Tag Archives: The One

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…

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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 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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EA has advised that the NBA Live 19 servers will be shutting down on January 30th, 2026. The game was de-listed from digital storefronts in late October, basically telegraphing that the end of online support was rapidly approaching.

In recent months, gamers have reported problems when trying to play LIVE Events in The One, suggesting that online support has been in the process of wrapping up for a while now. However, Ultimate Team has remained online and fully functional to this day, and I can confirm that a handful of people are still active in the Community Market on PlayStation 4. With that being said, Ultimate Team will definitely be inaccessible once the NBA Live 19 servers are shut down early next year, along with all other online modes. The final roster update will also be unavailable at that time.

With the shutdown of the NBA Live 18 servers last year, it’s no surprise that NBA Live 19 will soon follow suit. EA has been unusually generous in maintaining online support for the eighth gen NBA Live releases, especially compared to the 27 months that Take-Two guarantees for NBA 2K titles. Obviously NBA 2K has been markedly more successful with a majority of gamers moving on every year, but to that end, it’s quite surprising that the less popular NBA Live releases have retained online support for so long. Prior to support ending for NBA Live 18 last year, NBA Live 14 and NBA Live 15 were still online as of 2019, while NBA Live 16’s servers were finally shut down in 2020. As such, the eighth gen NBA Lives have ended up receiving between five and seven years of online support.

However, the time has obviously come for NBA Live 19 to be sunset. For anyone still playing the game – which includes me, thanks to a recent kick – we’ll still have three months to finish up any business with modes featuring online content. The offline modes will naturally still be available, though speaking for myself, it’ll be a shame to lose Ultimate Team. Additionally, if you don’t own the game and want to add it to your collection, at this point you’ll need to track down a physical copy. In any case, if NBA Live 19 is still in your rotation or you’d like to give it another look while it’s still relatively intact, make sure you’re ready to be done with it by January 30th next 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 Halloween has had a presence in basketball video games.

Back in June, I let a Friday the 13th pass without a Friday Five topic related to bad luck or the number 13. Admittedly that’s because I’ve already gone to that well a few times and didn’t have a fresh topic in mind, but since then, one has actually occurred to me. I’ll have to wait until next year to use it since we won’t have another Friday the 13th until then, but in the meantime, I can mark another famous date here in the Five: Halloween! Since Halloween has fallen on a Friday this year, I thought it’d be fun to look at how the holiday has been celebrated on the virtual hardwood.

As I’ve noted when I looked back at some creepy moments in honour of Halloweens past, horror and basketball video games don’t usually go hand-in-hand. Well, I could cynically refer to how scary it is that microtransactions have become so accepted, or the twisted tale of how there’s a monopoly in the space, but that kind of snark isn’t what I’m going for here! In any case, there are examples of basketball video games getting into the spirit of the spooky season, which include both sim and arcade titles. While they may not be anywhere near as frightening as a horror game packed full of jump scares, this Halloween content has been an extra treat for basketball gamers.

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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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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 fictional players in sim basketball games.

By definition, sim basketball games are anchored in reality. Unlike arcade games, we don’t expect or desire to see mascots and other secret characters being playable on team rosters. However, we are invited to create fictional scenarios through fantasy drafts and the trades and signings of our choice in franchise play, as well as the card collecting and old school custom teams modes. We can also inject NBA Legends and classic teams into the current NBA, play inter-era exhibitions, and mod in fictional characters. The All-Time Teams in NBA 2K are ready-made fantasy scenarios, too.

In other words, sim games aren’t always serious business, or about playing with real rosters, be they contemporary or historical. That is still the default starting point, of course. Any breaks from reality that we see are either at our discretion, or intrinsic to the concept of a specific mode. Furthermore, these fictional scenarios still involve real players. We’re generally not clamouring to see completely fictional characters inserted into modes where rosters are expected to reflect reality; at least to begin with. With that being said, we have seen fictional players who aren’t placeholders take part in modes based around the real NBA. I certainly have mixed feelings about that idea.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #598 of the NLSC Podcast!

Why do we still play basketball video games after all these years? This week, we discuss the factors that keep us hooked on the virtual hardwood, from a love of competition and shared experiences with friends and family to the way that it allows us to feel connected to and indeed more informed about our favourite sport. In fact, through a combination of modding, new releases, and a library of old favourites to revisit, we’re arguably enjoying basketball gaming as much as ever with the options that we have at our disposal nowadays! We also reflect on the lingering stigma surrounding gaming as an adult, and push back on the notion that it’s a childish hobby that needs to be left behind.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 51:34 — 35.8MB)

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 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 basketball games genuinely made us feel.

Great works of art and entertainment make us feel something, no matter the medium. Admittedly, when it comes to basketball video games, what we feel is mostly the joy of victory, the agony of defeat, and the excitement of a spectacular play. Such is the nature of the genre, after all. However, there are times when the virtual hardwood evokes other emotional responses. Story-driven modes, immersive world-building features, and real world tributes, have all managed to hit basketball gamers right in the feels at one time or another.

Personally, I appreciate those moments even if they aren’t necessarily what basketball video games are all about. I enjoy good storytelling in video games, and while those narratives may be more suited to RPGs, open world games, and other genres, there’s a place for compelling tales in hoops titles as well. As for tributes and memorials, they help us to celebrate, mourn, and feel connected. They may not be essential ingredients – at the end of the day, games that provide an outstanding basketball experience are the ones we’re most fond of – but I’d still like to acknowledge the moments that made us feel, either through artistic expression, or a heart-warming display of humanity.

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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 modes that I came to enjoy after initially being uninterested in them.

As I’ve freely admitted before, I’m a creature of habit. Whether it’s sticking with my preferred mode, choosing retro gaming over a modern title, or messing around with any available historical content while on a retro kick, I’m drawn to the familiar. To that end, for a long time I was all about franchise modes. Multi-season play was a concept that many of us playing basketball games back in the 90s were keen to see, and it was a big deal when NBA Live 2000 PC brought us Franchise, complete with free agency, salary cap, the rookie Draft, and 25 seasons of play.

My enjoyment of franchise play continued as the mode evolved into Dynasty. To this day, my various franchise games remain some of my all-time favourite experiences on the virtual hardwood. At the same time, I’m not completely averse to change! Whether it’s been inspired by content creation, suggestions from my fellow basketball gamers, or just curiosity, I’ve branched out from franchise modes and ended up really enjoying playing something different. That includes modes I never expected to find appealing! I’m still interested in franchise and traditional season play, and some of these modes did ultimately turn out to be a passing fancy, but nevertheless I came to enjoy them.

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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 developing more of an appreciation for MyCAREER stories over the years.

I’ll admit that as a creature of habit, I can be resistant to change. I’d like to think that I’ve grown in that regard. For example, I’m no longer the really picky eater I was as a kid! When it comes to basketball video games, I’ve come to enjoy a number of titles that left a poor first impression, and modes that I never thought I’d be interested in. What still bothers me though is change for change’s sake, or any changes where the drawbacks outweigh the benefits. I think we can all relate to the frustration of having something we really like being drastically changed in a way we didn’t want or ask for.

That brings me to MyCAREER, and the stories that the mode has featured since 2013. Originally, I had no interest in the mode. I was a franchise gamer, after all! However, just as I overcame picky eating habits by deciding to try new cuisine, I came to enjoy MyCAREER after giving it a proper shot in NBA 2K13. A year and a new generation of consoles later, the mode introduced a narrative-driven approach, and I felt that it took away from an experience that I was now enthusiastic about. As such, I’ve been critical of MyCAREER stories, yet also fascinated by them. Now that I’ve finished all of the stories up to NBA 2K20, I now appreciate what they’ve meant for the mode.

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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 ups and downs of the early stages of MyCAREER.

It’s been an interesting, but at times frustrating, journey for career modes in NBA 2K. As popular as franchise modes became after being introduced in the early 2000s, there was undeniable interest in a similar experience from the perspective of a single player. Being an RPG style of mode, as My Player evolved into MyCAREER, it began to incorporate cinematic stories. These days, many gamers see the traditional/NBA side of MyCAREER as a means to an end; a way to grind and level up their MyPLAYER avatar for the online scene. Of course, others still enjoy the NBA career experience.

Something that has remained fairly constant, however, is that it’s a long way to the top. Sure, the grind is worse now, in no small part because it encourages paying for quicker upgrades, and boosting Take-Two’s recurrent revenue. Even if you’re willing to pay to skip the grind, it costs more than before. I’ve talked about that many times, and that isn’t really what this article is about, but it does bear acknowledging. In any case, while there are issues with pushy microtransactions, and occasionally a story that doesn’t match up with our starting ratings, the early stages of MyCAREER are about a raw prospect’s journey to success. As tough as it is, it can also be quite fun.

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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)

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 the wasted potential of NBA Live 18, in the wake of its servers being shut down.

NBA Live 18 has recently (and unexpectedly) made its way back into my rotation. Admittedly, it wasn’t an unthinkable prospect. It’s always been the eighth gen NBA Live that I’ve liked best – not that that’s a high bar to clear – and Dee and I also had a fun co-op session with it using Parsec and the Xbox app. Still, I expected it to be an occasional novelty, yet it became a full-blown retro kick. I’ve been revisiting Ultimate Team with my squad of 90s All-Stars, working through the challenges in The One’s Pro-Am Tour, and even assembling some makeshift 2017 and 2025 rosters!

These sessions have reminded me that NBA Live 18 had some good bones, and plenty of potential. In fact, I’d say that I have an even more positive impression of the game than I did when it was new! Of course, that has brought about a mixture of delight and wistfulness. There’s always joy in rediscovering a game or seeing one in a new light, and expanding your rotation. Given that most of my recent retro basketball gaming kicks have been much older, it was also refreshing to find a new one that’s from the past decade. At the same time, even before the server shutdown, the fun I was having with NBA Live 18 was accompanied by nagging thoughts of squandered opportunity.

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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 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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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 frank thoughts on how grinding is not only antithetical to fun, but also the concept of stick skills.

It’s interesting – and honestly, a bit alarming – to see what we’ve come to accept in video games. Far too many gamers defend microtransactions, excusing them as being “optional” or “just cosmetic”, or indeed, that it’s “just business“. Excessive grinding will also be defended as a necessary part of the experience, usually suggesting that anyone that takes issue with it wants to be OP and done with a game in a week. And, since heavy grinding and microtransactions are intertwined in NBA 2K, the apologist rhetoric for both problems is likewise combined in a shameful display of shilling.

I’ll say it again. Everyone who criticises recurrent revenue mechanics understands all too well that video game development is a business, and that profits are something that a billion dollar corporation is going to strive for. We just don’t enjoy the negative effect that has on gameplay! Likewise, gamers that are fed up with releases that are a total grindfest understand the need to have a challenge and a journey. We just want it to be fair and fun, and grinding for grinding’s sake is antithetical to that. However, it’s also antithetical to the concept of testing stick skills, and the almighty mythical skill gap. We only need to cast our eyes back to some classic games to see the proof.

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