Tag Archives: NBA 2K22

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!

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #540 of the NLSC Podcast!

August tipped off with the first gameplay trailer for NBA 2K25, as well as a courtside report outlining the key improvements that we can expect to see. This week, we join the community in sharing our thoughts on what we saw in the trailer, as well as our reactions to the changes, additions, and promises that were described in the developer blog. To that end, we also note some familiar claims and talking points from previous preview seasons. We also discuss the new arcade-exclusive title NBA Superstars – a release heavily inspired by NBA Jam, and featuring the legendary Tim Kitzrow on commentary – and provide detailed hands-on impressions following a lengthy session with the game.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:29:01 — 61.5MB)

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!

Unfortunately, as the years have gone by, we’ve not only lost mods for NBA Live and NBA 2K, but also a handful of modding tools. Whenever we can recover those lost files and resources, we’ll do our best to preserve them so that they’re readily available for anyone who wants to go back to play and create mods for old favourites.

To that end, a recent post in the Forum asking about Looyh’s Hook for NBA 2K22 prompted me to dig into my archives to see if I could mirror it. Not only did I find it, but I also discovered a couple of other modding tools for various NBA 2K games that I was able to add to our Downloads section.

These include Looyh’s Hooks for NBA 2K20 and NBA 2K21, along with some of his other tools. V0.96 of gregkwaste’s NBA 2K17 3D Importer/Exporter has proven difficult to track down, but I did find V0.95 in my archives, so in the meantime we can at least preserve that release. Similarly, I was only able to find V1.1 of Looyh’s File Export Console utility for NBA 2K21, but if V1.2 can be tracked down, I’ll upload it accordingly.

A very overdue addition is FlyingFinn’s roster editor for NBA 2K9 PC! That tool has been available as an attachment in the original Forum topic since 2009, but as it’s in a reply to the original post, it’s obviously very easy to overlook. As such, it’s now also in the Downloads section for safekeeping and easy access.

You can find links to all of the NBA 2K modding tools that I’ve re-uploaded and mirrored below; all credit to the original authors, of course! As always, if you have anything in your archives and backups that the community could benefit from – be they mods, utilities, or other resources – please feel free to add them to our Downloads section! Just be sure to credit the original authors, and also ensure that they haven’t stated that they don’t want their work to be posted or mirrored anywhere else.

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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 some thoughts on how the ninth generation has been a disappointment for me so far.

I was eager to get a PlayStation 5 as soon as possible back in 2020, and was fortunate enough to snag one during the second wave of pre-orders at my preferred retailer here in Australia. It was essential in order to cover the Next Gen version of NBA 2K that tipped off the ninth generation that November, and there are obviously other games that I’m interested in as well. However, to be completely honest, the ninth generation has been a significant disappointment for me so far. None of the NBA 2K titles on PS5 have held my attention for an entire year, nor have I been tempted to revisit them.

To that point, I’ve mostly been using my PlayStation 5 to play MyCAREER in NBA 2K14! It’s not just the virtual hardwood that’s left me feeling uninspired by the ninth generation, either. I was also disappointed by Mortal Kombat 1, though not so much for its gameplay. This is where somebody might suggest that I’ve “outgrown” video games, or that I’m simply out of touch with modern trends. Given some of the trends that have emerged in video games – basketball or otherwise – I’d actually consider that to be a point of pride! Look, I can’t deny a couple of Grumpy Old Man opinions, but when it comes to the ninth generation, I truly believe my disappointment is justified.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #535 of the NLSC Podcast!

While there have been some outstanding basketball video games throughout the years, none of them have been universally liked, and sometimes you just won’t vibe with a title that most other gamers seem to enjoy. This week, we join the community in discussing some of the games that have been popular with our fellow virtual hardwood enthusiasts, but for one reason or another, we just couldn’t get into. We also share some more stories of playing real basketball, and react to an illuminating article that details some of the sneaky tactics that occur behind the scenes in games with pushy recurrent revenue mechanics, some of which may well be employed by Take-Two.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:42:05 — 70.5MB)

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!

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.

May the 4th be with you, basketball gamers! With this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays falling on a day that’s obviously very special to Star Wars fans – no matter what side of The Force you’re on – the countdown not only features players defying gravity, but also a couple of familiar faces from a galaxy far, far away. As always, it’s not just about spectacular virtual hardwood moments but also entertaining variety, as eight different titles are on display from NBA Live 2001 all the way 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.

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #522 of the NLSC Podcast!

Obviously we’re big fans of and advocates for PC gaming, but are the benefits worth the drawbacks and potential expense in 2024? You can probably guess our short answer to that question, but nevertheless, this week we join the community in discussing the pros and cons of PC gaming – basketball and otherwise – while also recommending price ranges for anyone in the market for a new rig. We also share our expectations as far as NBA 2K25 coming out on PC and possibly being a port of the PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X version, talk about Steam sales and other bargain hunting, and preview some roster projects for NBA 2K6 on Xbox 360 while once again encouraging minimalist modding on all platforms.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:22:42 — 57.2MB)

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!

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!

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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 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.

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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 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.

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The beginning of a new year always sees us bidding farewell to online support for a recent NBA 2K title, and 2024 is no exception. As you will have noticed if you’ve fired up the game since the clock ticked over to January 1st 2024, the NBA 2K22 servers have now been shut down.

2K posted a reminder about the impending server shutdown for the 2021 release back in August last year, and it’s in line with their standard policy of 27 months of online support. As I’ve previously noted, 2K used to only promise 18 months of online support, but controversy in the wake of the NBA 2K14 servers being shut down led to them amending their approach.

Needless to say, with the NBA 2K22 servers being shut down, any modes and features that have online content are no longer available. This includes MyCAREER and its connected modes, MyTEAM, Play Now Online, and roster sharing. Obviously on PC, we’re able to share rosters the old-fashioned way independently of the in-game functionality, but this isn’t possible on console.

While there has been talk of reactivating servers for old games – and it did surprisingly happen for NBA Jam: On Fire Edition in 2022 – it’s generally highly unlikely. Nevertheless, it’s something that we can continue to advocate for as a community, as it never hurts to ask! As for NBA 2K22, while many people have likely already moved on – as is usually the case – we’ll of course continue to support it here at the NLSC as far as discussion, mod hosting, and modding resources.

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!

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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 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.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #506 of the NLSC Podcast!

A class action lawsuit is accusing Take-Two of theft, specifically in regards to NBA 2K’s predatory practices. In particular, it notes the loss of VC balance when the servers are shut down after 27 months. While we aren’t lawyers, we certainly do have some thoughts on the situation, as does the community! We also discuss the use of Cronus Zen controllers, and other methods of cheating in NBA 2K online. After all, as much as a technical fix is in order, there are other contributing factors that must be addressed. Meanwhile, comments on our YouTube channel have proven that people have some interesting interpretations of EA Sports’ famous slogan.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:19:15 — 54.8MB)

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!