Tag Archives: dribbling

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #629 of the NLSC Podcast!

Last week, Play By Play Studios held a closed beta for NBA The Run, their upcoming arcade streetball game set for release in June 2026. Derek had the opportunity to take part in the closed beta, and so this week, he’s sharing his detailed hands-on impressions of the game, breaking down the key positives and negatives while also making some recommendations for how it could improve. We also read out the community’s thoughts on what they’ve seen of NBA The Run so far. While there’s definitely excitement for the game, not everyone has been impressed by the latest gameplay footage. We also once again touch on the importance of not letting hype get in the way of constructive feedback.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:01:30 — 42.6MB)

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!

Patch 2.0 is now available for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of NBA 2K26, with the PC patch coming this Friday. As always, it should come through automatically as long as you’re online. If it doesn’t, try restarting your console or Steam client, or checking for updates manually.

Season 2 is set to tip off in MyTEAM and MyCAREER this Friday, and as previously promised, it’s brought the first major update for NBA 2K26. In addition to preparing NBA 2K26 for the new season in those modes, Patch 2.0 includes a variety of technical fixes, as well as a handful of gameplay tweaks.

Some of the key changes in Patch 2.0 for NBA 2K26 include adjustments to rhythm shooting and shot contest logic, tweaks to Takeover effects, and fixes for dribbling glitches. A number of hangs and other bugs have been resolved, and team art has been updated and fixed in both current and historical eras. A number of new player likenesses have also been added, including new face scans, tattoos, and hair updates. There are also some PC-specific fixes, including improved keyboard support and optimisation for better performance.

You can find the full release notes for Patch 2.0 below, as well as in the update history for NBA 2K26 in our Wiki. Please feel free to share any thoughts in the comments, as well as join in the discussion here in the Forum!

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #546 of the NLSC Podcast!

NBA 2K25 has been out for about a couple of weeks now, which means the annual honeymoon phase is drawing to a close. To that end, this week we join the community in following up on our first impressions with a rundown of our key likes and dislikes of the game so far. It’s still mostly good news in our book, but we’re not quite ready to declare it the best NBA 2K ever as some of our fellow gamers are. We also recap a co-op session in which we took on Dwight Howard’s Magic with Derrick Rose’s Bulls using the LeBron era rosters, leading us to reflect on those two squads. Finally, a new segment makes its debut, inspired by a surprising observation while playing NBA 08.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:02:27 — 43.2MB)

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!

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #545 of the NLSC Podcast!

NBA 2K25 is out now, so this week, we join the community in sharing our first impressions of the gameplay! Our time on the sticks has revealed a number of pros and cons, though we certainly reserve the right to change our minds as we continue to play the game and it receives updates. As such, we’ll definitely have plenty more to say in the coming weeks and months! In the meantime, we give our views on ProPLAY, dribbling, shooting, player movement, and everything else that has jumped out at us so far, good or bad. We also reflect on some of the pre-release footage proving to be misleading, and feeling considerably better about NBA 2K25 once we got our hands on it.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:25:38 — 59.2MB)

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!

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 Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version of NBA 2K8.

The tagline of NBA 2K8 was “It’s like that”. I find it extremely appropriate, though I guarantee it isn’t for the reasons that the marketing department at Take-Two intended. Instead, “it’s like that” are the frustrated words that run through my mind whenever I give NBA 2K8 a chance, and it disappoints me once again. Not to spoil the entire retrospective before I get into it, but if NBA 2K6 or NBA 2K7 had been the games to get me into the NBA 2K series – and they may well might’ve been, had I given them a fair chance back in the day – NBA 2K8 could’ve turned me off of it again.

Indeed, I’m prepared to call it one of the most overrated games in the entire series. The only reason I hesitate is because after looking at some contemporary reviews, it seems that the criticisms and unfavourable comparisons to its predecessors were being made back then, too. GameTrailers’ review even went so far as to call it a serious step backwards, and I’m inclined to agree. It’s unfortunate because the game does have a lot of good bones and enticing features, but for me, it’s been a major retro basketball gaming disappointment. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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After revealing the cover players and opening up pre-orders in mid July, 2K are tipping off August with the gameplay trailer and blog for NBA 2K25. In addition to giving us our first look at the game, it’s also been revealed that Early Tip-Off is back, as gamers who pre-order will be able to play from September 4th, rather than the September 6th launch date.

In addition to giving us our first glimpse of on-court action from cinematic angles – as usual – the first NBA 2K25 trailer also spotlights some of the key features of gameplay this year. They include over 9000 new animations, an all-new dribble engine, signature go-to shots, shot timing profiles, a brand new defensive movement system, and an updated shot contest system.

The courtside report on gameplay in NBA 2K25 goes into more detail about these features. I’ve posted a summary of the key points below, which you can check out along with the trailer. The roadmap for the NBA 2K25 preview season has also been revealed. The next set of previews will be dropping on August 5th, and will cover MyCAREER and MyPLAYER. News on MyNBA and The W will be coming on August 12th, MyTEAM details on August 19th, previews of The City on August 26th, and then a look at Season 1 and 2K Beats will be posted on September 2nd.

Once again, see below for more details. Got any thoughts about the NBA 2K25 gameplay trailer and developer blog? Share them in the comments below, as well as join in the discussion our NBA 2K25 Forum.

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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 Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version of NBA 2K7.

As someone who grew up with NBA Live, my familiarity with the series and a sense of brand loyalty often made it difficult to give other games a fair chance. Over the years, I’ve become a fan of the NBA 2K series, and have also enjoyed collecting and revisiting other titles that were competing with the NBA Live games that I played. It’s been rewarding to give them a second look – or in some cases, a first look – with fresh eyes and more of an open mind. I’m far more willing to adapt to a different style of controls than I was when the latest NBA Live was still my game of choice.

It’s why all these years later, I found myself on an extended retro kick with NBA 2K6. Indeed, it’s retroactively become one of my favourite games, and to this day, I enjoy keeping it in the rotation whenever I feel like changing up what I’m playing. With that in mind, I’ve been giving other NBA 2K games from that generation another look, to see if any of them capture my imagination as NBA 2K6 did. To that point, has its immediate successor, NBA 2K7, also succeeded in becoming one of my favourites? Let’s take a look back…way back…

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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 basic features in basketball video games that we take for granted.

There are a number of basic features in a modern basketball game that have become firmly entrenched as essential, at least if you want the game to be good! The genre has come a long way, and even though I still have tremendous fondness for the early classics, I’m also aware of their shortcomings. Of course, many of the basic features that were once innovations did come along in the mid to late 90s, so we’ve had them for decades now. To that point though, it’s all too easy to take some of those basic features for granted, especially if you didn’t grow up with the more primitive titles.

“Primitive” is the operative word here. When video games as a whole were in their infancy, those first steps towards what we have now did feel like huge strides. On top of that, technical limitations meant that games couldn’t have the same level of depth and detail as they do now, or even a couple of generations ago. Nevertheless, it’s still interesting to look back at some early basketball video games – as I obviously enjoy doing for Wayback Wednesday – and note how some of the basic features that we now take for granted are nowhere to be found. This doesn’t mean that we can’t and shouldn’t criticise modern games, but it’s a reminder of the progress that’s been made.

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The preview season for NBA 2K24 is now truly underway, with the release of the first gameplay trailer and developer blog! Both the trailer and gameplay blog are focused on the Next Gen/New Gen version of NBA 2K24, with details for Current Gen/PC likely dropping soon.

Among other things, the blog confirms that ProPLAY is indeed a new method of capturing animations from real NBA footage. It’s being touted as a major improvement over traditional motion capture, though old mocap techniques apparently still played a role in development. The blog also provides a breakdown of changes to controls and mechanics such as dribbling, shooting, Takeover, and adrenaline boosts. Notably, online play and tougher difficulty levels offline will be “Green or Miss” in NBA 2K24, with lower difficulty levels offering more forgiving timing.

As always, the trailer features an assortment of stars pulling off highlights from cinematic angles. It also includes some comparisons to real footage, spotlighting the impact of ProPLAY on the animations. You can check out the NBA 2K24 gameplay trailer below, along with my recap of the key points from the first developer blog. Although I approach developer blogs with some healthy scepticism, there are definitely some promising details. I’d also recommend giving the original blog a read, as it includes some dev diary videos with further explanations from Beluba.

Got any thoughts? Feel free to share them in the comments below, as well as join in the discussion here in the NLSC Forum!

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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 approach of having separate shoot buttons in NBA Live.

If you asked me which basketball video game has had perfect controls and gameplay mechanics, I’d have to say we’re yet to see it! Obviously perfection is an unrealistic goal in general, but even if we amend the definition to mean near-perfect and without any major criticisms, I don’t believe any title truly qualifies. Even the best basketball games that come extremely close in that regard have had at least one quirk with their controls and mechanics. It may not render them unplayable or unenjoyable, but there’s still something about the concept that’s flawed.

That’s basically how I feel about the separate shoot buttons in older NBA Live games. It initially worked and was a good solution as far as deepening shooting controls, but then was taken to the extreme in NBA Live 07, exposing its flaws. It’s an interesting situation though, especially when compared to similar attempts to expand the passing controls. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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In the wake of the First Look Trailer, the first developer blog for NBA 2K23 is a deep dive into gameplay enhancements. According to the blog, the primary aim with gameplay this year was authenticity. Another key goal was achieving as much parity as possible between the Current Gen and Next Gen versions.

As you might expect, it’s a rather lengthy read! To that end, I’ve summarised the key information from the blog in point form below. As always however, I encourage you to read the blog in its entirety to get the full scoop on gameplay enhancements in NBA 2K23, including some of the specific changes to Badges. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, as well as join in the discussion here in the Forum!

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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 an outline of how NBA 2K23 would win me over.

Let’s be clear about this. In the grand scheme of things, NBA 2K23 doesn’t need to win me over. I’m just one person, and I’m not one of their big name influencers. The game won’t need my stamp of approval in order to sell at least ten million copies. Furthermore, given that I am a collector and still a content creator, I’ll be contributing to those sales figures anyway. In that respect, you could argue that it makes me part of the problem, but hey, like I said, I’m just one person. In short, I acknowledge that whether or not NBA 2K23 wins me over, it will be a success by almost every metric.

That goes without saying, but that’s not the issue here. This isn’t about what NBA 2K23 must do to be successful, but what it would take to get someone who has greatly preferred to play NBA 2K14 over NBA 2K21 and NBA 2K22 to get hooked on a new game once again. It’s an uphill battle, because some of the changes I’d love to see will never happen, due to business reasons. I’m obviously also very enthusiastic about this retro kick with NBA 2K14. However, I do aim to approach every new game with an open mind, and a willingness to keep playing if I’m enjoying myself. To that end, with the right changes and improvements, I could definitely be won over by NBA 2K23.

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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 look at the habit that most basketball gamers struggle to break.

By now, many of the basic concepts and mechanics in basketball video games are well-established. That familiarity allows experienced virtual hardwood gamers to get acclimated with new titles swiftly, and in turn, enjoy them sooner. To that point, when there are major changes to an aspect of the core mechanics, it’s far more likely that the initial impressions will be negative, or at least mixed. Sometimes this is because the changes that have been implemented failed to improve upon the previous concepts. Other times, it reveals our inflexibility regarding certain habits.

There’s one habit in particular that I believe most of us have trouble breaking. It’s not entirely our fault, of course. Basketball video games encourage us to make habitual use of this mechanic. It represents a core aspect of playing the sport, and allows us to perform advanced moves. We’ve always had to be careful about how we use it, as its short-term benefits are balanced by finite availability and long-term drawbacks. As sim games in particular have become even more realistic and sophisticated, overuse of this mechanic has been exposed as a bad habit. I am of course referring to sprinting – or turbo, as it’s also been called – and our tendency to constantly move at top speed.

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Episode #406 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Derek (aka Dee4Three) and I are your hosts for this weekly podcast that’s all about basketball gaming.

Crocs have been added as footwear in NBA 2K22’s MyCAREER, and we’re…underwhelmed. This leads us to discuss 2K’s priorities, and how we’d prefer that they make fairer deals with historical players, not to mention finally license some prominent absentees. Voting has closed on the game for the next NLSC Tournament, and one of us may have put our hand on the scales. While we’ve been enjoying playing a variety of older titles as of late, certain games do make us miss enhancements from newer releases. To that point, we reflect on how it took an unusually long time for NBA 2K to adopt right stick dribbling controls, and an overlooked mechanic in NBA Live. We also cover some recent retro roster modding developments, and resolve to keep playing the games that we  find the most appealing in 2022.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:01:29 — 42.6MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Join in the conversation in the comments below, or 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 shows. 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.

Following on from yesterday’s trailer, the latest Courtside Report (aka developer blog) provides insights into gameplay in NBA 2K22. As previously announced, we can also expect a blog detailing improvements and changes to MyTEAM to be posted sometime this week.

The gameplay blog is the most comprehensive insight thus far. To highlight some of the major points, 17 new Badges have been added, for a total of 80 in both Current Gen and Next Gen. There are new dribbling packages, and dribbling movement is faster paced. Dunk packages can also be customised. Defensive AI has been rewritten, the shot contest and blocking systems have been rebuilt, and “ghost contests” have been removed. There’s also a new Shot Meter with a dynamic make window, and Shot IQ is a major factor in shot success.

You can find a detailed summary of the blog below. What are your thoughts on the reported improvements to gameplay in NBA 2K22? Have your say in the comments, and join in the discussion here in the NLSC Forum! Once again, stay tuned for more information about MyTEAM in this year’s game.

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