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.
The NLSC Top 10 Plays has only been getting better and better since Dee revived it, with the community coming through with the goods week in, week out. I don’t envy the task of trying to rank all those submissions, and as Dee noted in the video description over on YouTube, the January 13th countdown has several highlights that might’ve made the top three in other weeks . Of course, that just makes for an even more exciting way to tip off another weekend of basketball gaming! Seven different games are featured this week, from Street Hoops 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.
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.
We’re tipping off a brand new year of the NLSC Top 10 Plays, and it’s clear that the community is ready to make it another memorable one! Needless to say, putting opponents on a poster is as popular as ever, as plenty of jaw-dropping dunks are featured in this week’s countdown. As always though, it’s also about the moves that set up those slams, from crafty crossovers to defensive stops. You’ll also find other great highlights, including clutch plays and finesse finishes. Seven different games are on display this week, including NBA Live 18 and NBA Live 19. With that being said, 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.
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.
The festive season is upon us once again, so it’s time for 2023’s Christmas Edition of the NLSC Top 10 Plays! This week’s countdown truly is a gift, as we have Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James all in action, throwing it down in signature style. The NBA Live 2001 Legends continue their recent kick with NBA 2K9, and even Santa Claus himself makes a timely appearance, courtesy of NBA Jam: On Fire Edition. A total of nine different titles ranging from NBA Live 06 to NBA 2K24 are on display, 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.
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.
Most weeks, it seems there’s a tendency for the NLSC Top 10 Plays to organically end up with a motif, and the latest countdown is no different. Alley-oops are undoubtedly the highlight of choice this week, and the community found all sorts of exciting ways to put the ball on a wire for fantastic finishes! There’s also other acrobatic moves, a couple of signature highlights by Kobe Bryant in different games, and a putback from LookyDaGamer’s son (or should that be the Putback Prince?) in NBA 2K Playgrounds 2. It’s another exciting week of virtual hardwood highlights, 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.
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 some famous jersey numbers that were worn by players who weren’t so famous, and the video games where you’ll find them.
There was a commemorative magazine published not long after the Chicago Bulls won their fifth NBA championship. As an avid fan, I read it cover to cover until it was no longer pristine. On top of recapping the championship season, the magazine delved into the history of the Bulls. I was fascinated to learn that although Michael Jordan became the last and most famous Bull to wear number 23, he was the seventh player in club history to don it. You have to remember that in 1997, such information wasn’t readily available and accessible in less than a minute!
That tidbit of Bulls and MJ trivia has stuck with me. The longer I’ve been a basketball fan, and the more players that I’ve seen come and go, the more I’ve seen other stars end up sharing their number with far less distinguished NBA alumni. Like so much other historical trivia, these examples frequently present themselves whenever I’m revisiting an old video game, and see players in the rosters that I haven’t thought about in years. While they may not have reached the same level of fame and success as the stars who donned those jerseys, there’s still that connection to their famous peers and their iconic numbers. Let’s take a look back…way back…
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 Part 18 in an ongoing series looking at players who only appeared on certain teams in video games.
In Part 17, I covered three big names that only appeared on certain teams in video games: Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, and DeMarcus Cousins. The five players that I’m covering today didn’t reach the same heights – not even close in fact – but there are at least two names that I’m confident everyone will recognise, as they had long and fairly successful careers. Indeed, number five on the list was very popular, despite never being an All-Star. If you were into the NBA around 2008, there’s a good chance that you’ll remember the story behind his phantom stint.
There are some interesting stories with the other four players on the list as well. The first player is the most recent example of a player who ended up with a phantom stint. The second player’s phantom stint came about due to an acrimonious departure from the NBA. The third player is frequently in the shadow of his far more famous and successful college teammates. The fourth player is a journeyman who played for eight different teams during his career. Can you guess the five players based on those hints? I’m sure some of you have picked up on a couple of them already, so let’s get to the list! Once again, a huge thanks to David L for his help in finding several examples.
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 a time when certain basketball video games were regional exclusives, and/or had late releases.
The basketball gaming landscape has changed drastically since our choices were whittled down to just NBA Live and NBA 2K, culminating in a virtual monopoly for the latter. When a handful of developers and publishers were throwing their hat into the ring with hoops games, we received a variety of titles of varying quality, but most brought something interesting to the table. Of course, not every game was available worldwide. While NBA Live and NBA 2K stood as examples of global brands, other games were regional exclusives, usually only released in North America.
On top of that, if other regions did receive a particular game, it might not be until several months later. It may seem like a terrible marketing decision to release an NBA game well after the season has tipped off, but there are titles that have come along quite late in a campaign, even with their domestic release. Indeed, not even NBA 2K and NBA Live have been immune to late releases, if only outside North America. It’s an interesting difference in the way that basketball video games used to be handled, so let’s take a look back…way back…
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 frustrations that sadly didn’t have a good workaround.
We’ve been able to do some rather ingenious things in our community thanks to mods. Missing players have been added, mistakes in the default rosters have been corrected, and when we’ve discovered compatible files, we’ve been able to swap assets between different games to create our own fixes. This includes adding better net animations to NBA Live 06 PC, restoring access to the traditional reorder roster menu in NBA Live 07’s Dynasty mode, and even being able to access the hidden Player Lock option in NBA Live 08. Where official updates have fallen short, we’ve had good workarounds.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t always been possible. There are some frustrations that we simply haven’t ever been able to resolve. Even when a workaround has been devised, it hasn’t satisfactorily fixed the issue despite our best efforts. This is why I’ll always push back on the “stop whining” rhetoric that shuts down constructive feedback. Just because there is a workaround, it doesn’t mean it’s a desirable solution, and that the issue shouldn’t be addressed either in a patch or the next game. Additionally, one of these frustrations did once have a good workaround, but its disappearance suggests that it wasn’t ideal long-term. Whatever the case, these issues lack good solutions.
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 Part 13 in an ongoing series looking at players who only appeared on certain teams in video games.
We’ve reached the unlucky thirteenth instalment in this series about phantom stints! Mind you, I’ve actually been rather lucky when it comes to this second run of articles all about players who only appeared on certain teams in games. As I’ve said, I thought that I’d exhausted all of the worthwhile examples after the first seven instalments. It turns out that I’d overlooked some prominent names and lesser-known players alike, but fortunately David L has been doing some research of his own, and passed along that information so that I could cover those omissions.
To that point, Part 12 covered Mike Miller, as well as four more obscure players that are likely only remembered by the most hardcore basketball fans and gamers. No judgement or gatekeeping here, of course. Even if you do recall them, I can attest to it being easy to forget that they’re examples of players who only appeared on certain teams in games! This instalment features some more familiar names, but at the same time, their phantom stints can still fly under the radar; especially when they only appear in a certain version of a game, or official roster updates have erased the stint. All the more reason to compile these lists, so that we can reflect on some fun trivia!
From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #482 of the NLSC Podcast!
What will the basketball gaming landscape look like in five years, as a new generation of consoles likely tips off? This week, we join the community in speculating on the future, from what we expect from NBA 2K to whether we anticipate NBA Live or any other competition returning. Recapping fun sessions with NBA 2K9 and NBA 2K14 leads us to reflect on why those older games hold up, and are often held in higher regard than more recent titles. We also send out our congratulations to the Denver Nuggets and their fans on the team’s first NBA Championship, reminisce about the 2009 Orlando Magic, and celebrate another outstanding Top 10 Plays of the Week.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:15:02 — 51.9MB)
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.
This week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays features a dazzling assortment of dunks – as always – but it’s not just about leaving the rim rocking. There are some incredible moves setting up the drives that culminate in those fantastic finishes, including some unique ones that you may not have ever seen before; even if you’ve spent hundreds of hours with the game! There’s also a move by Derrick Rose that shows how NBA Live 14 had promise amidst its roughness, and a play demonstrating why Terry Hanson is a Virtual Hardwood Legend. 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.
Dee has uploaded some more great highlights to our YouTube channel, this time spotlighting NBA 2K9 PC. As you’re probably well aware, NBA 2K9 was the first game in the series released on PC, and these highlights demonstrate why so many basketball gamers were excited to see 2K finally land on the platform.
In this matchup, Dee took control of the Orlando Magic and faced the CPU-controlled Cleveland Cavaliers. The two teams of course clashed in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals, with the Magic ultimately advancing to face Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. You can expect to see some emphatic dunks from LeBron James, Dwight Howard and Mickael Pietrus, as well as some big shots from Jameer Nelson and Virtual Hardwood Legend Delonte West. It was a hard-fought game that wouldn’t be decided until the final minutes, with both teams making some great plays at both ends of the floor. Check it out!
Be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for regular highlights, and other basketball gaming content! As always, feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play, as well as revisit and discuss on the NLSC Podcast!
From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #478 of the NLSC Podcast!
Games that we wish we played more, seasons that we wish we finished, and saves that we wish we still had, are common tales among basketball gamers. This week, we join the community in reminiscing about some of our biggest basketball gaming regrets! A misconception about a job listing also prompts us to address the subject of NBA Live rumours, as well as clickbait content. Additionally, we touch on whether a theoretical future NBA Live should be sim, arcade, or a sim-arcade hybrid. We also reflect on some spectacular highlights in last week’s NLSC Top 10 that had us all buzzing, and provide an update on reaching Year 6 in NBA 2K14 MyCAREER.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:17:08 — 53.3MB)
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 #470 of the NLSC Podcast!
Which basketball video games rank among our most-played all-time? This week, we join the community in reminiscing about the various titles that we’ve racked up the most hours in over the years. We’re also able to talk about the NBA Jam: Legends On Fire Edition mod at last, and it’s no surprise that the community shares our enthusiasm for it! johnz1 will also be joining us to talk about the mod next week, so stay tuned. The Elite 8 of our NCAA Basketball 10 Tournament is in the books, so we reflect on the action thus far, and look ahead to the Final Four. We also pay tribute to the late, great Willis Reed.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:18:33 — 54.3MB)
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 Part 9 in an ongoing series looking at players that only appeared on certain teams in video games.
Yes, it’s time to revisit one of my favourite roster trivia topics! As I said when I resumed this series with Part 8, I was actually ready to be done with it after Part 7. After all, I was starting to get into more obscure examples, with players who weren’t as noteworthy unless you were a hardcore fan in the 90s through to the early 2000s. As it turned out however, I’d missed a number of more well-known players who only appeared on certain teams in video games. I’d also overlooked some slightly lesser-known names that keen fans with good memories will nevertheless likely recall.
Even though the reasons for these players only appearing on certain teams in video games and never in real life come down to the same basic circumstances, it’s still interesting to look back at how they got there. If nothing else, it’s easy to forget that players were with certain teams if only for a minute, even if we recall that they did bounce around the league during their careers. As always, basketball video games serve as interactive almanacs here, capturing a snapshot the same way that they preserve familiar faces in strange places, and their returns to familiar places. Once again, shout out to David L for providing a heads up on a number of these examples.
NLSC Your source for basketball video games.
