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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 remnants of missing and removed features in basketball video games.

Features and content are removed from all genres of video games for a variety of reasons, from design changes and technical challenges to deadlines and legal issues. It’s unfortunate even when it’s understandable, but it’s also entertaining to discover the remnants of cut content. They’re intriguing mysteries when we stumble upon them, fascinating What Ifs when we know their back stories, and sometimes even things that can be restored through modding. Our community has definitely been able to make good use of leftover content in NBA Live and NBA 2K!

Of course, the remnants of cut content can also be annoying. Not only are they proof of what we missed out on, but sometimes they’re a sign of anti-consumer design. A feature that would’ve been useful to have – and indeed was in a previous game – may have been removed because it isn’t conducive to recurrent revenue mechanics being as profitable as they could be. That may not be quite as insidious as removing content in order to sell it as downloadable content, but it’s still lacking in goodwill! Whatever the case, there have been some memorable remnants of missing and removed features in basketball video games over the years. Here are five that spring to mind for me.

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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 how tasks in basketball video games are often fun when they’re optional, but a chore when they’re mandatory.

I’ve made my thoughts on grinding in basketball video games very clear. In short, I’m not a fan of forcing gamers to turn play into work in order to make a game enjoyable. I couldn’t disagree more when people defend grinding by suggesting that their fellow gamers are lazy and don’t want to put in the effort. Contrary to the apologist rhetoric, not everyone desires to be 99 Overall in MyCAREER, or have a stacked MyTEAM squad, within a week of a new game coming out. They just want to progress at a fair rate, and not be forced to choose between mindless grinding and paying for shortcuts.

Moreover, while there have been a number of methods to assist with the grind and avoid spending money, they’re not necessarily fun, or as effective as we’d like. Even if they’re useful in speeding up progress, they can still become tiresome to repeat over and over again. Beyond that, there have been other concepts in basketball games – in particular MyCAREER in NBA 2K – that can be fun if they’re optional, but quickly become a chore if they’re mandatory. In my view, the fastest way to ruin a basketball game is to force us into extracurricular tasks and activities that have nothing to do with playing virtual hoops. It won’t be long before they become dreary busywork.

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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 features that we’ve lost, yet for some reason don’t talk about enough.

One of the unfortunate realities of long-running annual sports video games is that over the years, features will be lost. Contrary to popular belief, the code is re-written every year, as it’s necessary to accommodate new features and mechanics. As such, anything that is incompatible or otherwise causes issues with the new code is at risk of ending up on the cutting room floor, particularly if the telemetry data indicates that it isn’t a very popular feature. With that being said, some features are dropped because they’re no longer useful or relevant, or indeed, stand in the way of recurrent revenue.

I’m sure that we can all cite plenty of examples of lost features that we’ve fervently wished were still in NBA 2K, NBA Live, and other games. Indeed, I’ve mentioned some of my own picks in previous articles and on our podcast! However, there are lost features that really should receive more attention than they do, yet people seldom bring them up. To that end, I’m as guilty as anyone else of glossing over some of these lost features that were once staples of basketball video games, so I figured it’s about time that I spotlight a few of them. While some of them may not seem like a big deal, they’re still basic functionality that’s bewilderingly absent in otherwise deep games.

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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 how the lines between Triple-A gaming and mobile gaming have well and truly become blurred.

We’re living in the age of hot takes, clickbait, and extreme opinions. With that being said, as much as algorithms may not reward it, I prefer to steer clear of hyperbole and reactionary viewpoints in my content. To that end, if I express a strong and potentially controversial opinion, it’s because I mean it. I don’t want to devalue adjectives, be they positive or negative. If you call every new release the best, or frequently declare games to be garbage without further explanation, then eventually you undermine your credibility. Well, your credibility should be in question, anyway!

Mind you, sometimes harsh, unvarnished criticisms that may seem like hyperbolic insults are in fact fair and accurate. A good example is the assertion that Triple-A games are becoming more and more like mobile titles. There’s plenty of evidence that the suits at major studios have taken notes on mobile gaming’s ability to milk gamers for recurrent revenue, and pushed for those mechanics to be incorporated into console and PC games. As such, it hasn’t gone unnoticed how games like NBA 2K now have features and economies akin to free-to-play titles. Recently, I had an experience that made it clear just how blurred the lines are between Triple-A and mobile gaming.

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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 issues with NBA 2K that are seemingly evergreen.

Since I’ve taken a look at some evergreen issues with the NBA Live series, it’s time to examine similar problems with NBA 2K. Obviously, NBA 2K is a powerhouse in the basketball gaming space, with a virtual monopoly on sim titles. Even in the years that NBA Live was released during the past generation, the NBA 2K series outsold it by a significant margin to say the least. The competition hasn’t been close in terms of sales and critical reception since 2008, in large part because NBA 2K has maintained a high level of quality, while NBA Live has suffered from its own evergreen issues.

However, there are definitely problems that continue to plague NBA 2K to this day. They’re in too comfortable of a position to fail, which once again is the result of them maintaining a generally pleasing level of quality through the years. At the same time, these evergreen issues do affect the quality of NBA 2K games, as well as the overall image of the series. As NBA Live stumbled, NBA 2K became the darling for hoops gamers and the yardstick for its genre. Without competition though, its flaws have been exposed, and its reputation has been tarnished. The evergreen issues that NBA 2K has failed to address are responsible for that, so let’s take a look at five of them.

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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 look at five ways that VC earnings have been reduced in recent NBA 2K games.

When I discussed the rising cost of MyCAREER a couple of years ago, I mentioned that I believe 2K is counting on us forgetting about the VC prices and earnings in previous releases. Once the servers have been shut down, there’s no way to go back and check those figures, unless we have some screenshots and/or videos on hand. Those resources do exist, of course. In the wake of my article, Agent 00 did even further research, and put together an excellent video that expanded upon my findings in great detail. VC earnings have indeed fluctuated, and seldom to our benefit.

Of course, it’s not just a matter of awarding us less VC, though that certainly is part of it. There’s a reason that MyCAREER didn’t feel anywhere near as much of a grind in NBA 2K17 as it does in NBA 2K23, and the inflated prices of upgrades are only half the story. Various methods that were useful in earning extra VC have been removed, in an effort to push gamers towards spending money to upgrade their MyPLAYERs. It’s easy to overlook the removal of these bonuses and the trimming of VC earnings across the board, and it doesn’t help that too many influencers (and gamers) justify it. Nevertheless, we can identify some clear ways that VC earnings have been reduced.

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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 my thoughts on the difference between “possible” and “preferable”, when it comes to the design of in-game economies.

In last week’s Monday Tip-Off, I discussed the rising cost of MyCAREER, comparing the price of upgrading a MyPLAYER in NBA 2K14 to NBA 2K22. Thanks to a few prominent content creators sharing our Tweet promoting the article, it gained some traction on Twitter. I’m grateful for the exposure, as this is an important issue for MyCAREER gamers. I was heartened by the general response to the Tweet, as it seemed to resonate. It appears to have placed a figure on what many people already suspected, and validated frustration with the current approach to Virtual Currency.

Of course, I wasn’t surprised that there were some attempts to justify the increasing cost that I discussed. There were a handful of replies or quote Tweets that simply said “inflation”, pointed out ways of earning VC, argued that the game is good this year, or basically shrugged in acceptance that this is the way of things now. I understand those arguments, but many of them do miss the bigger picture and overall point. It’s clear who read the article and who didn’t, without even going into the Tweet analytics. To that end, this follow-up article will probably likewise go unread by those individuals. Nevertheless, I want to clarify that “possible” and “preferable” aren’t always the same.

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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 advice on not falling victim to FOMO in NBA 2K.

Modern games prey on FOMO: the Fear Of Missing Out. From daily bonuses to content that is only available for a limited time, game modes are designed to get us jumping on as often as possible to boost engagement numbers, and in the best case scenario for the publisher, spend money on their recurrent revenue mechanics. It’s the same approach that mobile games have pioneered, and it’s become commonplace with Triple-A releases as well. From cosmetic items to content with a more tangible effect on gameplay, developers want us to dread missing out on acquiring goodies.

It’s effective, too. Every time they release a great Michael Jordan card in MyTEAM, I can’t help thinking “I want that”. However, the Auction House economy is broken due to MT resellers, and I refuse to pay real money to rip open pack after pack with lousy odds. Not everyone can resist the lure of appealing digital content though, and to that end, I can understand falling victim to FOMO. It’s harder to get games online – or at least be competitive – if you don’t have the best cards, quick MyPLAYER upgrades, or even the right clothing. As premium skins in Fortnite have proven, it can even lead to bullying! That’s why I’m offering up some tips to stand strong against FOMO.

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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 the not-so-controversial declaration that Rookieville in NBA 2K21 Next Gen’s MyCAREER was a terrible idea.

I don’t want to say I told you so, but my track record with predictions is hit and miss, so I’ll take the opportunity to say: I told you so. Well, maybe not you, specifically. Perhaps like me, you saw the concept of Rookieville in NBA 2K21 Next Gen’s MyCAREER, and realised it was terrible idea. Perhaps you saw it for the gatekeeping measure that it is, instantly giving The City an air of elitism. If so, you looked past all the bells and whistles, and the admittedly impressive loading times, to see the issues with the approach. As such, you won’t be surprised that it’s drawing criticism.

Of course, fanboys and shills couldn’t see the drawbacks; or at the very least, didn’t want to acknowledge them. To actually take a deep dive into the problems with The City, and Rookieville in particular, is to be a spoilsport in their eyes. Why are we daring to hate on such a cool idea? Don’t we like fun? Aren’t we good enough to get past Rookieville and into The City? As I pointed out in my previous article, it’s not that getting past Rookieville is difficult; it’s that it’s unnecessary and problematic. It’s not surprising that fanboys and shills are ignoring the issue and bleating defensively, but it’s concerning that no one at Visual Concepts was thinking ahead here.

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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 things that have been removed from the Next Gen version of NBA 2K21.

When it comes to the things that annoy us most in the annual basketball games, legacy issues and the removal of popular features rank high on the list. For that matter, seeing legacy issues remain while cool features disappear is a common gripe born of those two complaints. Generally speaking though, we understand that there’s only so much that can be done within one development cycle, and that certain changes won’t come about until a new engine is introduced. Likewise, we know that some features are dropped due to technological reasons, or a lack of popularity.

It’s the things that are removed due to design choices and philosophy that really make us grumble, however. NBA 2K21 Next Gen was advertised as being “built from the ground up”, but it does bring back many familiar features, modes, and mechanics. A few things have fallen by the wayside with the series’ jump to the next generation, though. There may be technical reasons for their absence, but it’s inconvenient at best, and lacking in goodwill at worst. There’s a chance that we’ll see some of these things reintroduced if the demand/backlash is strong enough, but until then, here are five things from the Current Gen version that you won’t find in NBA 2K21 Next Gen.

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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 – let’s be honest here – some griping about how after three months, 2K Beach has received three new skins, but no fixes for a major bug.

I’m sorry everyone, but I’m going to have to go back to being a grumpy old man to tip off this week. I’ve honestly been trying to look on the bright side after some critical pieces in recent weeks, and as I explained in Episode #352 of the NLSC Podcast, I’m actually feeling quite positive about NBA 2K21 Next Gen. I do still have concerns about the Current Gen version though, and since I believe in advocating for my fellow basketball gamers, it’s an issue I feel compelled to bring up again. Besides, sooner or later a similar issue will no doubt affect Next Gen, and 2K’s approach is troubling.

As I discussed in the aforementioned podcast, since NBA 2K21 Current Gen was released, it has received five patches and three skin/presentation updates for this year’s revamped Neighborhood, which goes by the name of 2K Beach. The latest patch was little more than a skin update, but previous patches have been more substantial. As with the previous title updates however, Patch 1.06 failed to fix the issue of the Daily Bonus not awarding the requisite amount of Virtual Currency upon completion. It speaks volumes about the level of care that’s going into the Current Gen version, and underscores a recurring (and shoddy) aspect of 2K’s approach to much-needed fixes.

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Episode #352 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Derek (aka Dee4Three) and I are your hosts for this week’s show.

Through a stroke of good luck, we have Next Gen consoles earlier than anticipated! This means we’re able to join the cool kids who are already playing NBA 2K21 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, but we haven’t forgotten about Current Gen. The latest patch for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One has brought Winter to 2K Beach, but no fix for the broken Daily Bonus feature. After a bit of a grumble about that, it’s on to our initial NBA 2K21 Next Gen impressions, and they’re actually quite positive! In fact, tempered expectations and slider tweaks have us feeling pretty good about it. In this week’s mailbag, we talk about reliable tricks and cheats in old games, and the way that NBA 2K has changed focus and approach in recent years.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:47:40 — 74.0MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

What’s your take on this week’s conversation? Sound off in the comments section below, or join in the discussion here in the Forum! Additionally, feel free to hit us up with any feedback on the episode, as well as mailbag questions and topic suggestions for future episodes. For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. The show also comes out on our YouTube channel, so be sure to subscribe for future episodes and other video content.

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 countdown of the Top 5 unfixed bugs in the Current Gen version of NBA 2K21.

Whenever a new console generation launches, you can guarantee that the version of the game that the existing platforms receive is going to be an afterthought. It only stands to reason that Next Gen is the focus, given the new technology that developers have to work with, and the desire for strong sales numbers that the suits desire. In the best case scenario, the Current Gen version will still be a solid release for gamers that aren’t ready – or this time around, able – to upgrade to the new consoles. It’s certainly not uncommon, however, for the Current Gen release to be a sloppy or subpar one.

That’s exactly how I would describe NBA 2K21 Current Gen. I’m tempted to call it a copy and paste job, except that it lacks the quality of NBA 2K20. Not only does the game feature a myriad of legacy issues that have persisted throughout the generation – or even longer in some cases – but there are new bugs and gameplay problems, too. Furthermore, the post-release support has likewise been disappointing. Although the game has received a number of patches, there are still some major bugs that remain unfixed as of the last update. Please note that I’m only referring to technical issues and not gameplay problems here, as that’s a whole other topic for another time.

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Episode #348 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Derek (aka Dee4Three) and I are your hosts for this week’s show.

Patch 1.05 is the fourth update for NBA 2K21 Current Gen since it was released, leading us to reflect on the game’s post-release support, and a major issue that still hasn’t been fixed. In NBA 2K21 Next Gen news, this week we learned about The City in MyCAREER, and the revamped franchise experience in MyNBA. The City brings to mind certain lyrics from Goldfinger’s “Superman” as far as our reactions to it, but we like what we hear when it comes to the replacement for MyLEAGUE, MyGM, and MyLEAGUE Online. That leads us to touch upon the impact of former community members now working at Visual Concepts, and some of the troubling attitudes towards them. Finally, the mailbag is back! We answer a couple of questions about the state of NBA Live, and the need for dedicated Community Managers.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:39:20 — 68.3MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

What’s your take on this week’s conversation? Sound off in the comments section below, or join in the discussion here in the Forum! Additionally, feel free to hit us up with any feedback on the episode, as well as mailbag questions and topic suggestions for future episodes. For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. The show also comes out on our YouTube channel, so be sure to subscribe for future episodes and other video content.

Episode #341 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Derek (aka Dee4Three) and I are your hosts for this week’s show.

The first big patch has been released for NBA 2K21, though PC gamers are still waiting for it. We run through the patch notes and discuss some other pressing issues that still need to be fixed, including corrupted MyCAREER saves and missing VC payouts. This leads us to once again note the discrepancy between fixing issues that affect 2K’s recurrent revenue, and issues that affect the user experience. We’re also troubled by continued roster inaccuracies, and shallow reviews that gloss over problems. On a brighter note, PBA Basketball Slam has received an update and looks to be on the right path. We also reflect on some other games currently in our rotation and the fun we’ve been having with them, as well as our adventures in pre-ordering the Next Gen consoles.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 2:13:16 — 91.6MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

What’s your take on this week’s conversation? Sound off in the comments section below, or join in the discussion here in the Forum! Additionally, feel free to hit us up with any feedback on the episode, as well as suggestions for topics that you’d like to hear us discuss in future episodes. For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. The show also comes out on our YouTube channel, so be sure to subscribe for future episodes and other video content.