Tag Archives: Play Now

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 MyNBA Eras has made it unlikely that we’ll see any new classic teams added to NBA 2K.

Way back in 2016, I posted a Friday Five listing five classic teams that I’d like to see included in future NBA 2K games. I revisited the topic with a second article in 2018, and it ultimately became an ongoing Friday Five series. Some of those squads have since been added to the games. No, I’m not trying to take credit for that! Many of those additions were very popular and obvious choices, so I highly doubt that I had any influence here. Nevertheless, I’ve enjoyed seeing the selection of classic teams expand, and there’s never any harm in throwing out suggestions.

However, the most recent instalment in that series – Part 13 – was back in 2022. There are a few reasons why I haven’t circled back to that topic for just over four years now. For a start, at this point I’ve already covered many of the teams that I’m interested in. Again, some are already included in the games, while others are unlikely to be added. As I’ve discussed before, this generation of NBA 2K games has left me cold, so I’m less enthusiastic about discussing ideas for future releases in general. On top of that though, the addition of MyNBA Eras makes it seem far less likely that we’ll see new standalone classic teams. Of course, it could be argued that that’s actually for the best.

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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 revisiting games in which I mostly played MyCAREER, and enjoying some fresh experiences.

When it comes to our impressions of basketball games with an array of modes, what we play is a significant factor. After all, while the underlying gameplay mechanics are obviously the same, their suitability and our tolerance for any issues can vary from mode to mode. There have definitely been games that were more enjoyable in certain modes, depending on the tuning and whether or not we could alter it. As such, if you mostly stick to one mode, you may not be aware of some of a game’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s why we can remember the same games very differently.

After really getting into MyCAREER in NBA 2K13, it became my mode of choice for the next seven years or so. That’s not to say that it was the only mode I played, but when it comes to NBA 2K on PlayStation 4 and PC, many of my fondest memories are of MyCAREER and its connected experiences. I don’t regret that, as it represents hours of fun on the virtual hardwood. At the same time, it does mean that there were modes and content I wasn’t able to truly enjoy, since levelling up a MyPLAYER and playing through an NBA season is a huge commitment. To that end, revisiting some of those games and playing something other than MyCAREER has been refreshing.

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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 the two camera angles that I prefer to use in basketball video games.

As is the case with just about any fandom, the basketball gaming community has had some silly arguments and engaged in ridiculous gatekeeping. Post a fun highlight clip, and someone is bound to sneer that you must be playing on a lower difficulty level. That may or may not be true, but it’s needlessly judgemental when the point of a clip was to show off a cool animation, not to brag about stick skills. However, nothing compares to the ridiculous gatekeeping and elitism surrounding the choice in camera angles. It truly is the most absurd thing to judge other basketball gamers on!

I find the idea of there only being one “correct” choice in camera angles particularly silly as there are actually two that I primarily use, and a couple of others that I also like. Don’t get me wrong; even if there was only one camera angle for me, I wouldn’t consider others to be incorrect, or a sign of ineptitude and source of shame. For that matter, I don’t think that my preference for multiple camera angles makes me better than anyone, either! Indeed, given that there’s a reason basketball gamers prefer a particular view over other camera angles, my approach is arguably the weird one. However, there’s a reason that my basketball gaming is a tale of two camera angles.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #548 of the NLSC Podcast!

Derrick Rose has officially retired from the NBA, and naturally, we have a few thoughts in the wake of his announcement, from fond memories to whether or not he should have his jersey retired by the Chicago Bulls. This also leads us to join the community in reminiscing about some other player retirements that had a profound affect on us, as well as undeserved reputations that players have had difficulty shaking. We also discuss some exciting upcoming modding projects that johnz1 has planned for the PlayStation 3 version of NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, and provide an update on the modes that both we and the community are currently spending the most time with in NBA 2K25.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:02:37 — 43.4MB)

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!

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #547 of the NLSC Podcast!

Although we’re still playing NBA 2K25 and have a few updates on what we’ve been doing in it, we have been talking about the game at length for a number of shows now, so this week we’re putting it on the backburner. To that end, we recap a fun session playing NBA Live 06 PC with a work-in-progress ABA mod, and reflect on the league’s legacy and importance in the history of basketball. We also join the community in reminiscing about fun and weird ideas and approaches that we’ve employed in fantasy drafts, as well as some of the most memorable transactions – good or bad – that our favourite teams have made during all of our years following the NBA.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:14:41 — 51.6MB)

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!

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 inaccurate stats can be a real turn-off for those of us who are sim heads.

Even though sim basketball gamers have somehow come to be considered “casuals” by gatekeeping denizens of the competitive online scene, there are still plenty of virtual hoopers who prefer the NBA side of video games. Sim heads are more likely to prefer franchise play and the traditional career mode experience, where a realistic style of play is more viable. Of course, opting for realism across the board is easier said than done. After all, in franchise and career modes, that means playing a full 82-game season on twelve minute quarters, which can be a daunting prospect.

It’s something that I’ve done in multiple games now. In my ongoing NBA 2K14 PS4 MyCAREER, I’m playing on full quarters and have yet to simulate a game as of my sixth season, and it’s been a more rewarding journey as a result. That’s how I feel about all of my games where I’ve played through at least one season from start to finish, but to that point, I can attest to it being a lengthy process. Even if you never feel bored, it can still be challenging to find the necessary free time. This is why the simulation function and shorter quarter length options are so useful, but for hardcore sim gamers, the inaccurate stats they produce can be difficult to get your head around.

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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 my recent habit of creating and playing with makeshift classic teams – and other minimalist rosters – while retro gaming.

There are multiple ways in which I can indulge my NBA nostalgia. I can simply revisit an old game and play with rosters that are now a time capsule. For over a decade now, the NBA 2K series has provided a plethora of historical content, from classic teams to All-Time squads to the Decade All-Stars. There are also mods that I can download, or I could always create my own retro rosters in one of my favourite games. In short, if I feel like taking a trip down memory lane on the virtual hardwood, it can be done with impressive accuracy.

As such, I will absolutely do all those things! However, cobbling together makeshift classic teams has become a consistent part of my basketball gaming over the past year or so. I’ve also tinkered with the rosters of old games I’m dusting off by rolling them back to the previous season, or creating minimalist Legends squads. It may sound highly unnecessary when there are games that already provide that content, not to mention strange that I’m not opting for more accuracy with a full retro mod. However, I’ve had a blast incorporating some minimalist modding into my retro gaming. There’s an undeniable appeal to assembling something new with only the content on hand.

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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 much I’m enjoying low-stakes basketball gaming.

Naturally, Play Now/exhibition mode is a necessary staple in basketball video games, as it is in all sports titles. It’s important to be able to just jump into a game where the result doesn’t have to count, especially while we’re getting acclimated to a new title. However, historically speaking, I generally haven’t played too many exhibition games once I’m hooked on a release. More often than not, I’ve just used Play Now to grab screenshots for an article or news post, immediately quitting after getting what I need. If I was going to settle down to play a full game, I wanted it to count for something.

Over the past few years though, my habits have drastically changed. I’m still eager to play games that count, as my ongoing NBA 2K14 MyCAREER and other preserved save files demonstrate. At the same time, I’ve become far more open to – and keen on – low-stakes basketball gaming. Even putting aside sessions where I’ve just fired up a game to capture screenshots or video for a feature, I’ve probably played more Play Now and exhibition mode games in the past couple of years than I have in a long time; perhaps ever in my decades of hitting the virtual hardwood! I must say that it’s been incredibly refreshing, and as such, it’s something that I intend to keep doing.

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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 a look at the concept of Video Game Teams.

Dee and I have mentioned “Video Game Teams” and “Virtual Hardwood Legends” on several episodes of the NLSC Podcast. That’s because they’re part of some of our favourite basketball gaming memories, and I know that we’re definitely not alone in that regard. There have been many articles and posts from basketball and other sports gamers who fondly recall players and teams that were dominant in video games – even unstoppable – irrespective of their real life performance. Indeed, video games are undoubtedly responsible for gamers becoming fans of certain teams and players!

At the same time, enthusiasm for the real sport frequently determines our choices in video games. For example, we’re more likely to use our favourite players and teams – if we have them – because there’s already some degree of emotional investment. We’ll also seek out a change of pace though, and if we’re passionate about the sport and its history, we’ll recreate interesting scenarios and historical showdowns. Over the years, we’ve seen many busts that become superstars on the virtual hardwood, and teams that fared much better in games. They’re often a blast to play with, but as the term “Video Game Teams” might be somewhat ambiguous, I figured I’d take a shot at defining it.

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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 fun it can be just messing around with basketball video games.

I don’t want to harp on the horrors of grinding in basketball gaming nowadays. It’s a well-known issue, and it would be rather ironic and hypocritical of me to repeatedly grumble about something being repetitive! However, it is worth noting that one of the biggest problems in modern basketball games is the focus on the grind, whether it’s levelling up a MyPLAYER or building a MyTEAM squad. We’ve gone from a fun journey that keeps us hooked for hours on end, to needing to put in hours of work just to have fun. I’m grateful to have changed my habits in that regard!

However, while it’s been refreshing to return to NBA 2K14 PS4 for five full seasons and counting in MyCAREER, and also free up time for a potential return to franchise play, frankly I’m enjoying having less structure to my basketball gaming. Don’t get me wrong; I love the depth that keeps us hooked on franchise and career modes, with the tangible goals of playing through seasons and winning championships. At the same time, when you’re not dedicating yourself to grinding or you feel like a break from a more structured mode, simply messing around in a game can be just as engaging. It’s actually one of the things that I enjoyed the most about my basketball gaming in 2023.

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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 the pros and cons of NBA 2K24 running with a “Green or Miss” approach to shooting.

As revealed in last week’s developer blog on gameplay, shooting in NBA 2K24 will come down to “Green or Miss”. In other words, precise timing will be required, as any shot that isn’t a Green Release will be unsuccessful. However, this won’t be the case across the board. In modes such as MyNBA, MyTEAM, and Play Now, the timing will be more forgiving on lower difficulty levels, meaning that you’ll be able to make some shots without getting a Green Release. However, if you’re playing on Hall of Fame difficulty, or one of the online competitive modes, it’ll be “Green or Miss”!

It’s a strict approach to the shooting mechanics, though obviously not as strict as it could’ve been. It could prove to be a controversial decision, and will certainly fuel further arguments between NBA 2K gamers. Personally, I have mixed feelings about the “Green or Miss” approach, and the way it will be implemented in NBA 2K24. The idea has merit from the standpoint of establishing a skill-based competitive scene, but the concept still has its flaws. It needn’t impact the gameplay experience on offer in the traditional modes, but it’s still there in the background. I’m sure there will be many elitist takes on this, so let’s take a more nuanced look at the “Green or Miss” concept.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #424 of the NLSC Podcast!

NBA Live 2000 PC is back in the rotation, delighting with its gameplay. However, its presentation also leads to a surprising revelation, and a tribute to the late Don Poier. Once again, we can’t rule out some retro modding projects for the game! We also circle back to the potential tease of a new college basketball game, and reflect on missed opportunities with EA’s marketing of its hoops titles. As always, we provide updates on what we’ve been playing, including the latest progress in NBA 2K19 MyLEAGUE using the 1995 season mod, and Year 3 of NBA 2K14 MyCAREER. This week’s mailbag is all about how the community likes to spend its time on the virtual hardwood, and we received plenty of interesting answers covering a variety of modes.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:29:24 — 61.7MB)

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 this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown. This week’s Five looks at five ways that playing MyCAREER messes with your overall game on the virtual hardwood.

Putting aside MyCAREER in favour of MyNBA, fun match-ups in Play Now, and a little bit of MyTEAM, has been a breath of fresh air. As always, I must emphasise that I’ve had thousands of hours of fun with MyCAREER and its connected modes. I mean that literally, as I’ve checked the Hours Played count on PC and PlayStation alike! It was a mode that I was playing out of habit though, and when I finally broke that habit, I found that I was enjoying basketball gaming in a way that I hadn’t been for quite a while. In short, it was time to move on, and I finally did.

Not only was it refreshing, it was also eye-opening. I was aware of how playing MyCAREER had become a habit, to the point where I could say that grinding had become oddly addictive. However, as I’ve shifted away from MyCAREER and its connected modes, I’ve been caught off guard by how my style of play, as well as my expectations of gameplay, had been affected by playing the mode for so many years. It’s something I noticed when I first started playing head-to-head games on Parsec, as well as diving into MyTEAM and MyNBA. Simply put, as fun as it can be, playing MyCAREER messes with your virtual game. Here are five examples of how it does.

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This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! In this feature, we dig into the archives, look back at the history of basketball gaming, and indulge in some nostalgia. Check in every Wednesday for retrospectives and other features on older versions of NBA Live, NBA 2K, and old school basketball video games in general. You’ll also find old NLSC editorials re-published with added commentary, and other flashback content. This week, I’m taking a second look back at Fantasy Teams in NBA Live, which debuted as Quick Pick Play.

Although I have many titles and aspects of old basketball games that I want to cover here in Wayback Wednesday, sometimes I do have to revisit topics. As much care and passion as I put into my features, there are times when I don’t do a topic justice, or my opinion changes after some further retro gaming sessions. It’s why I’ve seen fit to post new retrospectives of NBA Live 06 and NBA Live 10. Sometimes my opinion doesn’t change much – as was the case with NBA Live 07 – but another look with fresh eyes can yield something you didn’t notice before, and alter your perspective.

I would definitely say that that’s the case with Fantasy Teams and Quick Pick Play, a mode featured in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of NBA Live 08 through NBA Live 10. I don’t necessarily disagree with what I wrote when I covered Quick Pick Play four years ago, but I’ve developed more of an appreciation for it since then. With that in mind, let’s take another 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! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games. This week, I’m tipping things off with a look at what your shot chart says about your style of play on the virtual hardwood.

Well, that’s a trashy, clickbait headline if ever I’ve used one! Then again, is it still a clickbait title if it’s kind of making fun of clickbait and trashy, vapid headlines? Arguably, yes. What if I’m truly intending to run some hopefully thought-provoking experiments and share the results? Probably still a bit cheesy! Anyway, have you ever really looked at your shot chart after a game? If you haven’t, there’s no shame. After all, whether you won or lost, hit a statistical goal, or achieved some measure of progression in a mode, tends to be the more pertinent and interesting information.

And yet, it’s interesting to look at our shot chart. As in a real NBA game, it says a lot about how we shot the ball and ran our offense. To that end, it can provide insights into how we won or lost. In video games, it also illustrates some common gaming habits, the reasons for which are interesting to delve into. I’ll admit that I haven’t made a habit of looking at my shot chart after games in recent years, probably because I’ve been focused on grinding for VC and Badge XP rather than playing a sim style in MyCAREER. However, in the interests of experimenting, exploring theories, and self-reflection, I decided that I’d see what my shot charts look like these days.

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