Tag Archives: NBA 2K13

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 things that I miss when I go back and play older basketball video games.

Retro basketball gaming is awesome, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! That isn’t to say that newer games aren’t great too, and I certainly sink hours into them as well. However, don’t let the naysayers tell you that all previous releases were inferior to their modern counterparts, and it’s only myopic nostalgia that allows you to enjoy them. Whether it’s the pervasive presence of recurrent revenue mechanics, a grind that feels more like tedious work than a fun and challenging journey, or a questionable design choice in the gameplay, newer is not always better.

By the same token however, it’s true that not everything was better in the “good old days”. Some ideas, or entire games, have aged poorly. We can also forget that even the classics have problems of their own. If nothing else, there are enhancements and additions in more recent basketball games that I miss when I go back and play old titles. Their absence doesn’t render those old games unplayable or unenjoyable, but you definitely do miss the fun and/or convenience that they added. Even if there’s an old approach that still has merit and would work fine, we’ve grown accustomed to a new way of doing things. Whatever the case, I miss these five things in old games.

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 countdown of my Top 25 favourite basketball video games, in celebration of another milestone here at the NLSC.

On Saturday, I celebrated my 22nd year of running the NLSC. It’s been a long ride with plenty of ups and downs, but I’m still very glad that I accepted the gig when Tim moved on to work at EA Sports, and that I stuck it out through some rough patches to enjoy the good times. To mark the occasion, I’ve decided to rank my Top 25 favourite basketball video games. This being my 22nd Anniversary as webmaster/admin of the NLSC, I was originally going to pick my Top 22 games. Top 25 has a better ring to it though, and it also serves as a belated 25th Anniversary celebration for the site itself!

Before we get to the countdown, let me emphasise once again that it is a Top 25 of my favourite basketball video games; not the Top 25 best hoops titles. That’s a different list, and if I were being more objective, there are games I’m listing here that wouldn’t make the cut. Because I haven’t spent as much time with certain NBA 2K, College Hoops, or NCAA Basketball/March Madness titles, I don’t have as much of an affinity for them, though that may well change in the future. I haven’t “forgotten” about those great basketball video games, but they haven’t become one of my personal favourites (as yet, anyway). With that being said, here are my Top 25 virtual hardwood classics!

Read More »

Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee4Three! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, or hit up Dee on Twitter.

It’s clear that many basketball gamers in our community love playing with historical rosters, so it’s no surprise that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant frequently appear in the NLSC Top 10 Plays. They’re in the countdown again this week, with the kind of spectacular plays that their real life counterparts often produced! The NBA Live 2001 Legends are also back, this time taking it to the rim with Steve Francis in NBA Live 2003. Indeed, aerial highlights remain the motif this week, as seven games spanning two decades are on display. Let’s get to the action!

What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.

Welcome to another instalment of The Sunday Substitute! After another lengthy hiatus, I’m coming back and continuing with my series within a series, The MyPLAYER Transaction Report. For anyone new here, it’s a series where I document the teams I’ve played for across the NBA 2K and Live titles.

This edition includes the two latest titles – NBA 2K22 and NBA 2K23 – with a detour in between. Indeed, this is the beginning of me getting a taste for the older titles. I’m noticing many of them are holding up better than I expected, even without their online features.

Perhaps it’s out of me longing for a time when MyCAREER wasn’t a gigantic cutscene with some basketball attached. Or maybe I just like going back and seeing the names that are no longer in the league. Shoutout to Gary Forbes, Toney Douglas, and Justin Harper – they were all my teammates at some stage in NBA 2K13. In any case, expect to see some older titles in future entries of this series.

For now, we start Part 5 with a familiar scenario: an alternate build. This time, I find myself north of the border, backing up a rising star in Pascal Siakam.

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 Dream Team in NBA 2K17.

They’ve often been cited as the greatest basketball team ever assembled. They swept their way to the gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, famously winning by an average of 44 points per game while never calling timeout. Eleven of its players are enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame for their individual accomplishments, and the team itself was collectively inducted in 2009. Eight years later, the team would also be inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame. Simply put, the Dream Team was a squad for the ages.

As far as the virtual hardwood is concerned, the Dream Team has made a handful of official appearances in video games. They were the cover stars of EA Sports’ Team USA Basketball, and were included in NBA 2K13; appearances that I’ve previously covered here in Wayback Wednesday. The most recent game to officially feature the Dream Team was NBA 2K17, an appearance that stands out as somewhat different – and indeed slightly controversial – compared to previous releases. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #487 of the NLSC Podcast!

We’re taking a look back at NBA Action 98 – the forerunner to NBA 2K on PC on Sega Saturn – after connecting to play a couple of games over Parsec. Naturally we compare it to NBA Live 98, as well as the PlayStation version, which was released as NBA Fastbreak ’98. We’ve also been drawn back to Ultimate Team in NBA Live 18, and reflect on the fun we’ve been having with our Legends squads. We also discuss a surprising teaser regarding MyCAREER in NBA 2K24, and our first virtual NBA Championships. In this week’s mailbag, we challenge the community to match Overall Ratings to the players in the default rosters of NBA 2K13.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 59:04 — 40.9MB)

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!

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 a forgotten NBA 2K14 MyCAREER game.

I’ve been having a blast with MyCAREER in the PlayStation 4 version of NBA 2K14 since I revisited it a couple of years ago to write a retrospective. I got hooked on it after giving NBA 2K14 PS4 a second chance following an uncommonly negative first impression, and it’s become one of my favourite basketball video games. It’s why I’m currently in my sixth season in that MyCAREER, with an eye towards somehow, some way, playing through to the current day. Truly experiencing an NBA career is far more fun than grinding and worrying about the online meta!

However, while that specific game is a fairly recent kick, it wasn’t actually my first foray into MyCAREER in NBA 2K14. When it was released, I did begin a new MyCAREER in the PC version of NBA 2K14, intending to continue the fun that I’d had in NBA 2K13. That didn’t come to pass, as I struggled to enjoy the game, and didn’t warm up to NBA 2K14 until almost a decade later. I did keep the save file though, and it was interesting to revisit it now that I have a more positive view of NBA 2K14. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

Because I’ve neglected to post bulletins for them over the past couple of weeks, it’s time for another roundup of recent uploads to the NLSC YouTube channel! In addition to the weekly Top 10 Plays and NLSC Podcast episodes, Dee and I are regularly uploading highlight reels from our basketball gaming sessions. To that end, some fun videos have gone up recently that you’ll really want to check out!

First up is a continuation of Dee’s campaign in NBA 2K23 MyTEAM Domination. This time, Dee plays through all three difficulty levels of the Orlando Magic challenge, with his squad sporting custom NBA Legends jerseys. There are plenty of spectacular moments as he truly dominates the competition!

Next up, I posted a quick reel of rookie Derrick Rose highlights in NBA Live 09 for PlayStation 3, from a game I played while grabbing some screenshots for future features. While I had my PS3 hooked up, I also revisited NCAA Basketball 09 and took on the 1992 Duke Blue Devils with the 1993 Michigan Wolverines, after adding real names for all of the players.

NBA 2K11 PC is a classic that stands the test of time, as Dee demonstrates with a game between the rival Celtics and Lakers. The authenticity is off the charts in this reel, not only spotlighting the realism in NBA 2K11’s gameplay, but Dee’s understanding of hoops and the players on the floor, and his ability to play beautiful sim basketball.

I’ve been playing NBA 2K6 recently, and I plan on covering it in Wayback Wednesday soon. In the meantime however, I had an exciting comeback victory with the Bulls when I took on the Knicks, with Ben Gordon leading the charge. I also had a blast putting some 90s Legends on the Rucker Park blacktop in Street mode; you might recognise a couple of the highlights from this week’s Top 10!

Finally, Dee revisited the PS3 version of NBA 2K13 – another game that holds up superbly – to take on the Bucks using the Wizards. You can check out all of those great videos below, as well as on the NLSC YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe for more great basketball gaming videos, and as always, feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play!

Read More »

Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee4Three! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, or hit up Dee on Twitter.

I know what you’re thinking. Of course we have poster dunks in this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays, but that isn’t all! You’ll also see players making uncanny no-look passes, breaking ankles, spinning into crazy finishes, and taking advantage of a wild sequence off of a missed free throw to slam home the putback. Retro rosters are on display, reminding us that young Ray Allen was more than just a shooter, and that Kobe Bryant was simply incredible. On top of that, six different games are represented in the countdown, spanning a decade from NBA 2K13 to NBA 2K23. Let’s get to the action!

What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.

Since it was released a little over twenty years ago, I’ve had mixed feelings about NBA Live 2003. It’s a landmark title due to the introduction of Freestyle Control, but its fast pace, arcade-leaning gameplay, and Courtside Comedy Cutscenes, have divided many basketball gamers. I’ve come to appreciate it more in recent years however, and to that point, I’m delighted to share an NBA Live 2003 retrospective by Nate of the Live 01 Legends!

In Part 1 of this documentary/retrospective, Nate discusses the need for the series to innovate following NBA Live 2002, and how that goal was achieved with the revolution of Freestyle Control. He compares the mechanic to NBA 2K’s Isomotion, and eventual adoption of right stick dribbling controls. It’s a well put together breakdown of what turned out to be a very significant game, and I’m honoured that Dee and I are featured by way of our commentary from the NLSC Podcast! Watch it below, or check it out here on YouTube.

As noted, a Part 2 of this retrospective is in the works, so stay tuned for that! I also encourage you to subscribe to the Live 01 Legends YouTube channel, and check out Nate and Roger’s other basketball gaming videos. You can also listen to our chat with Nate and Roger on the NLSC Podcast here. Finally, I also posted my own NBA Live 2003 retrospective as part of our 25th Anniversary of NBA Live celebrations a few years back, which you can read here.

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 Part 12 in an ongoing series looking at players who only appeared on certain teams in video games.

As I noted in Part 11 last month, in addition to bigger names, there are some lesser-known and remembered role players, journeymen, and bench warmers who ended up with phantom stints. I’ve gone back and forth on whether they’re worth profiling or not, since the prominent players that we all remember tend to be more interesting examples. Not only is there usually more to say about them, but as I also pointed out in Part 11, players who move around a lot and aren’t locks to be retained beyond training camp are more likely to have phantom stints captured in video game rosters.

Still, why should that disqualify them from being profiled? Besides, when you’re an NBA junkie, you’ll find that you remember some obscure names, even several years later! Video games undoubtedly help with that, from updating the rosters to making your own trades and signings in franchise modes. Indeed, my own memories of these players are definitely more closely tied to video games than the real NBA, with the exception of the one noteworthy name. Even then however, he’s been present in several of my franchise and career mode games over the years. Enjoy this list of role players, journeymen, and a notable name, whose phantom stints were made tangible!

Read More »

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #476 of the NLSC Podcast!

If you go could back and play any basketball video game for the first time, which one would it be? This week, we join the community in reminiscing about the hoops titles that we wish we could experience anew, because of how much we were floored by our first impressions of them. A couple of other games that we’ve since changed our minds about, and would’ve liked to have had a better first impression of, likewise get a mention! After playing it over Parsec, we also take a look back at NBA Inside Drive 2004, an Xbox exclusive from Microsoft that more than held its own against stiff competition from the other 2004 season releases.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:11:40 — 49.6MB)

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 #470 of the NLSC Podcast!

Which basketball video games rank among our most-played all-time? This week, we join the community in reminiscing about the various titles that we’ve racked up the most hours in over the years. We’re also able to talk about the NBA Jam: Legends On Fire Edition mod at last, and it’s no surprise that the community shares our enthusiasm for it! johnz1 will also be joining us to talk about the mod next week, so stay tuned. The Elite 8 of our NCAA Basketball 10 Tournament is in the books, so we reflect on the action thus far, and look ahead to the Final Four. We also pay tribute to the late, great Willis Reed.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:18:33 — 54.3MB)

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 #468 of the NLSC Podcast!

What better way to celebrate March Modness than by discussing some of our all-time favourite mods? We join the community in reminiscing about the mods that we’ve most enjoyed playing with, as well as the ones that inspired us to get into the hobby. We’re also sharing some stories behind creating fixes for games, and recap a session with a work-in-progress missing legends roster for NBA 2K10. The NLSC NCAA Basketball 10 Tournament has also tipped off with an intense game, and we’re looking forward to more great virtual hardwood action. Indeed, whether it’s picking up tools to mod or firing up favourites to play, we’re mad about basketball gaming this March!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:15:01 — 51.9MB)

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!

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 ways that the NBA 2K modding scene is better than what we had with NBA Live back in the day.

So, last week I discussed five ways that NBA Live modding was better than the NBA 2K modding scene. It’s always difficult to write an article like that without sounding like a grumpy old man yelling out clouds, and lamenting bygone days that were far from perfect if we’re being completely honest. As I acknowledged, there were issues in the NBA Live modding community, too. Some of them remain problems with NBA 2K modding, but there are others that we no longer have to deal with. It certainly isn’t all doom and gloom when it comes to tinkering with NBA 2K.

While the different approach to design and file structure has presented us with some new challenges, there are aspects of NBA 2K on PC that make modding much easier. As a community, we’ve also been able to build upon what we established, and take advantage of new technology to help each other out. I stand by what I wrote last week, because there are aspects of NBA Live modding that would be great to have when creating work for NBA 2K. However, there are exciting possibilities with NBA 2K modding, and it’s why I’m interested in getting more involved with it. Here are five ways that the hobby has improved since we started modding NBA 2K on PC.

Read More »