Tag Archives: Rules

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 ways that it’s getting hard to update old basketball video games.

As someone who originally got into modding basketball video games by updating NBA Live 96 more than a year after it had been superseded, I’m never going to tell anyone that they shouldn’t work on older titles! There’s novelty in updating an old favourite for the current season, combining today’s rosters with classic gameplay. Of course, it’s fun to go the other way too, winding back the clock in a new game so that we can virtually revisit and play through a nostalgic season with modern mechanics. I’ve found joy and satisfaction in tackling both kinds of projects over the years.

With that being said, continuing to update old favourites years and indeed decades after their release will only ever get tougher. Needless to say, this isn’t a new issue. Speaking from experience, choosing to mod an older release over a recent one has always meant that you’ll soon encounter technical limitations, demographic shifts, and other potential deterrents. Again, that’s not to say that you can’t or shouldn’t continue to play and update a favourite that stands the test of time. If you’re still having fun and are satisfied with what can be done, that’s ultimately what’s important. Nevertheless, if you’re looking to update older games, it would be wise to keep these things in mind.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #621 of the NLSC Podcast!

At this point, it’s undeniable that tanking has become a huge problem in the NBA, with Commissioner Adam Silver openly pledging to fix the issue. Naturally we have our own thoughts on the matter, so this week we join the community in discussing our opinions of tanking and the impact that it’s had on the NBA, as well as some possible solutions that might at least curb it. We also react to some of the ideas that the league and pundits have proposed. From changing the approach to the lottery to removing pick protections to penalising teams that are clearly losing on purpose long before the regular season’s final weeks, there are several ways that this practice could feasibly be discouraged.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 44:35 — 31.0MB)

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!

Patch 3.0 is now available for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S version of NBA 2K26, and will be out on PC on November 28th in time for the tip-off of Season 3. As always, it should come through automatically as long as you’re online. If it doesn’t, try restarting your console or Steam client – come the 28th in the case of the latter – or checking for updates manually.

In addition to preparing NBA 2K26 for Season 3 in MyCAREER and MyTEAM, Patch 3.0 includes more player likeness updates and technical fixes. It also adds support for the NBA’s new heave rule, and addresses an issue with 3-second violations in The City’s game modes. Apart from that, there have been no major changes to the gameplay. Additionally, the PC update will also include further optimisation tweaks for better stability and performance.

Full release notes for Patch 3.0 can be found below, as well as in the NBA 2K26 update history in our Wiki. Feel free to share any impressions and other thoughts in the comments, as well as join in the discussion here in the Forum!

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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 features that we’ve lost, yet for some reason don’t talk about enough.

One of the unfortunate realities of long-running annual sports video games is that over the years, features will be lost. Contrary to popular belief, the code is re-written every year, as it’s necessary to accommodate new features and mechanics. As such, anything that is incompatible or otherwise causes issues with the new code is at risk of ending up on the cutting room floor, particularly if the telemetry data indicates that it isn’t a very popular feature. With that being said, some features are dropped because they’re no longer useful or relevant, or indeed, stand in the way of recurrent revenue.

I’m sure that we can all cite plenty of examples of lost features that we’ve fervently wished were still in NBA 2K, NBA Live, and other games. Indeed, I’ve mentioned some of my own picks in previous articles and on our podcast! However, there are lost features that really should receive more attention than they do, yet people seldom bring them up. To that end, I’m as guilty as anyone else of glossing over some of these lost features that were once staples of basketball video games, so I figured it’s about time that I spotlight a few of them. While some of them may not seem like a big deal, they’re still basic functionality that’s bewilderingly absent in otherwise deep games.

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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 basic features in basketball video games that we take for granted.

There are a number of basic features in a modern basketball game that have become firmly entrenched as essential, at least if you want the game to be good! The genre has come a long way, and even though I still have tremendous fondness for the early classics, I’m also aware of their shortcomings. Of course, many of the basic features that were once innovations did come along in the mid to late 90s, so we’ve had them for decades now. To that point though, it’s all too easy to take some of those basic features for granted, especially if you didn’t grow up with the more primitive titles.

“Primitive” is the operative word here. When video games as a whole were in their infancy, those first steps towards what we have now did feel like huge strides. On top of that, technical limitations meant that games couldn’t have the same level of depth and detail as they do now, or even a couple of generations ago. Nevertheless, it’s still interesting to look back at some early basketball video games – as I obviously enjoy doing for Wayback Wednesday – and note how some of the basic features that we now take for granted are nowhere to be found. This doesn’t mean that we can’t and shouldn’t criticise modern games, but it’s a reminder of the progress that’s been made.

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We’ve got some interesting new mod releases for NBA 2K19 today, including a Neighborhood court, a hack to access and modify game rules, and a mod that adds the Teammate Grade from MyCAREER to Blacktop. Check them all out at the links below!

Botytec
Neighborhood Court
Game Rules
Teammate Grade in Blacktop

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

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 specific details that we can’t include in roster mods for various games.

There are a ton of creative things that our community has done with roster mods over the years. Sometimes the games have been conveniently flexible in what can be done with their roster files, while other times we’ve had to devise clever workarounds. For the most part, the community has been very understanding when limitations have stood in the way of 100% accuracy, especially when it comes to retro roster mods. At the same time, it usually requires some disclaimers to be posted. If you go back and look at the readme files for Lutz’s rosters, you’ll see FAQs addressing these concerns.

Unfortunately, there are some details that we just haven’t been able to include in roster mods for NBA Live and NBA 2K. It’s seldom been gamebreaking, but for those of us who strive for as much accuracy and detail as possible, it’s still a bummer. Of course, that’s also because they’re the kind of inaccuracies that invite messages telling us that we’ve “forgotten” to do something, even if the release notes are clear that it can’t be done due to technical limitations. Once again though, a vast majority of mod users do understand the situation after those limitations have been explained. I can think of five specific details that can’t be included in roster mods for one reason or another.

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Please be advised that our Forum Rules have been amended with an official policy regarding Patreon. Our rule regarding charging for mods now reads as follows:

Charging money for mods and patches is not allowed. Beyond simply not being the “done thing” in our community, it also invites legal problems, as profiting off someone else’s intellectual property and likeness is illegal. As long as we’re not charging for updates, the developers are happy to look the other way (and sometimes even quietly support us) when it comes to modding.

Please note that while you are free to take the risk of charging for patches on your own site or blog, you may not promote it here with any links. Donation links, tip jars, and Patreons are acceptable, but releases cannot be held for ransom in demand for donations (thus indirectly charging for them). All Patreon content must also be made available publicly within a week; Patreon-exclusive releases cannot be posted here.

Further information on how Patreon releases must be handled has also been added:

Patreon is another service that you may use, and is a good platform to seek support for hosting larger mods. However, it must not be used to circumvent our rules against charging for mods. Early access via Patreon is allowed, but the mod must be made available publicly on the NLSC within a week of the Patreon release. If those conditions are adhered to, you are free to promote early access releases and your Patreon in general. Patreon-exclusive releases without a public release count as charging for mods and are not allowed. What you do with your Patreon is your business, but as far as our community and platform is concerned, you may not promote/link to any Patreon-exclusive releases. or your Patreon in general if you aren’t posting any public releases.

These rules are now in effect and apply to all future releases. We are implementing this policy in the interests of being fair to our community, and avoiding any problems with intellectual property. If you have any questions, please contact myself or another member of staff.

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 examples of retro content that we haven’t seen in basketball video games yet.

For over twenty years, we’ve seen some form of retro content in contemporary hoops games. It began with the inclusion of Legends and Decade All-Stars teams in NBA Live and NBA 2K around the turn of the millennium, and exploded with the addition of historical squads thanks to The Jordan Challenge and NBA’s Greatest. Since then we’ve also seen the addition of All-Time teams for every NBA franchise, the return of All-Decade squads in NBA 2K20, pre-built historical Draft Classes, and the inclusion of retro content in MyTEAM. Everything’s been done, right?

Not quite! I can think of at least five examples of retro content that we haven’t seen in NBA Live or NBA 2K yet, but I’d love to see implemented at some point. Some of it is easier said than done, and with the current backlash against nostalgia and the NBA of the 80s and 90s – all that “plumbers and dentists” nonsense – it probably isn’t a high priority for Visual Concepts or EA Sports. Nevertheless, these ideas are always fun to discuss, and who knows; some day, a couple of these ideas may become a reality! It never hurts to have extra content in the game – particularly for modding purposes – and with that in mind, here are some untapped ideas for retro content.

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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 lists five ways that the CPU will mess with us in basketball video games.

As we all know, multiplayer gaming has its ups and downs. Whether it’s the pain of getting less than ideal teammates online, the frustration of encountering cheesers who spam exploits, or dealing with that one friend who takes things too far messing with you while you’re sitting on the same couch, there are times when you’d prefer to be enjoying single player gameplay. Of course, the single player/offline experience isn’t immune to such chicanery, as games will pull some dirty tricks in order to prevent you from beating them. CPU opponents in basketball games are no different.

To some extent, this is a necessary evil. As far as basketball games have come, they still have limitations. Gameplay is now more realistic with CPU opponents that are bolstered by AI that is smarter, but it still can’t match the creativity and cleverness of a human brain. Tilting a few aspects of the game in the CPU’s favour and including comeback mechanics allows it to be competitive and challenging, though can feel like artificial difficulty. There are also moments that are more benign and don’t necessarily stand in the way of winning, but nevertheless feel like the CPU is messing with us. Here are five examples of the CPU thumbing its nose at us on the virtual hardwood.

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