Tag Archives: Xbox Series X

Last week, Patch 1.2 came through for NBA 2K24 on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X version. As always, it should download automatically as long as your console is online. If it doesn’t, try restarting, or checking for updates manually.

As per the patch notes, the developers are concentrating on the most user-impacting issues that are being reported. A larger update with more comprehensive fixes will be released prior to Season 2, but in the meantime, Patch 1.2 for NBA 2K24 addresses the rim physics bugs on controllable rim hangs, adjusts difficulty in Triple Threat Online: Co-Op and requirements for the Minimizer quest in MyCAREER, and makes some other tweaks and technical fixes.

You can check out the full notes below. I’ve also added them to the NBA 2K24 update history for Next Gen/New Gen in our Wiki, along with some notes that were provided for the previous patch. Got any thoughts or feedback? Feel free to post them in the comments, as well as join in the discussion here in our NBA 2K24 Forum!

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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 candid thoughts on elitist attitudes regarding the Next Gen consoles, and how they’ve been frequently disproven.

So, look. Getting older has its drawbacks. Creaky knees, more responsibilities, and existential dread all come to mind. At the same time, it has its perks! One of them is that you care a lot less about trends than you used to. When high school is rapidly becoming a smaller and smaller speck in the rear view mirror, you don’t really care if you’re not on the cutting edge of fashion, or not completely au fait with the latest slang. Youthful status symbols become increasingly meaningless when you’ve been out of school longer than you were ever in it.

Well…to a point. Not everyone enjoys being completely out of touch, even if you’re still generally comfortable in your own skin. More to the point, if you’re a content creator, then you have to care about trends, algorithms, and current events, at least to some extent. Unless you’re exclusively covering retro gaming, you’re going to need hardware that plays the latest titles. To that end, I do have a gaming PC capable of running new NBA 2K releases, as well as a PlayStation 5. I also have an interest in other genres of games, so it makes sense to invest in those platforms. What doesn’t make sense is the elitism that I see regarding ownership of Next Gen consoles.

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NBA 2K24 is out now on all platforms! Whether you prefer to go digital or pick up a physical copy from a store, you can now get your hands on this year’s game. As previously mentioned, I’ve launched the appropriate sections in our Forum, as well as added the necessary categories to our Downloads database. I’ve also added pages for the Next Gen and Current Gen update histories to our Wiki.

Speaking of modding, the PC version of NBA 2K24 has an exciting development! While we still don’t have any official modding tools from 2K, this year’s game includes a mods folder by default. This means we don’t need to use an unofficial plugin to have the game load custom files. This is something we haven’t had since NBA Live provided us with CustomArt, and it should definitely make creating and installing mods much easier!

Indeed, we’ve already got our first NBA 2K24 mod release – shout out to SexCurryBeats! – so stay tuned for a separate bulletin after a few more mods have been uploaded. In the meantime, please feel free to share your impressions of the game in the Forum, as well as get into modding if that’s your scene! Once again, we’d appreciate any help keeping our Wiki resources for NBA 2K24 updated, but as long as you’re enjoying our facilities and content, that’s the main thing. We’ll have plenty of post-release coverage and content for NBA 2K24 in the weeks and months to come, so keep it locked to the NLSC, and have a great time on the virtual hardwood!

The preview season for NBA 2K24 is now truly underway, with the release of the first gameplay trailer and developer blog! Both the trailer and gameplay blog are focused on the Next Gen/New Gen version of NBA 2K24, with details for Current Gen/PC likely dropping soon.

Among other things, the blog confirms that ProPLAY is indeed a new method of capturing animations from real NBA footage. It’s being touted as a major improvement over traditional motion capture, though old mocap techniques apparently still played a role in development. The blog also provides a breakdown of changes to controls and mechanics such as dribbling, shooting, Takeover, and adrenaline boosts. Notably, online play and tougher difficulty levels offline will be “Green or Miss” in NBA 2K24, with lower difficulty levels offering more forgiving timing.

As always, the trailer features an assortment of stars pulling off highlights from cinematic angles. It also includes some comparisons to real footage, spotlighting the impact of ProPLAY on the animations. You can check out the NBA 2K24 gameplay trailer below, along with my recap of the key points from the first developer blog. Although I approach developer blogs with some healthy scepticism, there are definitely some promising details. I’d also recommend giving the original blog a read, as it includes some dev diary videos with further explanations from Beluba.

Got any thoughts? Feel free to share them in the comments below, as well as join in the discussion here in the NLSC Forum!

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #486 of the NLSC Podcast!

As we await the next round of news and previews, how hyped are we for NBA 2K24? Along with the community, we rate our excitement on a scale of one to ten. Of course, some of us break the scale in both directions! We also recap what we’ve been playing this past week, including a surprising session of NBA Live 18, testing out a work-in-progress mod for NBA Live 08, throwing it back with NBA Basketball for Intellivision, and tackling a tough challenge in NBA Jam: On Fire Edition. There’s also some more virtual hardwood elitism on Twitter to push back on, and the reveal of some interesting clutch ratings in this week’s mailbag trivia.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:21:44 — 56.5MB)

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!

In the wake of the cover reveal, 2K has also released some first look screenshots of Kobe Bryant in NBA 2K24; one of young “Frobe”, and one of prime Mamba from the 2000s. You can check out both screenshots below, as well as in the Screenshots section of our newly-launched NBA 2K24 hub!

As a number of people have noticed, the older Kobe is wearing an NBA Finals patch on his jersey. The NBA 2K Leaks & Intel Twitter account – which has been extremely reliable in recent years – has stated that there will be a Mamba Moments mode in NBA 2K24, which will basically be a Kobe Bryant version of The Jordan Challenge. The NBA Finals patch certainly seems to back that up, and suggests the possibility of at least one new classic team.

The Intel account also mentioned a new Next Gen feature called ProPLAY. This tech will reportedly directly translate NBA footage into gameplay to deliver authentic animations and movement. Combined with their leak of a blurb about MyCAREER in Current Gen/Old Gen, this seems to confirm that the PC version will be identical to the PlayStation 4/Xbox One version once again. The Neighborhood will be returning in that version, along with streamlined quests. Keep in mind that this hasn’t been officially announced, but the account’s track record for accuracy has been exceptional.

There’s also a tidbit about a new salary cap mode in MyTEAM, revamped controls and roster authenticity, and the continued inclusion of WNBA content. The release date is September 8th 2023, as also confirmed by ESPN. The ESPN article also mentions crossplay, though no further details are available at this time.

That’s the NBA 2K24 info that’s currently circulating, along with the first look Kobe screenshots. What are your thoughts? Share them in the comments below, as well as join in the discussion in the new NBA 2K24 section of the Forum! Once again, I’ll be aggregating news throughout the preview season, and Dee and I will be breaking it down with our commentary on the NLSC Podcast.

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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…

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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 lack of developments regarding NBA Live three years after EA Sports last addressed its future.

That’s right. It’s been three years since the official NBA Live Twitter posted an update on the series. The Tweet confirmed that there would be no NBA Live 20, while also stating that they were “excited by (their) progress”, having been “putting in reps on (their) console basketball games”. At the time, it sounded like they might be changing direction, or at least opting for a longer development cycle, after NBA Live 19 failed to move the needle as hoped. The series’ struggles were cause for scepticism, but the fact that they were addressing the future also invited some degree of optimism.

Three years later, with absolutely no further developments or announcements, it’s much harder to be optimistic. EA Sports’ message to NBA Live gamers three years ago acknowledged the need to get everything right and “earn (their) future”. It was an honest statement, though nothing we hadn’t heard before after previous games failed to live up to expectations. More to the point, there was also an explicit promise to provide regular updates, which obviously didn’t happen. Indeed, the only activity on the NBA Live Twitter since then has been to re-Tweet a tribute to Kobe Bryant from the main EA Sports account. So, three years later, what do we make of this?

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Patch 2.0 is out now for NBA 2K23 on all platforms! It should come through automatically as long as you’re online. If it doesn’t, try checking for updates manually, or restarting your console or Steam client.

Notably, Patch 2.0 is the first update for NBA 2K23 to feature any release notes. Previous updates were essentially hotfixes for various issues, with no changes to gameplay. Conversely, the new update addresses some gameplay issues in addition to fixing bugs, as well as adding likeness updates for several NBA, WNBA, and historical players.

You can find the full patch notes below, and I’ve also created pages in our Wiki to log the update history for Current Gen and Next Gen. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments below, as well as join in the discussion here in our NBA 2K23 Forum!

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #443 of the NLSC Podcast!

NBA 2K23 is out now worldwide, and we’ve been spending plenty of time with both versions of the game since they launched! As such, this week’s episode is all about taking a deep dive into our first impressions of NBA 2K23, and discussing the pros and cons as we currently see them. From gameplay, graphics, and the Jordan Challenge, to MyNBA Eras, MyTEAM, and roster accuracy, we’ve got plenty of thoughts to share with our fellow basketball gamers. We also compare the Next Gen and Current Gen versions, discuss the forthcoming modding season as it tips off, and share our outlook on playing NBA 2K23 consistently in the months to come.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:42:08 — 70.5MB)

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!

The release of NBA 2K23 is imminent, but before it officially launches, the latest developer blog has given us all a preview of The City. Once again, The City will be the hub world for MyCAREER in the Next Gen version of NBA 2K23, whereas Current Gen has the GOAT Boat.

Key improvements this year include reducing the size of The City and adding fast travel options to make it easier to traverse. There are also new designs for the stomping grounds of the four affiliations, a central area for the competitive modes, and an arena for NBA games.

Once again, I’ve summarised the blog below, but be sure to read it for the full scoop and preview screenshots. You can also check out the trailer that was released. Got any thoughts? Feel free to share them in the comments below, as well as join in the discussion here in the NLSC Forum! With the game almost in our hands, our post-release coverage will be tipping off very soon. As such, we invite you to stick around for everything we do here, from discussion of the game to our modding community!

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It won’t be long now before NBA 2K23 is in our hands. In case you weren’t aware, the game is set to launch on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch on September 9th. That means there’s still time to pre-order NBA 2K23 if you haven’t done so already.

Obviously, pre-ordering the game will grant you a variety of bonuses, depending on the version that you opt for. As previously announced, there are five editions of NBA 2K23: Standard, Digital Deluxe, Michael Jordan, Championship, and WNBA, the last of which is exclusive to GameStop in the United States and Canada. Each has its own cover art, price point, and again, pre-order bonuses. Today, I’m providing a guide as to which version of NBA 2K23 to pre-order, if indeed you have the need and desire to pre-purchase a copy of this year’s game.

To that point, this isn’t intended to instruct anyone to pre-order NBA 2K23, or shill for the expensive special editions. In fact, I’ll also be laying out why you don’t need to pre-order NBA 2K23 at all, and why the Standard Edition may be sufficient if you are intent on pre-ordering. Depending on the mode you play, whether you’re a collector and/or content creator, and your general enthusiasm for the series and forthcoming game, the value of reserving a copy and receiving the individual pre-order bonuses will vary. You should always aim to be a savvy consumer, and it’s my aim to help my fellow basketball gamers to make an informed decision in that regard.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #441 of the NLSC Podcast!

The latest developer blogs delivered some more great news about NBA 2K23, this time concerning MyTEAM and The W. As release day looms, we’re allowing ourselves to feel optimistic. We also revisited NBA Live 2001 this week, while dusting off an old retro season mod. It produced a dramatic win, but we were reminded that the game can be very hit and miss! A session with NBA Inside Drive 2003 yielded a fun Easter egg, though a reply to a Tweet about it prompts us to defend retro basketball gaming once again. There are also a couple of recent retro pickups to reflect upon, updates on our NBA 2K19 MyLEAGUE and NBA 2K14 MyCAREER games to share, and a mailbag question about using players out of position.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:20:25 — 55.6MB)

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 ways that basketball gaming on PC has declined over the years.

It pains me to speak ill of basketball gaming on PC. In NBA Live’s Golden Age, there was no question that the PC version was the definitive release. Even when the PC was receiving a port of the PlayStation 2/Xbox release in the mid 2000s, it held a distinct advantage in the form of the modding community. Many of my fondest basketball gaming memories involve playing on PC, and I’ve always enjoyed games on both PC and console. What I’m getting at is that I’m in no way against PC gaming – basketball or otherwise – so I’m not trashing it as a platform for video games.

That’s why the realisation that PC basketball gaming has declined is a dismal thought. It isn’t dead by any means, but it could be in much better shape. Aside from modding capabilities, it’s been a long time since the PC version of any basketball game was unquestionably superior to its console brethren. Modding has also been affected by changes to PC releases. From a collecting standpoint, there are some tremendous disadvantages compared to picking up copies on PlayStation or Xbox. We also have more reason to be concerned about future releases on PC, from quality to their very existence. Here are five ways that PC basketball gaming has unfortunately declined.

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The latest NBA 2K23 developer blog provides details about The W in this year’s game. This year, the goal has been to add more authentic elements of the WNBA, as well as community-based activities.

As with MyWNBA, the Commissioner’s Cup is now represented in The W. Your player can also qualify for the All-Star Game, and league expansion can be unlocked. Each season will include community goals that will allow a variety of exclusive rewards to be unlocked for everyone via cooperation.

The W will once again be exclusive to NBA 2K23 Next Gen. At this juncture, it doesn’t appear as though any enhancements will be made to the WNBA content in Current Gen, beyond the usual roster and player likeness updates. I’ve summarised the key information below, but be sure to give the blog a read for the full scoop. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, as well as join in the discussion here in the Forum!

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