Tag Archives: Reviews

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 candid thoughts on why so many basketball video game reviews suck.

As much as I value thoughtful critique over statements that are blunt and insulting for the sake of being provocative, I must be frank here: many of the reviews of basketball video games flat out suck. They aren’t helpful to enthusiastic hoops gamers who want to know if a title is a significant improvement over its predecessor, and whether it’s worth getting. Their lack of insightful commentary provides no useful feedback to the developers, and seldom holds the publisher accountable for business practices that are predatory and even hostile towards the core audience.

It’s extremely frustrating for me. As someone who has been playing basketball video games for over 25 years, and – at the risk of sounding egotistical – knows a thing or two about them, I’m unimpressed by such poor evaluations of them as products. On top of that, my philosophy is to stand with my fellow gamers rather than shill for a company. I believe it’s vital to be honest with ourselves and each other, and to keep the community informed. Also, while there’s really no such thing as an “unbiased review” as opinions are always subjective, personal bias can impact fairness and accuracy. It’s these recurring issues that result in laughable and subpar reviews.

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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 discussion of why we defend games, to the point where we downplay issues and even pretend that they don’t exist.

This is a difficult topic to broach without sounding snobby, or as though I’m accusing anyone who likes something that I dislike of being ignorant, easily pleased, or a shill. That line of thinking is just as toxic and unconstructive as fanboyism and shilling, and equally fallacious. We all have different tastes and expectations, as well as thresholds of satisfaction and disappointment. When someone sees fit to defend games that they enjoy, there isn’t necessarily anything pretend about it. Those are their honest feelings about the game, and genuine reasons for their enjoyment.

And yet, there are times that we do pretend when we defend games. We’ve all done it at some point. It doesn’t always mean that we don’t enjoy them, but to a certain extent we’re lying – both to others and to ourselves – about a game’s overall quality (or lack thereof). In the most extreme cases, it is indeed shilling for a title, or at the very least fanboyism polluting the discourse. However, there are innocent and understandable reasons that we attempt to pretend that everything’s fine and defend games; even when there’s no drawback to being critical (or indeed, it would actually benefit us to speak out on the issues). Unfortunately, they make it difficult to curb the habit.

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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 an admittedly snarky parody that demonstrates how all too many people who cover hoops gaming go about reviewing a New Basketball Game.

In the interests of transparency, I’ve toyed around with the idea of writing an article like this for some time. However, after reading this delightfully meta piece over on Kotaku, I believe that it’s only fair that I should credit it for inspiring me to actually go through with it. Besides, it’s not as though I invited parody or satire. As it stands, The Friday Five is, shall we say, “heavily inspired” by the format of Cracked’s articles (or BuzzFeed, or anyone else producing “listicle” content, I suppose). My Wayback Wednesday feature shares its name with a popular social media hashtag.

The point is that I cannot claim one hundred percent originality in my content. Of course, that’s only appropriate when I discuss the approach that so many influencers and video game journalists have towards reviewing the New Basketball Game every year. So many basketball game reviews are copy and paste fare, though again, some might argue that it’s apt given the genre. They seldom demonstrate insight into the sport – real or virtual – and neglect the nagging legacy issues that ardent basketball gamers want to know about. So many reviews are puff pieces and glorified press releases. I don’t share them anymore, because they all sound something like this.

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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 provides a guide to spotting a shill in the basketball gaming community.

Contrary to what some people might think, I don’t relish writing critical articles. It’s something that I like to balance, because I believe that we should enjoy and celebrate basketball gaming. After all, my motto for the NLSC is fans, not fanboys; critics, not haters. However, it’s also important to point out issues with the games, as well as our community, and the wider basketball gaming community in general. It’s vital that we stand up for ourselves as consumers, which means not remaining silent when there are problems, or defending bad practices. In short, it means not being a shill.

Now, what’s the difference – if any – between a fanboy and a shill? There’s obviously a large amount of overlap between the two, but I would say that a shill tends to take things much further. They also tend to be louder voices in the community, wielding some level of influence, and enjoying certain perks as a result. Fanboys contribute to very frustrating discussions and muddy our attempts to provide constructive feedback, but a shill shuts down the conversation, and throws their fellow gamers under the bus. The shills aren’t going anywhere, but if you know how to spot them, you can at least take their words with the scepticism that they deserve. These are the tell-tale signs.

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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 some thoughts on influencers in the basketball gaming community, and the influence they wield on the virtual hardwood.

If you take part in basketball gaming Twitter, you’ll recall that not too long ago, Flight publicly rebuffed overtures from Ronnie 2K to be brought into the fold as one of the “official” influencers for NBA 2K. I won’t go into the whole history of everything that happened between Flight and Ronnie, in part because it’s not really my brand, but also because there are others that can tell the story in more detail. The tl;dr version is that Ronnie publicly blackballed Flight from getting a logo, calling him a “bully” over some of his remarks. He’s since changed his tune, but for Flight it’s little, too late.

Look, while I can appreciate brands and digital marketers picking and choosing who they want to work with, and find it understandable if they’re hesitant to collaborate with someone when there’s been some friction, I really have to commend Flight in this situation. The exposure and other perks influencers gain from having agreements with 2K would be tough for most people to turn down; even if it does mean giving up some autonomy in your content. To rebuff Ronnie’s offer that came now that his audience makes him too appealing to blackball shows guts and integrity on Flight’s part. It’s an example that all influencers in the basketball gaming community should follow.

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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 look back at NBA 2K18, and the legacy that it has created.

The NBA 2K18 servers are no more. Well, I imagine they’re still physically around. It’s highly unlikely that 2K instructed someone to take a sledgehammer and go all Triple H on them, rather than just switching them off. The point is that online support has ended, which means MyTEAM, the first version of The Neighborhood, and all other connected content is gone. With this infamous release being officially put out to pasture, I believe it’s an apt time to offer up a final take on the game, and reflect on its legacy.

I know that it’s fairly recent by Wayback Wednesday standards, but it was released going on three years ago, which is about how old the All-Time College Teams DLC for NBA 2K17 was when I covered it. Besides, NBA 2K18 came out last decade, and that makes it sound old, right? Hey, it’s my feature, and I’ll bend the rules if need be! In any event, a retrospective of this controversial game feels quite timely, so let’s take a look back…not too far but still wayback…

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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 few thoughts on Metacritic scores, and how they relate to basketball games.

We’re less than three weeks away from the release of NBA Live 18 and NBA 2K18. It won’t be long before publications are getting their hands on the finished games, and vying to be the first to post their reviews. The most glowing reviews will be shared by the games’ official social media accounts, while we basketball gamers discuss the merits of each reviewer’s critique. At the end of the day, however, their approval or disapproval of each game will contribute to their respective Metacritic scores. Like all developers, both EA Sports and Visual Concepts will be hoping for the best result possible, as Metacritic scores are the yardstick for successful releases.

Generally speaking, that’s an understandable approach. While there can certainly be a disconnect between the opinions of professional reviewers and the general public, along with sales, Metacritic scores are a reasonable barometer for a game’s success. At the same time, when it comes to basketball games, and sports games in general for that matter, I’d argue that they’re not always accurate or fair. I’m not a huge fan of awarding numerical scores to games of any genre, and as far as basketball games are concerned, the extent to which the importance of Metacritic scores can be overblown is comparable to the overemphasis on overall ratings in the games themselves.

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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 is a list of five tips for anyone who wants to get involved in creating content for basketball video games.

So, you love basketball video games, and you want to create some content for or based on them. That’s great! The ratio of creators vs. consumers in any community rarely favours the creators, so any time that somebody new wants to create entertaining and informative content for basketball games, it’s most welcome. From our original content and talented modding community, to popular YouTubers and the EA Sports Game Changers, people are talking about basketball games, finding ways to help their fellow gamers enhance their experience, aiding the developers, and providing something interesting and entertaining to read or watch.

Although there are some well established platforms on which to create basketball gaming content, it can be difficult to know where to begin. To that end, I thought that I’d put together a shortlist of tips for anyone who wants to get involved in creating mods, videos, articles, and so on. Having observed what makes other people’s content successful (and in my opinion enjoyable), as well as having tried my hand at more than a couple of creative endeavours related to basketball games over the years, these are some traits and techniques that I like to keep in mind. Hopefully, some of them will be useful to aspiring content creators within the basketball gaming community.

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