Tag Archives: Feedback

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 oddity of basketball gamers being anti-consumer consumers.

Look, I realise the folly of hitting back against the shills in basketball gaming. If nothing else, it’s amplifying the voices of an already loud contingent of gamers who make their hobby and favourite titles too much of their personality. It’s how you get baited into frustrating arguments by that one person with the terrible take. Mind you, when it comes to anti-consumer consumers, it’s not just a lone contrarian troll. Even if you want to argue that it’s a vocal minority, they’re not only driving the discourse, but emboldening studios to engage in anti-consumer practices.

The release of a new game is always a peak period of anti-consumer consumers. It’s the annual honeymoon phase; that roughly two-week period where there’ll be the most gushing praise and determined pushback on any criticism. When a title is new, it’s easier to blame gamers for any issues they have with it, since they can potentially be chalked up to the need to adjust to any changes to the mechanics and other aspects of the gameplay. Once we’re past the honeymoon phase and there’s more honesty about a game’s flaws, it becomes harder to dismiss criticisms out of hand. Of course, while it takes some of the wind out of their sails, it doesn’t stop the anti-consumer consumers.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #634 of the NLSC Podcast!

With the preview season and indeed the release of NBA 2K27 looming on the horizon, what are we hoping to see from this year’s sim basketball game from Visual Concepts? This week, we join the community in sharing some of our key Wishlist items, from our most-desired gameplay improvements to ideas for enhancing modes, features, and content. Needless to say, we’re hoping for more authenticity, accessibility, and quality! We also discuss a couple of details about NBA 2K27 that have already leaked, including the release date, Standard Edition cover player, and the end of support for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. On a sad note, we also pay tribute to the late Stacey King, who passed away at the weekend.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 57:35 — 39.9MB)

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 how I’m hoping for the best with the forthcoming release of NBA The Run.

NBA The Run, the new NBA Street-inspired arcade streetball game developed by Play by Play Studios, will be released this week. The basketball gaming community has had ample chance to see the game in action recently, thanks to a handful of closed and open betas. Whether you’ve taken part in those playtesting sessions for a hands-on preview of the game yourself, or you’ve seen other people’s footage and impressions, at this point you have a rough idea of what to expect. There’s definitely excitement, though not everyone is impressed. At the very least, there are some concerns.

If you’ve listened to any of our podcasts where Dee and I have discussed NBA The Run, you’ll know that we too have a mixture of complimentary and critical opinions of what we’ve seen and played so far, and feel both hopeful and concerned. We want to see the game succeed, but we’ve already identified some of the key challenges that it will face in its quest to do so. And so, I’m metaphorically crossing my fingers and hoping for the best as we enter the final countdown to the game’s launch. To that end, I’m sharing some last minute thoughts before I get my hands on the retail version of NBA The Run, and we ultimately see how it fares in the weeks and months to come.

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When the gameplay trailer for NBA The Run dropped, we discovered that the game would be released some time in June 2026. We now have a specific date, as Play By Play Studios has announced that the game will be launching on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on June 9th. Additionally, we have confirmation of the price, and some other relevant details.

The standard edition of NBA The Run will be $29.99 USD. There will also be a Deluxe Edition for $39.99, which will include rookie variants of three players: Stephen Curry ’09, Luka Doncic ’18, and Kevin Durant ’07. While the game will only include 30 players at launch, different variants will offer some further choices. The Deluxe Edition will also include 1000 CRED, NBA The Run’s in-game currency that’s used to buy items. Play By Play has also confirmed that items are purchased with CRED directly, so there are no loot box mechanics. Purchasable items will include banners, player jerseys, taunts, and advanced dunk animations, with more items becoming available as you win games and rank up.

A second closed beta will also be taking place on May 16th. Play By Play has been listening to the feedback from the first closed beta, and outlined some of the improvements that they’re looking to make. Key areas of focus include reworking the animations to be less bouncy, making passes crisper with more variety, increasing dunk distance to avoid floaters three feet from the basket, and general tuning and balance.

We’ll be sure to post any further news on NBA The Run in the coming weeks, and of course continue to cover the game post-release. In the meantime, tune in to Episode #629 of the NLSC Podcast to hear Dee’s in-depth hands-on impressions from the first closed beta, and thoughts on how the game can improve. With the developers clearly taking feedback seriously, NBA The Run continues to be a promising prospect in a market that desperately needs alternatives, so we’re certainly hoping for the best!

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!

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #585 of the NLSC Podcast!

As we reach the midway point of 2025, the preview season for NBA 2K26 is suddenly looming on the horizon. With that in mind, what are we hoping to see in the next sim basketball game from 2K Sports? This week, we join the community in discussing our Wishlists for NBA 2K26, beginning with our suggestions for improvements to gameplay, mechanics, and controls, and then moving on to our ideas for modes, features, content, presentation, and other aspects of the game. Although we did feel more positive about NBA 2K25 and remain cautiously optimistic about NBA 2K26, there are definitely some key enhancements and additions that can and should be made in this year’s release!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:17:12 — 53.4MB)

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 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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As Dee and I have mentioned in recent episodes of the NLSC Podcast, it’s definitely time to compile and submit a Wishlist for NBA 2K25! Obviously there are many places that send in feedback to the NBA 2K development team these days, but since Wishlists have been a tradition around these parts since we were the NBA Live Series Center, we also want to put one together.

You can find our NBA 2K25 Wishlist topic here in the NLSC Forum. Although there’s no strict format, in previous years our contacts at 2K have suggested sharing our top 15-20 suggestions across the board, or alternatively our top ten ideas in different categories (gameplay, modes, options, etc). From those suggestions, I’ll compile a list that covers a cross-section of the community’s most popular wishes.

While it’s important to provide detail (i.e. don’t just say “make the game better”; explain how), it’s best to avoid long-winded paragraphs that bury the actual feedback amidst rants and anecdotes. It’s vital to get to the point quickly, clearly, and precisely. Remember, it’s not about sugar-coating or sucking up, but rather about being civil and constructive. Consider our modding community: useful feedback and suggestions phrased politely are helpful, while snarky and rude comments tend to be tuned out.

Finally, our NBA 2K25 Wishlist will cover both versions of the game (assuming that there will still be two versions, of course). Naturally we’ll be advocating for the PC version and modding, so by all means give feedback along those lines! As always, there’s no guarantee that all of our wishes will be granted, but speaking up gives them a much better chance than if we stay silent. Please get involved, as we’re looking to submit the Wishlist to the development team ASAP. That way, we stand a better chance of seeing our feedback put to use in NBA 2K25.

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #512 of the NLSC Podcast!

It’s Wishlist season once again, so this week, we join the community in listing our top three gameplay wishes for NBA 2K25! Not surprisingly, many of us have similar thoughts on what we want to see out of this year’s game. Following our recent sessions with them, we also discuss NBA ShootOut (aka Total NBA ’96) and Sony’s NBA 08, and compare them to their contemporaries. We’ve also got an injury update to share, and spend some time reflecting on past-their-prime players still having something left in the tank in real life, as well as being fun to play with in video games; especially when they’re familiar faces in unfamiliar places.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:41:02 — 69.7MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with a rebuttal to the idea that basketball gamers who are sim heads are somehow casuals.

Since we’re all on the internet here, I’m going to assume that we’re all familiar with Harvey Dent’s line in The Dark Knight about either dying a hero, or living long enough to become the villain. It’s up there with Alfred musing that some men just want to watch the world burn; another line that the internet loves, especially wannabe nihilist edgelords. In any case, Dent’s observation can be applied to the real world as well. From people who tarnished their reputation, to simply finding yourself on the wrong side of the argument as time goes by, it’s possible to end up as the bad guy.

Of course, when it’s a matter of fandom infighting, “bad guy” is a relative term. We’re more likely to throw around a word like “casuals” to dismiss the opinions of people we disagree with, ostensibly because they just don’t get it. For a long time, gamers who played basketball games, but didn’t know or care much about the real sport, were the ones who were branded with the “casuals” label. While I don’t agree with the gatekeeping nature of that, it made sense in so much as sim games in particular were designed with hardcore hoop heads in mind. These days, sim heads are being called “casuals” by those who advocate for cheese and “stick skills” over realistic gameplay.

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We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with my thoughts on ensuring that the journey is worth the time and effort in basketball video games.

In recent years, there’s been a puzzling acceptance of the notion that we should have to work to have fun with the basketball video games we play. I’m not talking about the time and effort it takes to master strategies and stick skills, complete challenges, and level up accordingly. A game that’s over too quickly is generally unsatisfying, unless you’re attempting a speedrun. The best rewards and whatever counts as being 100% completion in a game shouldn’t be quick and easy to attain. For most people, it isn’t fun to be handed absolutely everything.

These are uncontroversial statements that I’m sure we can all agree upon. However, the sentiment has mutated into a bad faith argument about gamers wanting everything right away. That may be true of a scant minority of less patient basketball gamers, but most of us just want a rate of progression that’s fair and enjoyable, with rewards that make the journey feel worthwhile. Again, the key to that bad faith argument is in the wording: “you don’t want to put in the work“. A video game should not have to be treated like an occupation in order to be enjoyed, or feel like a rewarding journey. It’s therefore vital that any rewards system makes us feel like it was time well spent.

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We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with my thoughts on how MyCAREER has reached a point of no return as far as its current approach and design is concerned.

Although I’ll readily defend the past against notions that everything new is better, and point out that many old ideas can be repurposed as modern solutions, it’s absolutely possible to regress. We shouldn’t want to see that in anything, including the basketball video games that we enjoy. One of the biggest knocks on NBA Live during the eighth generation was that it felt behind the times. Even if you enjoyed the experience on the sticks, barebones modes and a lack of additional content made it feel as though the series had regressed to a point that it should’ve been well past.

It’s an issue that contributed to NBA Live’s inability to win back the crowd, and thus a further descent into dormancy and irrelevance. With that being said, while this is a pitfall that NBA 2K has avoided, Visual Concepts’ series has arguably suffered the opposite problem. There are certain ideas and approaches in NBA 2K that have now evolved so far beyond their more humble beginnings that going back to a simpler time is seemingly impossible. You might argue that this isn’t actually a problem; that a new standard or baseline has been established. Not everyone is satisfied with the current approach to MyCAREER however, and unfortunately, it’s at the point of no return.

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As Dee and I noted in Episode #461 of the NLSC Podcast, with NBA 2K24 already in production, Wishlist season is upon us! Obviously there are many places that compile and submit feedback these days, but Wishlists have a long tradition here at the NLSC, so we’re putting together one for this year’s game.

You can find our NBA 2K24 Wishlist topic here in the NLSC Forum. Although there’s no strict format, in previous years our contacts at 2K have suggested sharing our top 15-20 suggestions across the board, or perhaps our top ten ideas in different categories (gameplay, modes, options, etc). From there, I’ll compile a list that covers a cross-section of the community’s most popular wishes.

While it’s important to provide detail (i.e. don’t just say “make gameplay better”; explain how), please avoid long-winded paragraphs that bury the actual feedback amidst rants and anecdotes. It’s vital to get to the point quickly, clearly, and precisely. Remember, it’s not about sugar-coating or sucking up, but rather being civil and constructive. Think about feedback in our modding community: useful suggestions phrased politely are helpful, while snarky and rude comments tend to be tuned out.

Finally, our NBA 2K24 Wishlist will cover both versions of the game. Naturally we’ll be advocating for the PC version and modding, so by all means give feedback along those lines! As always, there’s no guarantee that all of our wishes will be granted, but speaking up gives them a much better chance than if we stay silent. Please get involved, as we’re looking to submit the Wishlist to the development team ASAP. That way, we stand a better chance of seeing our feedback put to use in NBA 2K24.

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 amount of patches that modern basketball video games – primarily NBA 2K – tend to receive.

One of the interesting changes within the basketball gaming community is the general reaction to official patches. In the early days of the genre, when patches were only available for the PC releases, we were usually excited and grateful to get them. This of course can be ascribed to their rarity. It often took petitions and prompting from the community to get those title updates, usually accompanied by a laundry list of bugs and other issues. Even so, not every NBA Live, or other PC release for that matter, would receive an official patch.

While we’re still glad to see official patches and desire the fixes they potentially bring, it’s fair to say that there’s more cynicism and wariness surrounding those updates. It’s not unheard of for patches to break the game, either by introducing a new bug, or by making an undesirable change to the gameplay. It’s raised the question as to how many patches per year are ideal. Between their size on console and the possibility of unwanted changes, too many patches can potentially lead to inconsistent quality and cumbersome downloads. On the other hand, too few title updates can leave several issues unresolved. With that in mind, what is the ideal number of patches to receive?

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We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with my thoughts on how there’s too much zero-sum thinking in the basketball gaming community.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the concept, zero-sum thinking involves perceiving situations as a zero-sum game; in other words, a scenario where a gain for one side means a loss for the other. Needless to say, this leads to a belief that mutual gain and benefits are impossible. Our success must come at the expense of someone else’s failure, and every situation involves a winner and a loser. Obviously there are zero-sum games and scenarios where this is true, but a bias towards zero-sum thinking does result in fallacious assertions.

Needless to say, zero-sum thinking occurs in a number of matters, many of which are more serious than basketball gaming. However, since that’s what we cover here at the NLSC, that’s the context I’m discussing here today. If you’ve observed or partaken in the discourse in the wider basketball gaming community, you’ll have encountered zero-sum thinking, even if you didn’t recognise or label it as such. Again, it’s hardly unique to basketball gaming, and is inevitable when passionate people have different ideas about their hobby. That doesn’t mean we can’t call it out though, because it does foster toxicity, and doesn’t help in the development of better basketball video games.

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