Tag Archives: College Basketball

Just as I finished posting the previous bulletin about EA Sports rescinding their proposal for a college basketball game, 2K announced that they were going back to school with the following post:

It’s NBA 2K26 launch week! It seems like a good time to share even MORE incredible news about the future of basketball at 2K.

Yes, it’s true. We’re working on a college basketball experience that will feature more than 100 programs from across the country, from powerhouses to Cinderella stories. Competition fuels quality at all levels, which is why our approach with college basketball ensures our partner schools, college athletes and our players all benefit.

More good news – you won’t have to wait long to start seeing your favorite colleges show up in game. We’ve got big plans for 2027 and beyond, and even a few surprises coming in early 2026.

We’ve proven the quality of the basketball experience we can deliver for years, and have every intention to bring that same level of quality to college hoops.

Ball Over Everything.

Obviously further details are yet to come, and “college basketball experience” is somewhat vague wording, but we might possibly see a standalone game from 2K as early as 2027. As for the surprises that are coming in early 2026, my guess would be MyTEAM content as they apparently originally proposed, but we’ll have to wait and see. For the moment, we can only speculate.

We’ll be sure to cover any future announcements, as well as the game/content when it arrives. I have no doubt that Dee and I will have plenty to say about these developments with EA Sports, 2K, and college basketball games in an upcoming episode of the NLSC Podcast, so stay tuned for that as well. In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, as well as join in the discussion here in the Forum.

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #587 of the NLSC Podcast!

Not long after we finished recording last week’s show, EA Sports surprised us with the announcement that they will be returning to the virtual hardwood with a new college basketball game, slated for release in 2028 at the earliest! This week, we join the community in sharing our reactions to the news, from rating our excitement level to discussing the things that we want and need to see in a new hoops title from EA. We also touch on 2K’s somewhat petty reaction to EA’s announcement, and the response it drew on social media. Suffice it to say that things are set to be a lot more interesting in the basketball gaming space over the next few years!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:00:21 — 41.8MB)

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!

In an exciting development for those of us who have been hoping to see more titles in the basketball gaming space, EA Sports has announced a new college basketball game, their first since NCAA Basketball 10 way back in 2009! The company unveiled their plans to return to the virtual hardwood with a post on X, simply stating “Bring the Madness. Let’s run it back.”, along with the hashtags #CBB and #ItsInTheGame.

As reported by Gamespot, Extra Points recently obtained a memo from the Collegiate Licensing Company indicating that a bid had been put out for a new college basketball game, which EA Sports appears to have won. Furthermore, it seems that the CLC’s proposal is for a game that includes both men’s and women’s college teams. Notably, EA Sports has previously done that in their NCAA March Madness/NCAA Basketball series.

Before we get too excited, it should be noted that it seems as though the game won’t be available until 2028 at the earliest. Considering that the return of the EA Sports College Football series was announced in 2021, and EA Sports College Football 25 was subsequently released in 2024, this isn’t altogether surprising. It’s also being speculated that like the College Football series, the new college basketball game from EA Sports won’t be NCAA-licensed in light of EA’s split with the organisation following the lawsuit headed up by Ed O’Bannon. Again, that hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s a solid guess at this point.

No further details are available at this time, but we’ll certainly be keeping our eyes and ears open for any news! That also goes for a potential return for the NBA Live series, though I personally wouldn’t get too excited about that prospect until we hear a similar announcement. Nevertheless, EA Sports’ willingness to develop a new basketball game is certainly promising. In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, as well as here in the Forum!

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #531 of the NLSC Podcast!

With EA Sports College Football 25 generating some positive buzz with gamers, could it lead to EA Sports bringing back its college basketball series as well? For that matter, could the enthusiasm and a successful launch lead to NBA Live finally making its return as EA seemingly looks to expand its lineup? This week, we join the community in discussing EA Sports potentially returning to the virtual hardwood, whether we’d prefer an NBA or college basketball game, and some of our expectations for such a comeback. We also name our all-time NBA enforcer starting fives, and pay tribute to the late, great Bill Walton, who sadly passed away last week following a battle with cancer.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:25:00 — 58.7MB)

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 reflections on my recent interest in college basketball video games, particularly EA’s NCAA series.

As I’ve mentioned in previous articles and on our podcast, I didn’t grow up playing college basketball games, as issues with international licensing rights prevented them from being released outside of North America. With no PAL versions of the games, it was usually unfeasible to import them, since they wouldn’t work on the hardware that I own. Of course, college basketball itself isn’t as popular in Australia as the NBA or our own NBL are, so I’ve always had a more casual interest in the NCAA anyway. At the same time, I was intrigued by college basketball video games.

After all, I loved playing with the fictional players in World League Basketball, which of course was originally a college hoops title that was rebranded for PAL regions. I also read previews of NCAA games with a degree of envy, my interest piqued by mechanics such as momentum meters, the ability to shatter the backboard, and the inclusion of classic teams. When a friend gifted me his old PlayStation 3 back in 2019, I was finally able to add a few college basketball games to my collection. It was satisfying to track them down and finally check them out after all this time, as well as write about them. Recently however, they’ve been getting more time in my rotation.

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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 my thoughts on the prospect of EA Sports using college basketball as a springboard for their return to the virtual hardwood.

Excluding the mobile version of NBA Live, we haven’t seen a new basketball video game from EA Sports since 2018. There was time when such a thing seemed like an unthinkable prospect. Sure, NBA Live had had a rough release here or there, and NBA 2K steadily rose to become the premier brand by the end of the 2000s. We still expected a basketball game from EA, though; two in fact! With the NCAA series ending in 2009, and NBA Live missing several years beginning with the cancellation of NBA Elite 11, we’ve grown accustomed to their hoops titles being benched.

Not everyone has a problem with that. For some gamers, it’s EA Sports’ just deserts after failing to develop a satisfactory basketball title, or perhaps moving away from the PC platform (or indeed, both). I do understand that sentiment. However, for all the good things that NBA 2K has done, we’ve seen the downside of 2K having a virtual monopoly over the virtual hardwood. Unfortunately, while there would be a benefit to competition and choice in the space, NBA Live has not been able to deliver and be that viable alternative. With that in mind, eschewing the NBA in favour of a new college basketball game could prove to be EA Sports’ best move at this juncture.

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We’re still seeing a ton of great mod release for NBA 2K14, and we have another one today in the form of an update to the College Hoops 2K22 mod. Pick it up at the link below!

nick15
College Hoops 2K22 (Updated to v2.5)

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.

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 old basketball games that have shot up in price on the collectors’ market in recent years.

When it comes to sourcing copies of old NBA Live and NBA 2K releases, you won’t end up paying too much. Got your hands on an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, and feel like taking a trip down memory lane with NBA Live 10? Even on eBay, you’ll likely pay less than ten dollars, Australian or US. Even games from the 90s – such as the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis/Mega Drive version of NBA Live 95 – are generally cheap, as there are quite a number of copies in circulation. You might pay a little more for complete-in-box, but they’re mostly very affordable to collect.

And then, there are the old basketball games that have shot up in price. Last year I took a look at five old basketball games that are very expensive to collect, and there’s some overlap with this article. However, I’ve been made aware of some other titles that are tough to affordably source, at least through a market like eBay. Old basketball games are somewhat of a niche genre when it comes to video game collecting, and as I noted, many of them are too common to fetch a high price just because of their age. They’re still affected by the same trends as retro game collecting in general though, especially if they’re legitimately rare and highly sought after, as some of these are.

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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 College Hoops 2K8 on PlayStation 3.

College Hoops 2K8 is a title that generally makes basketball gamers feel wistful, the same way football gamers look back at ESPN NFL 2K5. Both games marked the end of their respective series, and were very highly regarded. They have an enduring popularity, as gamers who enjoyed them when they were new are still able to dust them off and play them today, especially College Hoops 2K8 with all of its roster customisation. Indeed, gamers have continued to make new rosters for College Hoops 2K8 for many years afterwards, some of which are still available.

As I look back at College Hoops 2K8, it seems accurate to say that it’s many people’s favourite college basketball game. As with College Hoops 2K7, I’m coming from the position of someone who wasn’t able to play it when it was new, and also didn’t spend a lot of time with its NBA counterpart at the time either. I therefore don’t have any nostalgia for it, and while I am able to make comparisons to NBA 2K8, there isn’t quite the same novelty as there was when comparing NBA Live 08 and NCAA March Madness 08. Nevertheless, it’s unquestionably a significant title, and a great release that’s well worth remembering. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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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 College Hoops 2K7 on PlayStation 3.

Finally getting my hands on the college games from Visual Concepts has been just as rewarding as adding EA Sports’ NCAA titles to my collection, but playing them has been a slightly different experience. While there’s still the novelty of finally getting to play games that I wasn’t able to import for so long, I don’t have the same history with NBA 2K7 as I do with NBA Live 07. If nothing else, it isn’t as jarring to see NCAA branding in a menu that I associate with an NBA game that I’m far more familiar with, and played more extensively when it was new.

I do own NBA 2K7 though and have spent time with it, so I am aware of what 2K’s basketball games were like at the time, and thus can make comparisons with College Hoops 2K7. Needless to say, it’s interesting to compare the College Hoops games to its contemporaries in the March Madness series as well, especially since the latter utilised technology from a very rough era in NBA Live’s history, and 2K has usually taken a different approach to certain core features and mechanics. With that being said, let’s take a look back…way back…

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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 NCAA Basketball 09.

As I mentioned when I looked back at NCAA March Madness 08, college basketball games were something that I wasn’t able to enjoy for many years. Due to an inability to secure international likeness rights for the NCAA, those titles were only released in North America. Universal adapters, certain cheat devices, and modded consoles were – for the most part- the only way we could play those NTSC releases in PAL regions. The PlayStation 3 was region free however, and after a friend gifted me one, I’ve been able to import a handful of NTSC games, including college basketball titles.

My collection currently includes the aforementioned NCAA March Madness 08, as well as the game I’m looking back at today: its sequel, NCAA Basketball 09. I also own NCAA Basketball 10, and 2K Sports’ College Hoops 2K7 and College Hoops 2K8. I’ll be getting to those in due course, but for now, let’s look at the 2009 season release from EA Sports. The series rebranded itself to NCAA Basketball, but did the 09 edition succeed in being more than just a mere name change? Let’s take a look back…way back…

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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 NCAA March Madness 08.

I wasn’t able to enjoy any of the college basketball games while they were still being developed, as they couldn’t be licensed for release outside of North America. As they were console-only releases, and none of the consoles I owned were region-free, I wasn’t able to import NTSC games with my PAL hardware. Since then, a friend gifted me their old PlayStation 3, which means that I can finally import NTSC games! Needless to say, the college basketball titles from EA Sports and Visual Concepts were the ones that I was the most interested in.

As such, I’ve been able to get my hands on NCAA March Madness 08, NCAA Basketball 09, and NCAA Basketball 10 by EA Sports, and College Hoops 2K7 and College Hoops 2K8 by Visual Concepts. I’m very happy to have finally added them to the collection; after all, I find that checking out basketball games that I missed the first time around can be just as fun as dusting off some old favourites. Obviously, I enjoy sharing my thoughts on them as well, and in that spirit, I’m beginning with NCAA March Madness 08. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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