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 reminiscing about The Streets World Tour in NBA Live 19 with a mixtape of highlights from my playthrough of the mode.
Although I would’ve preferred NBA Live 19 to place greater emphasis on the NBA side of things, I’ve really come to appreciate The Streets World Tour. Even though I gravitated towards Ultimate Team with its roster of Legends, playing through The One’s streetball mode also helped change my view of NBA Live 19! With a story told mostly through text messages, iconic streetball and pro-am courts from around the world, and enjoyable challenges at every venue, it was a fun alternative to the usual career mode story. It was a blast creating highlights along the way, and to that end, I’ve assembled a mixtape of my favourites. Let’s take a look back…way back…
I hope you enjoyed this selection of streetball highlights! If you have NBA Live 19, The Streets World Tour is still available even in the wake of the server shutdown, as is The League portion of The One. In an era where games heavily rely on live service content and are designed to be disposable, that’s something that shouldn’t be taken for granted! The future of NBA Live certainly doesn’t look promising, but the last release to date remains fun to revisit. Feel free to share some of your favourite memories of NBA Live 19 in the comments, be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel, and stay tuned for more highlight reels, game retrospectives, and other video content!
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.
NBA 2K27 is out now via Early Access, and as such, it’s making its first appearance in the NLSC Top 10 Plays thanks to a wild lob to Clyde Drexler! Plenty of other basketball games remain in the community’s rotations however, as we actually have ten different titles in the countdown this week. Not only that, but there’s a great assortment of plays including a no-look alley-oop in College Hoops 2K8, a fancy finish with finesse in NBA Live 15, trick shots in NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, and of course, rim-rocking poster dunks in multiple games. 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 the courts used in Street mode and 24/7: Road to the EBC in NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360.
Revisiting NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360 on a whim has retroactively made it one of my favourite basketball video games. Way back in 2006, I’d been unimpressed by the PlayStation 2 version, but since coming to enjoy the Xbox 360 release, I’ve greatly warmed up to its sixth generation counterpart as well. Fittingly for a game that I overlooked for so many years, NBA 2K6 has also allowed me to develop more of an affinity for a mode I seldom bothered to play, namely Street. Yes, after all these years, JaoSming’s love of Blacktop and its predecessor mode finally rubbed off on me!
It undoubtedly helps that Street mode in NBA 2K6 boasted some fantastic locations to hoop in. They were also a part of 24/7: Road to the EBC, providing great backdrops to a fun and challenging barnstorming mode. Of course, it’s just as fun to assemble a couple of squads and hit the virtual blacktop (and in some cases, hardwood) for once-off showdowns. And so, just as I once took a look back at the memorable one-on-one courts in NBA Live 2003, today I’m giving the same treatment to the Street courts in NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360. Let’s take a look back…way back…
From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #644 of the NLSC Podcast!
The big NBA 2K27 infodump has come and gone, which means it’s essentially a wrap on what has been one of the shortest (and honestly, underwhelming) preview seasons for a Triple-A basketball video game. Nevertheless, we do have some details to discuss, as well as some more gameplay footage courtesy of a recent event for content creators. As such, this week we join the community in reacting to what we’ve seen and learned, while also sharing a few thoughts on influencer culture and a disappointing lack of accountability for content creators nowadays. We also share some thoughts on the impending shutdown of NBA Live Mobile, and seemingly the end of NBA Live as a brand.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:03:32 — 44.0MB)
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 reflections (and a few untold stories) as I mark 25 years of running the NLSC.
On August 25th 2001, Tim officially announced that I’d be succeeding him as the NLSC’s webmaster. It was already August 26th here in Australia, so that’s the date of my first post on the site. Whichever date you want to use, this time of year marks my anniversary of taking the reins here at the NLSC. It’s mind-blowing to think that at this point, I’ve been running the site for more than half of my life! To that point, it’s truly surreal to be able to say that as of this week, I’ve been doing this for a quarter of a century now.
As the years have gone by, I’ve made it a point to mark my anniversary in some way, whether via a social media post or a feature here on the site. Just to be clear right out of the gate: this isn’t a retirement announcement! As I’ve said before, it’s tough to say how long I’ll do this, or to even consider the end of my involvement with the site and what will happen thereafter. It’s very much a “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it” situation, because as long as I’m willing and able to channel my enthusiasm for basketball gaming into content creation, I’m going to keep having fun doing so. That’s why as I celebrate 25 years at the helm of the NLSC, I believe I still have work to do.
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 reflecting on the Legends in NBA Live 19 Ultimate Team.
When the NBA Live 19 servers shut down back in January, naturally Ultimate Team became unavailable. This was unfortunate for me, since along with completing The Streets World Tour, playing the mode’s challenges was a big part of developing a greater appreciation for a flawed but fun release. As with the rest of the eighth gen NBA Live titles, it was also the only way to play with Legends. I’d previously had a blast playing with squads of my favourite 90s Legends in NBA Live 15 and NBA Live 18, so I’m glad that I had the opportunity to do so in NBA Live 19 as well.
In fact, I ended up venturing beyond my own nostalgia when playing with Legends in NBA Live 19 Ultimate Team. Not only did I hit the virtual hardwood with the stars of the 90s that I grew up watching, but I mixed in greats from the 80s, as well as the 60s and 70s. Indeed, I played a handful of games with lineups that were completely before my time, and enjoyed it immensely! As I began to collect jerseys, I made a point of capturing screenshots of Legends in their teams’ 2019 uniforms. In celebration of the fun I had with the mode and those NBA greats, let’s take a look back…way back…
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.
With LeBron James’ decision to join the Philadelphia 76ers, it seems a safe bet that we’ll be seeing his virtual likeness sporting his new jersey in the NLSC Top 10 Plays very soon! In the meantime though, this week we have a couple of timely LeBron highlights, albeit from his Cavaliers and Lakers stints. Kobe Bryant is also pulling off some crazy aerial wizardry, in a countdown packed with poster dunks and a couple of wild shots. Seven different basketball video games are on display in the latest countdown, from NBA Live 2004 through to NBA Bounce. 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 reflections on and acknowledgement of a few of the little things that used to make basketball gaming special.
For many years, NBA 2K games included the code “payrespect“. By punching this code into the Cheats menu, it unlocked the iconic red, white, and blue ABA ball. It was a toggle option, so once the cheat was entered and unlocked, you could switch between the regular NBA and ABA basketballs as desired. Obviously, it paired well with the ABA throwback jerseys, as well as ABA alumni such as Julius Erving and George Gervin. Making it an unlockable option was the right approach too, as the code was neither permanent nor had to be entered every time you played.
I realise that this probably doesn’t sound like a very exciting feature these days. If we’re talking about historical content and deep modes and features, modern games have plenty of that! Not many NBA 2K gamers are clamouring for the return of those old school cheat codes or an unlockable ABA ball. However, it’s not just about being able to change up the basketball that’s being used on the virtual hardwood or blacktop. It’s about all the little things that we’ve had and lost in basketball video games, be it NBA 2K or NBA Live. The fact that they weren’t necessarily popular features that everyone misses is part of what made those little things so special in the first place.
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.
The 2026 NBA season is now officially in the books, but ball never stops here at the NLSC! Our community loves hitting the virtual hardwood and blacktop in a variety of titles and in all sorts of ways, and that continues to be apparent in this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays. The countdown begins and ends with some spectacular and ambitious highlights from WNBA players, and in between there are poster dunks, big blocks, and other breathtaking moves. Nine different basketball video games are featured this week, from NBA Live 2000 through to NBA 2K26. 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 Stretch and the rest of the OG NBA Street ballers.
With a spiritual successor in NBA The Run set to launch next month, NBA Street has definitely been on our minds as of late. As it happens, next month also marks 25 years since the original NBA Street was released. For basketball gamers of a certain age, that first NBA Street was the arcade basketball video game, held in higher regard than any of the NBA Jam titles. It certainly makes sense as it was a tremendous game that still holds up. Furthermore, by the early 2000s, the NBA Jam name had sadly come to be associated with some subpar releases.
I’ll be diving deeper into that with a retrospective next month. For now though, I’m reminiscing about Stretch and the other OG NBA Street ballers. In addition to placing NBA players on the blacktop, NBA Street introduced us to some memorable original characters. These ballers were basically the bosses of the City Circuit, standing in between us and the next location. Once we beat them, we could benefit from their streetball skill as they joined our squad. Stretch and the rest of the OG NBA Street ballers are undoubtedly legends, so let’s take a look back…way back…
From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #630 of the NLSC Podcast!
Entering 2026, we had some plans and goals for the virtual hardwood. Since we’re rapidly approaching the middle of the year – no, don’t ask us where the time went – we decided to check in on how those plans are going! To that end, this week we’re joining the community in discussing our basketball gaming habits so far in 2026, from the selection of titles that we’re playing to the modes that have kept us hooked. We also recap a fun Parsec session with the Snes9x Super Nintendo emulator featuring a five-player co-op game of NBA Live 95 that was an absolute blast, and an intense four-player head-to-head showdown in NBA Hangtime that was ultimately decided in overtime.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 52:14 — 36.2MB)
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 a few thoughts on difficulty levels, and the impact they can have on basketball game reviews.
There’s a very old video game trope that has been dubbed “Easy-Mode Mockery” over on TV Tropes. In short, it’s when a video game makes fun of you for playing on the easiest difficulty setting. At its most benign, perhaps the easiest difficulty level will be accompanied by an insulting message or image. In extreme cases, playing on an easy difficulty will lock you out of certain content, such as the true ending. Infamously, one of my favourite adventure games – Monkey Island 2 – advertised its easy mode as being “suitable for video game reviewers”. Take that, critics!
All jokes aside, I’m not one for gatekeeping and elitism. Video games are meant to be enjoyed, and if hitting the virtual hardwood on an easier difficulty level is fun for you, don’t let anyone bring you down (but probably don’t brag about dominating the game on Rookie, either!). In fact, with the way many games cheat to allow the CPU to be challenging on the Superstar and Hall of Fame difficulty levels, it’s not always a very satisfying experience. To that point however, if you are reviewing a basketball game, you must play it on those tougher difficulty levels as well. Contrary to Monkey Island 2’s snarky jab, video game reviewers shouldn’t just be hooping on the easiest setting.
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.
As is often the case, this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays is a fantastic mix of the old and the new. Not only are nine different games on display from NBA Live 10 through to the upcoming NBA The Run, but we’ve got updated rosters in older games, and all-time greats doing their thing in modern releases. It’s the Legends that ultimately have bragging rights this time around though, as Wizards Michael Jordan and Larry Bird demonstrate why they’re two of the best to ever step onto the hardwood, real or virtual. 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 #629 of the NLSC Podcast!
Last week, Play By Play Studios held a closed beta for NBA The Run, their upcoming arcade streetball game set for release in June 2026. Derek had the opportunity to take part in the closed beta, and so this week, he’s sharing his detailed hands-on impressions of the game, breaking down the key positives and negatives while also making some recommendations for how it could improve. We also read out the community’s thoughts on what they’ve seen of NBA The Run so far. While there’s definitely excitement for the game, not everyone has been impressed by the latest gameplay footage. We also once again touch on the importance of not letting hype get in the way of constructive feedback.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:01:30 — 42.6MB)
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 #627 of the NLSC Podcast!
We’re back on the air after an unfortunate technical mishap last week, and we’re ready and eager to take a deep dive into the somewhat overlooked PlayStation version of NBA Live 96! After recapping a couple of our sessions with the game and reflecting on the nostalgic 1996 lineups for the four featured teams, we take an in-depth look at the features and on-court experience, break down the detailed results of a simulated season, and draw comparisons to the 16-bit and PC versions along the way. We also join the community in discussing which version (or versions) of NBA Live 96 we owned and played the most back in the day, and nominate which one we’d currently say is our favourite.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 57:04 — 39.6MB)
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!
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