Tag Archives: NBA Live 06

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 the In the Zone mechanic in the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 07.

As you may know, NBA The Run will feature a mechanic called In the Zone. For more on that, be sure to tune in to the latest episode of the NLSC Podcast, where Dee provides his in-depth impressions of the upcoming game! Unsurprisingly, it’s not the first time that a basketball video game has used that well-travelled term for being locked in and performing at a high level. It was the name of Konami’s sim-arcade hybrid games, and it’s the title of an extremely catchy track from Midway’s NBA Hangtime. And of course, In the Zone was a mechanic in NBA Live 07 for Xbox 360.

Although NBA Live 07’s mechanic sprang to my mind when I first heard that NBA The Run would be using the name for its power-up, at this point, I think it’s safe to lay claim to the moniker. Not only is it a common term, but the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 07 was a terrible release that few gamers would care to revisit, so its take on being In the Zone is largely forgotten. With that being said, Wayback Wednesday is as much about digging into the forgotten history of the virtual hardwood as it is celebrating our most nostalgic memories, so 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 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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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #628 of the NLSC Podcast!

While it’s certainly exciting to be on the cutting edge of gaming technology, we’re not always in a rush to upgrade our hardware and play the (supposedly) most advanced versions of basketball video games. This week, we’re taking a look at why many basketball gamers often opt to stick with last gen hoops titles – ourselves included – and some of the benefits of delaying a jump to the next generation. We also touch on next gen elitism and gatekeeping – in particular, the “you’re broke” crowd – and the community shares their experiences in sticking with last gen basketball video games. Suffice it to say that it’s been a more common practice over the years than some people may think!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:02:02 — 43.0MB)

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 you don’t have to miss the basketball video games that you used to play.

Between our personal accounts and the NLSC’s socials, Dee and I frequently share short clips, highlight reels, and screenshots from various basketball video games. Because we love the classics, sometimes we’ll go a long way back with those posts. It seems that many of our fellow basketball gamers appreciate that hit of nostalgia, as we’ll get replies reminiscing about epic battles, players that were a blast to use, and interesting details that are impossible to forget. It’s fun to go back, which is why we have Wayback Wednesday and our deep dives on the NLSC Podcast.

However, in the midst of all the nostalgic delight, there’s a recurring comment that always jumps out at me: “I miss this game”, or words to that effect. It makes sense. There’s obviously a wistful aspect to nostalgia, wishing that you could go back to a specific time if only briefly. Of course, like favourite books, TV shows, and movies, you can revisit and continue to enjoy video games many years later. You don’t have to miss any of the classic games that we spotlight here or on our social media channels! At the same time, I do get it. There are a variety of reasons why you may not be able to play old video games, but if doing so is feasible, you needn’t have to miss them.

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Having had a few roster projects go up in smoke due to burnout over the years, these days I’m sticking to manageable projects for games that I want to play; namely, old favourites. To that end, I’ve been dabbling with a 1976 ABA roster for NBA Live 06 PC – tentatively titled NBA Live ’76 – and I’ve uploaded some highlights from a recent game using the work-in-progress mod.

In the game, I take on the CPU-controlled San Antonio Spurs using the New York Nets. At this time, several players are using placeholder faces, but big names such as Julius Erving and George Gervin do have their actual likenesses. A handful of other players also have proper faces courtesy of retro mods from the archives. Both the Nets and Spurs are wearing their ABA-era jerseys and have the correct throwback logos, though all of the teams in the roster are currently using a generic floor with their respective logos at midcourt.

There’s still a ways to go with this retro roster project for NBA Live 06 PC, but as you can see from the highlights, it’s shaping up nicely! Between the ABA only having eight teams by the end of its 1976 season, the mods in our archives, and placeholder faces, I’m confident that it’ll all come together and be fun to play with. Although the ABA was before my time, it’s a fascinating part of basketball history, and the league is severely underrepresented in video games.

Check out the highlights below, and stay tuned for more info on NBA Live ’76 and other modding projects for NBA Live 06! Once again, these days I’m focusing my attention on mods for old favourites that’ll enhance my retro gaming, and projects like this will definitely help NBA Live 06 get back into my rotation. Incidentally, if there are any NBA Live modders still lurking in the community who’d like to lend a hand with some jerseys and so forth, please let me 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 some reflections on what keeps a few of my old favourites out of my basketball gaming rotation.

A few weeks ago, I discussed some of the basketball games that I’d like to bring back into my rotation at some point this year. Unsurprisingly, four of the games that I listed – NBA Live 96, NBA Live 2004, NBA Live 06, and NBA 2K13 – are among my all-time favourites. It only stands to reason that they’re prime candidates as I continue to get my virtual hardwood fix from retro and classic titles. And yet, despite holding those old favourites in high regard, to date I haven’t been in a rush to make them part of my rotation again. Instead, I’ve sought out new retro kicks.

It’s something that I’ve been thinking about since I posted that Friday Five article. My disappointment with recent NBA 2K titles has pushed me towards retro gaming, and to that end, you’d think I’d reach for my old favourites before anything else. After all, they’re the basketball games I’ve enjoyed the most. Familiarity and nostalgia should make them an ideal alternative whenever a new release fails to impress me. To that end, I have dusted off these old favourites here and there, but again, I’ve mostly been revisiting games that I overlooked, and discovering new favourites. Upon reflection, there are a few reasons why some of my beloved old favourites remained benched.

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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 battle between passion and burnout can make it tough to walk away from modding.

Like thousands of others over the weekend, I watched Norman Caruso’s farewell video for The Gaming Historian. After some 15 years and so many wonderful gaming documentaries, Norman is officially ending the channel, though all of the videos will remain available. In his farewell, he reflects on he felt burned out after releasing his video on The Oregon Trail, and how that made it difficult to find the passion to begin work on the next project. After initially planning on a part time schedule in the hopes of reigniting his enthusiasm, he’s ultimately realised that it’s time to move on.

His candid and understandable explanation really resonated with me. While I won’t compare my dabbling with video content to what he and other fulltime YouTubers do, I’ve experienced similar feelings as I approach 25 years of running the NLSC. No, this isn’t me announcing my retirement! However, it did get me reminiscing about how I stopped creating roster updates for NBA Live, and my unsuccessful attempts to make similar mods for NBA 2K. Burnout is a roadblock for creative endeavours, but your lingering passion and sense of dedication encourages you to persist. At some point though, you’ll come to realise that it’s time to channel your energy into a new venture.

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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 basketball games that I’d love to add to my retro rotation in 2026.

With such a large collection of basketball video games and a predisposition for retro gaming, I’m not too bothered by my disinterest in more recent releases. Moreover, between a MyCAREER and historical matchups in NBA 2K14, a co-op NBA 2K9 Bulls Association with Dee, and a Bulls Dynasty in NBA Live 16, my retro basketball gaming rotation already has some enjoyable fixtures. There are also a handful of other retro favourites that frequently find their way back into my rotation, including NBA 2K17, NBA 2K6, and NBA Live 10.

Of course, there’s always room for other favourites! Furthermore, as fun as it is to have a retro kick begin unexpectedly and on a whim, there are some games that I’d like to make an effort to bring back into my rotation and enjoy anew. There was a time when I felt that certain games were getting too old to enjoy, but suffice it to say that I’ve changed my mind about that! Indeed, between unfinished business, playing different modes, and adding new content with mods, those old favourites can offer many fresh experiences. It remains to be seen how many of these titles re-enter my retro rotation, but they’re at the top of the list of games I’d love to revisit more often.

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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 memorable roster mod complaints that I’ve received over the years.

One of the annoying things about creative endeavours – especially online content creation – is the way that negative remarks stick in your mind. You can read nine glowingly positive things from people who enjoyed what you did, and one bluntly harsh comment from someone who didn’t, and somehow it’s the latter that sticks in your mind. Even though the takeaway should be that nine out of ten people liked your work, somehow you focus on the fact that one person wasn’t a fan. While negativity bias may have evolutionary importance, it’s not conducive to creative satisfaction!

After all, when you create something that you hope will be enjoyed, it’s dismaying to hear that someone didn’t like it. Of course, when it comes to a project such as a roster mod for a basketball video game, the complaints can feel rather disproportionate. To that point, some feedback is just entertainingly ridiculous, so it’s not necessarily a case of being hurt by what was said. Indeed, even negative comments that stung a little at the time end up being amusing to look back upon! And so, while negativity bias may have helped commit the following roster mod complaints to memory – and some are examples of how not to provide constructive feedback – I can laugh about them now.

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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 being hooked on history and nostalgia with my current basketball gaming habits.

Many years ago, we were discussing the most recent WWE video game in the Forum. Sauru – a long-time member who had a few years on most of us – was wistfully noting the lack of wrestlers from the Golden Age/Hulkamania Era. As somewhat of a lapsed pro wrestling fan, he was far more interested in playing with his nostalgic favourites than the contemporary wrestlers. I understood his disappointment and agreed that a larger selection of Legends would be great, but noted that a majority of the userbase were more interested in the current WWE; a point that Sauru did concede.

Of course, all these years later, I find myself relating to Sauru’s disinterest when it comes to basketball and basketball gaming. His stance isn’t just understandable, but now very relatable! Indeed, it’s one of those “It’ll happen to you!” moments that The Simpsons warned us young viewers about back in the 90s. As I’ve grown disillusioned with the modern NBA and the disrespect for the history of the league – to say nothing of my issues with recent NBA 2K games – I’ve doubled down on my nostalgia. And so, these days I find far more satisfaction in going back to older titles that still hold up, discovering new favourites, and playing with Legends and other nostalgic lineups.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #622 of the NLSC Podcast!

There’s a lot of fun to be had taking on the CPU solo or co-operatively in basketball video games, especially with the range of modes at our disposal. However, head-to-head play is also a blast, and we have countless memories of epic battles with friends, family, and online opponents. This week, we join the community in recalling the best players that we’ve ever faced on the virtual hardwood, and some of the lessons that we took from those showdowns. We also recap a fun game of NBA Live 2000 PC that demonstrated just how superbly it holds up more than 25 years later, and touch on some of the downsides of skill-based mechanics when it comes to realism and lucky plays.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 54:12 — 37.6MB)

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!

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 weird roster glitches that I’ve encountered in basketball video games over the years.

The harsh reality of video game design is that no release is ever going to be absolutely perfect. Of course, absolute perfection is an impossible goal in just about any creative endeavour, and you’ll also never be able to please everyone with your design choices. On top of that, bugs are basically inevitable. They were present in classic games, and we certainly see them in modern titles. Whether it’s Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, or NBA 2K26, it’s just not feasible to code a game that has absolutely no technical issues or imperfections.

Ideally, bugs and glitches will be rare, or have minimal impact on the experience. The best video games – basketball or otherwise – tend to be extremely stable for the most part. There have been some frustrating bugs in basketball video games over the years though, including glitches related to roster editing. They can be particularly nasty, causing us to lose saved data and in turn countless hours of work customising a game. As someone who has enjoyed tinkering with games and creating roster mods since the 90s, I’ve encountered several weird glitches and badly-designed editing functions. These five are among the strangest and most annoying that I’ve experienced to date.

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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 unexpected benefits of basketball video games.

Like most devotees of the virtual hardwood, I got into basketball games because they combine two things that I enjoy; obviously, video games and basketball! To that end, the main benefit of basketball games has been countless hours of fun playing a virtual representation of my favourite sport. When I was a kid getting into hoops back in the 90s, basketball games helped to educate me about the NBA, and become familiar with some lesser-known players. They’ve allowed me to re-create iconic moments, indulge fantasies, play out What If scenarios, and basically just have more fun with basketball.

You can’t really ask for more than that out of one of your favourite hobbies! However, there have been some other, more unexpected benefits of basketball games. I couldn’t have ever imagined those benefits when I was excitedly installing NBA Live 96 and NBA Jam Tournament Edition on the family PC and renting NBA Live 95 for Super Nintendo from the video store all those years ago. While basketball games would’ve remained an enjoyable pastime for me even without these unexpected benefits, they certainly make me grateful that I took and maintained an interest in them! Indeed, I’m sure that basketball games have given many of us more than just fun on the sticks.

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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 superstitions that many of us may have succumbed to while basketball gaming.

Video games and sports are interests that invite a lot of superstitions, so it’s hardly surprising that there are superstitions surrounding basketball gaming! While I don’t consider myself a particularly superstitious person, I’ll admit that there are times when I’ve engaged in unusual and illogical rituals under the pretence that they’ll somehow have an impact on the virtual hardwood, or indeed a real game being played on the other side of the world. It’s silly, I know that it’s silly, and even when a superstitious ritual “works”, I’m well aware that it wasn’t actually a factor!

Besides, while superstitions may imply a belief in supernatural forces, there’s also a psychological explanation for them. They can provide us with a sense of control, which is comforting in situations we can’t influence. There’s also evidence that lucky charms and rituals boost confidence. Free throw routines and favourite jersey numbers are good examples of this. It only makes sense that this psychology also applies to basketball gaming, with superstitions both soothing us and pumping us up when we face challenges, from technical issues to moments that test our stick skills. Therefore, there may actually be some merit to a few of these basketball gaming superstitions!

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #618 of the NLSC Podcast!

Another NBA trade deadline has come and gone, and it’s inspired us to reflect on some of the most notable midseason swaps. To that end, this week we’re reacting to Complex’s list of the Top 20 trade deadline deals in league history. Needless to say, we don’t necessarily agree with all of their rankings, and we also have a rather significant correction to make to their list! We also join the community in recalling some of the most memorable deals that our favourite teams have made – as well as moves that we wish they could’ve pulled off – along with some of the franchise mode trades that we can’t believe we got the CPU to agree to. It would seem that a few of us have some familiar trade targets!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:10:01 — 48.4MB)

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!