won NBA titles in the same season their game came out.

Last week, I listed five players who graced video game covers in the same year that they made the NBA Finals. More specifically, I was referring to players who made the Finals, but were ultimately the runners-up. Obviously, cover players who won titles while being the face of a game technically qualify as examples for last week’s list as well. However, I did want to draw a distinction between the cover players who “only” made it to the Finals that same year, and those who actually won titles. While both are accomplishments and interesting trivia, the latter is naturally rather more special.

To that end, the number of cover players that won titles in the same year is smaller than the already select group of names who made the Finals while being the face of NBA Live, NBA 2K, or another title. As I noted last week, publishers like EA and 2K are no doubt more interested in a player’s popularity and marketability than whether they’ll be in the Finals, or NBA Champions. I have no doubt that they’re happy when it does occur, but given that it’s a gamble even if they ink a deal with a player from a contender, it’s a bonus boost to the brand at the end of the day. NBA Champion cover players are something that a handful of titles can boast however, including these five.

Read More »

The Friday Five: 5 Predictions That Were Way Off

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 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 list of five NBA predictions that ended up being way off.

Here it is, the first Friday Five of 2020! It’s been a while since I’ve covered a topic related to the real NBA rather than the virtual hardwood, so I thought that I’d tip off the year (and decade) with a change of pace. Don’t worry, I’ve still got plenty of topics related to basketball video games that I’ll be covering in my features, but this week, I’d like to talk about NBA predictions. After all, we’re rapidly approaching the midway point of the 2020 season, and we’re starting to get a clearer picture of the top teams and how they stack up against one another.

It’s as good a time as any to start throwing out some midseason predictions, but keep in mind that there’s a lot of basketball left to play. A lot can change very quickly in the NBA, and while we can make educated guesses in our picks, a seemingly likely outcome can be denied by a twist of fate. At the same time, some people – including supposed expert analysts – will make wild predictions. Some may be trying to get ahead of the curve by expecting the unexpected, while others are relying on sources that are less than reliable. Whatever the case may be, we’ve seen some bold and crazy predictions over the years, with these five examples turning out to be quite wrong.

Read More »

NBA 2K20 Screenshot Featuring LeBron James & Anthony Davis

First NBA 2K20 Screenshot: LeBron James & Anthony Davis

Although we’re likely at least a few weeks away from in-depth developer blogs, 2K has released the first official NBA 2K20 screenshot. The screen features new teammates LeBron James and cover player Anthony Davis standing side by side, in their gold Los Angeles Lakers jerseys.

As you might expect this late in the generation, there isn’t a tremendous leap in quality when compared to NBA 2K19. However, it does look as though there is a new lighting effect this year, as the atmosphere does appear noticeably brighter. The screen has also obviously been taken late in the game, in order to spotlight the sweat effects.

In case you missed it, a First Look Teaser has also been posted over on the official NBA 2K YouTube channel. The teaser doesn’t give much away as it’s basically just small snippets of gameplay from cinematic angles, but it is our first look at this year’s release in action. As previously noted, it also officially confirms that WNBA teams will be playable in some capacity.

Check out the first NBA 2K20 screenshot below, as well as a comparison with LeBron James and Anthony Davis in NBA 2K19. What are your thoughts on our first glimpse at this year’s game from Visual Concepts? Sound off in the comments section below, and join in the discussion here in the NLSC Forum!

Read More »

Wayback Wednesday: Kobe Bryant’s Fictional NBA 2K10 Cover

Kobe Bryant New York Knicks NBA 2K10 Cover

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 Kobe Bryant’s fictional NBA 2K10 cover.

Since the preview season officially tipped off with the reveal of NBA 2K20’s cover players, I thought it would be appropriate to look back ten years to NBA 2K10. If you poke around for NBA 2K10 images on Google, you’ll no doubt come across a version of the cover featuring Kobe Bryant in a New York Knicks jersey; a uniform he never wore during his career. Of course, many basketball gamers have made mock-up and fictional alternate covers for various games over the years (to say nothing of bootleg copies), and they tend to show up in Google Image searches as well.

What’s interesting about this particular cover is that it’s an official fake, if that’s not too much of a contradiction in terms. More specifically, it’s an image that 2K made following the announcement that Kobe would be appearing on the cover. What’s the story behind this unusual cover that no doubt made Knicks fans wistful, and Lakers fans cringe? Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

NBA 2K20 Cover Players Announced; Pre-Order Bonuses, More

NBA 2K20 Cover Art

2K Sports has officially announced Anthony Davis as the cover player for the Standard Edition and Digital Deluxe Edition of NBA 2K20. Dwyane Wade, who retired at the end of the 2019 season, has been announced as the cover player for the Legend Edition. Davis was previously one of three cover players for NBA 2K16, while Wade appeared on the cover of NBA Live 06, the same year he won his first championship.

The game is now available to pre-order, with September 6th confirmed as the release date. This year’s pre-order bonuses for each edition of the game have also been revealed, and they include the usual assortment of VC, MT, MyTEAM packs, and MyPLAYER apparel. Interestingly, there isn’t any mention of the Early Tip-Off Weekend as yet.

Promotional images on the official social media accounts are making use of the word “Next” in conjunction with NBA 2K20, and a blurb currently posted over on the official site also makes reference to it:

This isn’t a game. This is the place the game comes to learn. This is the place the present can’t catch. Where next gets known and the ball decides your fate. From the blacktop to the hardwood and throughout the Neighborhood, NBA 2K20 and its next level features are the closest thing to actually playing in the league.

This isn’t a game.

This is the place everything else follows.

Welcome to the Next.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for announcements on 2K20’s feature innovations.

It’ll probably be a few weeks before we get any concrete details about the game – to say nothing of extended preview media – but this brief promotional video does appear to officially confirm that WNBA teams and players will be in NBA 2K20.

See below for the cover art featuring Anthony Davis and Dwyane Wade, as well as a listing of all the pre-order bonuses. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below, as well as join in the discussion in our newly launched NBA 2K20 Forum! As we anticipate the first news for NBA Live 20, I’ve gone ahead and created a Forum for it as well. This year’s preview season is officially upon us, so stay tuned for more news (and beware of clickbait)!

Read More »

Three New NBA 2K19 First Look Screenshots; Control Information

NBA 2K19: Anthony Davis First Look

Three more NBA 2K19 First Look screenshots have been released. This time, the featured players are Team 2K members Anthony Davis, Paul George, and Kemba Walker. Davis and George are of course former NBA 2K cover players, appearing on the covers of NBA 2K16 and NBA 2K17 respectively.

As is the case with the other First Look screenshots so far, their initial Overall Ratings in NBA 2K19 have been revealed. Anthony Davis will be rated 94 Overall, as he was in the final official roster for NBA 2K18, while Paul George’s Overall has increased from 88 to 89. Kemba Walker has also increased from an 85 to 86 Overall.

While we’re still waiting for the usual preview season fare such as a full gameplay trailer, developer insights, and so forth, an interesting discovery was made over at Operation Sports. It seems the controls for NBA 2K19 have already been published on Xbox Live’s online help site, providing us with an overview of what to expect on the sticks. They are mostly similar to NBA 2K18, however there are some new stealing and shot contest controls.

Check out the screenshots below, as well as in our gallery. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments below, as well as join in the discussion in the NBA 2K19 section of the NLSC Forum.

Read More »

NLSC Podcast – Episode #182

NLSC Podcast Logo

Episode #182 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Join Arcane, Kenny, and myself as we discuss opportunities for NBA Live 17, some more exciting victories in 2K Pro-Am, the start of the 2017 NBA season, and more.

On this week’s show…

  • It appears as though advertising is starting to appear after the third quarter in NBA 2K17. We discuss the controversial practice of in-game advertising in AAA titles.
  • Once again, we touch on the problems with an “always online” approach to modes such as MyCAREER, after a recent PSN outage made it impossible to play.
  • With some of the dissatisfaction gamers have with NBA 2K17 and the way 2K has handled things with VC and so forth, has the door been left open for NBA Live 17?
  • In Our Week in Basketball Gaming: more clutch wins for the NLSC 2K Pro-Am squad, a blossoming rivalry, a trip to MyPARK, and the Walk-On experience.
  • The 2017 NBA season has tipped off! We talk about the first couple of days which saw a triple-double from LeBron James, a huge win for the San Antonio Spurs, big numbers from Anthony Davis, and the official debut of Joel Embiid.

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: Final Results of My 5 2016 Season Predictions

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 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.

The 2016 season is close to being in the books, and could be over in two more games. I’ll be honest: it hasn’t been my favourite NBA season. The fact that the Chicago Bulls had a disappointing year definitely doesn’t help, but apart from the Golden State Warriors’ impressive, record breaking performance, I didn’t find it to be especially noteworthy. I found myself tuning out during the year, and there were a couple of months where my subscription to NBA League Pass Broadband was definitely going to waste. While there have been some good games, and a couple of exciting moments in the 2016 Playoffs, I’ve mostly been underwhelmed by this season.

Having said that, I made five predictions before the season began, which I later revisited as the year progressed. Now that the 2016 campaign has almost wrapped up, I thought I’d look back at those predictions one last time, and tally up the final results. So, how did I do? Did I manage to at least do a little better than my record in the Bold Predictions segments of the NLSC Podcast? Well, let’s take one last look at my five predictions for the 2016 NBA season.

Read More »