Tag Archives: NBA 2K23

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 2K has been swinging the ban hammer with NBA 2K27.

Back on September 24th, 2K announced that they were following up on a pledge they made to NBA 2K27 gamers back in August to curb cheating. In an effort to protect the online scene from gamers using cheats and scripts to gain an unfair advantage, 2K issued what they described as the “first wave of permanent bans”. To that end, while some cheaters may have escaped action being taken against their account this time, 2K isn’t done swinging the ban hammer. Their announcement warns that they’ll stay on top of the situation, and that their detection methods are constantly improving.

For the most part, this news has been welcomed by the community, and rightfully so. Cheaters and hackers ruin the fun for everyone that desires fair competition, which I’d suggest is most people who play NBA 2K. Even the online elitists who favour a style that doesn’t resemble real basketball generally still want to perform those moves and strategies legitimately. With that being said, there have been issues. While the bans have clearly been effective in shutting down cheaters, it appears that at least some innocent gamers have been caught in the crossfire. There’s also the potential for 2K to swing the ban hammer maliciously, undermining a normally justified course of action.

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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 the shallowness of the now all-too-popular phrase “it’s not that deep”.

Even without mentioning my age or nostalgically reminiscing about the sound of a dial-up modem or Yahoo! GeoCities, it’s clear that I’m a veteran of pre-social media internet. I mean, the fact that I’m writing an article as opposed to producing short form video content is an indication of that! However, there’s also the fact that I have fond memories of reading and making lengthy posts as part of back and forth discussions in our Forum and other message boards. After all, the ability to discuss and debate like that was a hallmark of being a keen and knowledgeable fan.

Nowadays of course, brevity is the trend. Sure, deep dives remain popular content, and you will see lengthy posts being made. However, it only takes a paragraph for a post to be derisively called an “essay”. Caring enough to write more than a single sentence – indeed, caring enough to comment at all – is likely to draw a response of “it’s not that deep”. Like so many online comebacks and catchphrases, it’s become incredibly cliché. More often than not, rather than believing that the person on the receiving end has been put in their place and made to look foolish, it leaves me thinking that the person who trotted it out is incapable of any kind of deep thought.

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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 marking it being 25 years since Michael Jordan declared “I’m Back” for the second time.

25 years ago this Friday, Michael Jordan announced that he was returning to play for the Washington Wizards. Although His Airness had previously insisted that he was “99.9% certain” that his retirement in 1999 marked the end of his career, it turned out that the odds of him declaring “I’m Back” – again – were much higher than that! That’s not to say that MJ wasn’t being truthful about his feelings and intentions at that point in time. It’s been noted that when his friend and NHL great Mario Lemieux made a comeback in 2000, it inspired Michael Jordan to consider a return of his own.

And so on, on September 25th 2001, Michael Jordan relinquished his ownership stake in the Washington Wizards, and signed a two-year deal to play for them. As was the case when he declared “I’m Back” in 1995, the basketball world was captivated by rumours of a potential return before it was made official. I reflected on Michael Jordan’s comeback with the Wizards five years ago to mark the 20th anniversary of the announcement, but there are a couple of new things to talk about, particularly in regards to the virtual hardwood. To that end, let’s take a look back…way back…

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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 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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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 the changes to 2K Pro-Am still sting all these years later.

I had a blast playing 2K Pro-Am with our squad, NLSC THRILLHO, in NBA 2K16 and NBA 2K17. Our Friday evening sessions were always something to look forward to, and indeed with NBA 2K17, we’d sometimes jump on a few times a week. Sadly, NBA 2K18 wasn’t really to our liking, which put an early end to those 2K Pro-Am sessions. However, while NBA 2K19 was an improvement on the sticks, it delivered a much bigger blow with the changes it made to 2K Pro-Am. One change in particular made it far less viable for us to jump into games.

As I’ve said before, I’m really enjoying my basketball gaming these days. Breaking the habit of grinding up a MyPLAYER to play online, repeating the same journey as an NBA rookie along the way, was absolutely for the best. It’s been great to get back to some franchise gaming, dust off old favourites, discover new retro kicks, and play whatever I like since I don’t have to dedicate countless hours to levelling up a brand new avatar every year. With that being said, there are times that I miss those 2K Pro-Am sessions, and what the mode used to be like. Even though I’m happy with what I’m doing on the virtual hardwood nowadays, the changes to 2K Pro-Am still sting.

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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 I’m not too excited by the fact that NBA 2K27 previews are coming very soon.

July is right around the corner, which means another NBA 2K preview season is looming on the horizon. Naturally, we’ll be covering all of the NBA 2K27 news and previews as they’re posted, both with bulletins summarising the key information and by discussing the latest details on the NLSC Podcast. As always, it’ll be interesting to see what the developers have cooked up this year, and to join Dee in providing some trustworthy analysis and commentary before and after release. To be perfectly honest however, I wish that I were more excited about seeing those NBA 2K27 previews.

That’s not to say that I’m completely disinterested, or that I won’t be locked in as we cover the preview season. Yes, I’ll be getting NBA 2K27 for content and collection purposes, and ideally I’ll end up enjoying it as well. Unfortunately, after the last three NBA 2K games, I’m not entirely optimistic that I will. That dulls my enthusiasm for the forthcoming NBA 2K27 previews, as I’m not expecting to see any of the changes and additions that would get me excited about this year’s release. Of course, my lack of excitement could actually work in my favour. By tempering my expectations I’ll either avoid disappointment, or in the best case scenario, be surprisingly delighted.

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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 criticism is vital, as the ability to critique and display knowledge separates the fans from the Stans.

NBA The Run was released last week, and the resulting reception and discourse hasn’t been surprising. Some people are enjoying the game, and having had some fun with it myself, I’m not shocked to hear that. Others feel the gameplay is a bit disappointing, and are critical of the lack of offline modes. I tend to agree with many of those points. And then, there are the people trying to shout down all criticism of NBA The Run. They’re decrying critics as haters who are bad on the sticks and out of touch with modern gaming, all because they dared to have negative (yet reasonable) opinions.

I saw it coming. This toxic positivity, this strong emotional investment in a video game to the point where you take any criticism of it personally, has been brewing long before the game’s release. As I said last week, I think that aspect of the community that NBA The Run has cultivated is potentially going to be very damaging. Dee and I will be reviewing NBA The Run on this week’s NLSC Podcast, so I won’t be going into too much detail about the game itself here. However, I do want to reflect on this toxic Stan culture in gaming, because it isn’t just NBA The Run. Somewhere along the line, too many people have decided that “real fans” shouldn’t engage in criticism.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #632 of the NLSC Podcast!

Although we’ve been playing basketball video games for decades now, the hobby is still capable of surprising us. To that end, what are some of the biggest surprises – both positive and negative – in basketball gaming in 2026? This week we’re sharing and discussing what amazes and astonishes us when it comes to the virtual hardwood, from the quality of the games and modern design philosophies, to the lack of competition and changes in community attitudes. That includes touching on the shift in modding culture, and the general discourse when it comes to basketball gaming issues. Our listeners also weigh in with what surprises them the most – for better or worse – with basketball video games today.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 58:50 — 40.8MB)

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!

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 MyNBA Eras has made it unlikely that we’ll see any new classic teams added to NBA 2K.

Way back in 2016, I posted a Friday Five listing five classic teams that I’d like to see included in future NBA 2K games. I revisited the topic with a second article in 2018, and it ultimately became an ongoing Friday Five series. Some of those squads have since been added to the games. No, I’m not trying to take credit for that! Many of those additions were very popular and obvious choices, so I highly doubt that I had any influence here. Nevertheless, I’ve enjoyed seeing the selection of classic teams expand, and there’s never any harm in throwing out suggestions.

However, the most recent instalment in that series – Part 13 – was back in 2022. There are a few reasons why I haven’t circled back to that topic for just over four years now. For a start, at this point I’ve already covered many of the teams that I’m interested in. Again, some are already included in the games, while others are unlikely to be added. As I’ve discussed before, this generation of NBA 2K games has left me cold, so I’m less enthusiastic about discussing ideas for future releases in general. On top of that though, the addition of MyNBA Eras makes it seem far less likely that we’ll see new standalone classic teams. Of course, it could be argued that that’s actually for the best.

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It’s always great to see new modding tools being released in the community, especially when they’re free of charge! To that end, SexCurryBeats has released 2KVenueLab, a comprehensive utility that includes tools for NBA 2K11 right through to NBA 2K26.

As per the description, the key features of 2KVenueLab are as follows:

• IFF viewer/exporter
• POD/mobile file support
• Archive tools
• Package staging/restore
• OBJ export
• Browser previews
• Roster editor tools
• For NBA 2K11-2K26

Pick it up here in our Downloads section! Shout out to SexCurryBeats for providing this modding resource, and several other mods and contributions throughout the years.

Also, thanks as always to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

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 there are times that I miss dice roll shooting mechanics in basketball video games.

At this point, it’s a safe bet to say that Green Releases will remain a fixture of NBA 2K’s shooting mechanics moving forward. It’s just a matter of how they’re handled, and whether there are any additional controls and mechanics such as shot aiming or rhythm shooting with the right stick. In recent years, the “Green or Miss” approach to shooting has been particularly contentious. On one hand, it rewards skilful input with a guaranteed result (blocked attempts notwithstanding). On the other hand, it’s not necessarily accessible, or preferable for offline play.

It’s funny to revisit the discourse around Green Releases back in 2017, when Mike Wang spoke of a desire to wean gamers off of the idea that they should be guaranteed baskets. “Green or Miss” certainly goes against that aim, demonstrating how attitudes have changed as NBA 2K has increasingly catered to the online scene. Personally, I’m in favour of Green Releases being guaranteed, very good or near-perfect releases still being reliable, and then progressively lower odds of success as the timing gets worse. To that point, while I wouldn’t change the approach of Green Releases always being successful, I must admit that I sometimes miss the old dice roll shooting mechanics.

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Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee! 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, send Dee a message, or hit him up on X.

A couple of games are making their debut in the NLSC Top 10 Plays this week, including a title that won’t be out until June! A high-flying highlight from NBA The Run soars into the countdown, courtesy of the closed beta that took place this week. You’ll also find the flashy play that Dee and I discussed in Episode #628 of the NLSC Podcast, which came from our session with the PlayStation 2 version of NBA 2K11. Additionally, five other games provide the goods with poster dunks, breathtaking alley-oops, and clutch shots. 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.

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 real agendas have been infiltrating the virtual commentary in basketball video games.

The other day, I saw a social media post praising the positivity of the NBA on Prime crew’s coverage of a Lakers game. It drew comparisons with Inside the NBA, opining that Shaq in particular would’ve been negative in his commentary. It echoes recent remarks from Nick Wright, who at least tried to couch his callout with compliments. Back in November last year, Nikola Jokic wrapped up an interview with the NBA on Prime crew by calling it “much better“; a not-too-subtle jab at the lack of positivity he’s endured from other analysts, including the notoriously petty Shaq.

As much as I have my quibbles with the modern game, I can’t entirely disagree. When I first got into basketball, the NBA and its stars were presented as being part of a great ongoing legacy. That’s how it should be today. The problem is that in recent times, past generations have been disrespected in a way that I couldn’t imagine back in the 90s. Talking heads like Nick Wright have been a big part of that smear campaign – the “plumbers and dentists” rhetoric – so it’s rich to hear him plead for intergenerational peace and respect now. It’s bad enough that agendas like his plague coverage of the real NBA, but these days we have to listen to them in video game commentary too.

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Today’s NBA 2K23 mod releases are re-uploads of the FHSH 2K23 Roster and a face update for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Check them out at the links below, and shout out to TGsoGood for the assist in archiving these mods!

JohnsonEM
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Face (Multiple Hairstyles)

Multiple creators
FHSH 2K23 Roster

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #620 of the NLSC Podcast!

The NBA 2K series has been packed full of retro content for over a decade now, but despite some major additions throughout the years, the overall quality still leaves us wanting. After reflecting on the issue of quantity over quality and the general lack of care for classic teams and players, we join the community in discussing how we’d enhance the retro content in future NBA 2K games. From fixes and updates that are absolutely essential to some more ambitious ideas that would make the retro content even more fun to use, there’s plenty that can and should be done. We also touch on how this lack of attention to detail is also already affecting the new collegiate content that recently debuted in NBA 2K.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 52:48 — 36.6MB)

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!