Tag Archives: Criticism

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 way that 2K responded with pettiness to the announcement of a new college basketball game from EA Sports.

Last week, EA Sports surprised a lot of gamers with the announcement of a new college basketball title, tentatively scheduled for release in 2028. There have been some questions as to why the announcement is being made so far out. It appears that the Collegiate Licensing Company entertained bids for a new basketball game in late June, with EA Sports’ bid being successful. A three year development window would be similar to the return of EA Sports College Football, which was announced in 2021 and released in 2024. Presumably, pre-production on this new hoops title has begun.

Needless to say, while not everyone is optimistic about a new college basketball game from EA Sports – understandably so – many gamers are excited. It’ll be a new release from an established company, in a genre that’s suffered from a lack of alternatives and competition. To that point, how did 2K respond to EA Sports rejoining the basketball gaming space with a college game? In short, a quote reply to a post on X opining that they should be the ones making the game wryly saying “the campus has been quiet for too long”, and a statement in which they referred to themselves as the “undisputed home of basketball gaming”. Basically, 2K is giving pettiness the old college try.

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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 reflections on why I understand where fanboys are coming from, as well as the appeal of recency bias.

Recency bias is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to online discourse these days. New isn’t always better, because neither humans nor the world in general are perfect. There are peaks and valleys, missteps and corrections, good and bad ideas alike. In a similar vein, I don’t hold the opinions of fanboys in high esteem, either. “Stan culture” is way out of control, muddying discussions with ridiculous takes and performative debate, not to mention attacks on people who dare to disagree or dislike what you like. That isn’t a recent thing of course, but social media has made it worse.

However…I get it. As someone who has made a few more trips around the sun than some folks who insist that the latest NBA 2K is always the best, or that today’s NBA players are bigger, faster, stronger, and more talented than the “plumbers” of the past, I understand the feelings and the thought process. I disagree and may grumble about the youth of today with curmudgeonly sentiment that I’m still way too young for, but I honestly do get it. After all, I was your age once! I’ve been a fanboy too, and a victim of recency bias. It’s something that I’m pushing back on now, but it’s not just an issue with the younger generation today. It’s something that we all have to grow out of.

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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 notion that gamers just always complain about everything.

When you’re part of multiple fandoms, it’s interesting how the same conversations take place in every bubble. What we like is the best, so much better than the rest! We love our thing, but man, we also have some of the worst fans! We complain too much. We aren’t critical enough! Everyone pretends to like what’s new. Everyone always hates the new thing! No matter whether it’s basketball gaming or real basketball, a different genre of video games, an iconic film or TV series, or professional wrestling, I’m sure that all of these phrases sound extremely familiar.

To that point, I happened to be browsing the Mortal Kombat subreddit, and ended up reading some comments that I’ve seen the basketball gaming community utter so many times. Specifically, it was opined that the latest game in the series is always bashed unfairly, while the previous game – which itself was once subjected to the same scorn – is held up as perfect. This of course prompted someone to basically say that gamers are never happy, and constantly complain about every little thing. See what I mean about the same conversations across multiple fandoms? There is merit here, but personally, I’m tired of all the self-flagellation that we gamers partake in.

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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 duality of MyNBA Eras.

Look, I realise how annoying it can be when someone qualifies their criticism with compliments. After all, it can come across as disingenuous, or too timid to stand by critique. Unfortunately, when the discourse is rooted in finding contrarian gotchas to dunk on someone who has dared to criticise what you like, it’s a necessary evil. On top of that, when it comes to a feature such as MyNBA Eras, credit where credit’s due. It’s a fantastic concept with some great features that once seemed like a pipe dream. I don’t want to downplay that.

However, there is a duality to MyNBA Eras. It’s impressive in so many ways, and yet rather underwhelming in others. There are aspects that feel lazy and lacking, despite the fact that a ton of hard work and effort has gone into the mode. The ambition is admirable, but there are examples of putting the cart before the horse. There’s depth to the experience, but there’s also quantity over quality. In short, MyNBA Eras is indeed awesome, but there are ways that it could and should be better. Some of them may be easier said than done due to matters of licensing, but to that point, it makes the mode simultaneously comprehensive and half-baked. This is the duality of MyNBA Eras.

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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 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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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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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 response to the ironic use of “new game bad, old game good” that shills are using to shout down criticism.

It’s undoubtedly obvious from both my articles and commentary on the NLSC Podcast that I greatly dislike thought-terminating clichés. One that I’m seeing pop up rather frequently these days is a derisively sarcastic “new game bad, old game good”; an ironic echo intended to mock and dismiss a preference for a previous release. It’s being trotted out a lot in the Mortal Kombat subreddit in the wake of criticism of Mortal Kombat 1, and we’ve certainly seen it (or words to that effect) in the basketball gaming community. And yes, since I’m writing about it, it obviously grinds my gears!

That isn’t to say that there’s no credibility to the sentiment. It’s a phenomenon that I’ve discussed before, and as I acknowledged at the time, it is true that pretty much every NBA 2K game – at least over the past decade or so – has been labelled by some people as being the worst in the series when it was new, only to be effusively praised later. Of course, the key words here are “some people”. There are others who are far too quick to call every new game the best ever, so it goes both ways. The point is that there’s nuance and context that’s ignored when we defend games by dismissing valid criticism with “new game bad, old game good” sneering. It’s an oversimplification.

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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 few thoughts on how I’m getting hyped for NBA 2K23, but my optimism isn’t completely unbridled or unconditional.

Yes, I’ll admit it. Over the past few weeks, I’ve started getting hyped for NBA 2K23. That’s not to say that I don’t have my concerns, or that I’m uncritically accepting that everything I’ve read in the developer blogs will come to pass. I’ve been playing and covering basketball video games for too long to believe that everything will be just as good as advertised. Nevertheless, there are aspects of NBA 2K23 that look very good on paper, and so I’m getting hyped. Well, certainly more excited than I have been in a number of years, at any rate.

Honestly, that feels great! I love basketball and basketball video games, so I never want to feel negative about my hobby. Obviously, over the past twelve months or so, I’ve found great enjoyment in making old favourites (and a few new favourites) part of my gaming rotation once again. I don’t expect that to change, regardless of whether or not NBA 2K23 lives up to the hype. However, I absolutely want to be impressed and enraptured by new releases as well. After primarily using my PlayStation 5 to play a PlayStation 4 game for the better part of the last couple of years, I’m hyped by the distinct possibility that NBA 2K23 could end up monopolising my gaming time.

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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 advice to look beyond what you see when it comes to visuals on the virtual hardwood.

I’ll be honest: I never thought that I’d be quoting Rafiki in an article about basketball video games. The sentiment fits though, so hey, hakuna matata. As in the metaphor that’s repeated a few times during the course of The Lion King 1½, there’s value in looking beyond the superficial aspects of basketball video games. That’s not to say that graphics aren’t in any way important. They form our first impressions of a new title, and when a new generation launches, we do expect to see some sort of leap as far as the graphics are concerned.

As such, I’m not trying to dismiss criticism of – or downplay disappointment in – the graphics of NBA 2K on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (or any other game, for that matter). However, there’s a reason we have a long-running gag on the NLSC Podcast about cancelling pre-orders if a new game doesn’t feature any shoelace physics. It’s easy for me to say because I grew up with games that look extremely primitive now, but we can get too caught up in visual details that are inconsequential in the long run. Whether critiquing a game or simply seeking to enjoy it, I’d suggest that you’ll gain far more valuable insights and satisfaction if you look beyond what you see.

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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 few thoughts on the suggestion that every game in the NBA 2K series gets labelled the “worst game ever”, until its successors make it retroactively liked.

There are apologists in the basketball gaming community, who shamelessly shill and defend NBA 2K at every turn. Of course, there are also haters who are disinterested in offering fair and constructive criticism. You’ve got also got fans who can sometimes be overzealous in looking at things through rose-coloured glasses, and critics who don’t necessarily take certain factors into account. There are many opinions that are expressed loudly, and they aren’t always the most nuanced takes. Thanks to their volume however, they’re the ones that stand out, even if they’re in the minority.

And then, there’s the alleged phenomenon of every NBA 2K being labelled the worst in the series, only to be praised when the next game is released. Frankly, this notion that the community bashes every single game before retroactively loving it isn’t fair or accurate. If you go back to some user reviews of older games, you’ll find plenty of positivity. However, there’s truth in saying that some gamers seemingly dislike every new release, while others appear to change their tune years later. It leads to criticism being downplayed on the basis that “every new game is always hated”. We even see developers allude to that notion when defensively duelling with disgruntled gamers.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #410 of the NLSC Podcast!

We had an exciting modding breakthrough this week, which means our All-Time Teams roster mod for NBA Live 96 PC is going to feature a detail that we could only dream of having back in the day! Our NBA Jam: On Fire Edition Tournament has also produced some great action so far, and once again, everyone seems to be having a fantastic time with it. Seeing as how it’s Wishlist season, this week’s extended mailbag segment is dedicated to what the community wants to see in NBA 2K23. We read out the suggestions that our listeners sent in, and give our thoughts on some great ideas for the next NBA 2K game.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:15:49 — 52.4MB)

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!

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 examines the five worst parts of modern basketball gaming.

Over the past few weeks in The Friday Five, I’ve covered the best and worst parts of retro basketball gaming, as well as the pros of playing modern games. This week, it’s all about the cons of the latter. Once again, I must stress that despite my advocacy and enthusiasm for retro basketball gaming, I do spend a lot of time with recent games as well, including the latest release every year (albeit with some exceptions). There are many great reasons to play the newest NBA 2K, just as there were for NBA Live back in its heyday. I covered those reasons last week, and I stand by them.

However, it’s not all fun and games with modern basketball gaming, and the worst parts can leave you yearning to return to an old favourite. That’s certainly something you can do, and again, I’m all for that. However, it’s important that we speak out with fair criticism, and it benefits us to make constructive suggestions as to how the next game can improve. To do that though, we must acknowledge that there are issues with modern basketball gaming, and that new isn’t always better in every way imaginable. Obviously basketball games have come a long way, drastically improving upon their predecessors in many respects, but they’ve also fallen short in other areas of concern.

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We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games. This week, I’m tipping things off with some thoughts on how there’s a certain amount of myopia that comes with mastering mechanics on the virtual hardwood.

I think we can all agree that there should be some degree of challenge in basketball video games. A game that is easily mastered and beaten tends to be boring, though hoops titles – even sim-oriented ones – should nevertheless be accessible, and feature easier difficulty levels. When it comes to the virtual hardwood, there needn’t be a challenge on the level of the Souls series, or games like Returnal, the roguelike that was released earlier this year. Arcade or sim, they’re about representing the sport of basketball, not being exceedingly challenging and for the hardest of the hardcore.

At the same time, a certain amount of challenge and skill is expected of the online competitive scene. The best competitors are the ones mastering the mechanics and strategies that allow them to dominate and defeat their fellow gamers, not just the AI. Even offline, mastery on the sticks will allow gamers to rise to the sometimes unfair challenges of the Hall of Fame difficulty setting. This is obviously achieved through practice and dedication, which is a fair demand for the most challenging experiences in basketball gaming to make. However, in evaluating design principles and overall appeal and accessibility, mastering mechanics does unfortunately lead to myopia.

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We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games. This week, I’m tipping things off with some thoughts on the way that every new NBA 2K game finds itself in the shadow of its predecessors, and the cyclical nature of critique.

Not everyone has been entirely happy with NBA 2K21, but what else is new? While the NBA 2K series continues to be very successful, opinions of recent releases have been much less favourable than their predecessors. Legacy issues, practices that are lacking in goodwill, and product fatigue, have all led to an increasingly dissatisfied userbase. In turn, this dissatisfaction has inspired gamers to reminisce about titles from just a few years ago. To that end, the last few games have been unfavourably compared to the likes of NBA 2K15, NBA 2K16, and NBA 2K17.

A recent Twitter thread criticising NBA 2K21 drew an interesting reply about these comparisons. In response to the assertion that NBA 2K21 is the worst game in the series, the Tweet pointed out that it’s a title bestowed on just about every NBA 2K game when it’s new. It specifically noted similar remarks about NBA 2K17, a game that’s now being held up as a benchmark that newer games have failed to reach. While it’s a generalisation that deflects some valid criticism of NBA 2K21 and its immediate predecessors, it also raises a pertinent question: do we forget our own criticism, with revisionist history and nostalgia unfairly casting a shadow over every new game?

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