Tag Archives: NBA 2K24

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 ensuring that the journey is worth the time and effort in basketball video games.

In recent years, there’s been a puzzling acceptance of the notion that we should have to work to have fun with the basketball video games we play. I’m not talking about the time and effort it takes to master strategies and stick skills, complete challenges, and level up accordingly. A game that’s over too quickly is generally unsatisfying, unless you’re attempting a speedrun. The best rewards and whatever counts as being 100% completion in a game shouldn’t be quick and easy to attain. For most people, it isn’t fun to be handed absolutely everything.

These are uncontroversial statements that I’m sure we can all agree upon. However, the sentiment has mutated into a bad faith argument about gamers wanting everything right away. That may be true of a scant minority of less patient basketball gamers, but most of us just want a rate of progression that’s fair and enjoyable, with rewards that make the journey feel worthwhile. Again, the key to that bad faith argument is in the wording: “you don’t want to put in the work“. A video game should not have to be treated like an occupation in order to be enjoyed, or feel like a rewarding journey. It’s therefore vital that any rewards system makes us feel like it was time well spent.

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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 anti-cheat measures in NBA 2K23 PC, and their effect on the modding scene.

The Season 6 patch for NBA 2K23 introduced some unexpected complications for the PC version. Specifically, it includes anti-cheat measures that interfere with looyh’s Hook tool, which as modders and mod users are all too aware, is an essential utility for modding. Naturally, this led to some understandable frustration. To state the obvious, modding is a big part of what we do in this community, and these anti-cheat measures resulted in a new barrier to creating and enjoying mods. Considering that the PC version is already a lower priority release, it’s a disappointing development.

Of course, ever since the PC began receiving ports of the PlayStation 4/Xbox One version of NBA 2K, official patches have presented a challenge to modding. The changes to the executable require utilities and Cheat Engine tables to be updated accordingly; something that wasn’t necessary when we were editing the roster files directly. It’s something that other modding communities have had to deal with for a long time, and we have ultimately been able to adapt. The addition of anti-cheat measures makes things tricky, which is obviously unfortunate. It also spotlights the needs of the online scene being at odds with the needs of the modding community.

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Welcome to March here at the NLSC, and the sixth annual March Modness! In case you’re unfamiliar with the event, throughout the month of March, we’re celebrating our modding community. Needless to say, modding is a big part of what we do all year round, but March Modness is a time to reflect on the hobby, and get even more productive and creative!

As usual, this also includes a giveaway. If you upload a mod for any basketball game to our Downloads section during March, and include “March Modness” in the description, you’re automatically in the draw to win a copy of NBA 2K24 PC later this year (full terms and conditions can be found below). Congratulations once again to last year’s winner, kobedurant!

You’ll also want to keep an eye out for my regular features throughout the month. I’ll be discussing some topics related to modding in Monday Tip-Off and The Friday Five, as well as taking a look back at some classic mods and modding tools in Wayback Wednesday. I’ve also got a couple of mod releases of my own lined up, and will be spending some further time in the “workshop”.

I’m looking forward to celebrating modding, seeing what our talented community creates, and getting in on the fun myself throughout March. A big thanks as always to everyone who contributes to our modding community!

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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 taking a look back at our very first Wishlist compiled for NBA Live 98, and how far basketball games have come since then.

On February 6th 1997, our founders submitted a Wishlist for NBA Live 98 on behalf of the community. It’s fun to look back at those suggestions now, and see just how many of them have been implemented in subsequent games. NBA Live was able to grant several of those wishes, and as NBA 2K became the premier brand in sim basketball titles, it also introduced features that once seemed like pipe dreams. Of course, going down that Wishlist, we can also see some ideas that unfortunately fell by the wayside after debuting, as well as some suggestions that weren’t so great.

Since Monday marked the 26th(!) anniversary of that very first Wishlist, I thought it’d be fun to go through it section by section, discussing what did eventually make it into video games, what still hasn’t, and in hindsight, what weren’t such great ideas. I believe it will demonstrate that feedback is (or certainly was) never in vain, as well as how far basketball video games have come as far as content, features, and mechanics. It may not always have been as we originally envisioned, but our wishes have indeed come true. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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As Dee and I noted in Episode #461 of the NLSC Podcast, with NBA 2K24 already in production, Wishlist season is upon us! Obviously there are many places that compile and submit feedback these days, but Wishlists have a long tradition here at the NLSC, so we’re putting together one for this year’s game.

You can find our NBA 2K24 Wishlist topic here in the NLSC Forum. Although there’s no strict format, in previous years our contacts at 2K have suggested sharing our top 15-20 suggestions across the board, or perhaps our top ten ideas in different categories (gameplay, modes, options, etc). From there, I’ll compile a list that covers a cross-section of the community’s most popular wishes.

While it’s important to provide detail (i.e. don’t just say “make gameplay better”; explain how), please avoid long-winded paragraphs that bury the actual feedback amidst rants and anecdotes. It’s vital to get to the point quickly, clearly, and precisely. Remember, it’s not about sugar-coating or sucking up, but rather being civil and constructive. Think about feedback in our modding community: useful suggestions phrased politely are helpful, while snarky and rude comments tend to be tuned out.

Finally, our NBA 2K24 Wishlist will cover both versions of the game. Naturally we’ll be advocating for the PC version and modding, so by all means give feedback along those lines! As always, there’s no guarantee that all of our wishes will be granted, but speaking up gives them a much better chance than if we stay silent. Please get involved, as we’re looking to submit the Wishlist to the development team ASAP. That way, we stand a better chance of seeing our feedback put to use in NBA 2K24.

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #461 of the NLSC Podcast!

Wishlist season is upon us once again, so we’re talking about the gameplay improvements that both we and the community want to see in NBA 2K24. It would appear that many of us are on the same page as far as what we want to see this year! Meanwhile, a Parsec session saw us resume our Road Trip in NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, and have some fun with Hoops for NES. A recent YouTube comment regarding NBA Live 99 also inspires us to discuss the importance of context when evaluating graphics in classic basketball video games. In this week’s mailbag, we’re quizzing the community on the top three-point shooters in NBA Live 06.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:17:51 — 53.8MB)

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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 we can improve the discourse around NBA 2K in 2023 (and beyond).

I realise there’s a certain futility in articles such as this. The people who read them are likely already in agreement with the message, while those who really need to heed such suggestions are unlikely to do so. In other words, I’m preaching to the choir while simultaneously yelling into the wind. Still, it never hurts to try! I don’t pretend that I have the reach or the words to eliminate toxicity from the discourse surrounding the NBA 2K series. Nevertheless, if it makes a few people think, or encourages a more positive example, it’s a worthwhile endeavour.

And yes, the word “toxic” gets thrown around a lot these days, but it’s not inaccurate. Mind you, because it’s so ubiquitous, it’s undoubtedly an uphill battle to change the culture of online discourse, whether it’s NBA 2K, real hoops, or basically anything else that we care to discuss with each other. As I said though, if it gets a few people thinking differently about NBA 2K discourse and critique, then in my view it’s worth a try. These are things that I believe we should keep in mind when we’re discussing the issues with NBA 2K and their possible solutions, and pretty much all discourse regarding the series. I promise that they’re not all phrased as stuffy “Do Nots”!

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