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.
Basketball gamers have been coming through in the clutch recently, as this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays has a distinct buzzer beater motif! It’s one of the few plays in basketball that can beat a spectacular dunk, but with that being said, this week’s countdown still features an assortment of exciting jams. Also, despite NBA 2K25 being fairly well-received so far, the classics are definitely still in many hoops gamers’ rotations. Incidentally, that includes a 2008 season title for PlayStation 3 which you’ll read about in Wayback Wednesday later this month. 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 #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)
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 the duality of MyNBA Eras.
Look, I realise how annoying it can be when someone qualifies their criticism with compliments. After all, it can come across as disingenuous, or too timid to stand by critique. Unfortunately, when the discourse is rooted in finding contrarian gotchas to dunk on someone who has dared to criticise what you like, it’s a necessary evil. On top of that, when it comes to a feature such as MyNBA Eras, credit where credit’s due. It’s a fantastic concept with some great features that once seemed like a pipe dream. I don’t want to downplay that.
However, there is a duality to MyNBA Eras. It’s impressive in so many ways, and yet rather underwhelming in others. There are aspects that feel lazy and lacking, despite the fact that a ton of hard work and effort has gone into the mode. The ambition is admirable, but there are examples of putting the cart before the horse. There’s depth to the experience, but there’s also quantity over quality. In short, MyNBA Eras is indeed awesome, but there are ways that it could and should be better. Some of them may be easier said than done due to matters of licensing, but to that point, it makes the mode simultaneously comprehensive and half-baked. This is the duality of MyNBA Eras.
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.
NBA 2K25 is out now, and the community hasn’t wasted any time in using it to create highlights for the NLSC Top 10 Plays! To that point, the new game makes a few appearances and has even produced the #1 play in its launch week. Retro gamers shouldn’t worry though, as the classics are still well-represented in the countdown, and will continue to be moving forward. You know what to expect by now: huge dunks, acrobatic layups, clutch plays, slick moves…everything that’ll get you fired up to hit the virtual hardwood this weekend. 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 #544 of the NLSC Podcast!
You know what really grinds our gears? This week, we take a page out of Peter Griffin’s book, and discuss a few things that are really bugging us. That includes Anthony Edwards’ ridiculous comments about players being unskilled in bygone eras, some incredibly and unnecessarily hostile comments on social media, and content creators who seem to be following a script in order to become super shills. We also join the community in reacting to pre-release NBA 2K25 gameplay footage, and reflect on how it has impacted our excitement for the game. We’ve also got a few thoughts about The City in the wake of the latest Courtside Report, and finish up with a recap of a session revisiting NBA Live 2003.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:25:17 — 58.9MB)
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.
Being a huge Michael Jordan fan, I always enjoy seeing his virtual counterpart in the NLSC Top 10 Plays. To that end, this week’s countdown features two appearances from His Airness, including a signature layup in NBA 2K16, and a dunk on the break that also showcases NBA Live 2000 PC with maxed-out textures. There are also streetball moves in NBA 2K7, tremendous arcade action in NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC, and another assortment of awesome poster dunks from a variety of games. It’s time to get hyped for a weekend of basketball gaming, so 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 #543 of the NLSC Podcast!
After celebrating a milestone, we delve into some NBA 2K25 MyTEAM news, courtesy of the latest Courtside Report. The biggest news of course is the return of the Auction House, and while it’s a welcome development, it’s also invited a predictably cynical response. Although we’re intrigued by the details and will give the mode a try if we like the gameplay, we’re certainly sceptical; a sentiment that the community clearly shares. We also discuss the positives and negatives of community days in light of last week’s NBA 2K25 event, and recap our sessions playing NBA 2K10 and NBA Jam: On Fire Edition with the 1992 season roster and Legends On Fire Edition mods respectively.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 59:50 — 41.4MB)
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.
As is so often the case in the NLSC Top 10 Plays, a plethora of poster dunks reign supreme this week. I doubt there’ll be any complaints though, as the next best thing to throwing down a monster dunk on the virtual hardwood is seeing someone else pull off an amazing aerial display! On top of that, we’ve also got some signature moves from Hakeem Olajuwon and Manu Ginobili, and a huge clutch play in a fiercely competitive game of johnz1’s Legends On Fire Edition mod for NBA Jam: OFE. 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 basketball game intros that were in some way misleading.
There’s something special about the best basketball game intros. Sure, we often end up skipping them because we’re keen to play, but most of us will watch them in their entirety the first time we fire up a game, and probably a few times after that as well. The combination of a great song and either real NBA footage or a highlight reel created in the game itself is a fantastic way to get us in the mood to play some virtual basketball. They underscored how the games were made for hardcore hoop heads, celebrating a beautiful sport and putting the NBA in our hands.
Cynically, I might suggest that that’s why basketball game intros have been phased out over the years. As they’ve tried to appeal to a wider audience and lean into online modes starring user avatars, there’s a large portion of the userbase that probably won’t get hyped up by NBA highlights. Less cynically, the fact that intros do end up getting skipped is probably a factor as well. And of course, if we’re being honest, basketball game intros can be misleading, even deceptive. Like a carefully curated preview or back-of-the-box promotional materials, intros can oversell a game with promises of quality and features it just can’t deliver upon. Here are five examples of such intros.
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 few thoughts on the lure of online team play.
I haven’t bothered putting any serious effort into levelling up a MyPLAYER since NBA 2K21 on PlayStation 5. As I’ve explained in detail before, I was fed up with the grind, and weary of the toxicity in The Rec and NBA 2K’s online scene in general. After revisiting some old favourites and giving other older releases a second chance, I realised just how much fun I was missing out on, and quit the grind. Changing my basketball gaming habits has been so refreshing, and it’s obviously given me new topics to discuss as well. I left online team play behind, and I haven’t looked back.
Well…sort of. Kenny, Leo, and I gave 3-v-3 Pro-Am and The Rec another try in NBA 2K23 on PlayStation 5, and for the first month, we actually had some fun sessions! Of course, by Season 2, the community had figured out the meta and the hardcore online gamers had levelled up their MyPLAYERs, at which point the lack of matchmaking kept throwing us in there with super serious, souped-up opponents. It wasn’t a tough decision to leave it all behind again, and honestly, NBA 2K23 dropped out of my rotation entirely not long afterwards. However, that brief return and fond memories of NBA 2K16 and NBA 2K17 demonstrate that there’s still a lure to online team play.
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.
You can always count on the NLSC Top 10 Plays for a good time and to get hyped for a weekend of basketball gaming, but every so often, you’ll also get a few surprises as well! For example, you normally wouldn’t expect to see a highlight from NBA Live 07 for Xbox 360 in the countdown – and rightfully so – but this week offers up an exception. On top of that, we’ve got NBA Street Showdown making its first appearance in the Top 10, an assortment of posters that you’ll want to watch again and again, and another gamewinner. 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 NBA 2K25 New Gen coming to PC provides an opportunity to revive an old school approach to modding.
The announcement that NBA 2K25 PC will be New Gen – i.e. a PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X port – was naturally greeted with enthusiasm in our community. It’s taken longer than we were hoping, but the PC will finally be receiving the flagship version of NBA 2K once again, with all of its enhancements and content. That of course includes MyNBA Eras and its associated rosters, which should provide a massive head start for retro season modding projects. It’s exciting, especially as it could well herald a new golden age in our modding community.
However, to ensure this new era of modding is as successful as it could and should be, we need to adopt the right attitude. To be frank, this new gen of modding requires an old school approach. That doesn’t mean we should get bogged down by old ideas and thus fail to innovate, but I believe that in some respects, our modding community has lost its way. We’ve drifted from the philosophies and values that allowed us to create fantastic works that everyone could enjoy. We’ve also grown so accustomed to being able to do anything and everything that we allow imperfections to be a roadblock. To that end, an old school approach will greatly benefit NBA 2K25 New Gen modding.
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.
Like the great Wilt Chamberlain, the NLSC Top 10 Plays will wow you as it breaks regulation numbers! What do I mean by that? Well, thanks to a couple of similarly spectacular highlights sharing the number one spot, this week’s countdown actually features eleven different basketball video games! Indeed, a couple of them are making their Top 10 debut, namely Space Jam and NBA Superstars, which we discussed in Episode #540 of the NLSC Podcast. From wild shots to rim-rattling dunks, the community has come through with the goods as always. 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 things that should never cost VC to equip or use.
When we talk about what basketball video games should and shouldn’t do, it does pay to think about the business side of things. Granted, that shouldn’t be our concern as consumers, but as far as feasibility or the likelihood of certain ideas, it’s something we have to keep in mind. After all, “get rid of all microtransactions” would be a fantastic suggestion in my book, but it’s just not going to happen! Sadly, including freemium mechanics in Triple-A games has proven to be too profitable for companies to not do so if they can get away with it, so it’s not a realistic request or expectation.
With that being said, I’m ultimately always going to advocate for value for money, fairness to consumers, and a quality experience when it comes to basketball video games. Again, I’m going to tailor any suggestions based on what we know is highly unlikely or unrealistic, but I’m on the side of gamers, not the suits and billion dollar corporations. Unfortunately, there are too many people who excuse or even outright shill for recurrent revenue mechanics, which has emboldened NBA 2K to place more and more content behind VC paywalls. It’s done nothing to enhance the experience for us, so to that end, here are five things that we should never have to spend VC on.
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)
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!
NLSC Your source for basketball video games.
