Tag Archives: Pro-Am Tour

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 there’s now a ticking clock on support for NBA Live 19, and what it means for the future of the series.

When the NBA Live 18 servers were shut down last year, I speculated that it may not be too long before online support for NBA Live 19 ends as well. Although support won’t end in 2025 as I guessed that it might, it’s been confirmed that NBA Live 19’s servers will be shut down on January 30th, 2026. The game has already been removed from digital stores, but physical copies do exist if you want to get your hands on it. Obviously, the offline modes will still be available when online support ends, so as long as you own the game, it will be playable.

Of course, the end of online support is bad news for Ultimate Team; a mode that I’ve been enjoying as of late. Much like my NBA Live 18 kick last year, I’ve unfortunately allowed myself to get hooked on an experience that will soon be unavailable! I’d liken it to getting into a great television show after it’s already a few seasons in, but on the brink of cancellation or otherwise getting ready to wrap up. I’m enjoying myself and I’m grateful that I gave it a proper chance, but I’m also getting on the ride late, so the impending end of the journey feels unfairly abrupt. Beyond that, the ticking clock on NBA Live 19 underscores the current state of the series, as well as its bleak future.

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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 my basketball gaming has increasingly involved hitting the streets to virtually hoop.

One of the most valuable life lessons I’ve learned is the importance of remaining open-minded, trying new things, and being willing to step outside your comfort zone. As someone who was a picky eater growing up, it’s been a delight to give new cuisine a chance, and discover that I have a taste for foods I was once intimidated by. Meeting new friends has introduced me to hobbies, interests, and experiences that I might not have tried otherwise. As for basketball gaming, I’ve been able to shed brand loyalty and established habits to find new retro kicks, and different ways of enjoying them.

Case in point: my recent appreciation for virtually balling in the streets! There’s plenty of irony here. First of all, playful jabs at JaoSming and his enthusiasm for Blacktop mode were running gags on old episodes of the NLSC Podcast, yet here I am enjoying the type of virtual streetball gameplay that he championed! Second, I’ve been highly critical of NBA Live’s focus on The Streets, particularly in NBA Live 19, so the last thing I expected was to get hooked on the Pro-Am Tour in NBA Live 18. I do still stand by many of my previous criticisms, but like a dish I swore I’d never eat, I’ve developed a taste for – with apologies to the Doobie Brothers – takin’ it to the streets.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #554 of the NLSC Podcast!

What is it that keeps us hooked on the virtual hardwood? This week, we join the community in sharing the reasons why we play basketball video games, ranging from a love of the sport, to bonding experiences with family and friends, to joyful fantasy and escapism. Following on from last week, we and our listeners pick three stars from the 2000s to bring into the modern NBA in their prime. In response to the end of online support for NBA Live 18, we note how the offline version of The One succeeds where MyCAREER fails nowadays. We also share an interesting tidbit about Dr. J vs. Larry Bird, and answer a question about bad basketball video games in another edition of Andrew Asks.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:09:28 — 48.1MB)

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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 on my retro basketball gaming habits in recent years, which have frequently seen me walking the road not taken.

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both…I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference”. These are the opening and closing lines of Robert Frost’s most famous poem, “The Road Not Taken”. My first exposure to the poem was – as so many things were – via a scene from The Simpsons. In the years since then, it’s been interesting to read the entire poem, and also to learn that it’s commonly misinterpreted as championing the idea of “following your own path”. (Don’t worry; I do have a point here beyond pretentiously referencing poetry!)

In fact, “The Road Not Taken” is intended to be ironic, mocking that notion. In short, it pokes fun at indecisiveness, and overemphasising or romanticising our choices, as well as needlessly regretting the ones that we’ve made. To that point, revisiting games that we’ve overlooked is “The Road Not Taken”, both literally and in terms of Frost’s intended meaning. Obviously, we chose a different path – playing something else – and we may lament that, and try to retroactively justify our choices. However, not only did we walk that path for a reason, but with retro gaming, it is possible to go back and take the other route, as I’ve been doing (see, I told you we’d get there!).

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To mark the 25th Anniversary of NBA Live, we’re taking a look back at every game in the series with retrospectives and other fun content! This also includes re-running some features from our 20th Anniversary celebrations, with a few revisions. Whether you’re a long-time basketball gamer who grew up with NBA Live and are keen on taking a trip down memory lane, or you’re new to the series and want to learn about its history, we hope that you enjoy celebrating the 25th Anniversary of NBA Live here at the NLSC! Next up is a retrospective of NBA Live 18.

We’re almost at the end of our retrospectives, with just two games left to cover. Before we begin, which do you prefer: the NBA, or streetball? NBA Live 18 aimed to give us the best of both worlds, in the form of The League and The Streets. Even the cover emphasised the duality of the game, with two pictures of James Harden: one in his Houston Rockets uniform, the other in a plain singlet and shorts. The game wasn’t a disaster, nor was it a complete departure from previous titles in the series. It was clear that NBA Live was headed in a new direction though, and not everyone was happy about that; especially long-time fans of the series.

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