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 the harsh reality of PC basketball gaming.
I won’t say that I’ve never been one to engage in tribalism with my various fandoms. Back in the 90s, I was a Nintendo kid. That meant in my mind, Nintendo ruled, Sega sucked, and all of the blast processing in the world couldn’t convince me otherwise. In the Monday Night Wars, I was Team WWF, and outside of local indie promotions here in Australia, WWE is still my wrestling company of choice. When it comes to basketball, my allegiance is to the Chicago Bulls. While that doesn’t mean I hate every other team, there are absolutely a few that I’ve actively cheered against!
In short, while I believe tribalism makes fandoms incredibly toxic, I can’t claim that I’ve always been above it. However, one war that I’ve never taken a side in is the whole Console vs. PC debate among gamers. That’s because I’ve always played games on both, going right back to my introduction to console and PC gaming, the Mattel Intellivision and TI Basic respectively. Some of my favourite games only came out on consoles, some only came out on PC, and some – including basketball games – came out on both. PC basketball gaming is what our community was built upon, and I’m obviously a big fan of it, but there’s a harsh reality with the platform we must face.
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.
This week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays features an impressive re-creation of one of Allen Iverson’s most iconic ankle breakers, which long-time basketball gamers may recognise from his highlight reel in the menu of NBA Live 07 PC. It’s a timely submission given the recent unveiling of AI’s statue, but the rest of the countdown is packed with evergreen highlights including wild alley-oops, vicious poster dunks, and ankle breaking moves that would earn The Answer’s stamp of approval. Seven games are featured this week, from NBA Live 96 through to NBA 2K24. 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 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 limitations in basketball video games that actually have a sensible explanation.
It’s always frustrating when we encounter limitations in basketball video games that stand in the way of having fun with them. It’s even more frustrating when those limitations aren’t present in other games – in some cases, in the very same series – which suggests that it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. However, that doesn’t mean that there weren’t technical roadblocks when a particular game was released, or a reason for a particular feature or function being designed a certain way. Quite often, there’s a sensible and reasonable explanation for these limitations.
Of course, that doesn’t necessarily make it less frustrating, especially if we don’t learn the reason until much later. Furthermore, in the early days of basketball video games, we couldn’t be blamed for dreaming big as far as the things we wanted to see, and video game developers have clearly had similar visions. To that end, some limitations have been overcome as technology has improved, and programmers have found a way to make ambitious ideas work. Even so, it’s important to acknowledge that there are sensible explanations as to why those limitations were once in place, or why a mode or feature is still restrictive by design. Here are five that we’ve often grumbled about!
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 a fear of losing and having a bad time in NBA 2K’s connected modes has poisoned the online scene.
It’s been a familiar sight since the introduction of The Neighborhood in NBA 2K18. Plenty of MyPLAYERs running around or just standing there idly, while others wait at the Got Next spots, hoping in vain to get the numbers to play a game. Meanwhile, in The Rec, MyPLAYERs enter the locker room, only to quickly exit before a game can begin. Naturally, you stand a much better chance of getting a game if you’re with friends, but the hub world concept is intended to encourage gamers to socialise and form impromptu squads for pick-up games. It hasn’t quite worked out that way!
To put it bluntly, there’s a fear of losing in MyCAREER’s connected modes. No one enjoys losing of course, but when the fear of taking an L is so great that you’d rather not even play, that’s a big problem! At the same time, there are legitimate concerns about the quality of the online experience. It isn’t just about not wanting to lose, but also having no desire to team up with selfish players and trolls who are going to make it incredibly difficult to win. Between some people taking things so seriously that they don’t want to risk a loss, and others not wanting to jump into a game knowing that it’s going to be a bad time, the online scene in NBA 2K remains shockingly substandard.
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.
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!
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 drawing some interesting comparisons between five pairs of basketball video games.
It’s difficult to make comparisons these days without stepping on anyone’s toes, or drawing pedantic complaints if the likenesses are imperfect, or esoteric. Consider the scorn that Phil Jackson received when he compared Steph Curry to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Many fans sneered because Curry has reached greater heights than Abdul-Rauf ever did, putting up bigger numbers and achieving more fame and success. However, Jackson’s comparison was apt in the way that he meant it: their styles and the way they got shots off are very similar. He wasn’t saying the two were equals as players.
Comparisons are not always one-to-one, and they are not meant to suggest that the objects in question are identical. To refer to the old “apples and oranges” idiom, while there are many ways in which they aren’t comparable, apples and oranges are both fruit that grow on trees. Also, along with bananas, they’re a commonly recognised and popular fruit compared to, say, durians. My point is that while some of the basketball game comparisons I’m making here today may seem bizarre, there are interesting commonalities in their quality, approach, and vibe. I’m not saying that these games are completely alike, but rather in some ways, they’re oddly reminiscent of each other.
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 a lack of true role-playing opportunities with your MyPLAYER in MyCAREER.
It’s been interesting to see the birth and subsequent evolution of career modes in basketball video games. Putting aside the story-driven campaign in Sony’s NBA series, or the single season experience in the PlayStation 2 version of NBA Live 09, the first true career mode came with NBA 2K10’s My Player. That name eventually morphed into MyPLAYER and was given to our avatars, while the mode itself was re-branded as MyCAREER. NBA 2K14 brought a more cinematic approach to the mode, and since then, MyCAREER has essentially become a basketball MMORPG.
While the core concept of MyCAREER remains the same – you’re an NBA rookie with an opportunity to play through a career in the league – these changes have obviously impacted the on-court and off-court experience. Ironically, as the mode has become more and more RPG-based, there’s actually been less opportunity to role-play with your MyPLAYER! Where we were once left to use our imaginations and project a personality onto our avatars, we’re saddled with a character that’s following a script. Whether it’s by limiting our choices, or putting the story on rails via cutscenes, there are undoubtedly times when our MyPLAYER doesn’t feel like it’s our player.
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.
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 we might be reaching the end of the road as far as NBA 2K coming out on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Although I don’t support Next Gen Elitism any more than other forms of gatekeeping, there is a valid point when you sift through the snobbery. At some point, support does have to end for older hardware and software alike. It’s the same reason that, as much I dislike the timeframe and impact of NBA 2K’s server shutdowns, I do understand the practice. I can even relate it back to my time creating roster updates for NBA Live. As more and more gamers moved on to playing NBA 2K on PC, it was increasingly hard to justify the time and effort needed to mod games that were no longer as popular.
That’s just for mods that cost nothing to produce, and are freely available. Once the majority of gamers have moved on to the latest generation of consoles, it makes sense – technically and financially – for developers to leave the previous one behind. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the reality of the situation. With an annual release like NBA 2K, there’s always the question of how long the previous generation will still be supported. While I don’t have any official word about this – this is absolutely just me speculating – the series’ history and the handling of NBA 2K24’s preview season and post-release support subtly hint at this being the end of the road for PS4 and X1.
From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #504 of the NLSC Podcast!
If you can believe it, last Wednesday marked a decade since NBA 2K14’s release on PlayStation 4! As such, this week we’re celebrating the tenth anniversary of a truly iconic game, and a personal favourite. That includes looking back to our first impressions of both versions of NBA 2K14, reminiscing about the countless hours we’ve spent with them right through to today, and reflecting on the PC modding scene. We also read out some memories of NBA 2K14 that the community shared with us. Additionally, we have some fantastic basketball gaming sessions from the past week to catch up on, including a game of NBA Live 16 that makes us wistful about yet another missed opportunity for EA Sports.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:27:40 — 60.6MB)
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 #503 of the NLSC Podcast!
We’re all about good vibes and enhancing everyone’s basketball gaming, from recommendations about an Android emulator that allows you to play mobile games on your PC, to advocating for freely available mods! Fortunately, we do still have people releasing some great projects free of charge, including wiscard_rush who has just completed a great 2009 season roster for NBA Live 10 PS3. This leads us to join the community in speculating on why we’re not seeing anywhere near as many mods for NBA 2K24 as we have for previous games. We also ask the community which console they’d choose if they could only have one for life, and what they consider to be the turning points for NBA Live and NBA 2K.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:17:51 — 53.8MB)
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 #499 of the NLSC Podcast!
Last week, we imagined the ideal gameplay for NBA 2K and NBA Live by combining our favourite mechanics from previous games. This week, we’re imagining the worst possible NBA Live and NBA 2K by cobbling together our least favourite mechanics; in other words, we’re describing how NOT to make a basketball game! We also revisited NBA Live 07 and NBA 2K18 ahead of that exercise, and suffice to say, that helped us with some of our selections! On a more positive note, we reflect on some fun sessions with NBA 2K6, Blacktop in NBA 2K14, and NBA Jam: On Fire Edition using the Legends On Fire Edition mod, and a recently released fixed roster for NBA 2K10 PC.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:19:31 — 55.0MB)
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 candid thoughts on elitist attitudes regarding the Next Gen consoles, and how they’ve been frequently disproven.
So, look. Getting older has its drawbacks. Creaky knees, more responsibilities, and existential dread all come to mind. At the same time, it has its perks! One of them is that you care a lot less about trends than you used to. When high school is rapidly becoming a smaller and smaller speck in the rear view mirror, you don’t really care if you’re not on the cutting edge of fashion, or not completely au fait with the latest slang. Youthful status symbols become increasingly meaningless when you’ve been out of school longer than you were ever in it.
Well…to a point. Not everyone enjoys being completely out of touch, even if you’re still generally comfortable in your own skin. More to the point, if you’re a content creator, then you have to care about trends, algorithms, and current events, at least to some extent. Unless you’re exclusively covering retro gaming, you’re going to need hardware that plays the latest titles. To that end, I do have a gaming PC capable of running new NBA 2K releases, as well as a PlayStation 5. I also have an interest in other genres of games, so it makes sense to invest in those platforms. What doesn’t make sense is the elitism that I see regarding ownership of Next Gen consoles.
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 by making a case for releasing basketball video game demos.
It’s strange how when I think of basketball video game demos, they feel like such an antiquated concept. That may be because video game demos in general have fallen out of vogue – much as shareware did – but it hasn’t actually been that long since we had a demo for an upcoming hoops title. The last NBA Live demo came in 2018, while we had a small preview of NBA 2K21 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Now, that is indeed going back a few years at this point, but for some reason those demos don’t immediately come to mind. Instead, demos seem like a relic of the 90s and 2000s.
Of course, one could very well argue that that’s when basketball game demos were far more relevant. There was legitimate competition between NBA Live and NBA 2K right through to the end of the decade. The preview season for both games began around June, and there was a steady stream of information as they competed for attention and pre-orders. There was value in both companies dropping a demo a few weeks before the full version was released, to show off a few key improvements and possibly change some minds. Even with NBA 2K’s virtual monopoly over basketball gaming, however, I maintain that there’s still value in providing a pre-release demo.
NLSC Your source for basketball video games.
