Tag Archives: Community

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 few thoughts on how we’re in the age of gatekeeping, and how that gatekeeping frequently involves age.

With my thirties drawing to a close, I’ve never identified more with that classic scene in The Simpsons where Abe warns Homer that one day, he won’t be “with it”. For Elder Millennials like me, it feels like we’ve been suddenly and unceremoniously pushed out of pop culture and some of our favourite hobbies; or at least, an effort is being made to do so. Our fashions are outdated (yet at the same time, they’re being brought back), our jokes might as well be “Boomer Humour”, and apparently we don’t even shoot videos correctly! We’re now among the “old heads” being sneered at.

And hey, to make a very Millennial-coded reference, it’s the Circle of Life, right? We’re not the trendy young crowd anymore, with only the youngest Millennials clinging to the upper end of the 18-34 demographic. This is the way of pop culture; this is, as blink-182 put it, growing up. Still, it feels like we’re being pushed out of things that we’re not too old for, or that anyone is too old for, really. We’re in an age of gatekeeping in general, but the gatekeeping itself is also often about age. That’s not to say that we didn’t have our own version of “Old Heads Keep Out” on the proverbial clubhouse door, but online discourse definitely revolves around generational division.

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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 by sharing some of my roster mod philosophies.

Sometimes, I feel uneasy about giving modding advice, or commenting on modding-related topics. It’s been a long time since I regularly participated in the hobby, to the point where many people might not even know that I’ve been a modder! I was very active throughout the heyday of NBA Live modding though, and I’ve also dipped my toe into some NBA 2K modding here and there, even releasing a fixed official roster for NBA 2K10. Even though I did eventually become burned out on modding, as I’ve previously admitted, the urge to tinker is still there.

Moreover, I do know what I’m talking about when it comes to our community and creating mods, particularly rosters. I realise that times have changed and there’s always value in exploring new methods and possibilities, but there’s some advice that is evergreen. As Batman once put it on Justice League Unlimited, sometimes the old ways are best; a sentiment echoed in Skyfall many years later! And so, as we consider creating big projects for new games and old favourites alike, I’m sharing some of my roster mod philosophies. They’ve served me well when working on various rosters over the years, and it’s how I’ll approach any projects that I take on moving forward.

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With the early tip-off in the books and the official release looming, we’ve opened up the modding sections for NBA 2K25 in our Forum! This includes the usual boards, namely one for all releases, previews, questions, and so on, and one to consolidate tutorials, guides, and FAQs. As you can see, we already have people exploring the possibilities!

To that end, as the community prepares to dive into some NBA 2K25 modding, I’ve also added the necessary categories to our Downloads database. For those who are unaware, we do offer file hosting facilities free of charge, the only requirements being the need to register a Forum account (also free), and to follow the community’s rules regarding permissions, decorum, etc. As of this post, we’re awaiting our first release, but that isn’t surprising given that NBA 2K25 is a New Gen port.

There is some exciting news on that front, however. InFaMous has discovered that the PC version of NBA 2K25 includes a mod.exe file that both exports files and creates a mods folder, demonstrating native mod support. Once again, the community is still working everything out, but this is a very encouraging development to say the least! More information can be found here. Additionally, I should note that any custom rosters for the console versions are also welcome to be promoted in the modding section.

As I wrote about in Monday Tip-Off, I believe that we have an excellent opportunity for a fresh start with NBA 2K25 modding. As such, I encourage everyone to make use of our facilities, share knowledge with each other, consider open source projects, and make great mods freely available. As always, if there’s a way that we can better serve the modding community – for NBA 2K25, future games, and classic titles alike – by all means share your suggestions. With that being said, welcome to a new season of modding here at the NLSC!

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #544 of the NLSC Podcast!

You know what really grinds our gears? This week, we take a page out of Peter Griffin’s book, and discuss a few things that are really bugging us. That includes Anthony Edwards’ ridiculous comments about players being unskilled in bygone eras, some incredibly and unnecessarily hostile comments on social media, and content creators who seem to be following a script in order to become super shills. We also join the community in reacting to pre-release NBA 2K25 gameplay footage, and reflect on how it has impacted our excitement for the game. We’ve also got a few thoughts about The City in the wake of the latest Courtside Report, and finish up with a recap of a session revisiting NBA Live 2003.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:25:17 — 58.9MB)

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 annual honeymoon phase that accompanies the release of every NBA 2K game.

NBA 2K25 will be out this Friday – or Wednesday, if you’ve pre-ordered for the Early Tip-Off – which means it won’t be long before we get our hands on this year’s release. It’s always an exciting time, as the community prepares for another year of basketball gaming. All of those offseason moves that created intriguing new lineups? We’ll get to see how they fare on the virtual hardwood! Although they’re the cause of the New Game Blues, the fresh start and clean slate in MyTEAM and MyCAREER can also be enticing, especially with the prospect of more content to come.

And of course, we’re eager to see whether all of the improvements that were hyped up during the preview season are as good as advertised. We shouldn’t expect perfection; beyond being an impossible standard in general, any Triple-A game that’s developed in the space of a year is going to have a bug or two. Even with all the pre-release QA testing, there are going to be glitches or gameplay quirks that aren’t discovered until a game is in the hands of the masses. It’s important to remember that, but at the same time, we shouldn’t ever pretend that everything’s perfect, and refuse to criticise a new game. Too many people forget this during the annual honeymoon phase for NBA 2K.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #543 of the NLSC Podcast!

After celebrating a milestone, we delve into some NBA 2K25 MyTEAM news, courtesy of the latest Courtside Report. The biggest news of course is the return of the Auction House, and while it’s a welcome development, it’s also invited a predictably cynical response. Although we’re intrigued by the details and will give the mode a try if we like the gameplay, we’re certainly sceptical; a sentiment that the community clearly shares. We also discuss the positives and negatives of community days in light of last week’s NBA 2K25 event, and recap our sessions playing NBA 2K10 and NBA Jam: On Fire Edition with the 1992 season roster and Legends On Fire Edition mods respectively.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 59:50 — 41.4MB)

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 23rd anniversary as NLSC webmaster, with the age of forty looming on the horizon.

Today marks 23 years since I took over running the NLSC! I feel like I say it on every anniversary, but it’s been an extremely fun and interesting ride with its fair share of ups and downs. There have been some unpleasant moments and challenging times, but at the end of the day, I’m glad that I accepted Tim’s offer to take the reins. While there are some things that I might’ve done differently given the benefit of hindsight, I’m proud of the work that I’ve done, grateful for the friendships I’ve made, and awed by some of the opportunities that I’ve had. I’ll never regret taking the gig!

With that being said, 23 years is a long time to do anything, especially an online endeavour such as running a website. I didn’t create the NLSC, but at this point, I’ve been maintaining it for about four times as long as our founders! Of course, neither I nor the site would be here without the work of the original NLSC trio, so I’ll always give them credit for tipping things off way back in 1996. To that point though, unless you’ve been around since the black background days, you may not be aware of that era! Along with turning forty in about six weeks’ time, it only further emphasises just how long I’ve been the NLSC’s webmaster, and how quickly the years have gone by.

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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 by sharing some of my hopes and expectations for NBA 2K25.

The NBA 2K25 preview season tipped off with some great news for our community, namely the reveal that the New Gen version is coming to PC. Given that my new PC should be able to handle it on relatively high settings at least, it’s something that I’m personally able to look forward to. Of course, since I do own a PlayStation 5, I’ve already been able to experience the ninth generation version of NBA 2K. To that point though, as I’ve previously discussed, I haven’t been particularly thrilled with what is now the flagship version of the game.

Of course, as I’ve also recently stated, it’s important to keep an open mind. I don’t go into new releases hoping to be disappointed, or looking to be negative. I’d rather enjoy the game every year, even if I am keeping some old favourites in the rotation. Recent releases have left me feeling cynical and less optimistic about the future of the series though, and that’s difficult to shake. Indeed, during the past two preview seasons, I discussed how NBA 2K23 and NBA 2K24 might win me over, and re-reading what I wrote, not a whole lot has changed. So, with that being said, what are my hopes and expectations for NBA 2K25 as we await more previews, and its September release?

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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 a list of five ways to improve the great resource that is Basketball Reference.

Since it was launched in April 2004, Basketball Reference has become an essential destination for hoops fans. Whether you’re looking for player statistics and bio data, league records, team rosters, or pretty much anything else you’d ever want to know about the NBA, ABA, WNBA, and other leagues, the site has you covered. Over the years, Basketball Reference has constantly added features and data to become an even more valuable and entertaining resource. It’s also powering the basketball version of Immaculate Grid, a fun daily grid-based trivia game that I really enjoy.

Needless to say, Basketball Reference has also become an essential resource when creating roster mods for basketball video games. No matter whether you’re making a current roster or retro season mod, there’s no doubt that you’ll be browsing Basketball Reference for the information you need. It’s certainly quicker than the old methods of looking up almanacs, magazines, trading cards, and previous video games, as we did in the early days of our modding community! However, there are a few ways that Basketball Reference’s resources could be made even better, especially for people creating rosters. If it’s at all possible, I’d love to see these additions and enhancements.

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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 a requiem for ICQ.

Alright, so this topic isn’t strictly related to basketball gaming, but hey, it’s my column and I’m essentially the editor-in-chief here, so who’s going to stop me? Besides, ICQ is certainly relevant in the history of our community, as plenty of people who were around in the early days – me included – used it to chat with each other. Indeed, for those of us who were online in the late 90s, ICQ was likely one of our first instant messaging clients along with AOL Instant Messenger, aka AIM. I’m guessing that most of us haven’t used the program in years, but ICQ has remained active as of 2024.

Until now, that is. On May 24th 2024, it was announced on ICQ’s official website that the service will be shut down on June 26th, after almost 30 years. As someone who used ICQ back in the day, I’m compelled to become the latest person to eulogise this vestige of 1990s internet. Considering that we’ve also been around since 1996 and will now outlast ICQ, it also has me thinking about the passage of time; what’s come and gone, and what the internet has gained and lost over the years. I realise that this isn’t Wayback Wednesday, but nevertheless, I wanted to reminisce about ICQ and reflect on its impressive longevity, as well as my nostalgia as an Elder Millennial.

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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 some thoughts on the accuracy of the word “retro” when it comes to retro gaming, basketball or otherwise.

For a few years now, I’ve preferred playing old favourites and discovering new retro kicks to spending time with the latest NBA 2K. I do always want to give the newest release a chance, but beginning with NBA 2K21 – both versions, in fact – I’ve found more joy in revisiting older titles. It’s something that Dee enjoys as well, and we’ve often advocated for retro gaming on the NLSC Podcast, as well as through our other content. “Retro gaming” is the term that we often use, but considering the recency of some of the titles, it leads one to wonder: is “retro” really the right word?

Indeed, this is a question that goes beyond basketball gaming: how old does a game need to be to truly qualify as “retro”? Is there a generational cut-off? Is there a term that’s more appropriate, or less misleading? After all, “retro” means different things to different people. Depending on how old you are and when you started gaming, the primitive titles of your youth will seem like truly ancient history to some, while others remember them as landmark jumps and technological feats. While I’m generally fine with using “retro gaming” as a blanket term for the hobby and practice of playing older video games, there’s ambiguity to the term that invites a thoughtful discussion.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #527 of the NLSC Podcast!

MyTEAM gamers are up in arms once again, as 2K has pulled a Kobe Bryant card that a pre-release developer insight for NBA 2K24 promoted as the top Collector Level reward, coming in Season 6. We share our thoughts on the situation and 2K’s trademark lack of communication, drawing comparisons once again to the Pink Diamond fiasco in NBA 2K19. Talk of Take-Two’s greed also has us looking beyond the virtual hardwood, as Top Spin 2K25 has presented some familiar issues. In our main discussion this week, we join the community in listing some of the most overused jargon in basketball discourse. If these terms come up when talking about hoops, it’s not going to be a fun or thoughtful conversation!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:20:12 — 55.4MB)

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 backlash that NBA 2K24 has received, and trying to put it all into perspective.

It’s fair to say that NBA 2K24 has received significant backlash. The PC version was at one point the worst-rated game on Steam, and although its rating has rebounded somewhat since then, the reviews still skew mostly negative. It doesn’t help that it’s a port of the PlayStation 4/Xbox One version, but a glance at Metacritic reveals a user score of 2.1 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X as well. There are positive reviews for NBA 2K24 on Metacritic, but for the most part, once again the user scores are far more negative than the ones from professional critics.

The backlash goes beyond scathing scores for NBA 2K24, however. You’ll see far more negative comments about the game wherever it’s being discussed, be it social media, forums, or Reddit. Dissatisfaction with the game and disgust with recurrent revenue mechanics has been building for years, and as a result, gamers are more forthcoming with criticism and disdainful remarks than ever before. This has only increased since content creators who cover MyTEAM have exposed how the mode has reached new heights – or perhaps, lows – in terms of greed. Yes, there’s backlash against NBA 2K24, and rightfully so. Unfortunately, it likely won’t make a difference.

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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 taking a look back at the evolution of roster mods in our community.

As technological improvements have led to the development of bigger and better basketball video games, our expectations have changed. What were once cutting-edge graphics are no longer impressive. What was once a deep and engaging mode now seems shallow compared to what’s available in a newer game…usually! This isn’t to say that old games are bad and not worth playing. I wouldn’t be diving into basketball gaming history, or advocating for retro gaming, if I didn’t see value in older titles! Still, we always want to see the genre make advancements, so the bar does get raised.

The same goes for modding over the years. While we made some fantastic roster mods for the early NBA Live games on PC, there were limitations to what we could change and include. As it became easier to modify textures and models in addition to player and team data, there was an expectation that roster mods would become more comprehensive. This led to a golden age of NBA Live modding that has since been continued with the NBA 2K series, but in some ways, it’s also been detrimental to the hobby. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #519 of the NLSC Podcast!

We’re tipping things off this week with a strange (but not altogether surprising) incident on Twitter/X. Indeed, the quality of discourse on social media is on our minds this week, as we feel compelled to respond to the latest ridiculous narrative being pushed about Michael Jordan and NBA history. We also check in with Troydan’s quest to pull a 100 Overall card in NBA 2K24 MyTEAM, and discuss the new mobile game, NBA Infinite. In this week’s mailbag/featured discussion, we join the community in reminiscing about the basketball video game modes that have kept us hooked over the years, and the titles that we played them in.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:25:28 — 59.0MB)

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!