Tag Archives: The Hangar

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 revisiting NBA Live 19 with an updated retrospective, in light of the game re-entering my rotation last year.

Last year, after I made a post that mentioned NBA Live 18 on the NLSC’s socials, I received a response asserting that NBA Live 19 was “ten times better”. As someone who never really warmed up to the game, that was certainly an intriguing claim! I was sceptical, but I wasn’t about to stubbornly dismiss it out of hand. After all, a second look at NBA Live 18 made me realise that I enjoyed it even more than I remembered. Furthermore, a dedicated contingent of gamers continued to play NBA Live 19 for many years after its release, suggesting that there was a fun experience on offer.

And so, I decided to give NBA Live 19 another try. Considering that it became my basketball game of choice from August last year right through to its server shutdown back in January, it’s safe to say that I have a far more positive view of it now! There are still aspects that I don’t like, or believe could and should have been better, but at the very least I’ve developed more of an appreciation for it. Is it ten times better than NBA Live 18? Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s a respectable release that should’ve been a stepping stone to an even better game. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

March Modness 2025 tipped off yesterday, and as I promised, I’m getting into the spirit myself! NBA Live 06 is an old favourite that I’m looking to bring back into my rotation, which also means that I’m considering ways to spruce it up with mods. To that end, I’ve put together some new practice courts for NBA Live 06, which include re-makes of The Hangar and the NBA Elite 11 practice court; two mods that I originally created for NBA Live 08.

On top of that, I’ve whipped up a few quick mods using files that originally came with NBA Live 06. I’ve restored the original practice gym that erroneously features a banner for NCAA March Madness 06, a fixed version of that gym that replaces the banner with an NBA Live 06 logo, and a mod that swaps in the urban court from 1-on-1 mode as the practice court. Download them all at the links below!

• The Hangar Practice Court
• NBA Elite 11 Practice Court
• Original Gym Practice Court
• Fixed Original Gym Practice Court
• Urban Practice Court

I’ll definitely be exploring other modding ideas for NBA Live 06 beyond these practice courts, including some roster projects (most likely not a 2025 season update, however). I’ll also be tinkering with some other games, including finishing up some minimalist retro rosters the Xbox 360 version of NBA 2K6. Stay tuned for more releases, and modders, remember to get involved with March Modness for a chance to win a copy of NBA 2K26 PC later this year!

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 times that we were able to alter the frontend in basketball video games without modding them.

You know, sometimes we focus so much on searching for the video game secrets that we wish were real, that we forget to enjoy the fun things we can actually do. Take Super Mario 64, for example. So many people have painstakingly collected every coin in every level, and done everything else they can to unlock Luigi; an endeavour that’s doomed to fail, because it’s been proven that he’s not in the game. Something that is in the game however is the ability to stretch Mario’s face on the title screen into goofy poses and expressions. Silly as it may be, I’ve laughed uproariously while doing that!

After all, there’s something satisfying about being able to mess around with a game’s presentation or frontend, without actually having to externally mod any files. It may not have a practical use, but it doesn’t need one. It’s still a novelty, something fun to do as you’re preparing to jump into gameplay, or you’ve just finished up a session. I realise that doesn’t gel with the idea of competitive play, grinding for rewards, and taking video games super seriously, but that’s not all that gaming is about. Whether it’s a prominent option that you can select, or a minor detail that you can manipulate, there’s joy in having the ability to alter the frontend in various basketball video games.

Read More »

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.

Read More »

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 reposting my impressions of the NBA Live 10 demo, originally published way back in 2009.

As I note in the introduction of every Wayback Wednesday, one of the goals of this feature is to repost old articles, particularly ones that are no longer accessible in our archives thanks to switching content management systems a couple of times over the years. It’s probably my most-overlooked Wayback Wednesday concept, as there are plenty of old titles to profile, as well as other topics related to retro basketball gaming. Still, it’d be a shame to leave these early attempts at original content rotting away in the archives. They’re a part of our history, and cover some interesting topics, too.

One such article is my original impressions of the NBA Live 10 demo. NBA Live 10 is a game that I’ve come to appreciate even more in recent years, after initially souring on it due to issues with its second patch. I’ve spoken at length about losing interest in the game, and my subsequent change of heart as it entered my retro basketball gaming rotation, but what were my first hands-on impressions of the NBA Live 10 demo? How do they differ from my post-launch impressions, and how I feel about the game today? Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

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 Atmosphere settings in NBA Live.

Following a decade of duds and dormancy, it’s easy to forget how innovative NBA Live was, even after NBA 2K became the premier brand in sim basketball gaming. With that being said, if you’re been playing basketball video games long enough to remember a time when NBA Live was still widely considered a viable, or indeed even a preferable choice, you’ll probably remember NBA Live 10 as a strong release. I’ve seen people nominate it as the best game in the series, and while I appreciate it a lot more following last year’s retro kick, I’d only go so far as to say it’s one of the best.

I do see why many of my fellow gamers give NBA Live 10 the nod, though. It did several things right after a few rough years for the series, and appeared to be steering it in a better direction. NBA Live 10 still holds up today, and boasts a few features that newer releases – including the latest NBA 2K games – actually lack. One example that I’ve yet to cover in-depth here in Wayback Wednesday is the game’s Atmosphere settings. They weren’t unique to NBA Live 10, but it could be argued that the first implementation of the concept was the best. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

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 loading screens in basketball video games.

While catching up on some Zero Punctuation and Extra Punctuation videos, the one in which Yahtzee is reminiscing about loading screens really spoke to me. And so, once again, I’m shamelessly jumping on a topic that was brought up by a far, far more well-known content creator! It’s a topic that I undoubtedly relate to, though. In the video, Yahtzee notes the nostalgia at play here, acknowledging that faster loading times are obviously an improvement. However, for gamers of our generation, they’re not just a reminder of youthful excitement, but also examples of creative design.

In particular, Yahtzee notes the use of mini-games and interactive elements on loading screens. This got me thinking about how basketball games have tried to keep us entertained while they load, notably the approach that NBA Live took during the seventh generation. Needless to say, lengthy loading times are not something I want to see return, and they can be an annoyance while retro gaming. There’s nevertheless nostalgia there however, and it’s interesting that some ideas were dropped before loading times were shortened. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

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 details that made NBA Live 10 a special game.

As you may recall, in 2021 I went on a major retro gaming kick with NBA Live 10! It’s a game that I played with some enthusiasm when it was new, but I did end up putting it aside when the second patch introduced some annoying issues. However, after revisiting NBA Live 10 through Parsec sessions with Dee, as well as playing solo on my Xbox 360, I found that I had a much greater appreciation for it. In addition to following up on my 25th Anniversary of NBA Live retrospective with further thoughts, I also used the game to create a variety of Wayback Wednesday features.

I’ve put NBA Live 10 on the backburner to bring other classics into the rotation, but I still hold it in extremely high regard. Of course, there’s a bittersweet aspect to it. NBA Live 10 was the last game in the series to be widely regarded as a great release, and as such, it’s difficult to revisit it without wondering what might’ve been if not for the ill-fated attempt to reinvent the wheel in NBA Elite 11. Great gameplay and solid modes are responsible for NBA Live 10’s reputation among long-time basketball gamers, but what makes it a candidate for the best game in the NBA Live series is the attention it paid to the little details. These five details in particular made NBA Live 10 special.

Read More »

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 my thoughts on how having a personal court is an underrated feature in career modes.

As you can probably glean from how often I’ve talked about an extended playthrough of MyCAREER in NBA 2K14, I’m enjoying the experience immensely. For years I snubbed the mode, and NBA 2K14 in general. I’m not too proud to admit that I was wrong about both of them. While NBA 2K14 does have its quirks, its gameplay still holds up tremendously well in 2022. As for that first MyCAREER story, it isn’t as “on rails” or as intrusive as I’d long believed. Again, I do have some criticisms, but after finally giving it a chance, my impressions and experiences are largely positive.

On the subject of my criticisms however, there’s the matter of what I do between games in NBA 2K14 MyCAREER. I check the league leaders of course, as well as the stats for my MyPLAYER and my teammates. I keep tabs on the standings and the emerging Playoff picture late in the season, envisioning my likeliest path to the NBA Finals, and the opponent that I’ll probably face for the championship. I’ll check the news, and track career milestones. Something that I don’t do, however, is partake in a shootaround. I don’t do that because, quite simply, I can’t. For all the great aspects of NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, it unfortunately doesn’t have a court that you can call home.

Read More »

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 drawbacks of awesome features that tend to be overlooked.

Even though I’m an advocate for deep and detailed critique, I would agree that it’s possible to veer too far into the realm of nitpicking. That doesn’t mean that it’s wrong to criticise minor annoyances, but perfection is an unrealistic standard. However, I don’t think it’s unfair to point out that some of the most awesome features we’ve seen in basketball video games have had drawbacks that we’ve overlooked. They may not be immediately apparent or a problem for everybody, but they are issues that we’ll end up noticing, and may stand out as weaknesses in aspects that we otherwise really like.

Again, despite the title that I’ve used for this article, I don’t want to come across too negatively here. After all, something we can take away from each of these examples is that the drawbacks in question didn’t prevent the features from being awesome! They are drawbacks nevertheless though, and it’s important to be able to recognise that even our favourite modes and features aren’t perfect. It’s how we constructively criticise games, and suggest ways that the experiences we enjoy can become even better. With that being said, here are five drawbacks that ultimately didn’t prevent features from being awesome, but still caused some frustration or held them back in some way.

Read More »

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 adidas Live Run in NBA Live 10.

These days, we take the concept of online team play for granted. Although there’s still interest in single player experiences and local multiplayer, the various modes that allow us to play with up to nine other gamers online are extremely popular. Of course, MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft, to say nothing of the multiplayer scene in first person shooters and good old fashioned LAN parties, had already popularised the concept. As soon as the online infrastructure was developed for basketball and other sports titles, it was clear that the concept would find an enthusiastic audience.

It’s interesting to look back at those early iterations of online team play. With adidas Live Run in particular, you can see that the concept was already starting to evolve into the experiences we now enjoy (well, sometimes enjoy). Unfortunately, with the NBA Live series being rebooted following the cancellation of NBA Elite 11, the developers weren’t able to expand upon the idea of adidas Live Run until NBA Live 16. It was nevertheless an innovative mode in its time, so let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

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! At long last, it’s a retrospective of NBA Live 19.

And so, we’ve come to the final game in the NBA Live series to date, and thus the final retrospective in our 25th Anniversary of NBA Live content! I have to say that it’s been a wild ride to experience the ups and downs again, revisiting every title in the series one by one. I hope that you’ve enjoyed it too, even as we’ve revisited some of the weaker games. On that note, unfortunately the most recent NBA Live game isn’t one of the better releases, at least in my book. Those of us who would prefer that NBA Live focus on the NBA experience were hoping against hope that NBA Live 19 would be a return to form, but sadly, it picked up where NBA Live 18 left off.

Read More »

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 10.

After NBA Live 09, EA Sports pulled the plug on further PlayStation 2 releases for the series. Given the state of NBA Live 09 on PS2, it was the right call. It allowed EA Sports to focus on the current generation, though there was a PlayStation Portable and iOS version. Did the decision pay off? Well, NBA Live 10 is often considered to be the last great (or at least, really good) NBA Live release, so their efforts weren’t for nothing. At the same time, it didn’t recapture the lead in sales from NBA 2K, leading to a disastrous decision the following year with NBA Elite 11. Before we get to that though, let’s take a look back at NBA Live 10, and how well it holds up.

Read More »

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 countdown of the Top 5 coincidences that we’ve seen in basketball video games.

Coincidences are everywhere in basketball gaming. As Thunder Shaq and Dee4Three pointed out, NBA 2K used very similar phrasing to my Familiar Faces in Strange Places series of Wayback Wednesday articles to describe a themed set in MyTEAM. Of course, there are only so many ways to phrase things, and similar ideas will end up with similar titles and terminology. As this 2015 post about joke stealing explains, the phenomenon of parallel development accounts for many similarities, especially when something is topical or a common point of interest.

Beyond that, a lot of coincidences are fun, owing to the way they seemingly predict the future. We’ve seen coincidences like that occur more than a couple of times in basketball video games over the years. It’s easy to call them predictions in hindsight, while conveniently ignoring a lot of things that aren’t…well, anything! The ones that do look like predictions and foreshadowing are merely coincidences, but that doesn’t make them any less enjoyable. Today, I’m counting down my picks for the Top 5 coincidences in basketball gaming. There’s some overlap with my previous article on predictions, but there are also some new coincidences that you might find amusing.

Read More »

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 the practice arena in NBA Live 08.

For artists working on sim basketball games, there isn’t always a lot of room for creativity. Since the aim of the genre is to depict the NBA, its teams, and its players as realistically as possible, there aren’t as many opportunities to take liberties and utilise creative license. However, there are a few areas of the game that invite an artistic flourish, including settings such as The Neighborhood and The City, special effects in MyTEAM, fictional street courts, certain clothing items, and the frontend in general. Oh, and the practice arena.

Over the years, a lot of creativity has gone into creating an appealing practice arena for us to shoot around in, particularly in NBA Live. We’ve had The Temple in NBA Live 06 and 07, The Hangar in NBA Live 10, and the adidas-branded gym in NBA Live 15. NBA Live 09 introduced us to the NBA Live Academy. In NBA Live 19, we were even invited to design our own court where we could shoot around. A setting that is often overlooked, however, is the humble practice arena in the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 08. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »