Tag Archives: Livin’ Da Dream

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 despite some interesting ideas here and there, MyCAREER keeps telling us the same old story.

When the Next Gen version of NBA 2K14 launched with the very first MyCAREER story, it was a bold attempt to innovate with the single player career experience. The mode had already been expanding since its debut in NBA 2K10 as My Player, but introducing a narrative with cutscenes and further role-playing elements continued to differentiate it from the franchise modes. Once 2K began working with big name filmmakers and actors, MyCAREER came to feature impressive production values and deeper stories, which I’ve come to appreciate.

There are some recurring problems with the story-driven approach to MyCAREER, of course. Not everyone is interested in flavour content like that, especially if they just want to build up a player for the online scene. The quality of the stories has varied over the years, with a few of them being very obnoxious in tone. There have been some distracting disconnections between the story and the MyPLAYER protagonist, where a very specific back story doesn’t suit the concept of avatar customisation. If nothing else, we’re not rated like we’re a future star! However, the biggest issue is that even in the best case scenario, we end up being told the same old MyCAREER story.

Read More »

In case you missed it, the NBA 2K26 MyCAREER trailer has been released. Right out of the gate, it reveals the title of this year’s tale: “Out of Bounds”. Interestingly, although Spike Lee provided voiceover for the trailer, unlike “Livin’ Da Dream” the story isn’t advertised a Spike Lee Joint. This suggests that while he may make a cameo, Spike Lee wasn’t involved in writing and producing it.

Once again, the MyPLAYER’s name will be MP. From the snippets in the trailer, we can glean that the story begins in high school. MP is looking to impress scouts, but is frustrated by the lack of attention being paid to his school in Vermont. At some point, he travels to Los Angeles to raise his profile, and is advised that the best stepping stone to the NBA would be to play in Europe first. Obviously the trailer doesn’t spoil anything by implying that he eventually makes it to the NBA – that is the point of MyCAREER after all – but as usual, there’ll be some cinematic twists and turns along the way.

Check out the NBA 2K26 MyCAREER trailer below! Got any thoughts on what you see? What’s your favourite MyCAREER story to date? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, as well as join in the discussion here in the Forum.

Read More »

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 another look back at the All-Time College DLC for NBA 2K17.

It’s funny what will prompt you to revisit certain games, and then keep playing them. Content creation is undoubtedly a factor. Revisiting NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4 on a whim led to a retrospective of MyCAREER, and in turn an ongoing adventure and an overdue appreciation for an amazing game. Hoping to grab a screenshot for an article, I dusted off NBA Live 18 to play through The One. It was a blast, and I once again developed a greater fondness for an older release, while also lamenting its wasted potential. I didn’t get the screenshot I wanted, but I ended up with something better.

I don’t take that for granted. In an age of disposable games, I appreciate any unique content and modes that remain available years later. That brings me to the All-Time College DLC for NBA 2K17, which inspired me to spend some more time with an old favourite after revisiting it for research. I did cover the DLC back in 2018, but I’m not entirely satisfied with that feature. Also, with EA (and apparently 2K) developing a new college basketball game, it’s seems only apt to revisit the last time that collegiate content was available outside of a specific mode. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

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 developing more of an appreciation for MyCAREER stories over the years.

I’ll admit that as a creature of habit, I can be resistant to change. I’d like to think that I’ve grown in that regard. For example, I’m no longer the really picky eater I was as a kid! When it comes to basketball video games, I’ve come to enjoy a number of titles that left a poor first impression, and modes that I never thought I’d be interested in. What still bothers me though is change for change’s sake, or any changes where the drawbacks outweigh the benefits. I think we can all relate to the frustration of having something we really like being drastically changed in a way we didn’t want or ask for.

That brings me to MyCAREER, and the stories that the mode has featured since 2013. Originally, I had no interest in the mode. I was a franchise gamer, after all! However, just as I overcame picky eating habits by deciding to try new cuisine, I came to enjoy MyCAREER after giving it a proper shot in NBA 2K13. A year and a new generation of consoles later, the mode introduced a narrative-driven approach, and I felt that it took away from an experience that I was now enthusiastic about. As such, I’ve been critical of MyCAREER stories, yet also fascinated by them. Now that I’ve finished all of the stories up to NBA 2K20, I now appreciate what they’ve meant for the mode.

Read More »

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 Vic Van Lier from NBA 2K16’s MyCAREER story “Livin’ Da Dream”, and media literacy in general.

When the NBA Centel’s Twitter/X was temporarily shut down in February, it led to an outpouring of support for the satirical social media account. Several teams dedicated their victories on February 26th to NBA Centel, and there was much rejoicing when it was reinstated. Unsurprisingly, the official NBA 2K account jumped on the trend, but took it a step further by including a headshot of Vic Van Lier in their tribute. While I’d normally be tempted to cite Alex Krokus’ “Life of a Meme” comic here, I have to tip my hat to 2K’s social media team for making an enjoyable reference.

Since then, NBA Centel’s account has been reinstated, which means they can go back to fooling alleged analysts into believing fictional stories. And while we’re on the subject of stories and media literacy, let’s talk about Vic Van Lier and Spike Lee’s “Livin’ Da Dream” in NBA 2K16. Quite a few people replied to 2K’s aforementioned post with memories of that tale, paying tribute to Vic Van Lier and referring to his fatal accident as one of the saddest moments in the history of MyCAREER. Look, entertainment is subjective, and we’re all entitled to our opinions. However, when it comes to Vic and NBA 2K16’s story, I have to wonder…did people pay attention?

Read More »

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 MyCAREER in NBA 2K15, and the experimental approach that it took.

After going back and finally playing through that first cinematic MyCAREER story in NBA 2K14 – and getting completely hooked on it – that left NBA 2K15 as the only eighth gen game whose tale I hadn’t completed. There are a couple of reasons for that. In 2014, I still hadn’t warmed up to the idea of a narrative-driven MyCAREER mode, and unfortunately, the NBA 2K15 MyPLAYER isn’t the most likeable protagonist to take control of! I was also trying to give NBA Live 15 a fair chance to impress, and actually ended up playing a lot of Ultimate Team that year.

However, you don’t produce a feature like Wayback Wednesday unless you’re willing to give games a second chance, and dive into the history of the virtual hardwood! To that end, I have gone back and finally properly played through MyCAREER in NBA 2K15. It does have its issues, in terms of both the story and the general experience, and some of my initial impressions were on the mark. At the same time, there is an enjoyable experience there, and the approach that it took was definitely an interesting experiment. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

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 players whose NBA careers could (and indeed, should) inspire future MyCAREER stories.

As I’ve previously discussed, there are some real players whose careers bear some entertaining similarities to a few of the stories we’ve had in MyCAREER. I’ll admit that making those comparisons made me see those tales differently, especially the saga of the NBA 2K15 MyPLAYER! I also still really enjoy how “The Way Back” in NBA 2K19 resembled Andre Ingram’s road to the NBA, including a debut towards the end of the regular season. Obviously that was coincidental, but it does make you wonder which other players have stories that would be suitable for MyCAREER.

Now, you might be inclined to say that just about every player who makes it to the NBA had an interesting journey that would be viable as a MyCAREER story. That’s true to an extent, but many of them – while impressive and compelling in their own way – are very similar and straightforward. They don’t necessarily set up a unique scenario from a narrative or gameplay standpoint. We’ve already seen a variety of MyCAREER stories from triumphant tales of highly-touted prospects to underdogs scrapping for opportunities. Again, we’ve even seen a DJ become an NBA star! So, could any real players provide a template for future stories? I believe I can name five.

Read More »

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 presentation of some MyCAREER story awards, which I’m calling The Grindies.

Believe it or not, we now have ten years’ worth of NBA 2K games that have featured a story in MyCAREER! The approach has been divisive, receiving plenty of praise and scorn alike. Generally speaking, the production values are held in high regard, particularly beginning with “Livin’ Da Dream” in NBA 2K16. Conversely, the way in which some stories have intruded on the gameplay experience has made the story-driven approach unpopular with other MyCAREER gamers. Nevertheless, it remains one of the most popular modes in NBA 2K, if only for the connected online scene.

As someone who has been a devoted MyCAREER gamer since NBA 2K13, I have mixed feelings about the mode featuring a linear story. In some ways it’s enhanced the experience, but it’s absolutely detracted from it as well. I’ve been critical of many of the stories, yet I also find them fascinating. It’s an interesting concept to evaluate, and given the debate about whether or not video games are art and a medium capable of in-depth storytelling, there’s a lot to sink our teeth into. And so, I’m going to hand out The Grindies: awards spotlighting the best and worst aspects of the MyCAREER stories to date. Why “The Grindies”? Well, if you play MyCAREER, you’ll know!

Read More »

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 outlines five changes that would fix some of the stories in MyCAREER.

As I’ve mentioned on several occasions, I have a love-hate relationship with the story-driven approach to MyCAREER. I can appreciate the production values and some of them have been enjoyable tales, but others have been poorly-written and intruded on the gameplay experience. I’ve made snarky jokes about them, but I also find them fascinating to analyse. Perhaps it’s because it feels like the concept of a MyCAREER story has so much promise, but the execution has too often hindered my enjoyment, or just been somewhat disappointing.

While I don’t believe in dismissing criticism with “let’s see you do better”, I do think that critique can be bolstered by identifying potential improvements. In other words, the fact that I’ve never written and produced a MyCAREER story doesn’t disqualify me from having an opinion on them, but I should be able to suggest ways in which the stories could improve rather than just dismissively calling them bad. On top of that, it’s an interesting exercise to consider just how much we’d need to change in order to provide – in my opinion, at least – a much better experience. With that being said, I’m going to give it a shot! Here are five changes that I’d make to MyCAREER stories.

Read More »

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 frank discussion of how MyCAREER absolutely sucks in NBA 2K23.

Whenever I talk about playing NBA 2K14 MyCAREER or upload videos, I anticipate a few different responses. There are lovely people who take an interest in that journey, and the updates that I share. It’s prompted a few people to reflect on the fun that they had with NBA 2K14, and either resolve to dust it off, or wistfully wish that they still could. And of course, there’s the occasional person scoffing at the idea of not playing the latest game. “There are people still playing NBA 2K14? Why?” Incidentally, I do actually play NBA 2K23, but not MyCAREER, because it sucks.

Part of me wishes that I could phrase that sentiment more eloquently, and less like a clickbait video. It’s always my aim to be constructive and analytical when I assess a basketball video game and its features, avoiding hyperbole and insulting phrasing as much as possible. In this case however, it’s a suitably succinct way of expressing the view that MyCAREER in NBA 2K23 has a strong case for being the absolute worst iteration of the mode to date. It’s not altogether surprising, as in many ways it’s a culmination of years of discouraging design choices. That doesn’t make it any less disappointing though, especially when earlier games provided superior experiences.

Read More »

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 MyCAREER story in NBA 2K20, titled “When The Lights Are Brightest”.

Following NBA 2K18’s ridiculous MyCAREER tale starring a prospect who quit basketball to be a DJ, finally makes it to the NBA following a streetball tournament, and is flanked by his annoying best friend/roommate B-Fresh, NBA 2K19 featured a much better written story. “The Way Back” not only boasted impressive production values from a cinematic standpoint, but also attempted to spice up the journey with mini-games and other interactive elements. It wasn’t perfect, but it stood out as one of the better MyCAREER stories, and a tough act to follow.

To that end, Visual Concepts collaborated with Maverick Carter and LeBron James on the story for NBA 2K20’s MyCAREER, “When The Lights Are Brightest”. Indeed, Carter, LeBron, and their production company, Springhill Entertainment, are credited on the cover as executive producers for MyCAREER. The story has been shelved for good following the shutdown of the NBA 2K20 servers, since MyCAREER is no longer playable. With that being said, what was the story, was it any good, and are we missing out since we’re now unable to revisit it? Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

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 2K Pro-Am in NBA 2K16, as well as how the mode has changed since then.

There was a time when I was very reluctant to play online. Technically that refers to the present day as well, as I no longer find the scene appealing in NBA 2K. To that point though, for a while I was far more enthusiastic about online play. I’d dabbled with it in the past, but was generally content to play franchise modes, or stick to the NBA side of MyCAREER. However, when Kenny invited Arcane and I to play 2K Pro-Am in NBA 2K16 along with community members The X, Valor, and zzcoolj21, we were hooked. NLSC THRILLHO was born!

Although some improvements were made to 2K Pro-Am following its introduction in NBA 2K16, I’d still say that the original incarnation of the mode is one of the best. The novelty of it being a fresh new experience certainly contributes to my nostalgia for it, but many of the changes to MyCAREER and the online scene since then have taken it in a disappointing direction. Once again though, that first version of 2K Pro-Am in NBA 2K16 was a blast, and that also carried over into NBA 2K17. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

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 how it’s been impossible to put NBA 2K14 MyCAREER aside for very long.

We’re approaching the tenth anniversary of NBA 2K14’s release. Not only was the PC version one of the most well-received and heavily-modded games in our community, but the PlayStation 4/Xbox One version was one of the most impressive launch titles in basketball gaming history. Of course, NBA 2K14 hasn’t been a frequent part of my rotation for the last ten years. As I’ve discussed in several articles and on the NLSC Podcast, sourness towards the brand and some iffy first impressions turned me off the game for years. Revisiting it on a whim in 2021 completely changed my mind!

Despite my burnout on MyCAREER, revisiting an earlier iteration of the mode in NBA 2K14 reminded me of why I was drawn to the career experience in the first place. When NBA 2K21 and NBA 2K22 failed to hold my attention, playing through multiple seasons in NBA 2K14 MyCAREER became a staple of my gaming habits for over a year. I put the game aside when NBA 2K23 came out, wanting to give the new release my full attention and a fair chance. Although I’ve enjoyed NBA 2K23 far more than its immediate predecessors and it remains in my rotation, so does NBA 2K14. Even if I’m not playing it every day, it isn’t long before I fire it up again.

Read More »

Welcome to The Sunday Substitute – the feature that barely gets a run in 2022 but still has a presence on The NLSC bench. Today I’m digging through my archives and starting a several-part series called The MyPLAYER Transaction Report. It’s where I chronicle the teams my created ballers have played across the NBA 2K and Live series.

Once I noticed that I was basically playing for a new team in every video game, I set a goal to play for all 30 teams in the NBA. This is an ongoing project, and at the time of writing, I’ve played for 28 out of 30 teams. What are the two franchises I haven’t played for yet? That could be another article in itself!

The parameters are simple: I had to play at least one game with each build. After all, regardless of whether it’s Kareem Abdul Jabbar or JamesOn Curry, an NBA player is an NBA player. This means I’ll also include all the secondary builds I created for achievement hunting. I’ll make sure to distinguish these as I go along.

For now, the best place to start the transaction report is at the very beginning. Let’s go all the way back to NBA 2K10!

Read More »

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 aspects of MyCAREER stories that are played-out at this point.

Honestly, I admire the ambition and creativity in some of the MyCAREER stories over the years. I can’t say that it’s prevented me from spending many enjoyable hours with the mode, and indeed, when I finally played through NBA 2K14’s tale, I had to admit that I’d been somewhat unfair towards it. However, there’s also a reason that I’ve been critical of MyCAREER featuring a cinematic narrative. Some of the tales have negatively impacted the gameplay experience, while others have just featured really bad writing and acting. Sometimes, the mode has been afflicted by both.

It’s a shame, as even when MyCAREER stories have fallen flat, it’s clear that a lot of effort has gone into them. Some prominent names have been involved with them, from filmmakers like Spike Lee to actors like Michael B Jordan. It wouldn’t be accurate to say that no one has any fond memories of MyCAREER stories, but they do tend to draw a considerable amount of scorn, especially in recent years. It’s not surprising of course, as many aspects of MyCAREER stories have become played-out over time, whether its tropes they employ, or their effects on gameplay. Either way, these five played-out aspects of MyCAREER stories have worn out their welcome.

Read More »