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 examines the five best parts of modern basketball gaming.

Since I’ve taken a look at the best and worst parts of retro basketball gaming, it’s only fair that I reflect on the pros and cons of their modern equivalents. As I’ve said, while I do have a passion for retro basketball gaming and will always advocate for it, I’m also a fan of the modern games and spend a lot of time with them. New isn’t always better, but by the same token, old isn’t unsurpassable. Not everything holds up well, and basketball video games have come a long way in the decades that I’ve been playing them. And yes, saying that does make me feel very old.

Not so old that I can’t enjoy modern basketball gaming, however! Indeed, even if certain aspects aren’t completely to my taste, I can still appreciate them and see their appeal to other gamers; particularly gamers younger than me. It’s very easy to get caught up in what we don’t like about modern basketball gaming, and to that point, there are many valid criticisms that we can make. I will be getting to them in next week’s article, but for now, let’s focus on the best parts of modern basketball gaming. These are the five that spring to mind for me, and I’m sure you’ll agree that they represent evolution in the genre, and incentive to check out the new game each year.

1. Advancements in Design & Technology

This one is obvious. While flash isn’t as important as substance and graphics aren’t everything in gaming, modern basketball titles have achieved both. There are many improvements we can attribute to the more powerful hardware we have now. Better and more realistic graphics and animations, faster loading times, deeper modes, and a plethora of content, are just some examples. Online connectivity has obviously added new experiences that weren’t feasible or readily enjoyable for everyone even just a decade ago. Clever developers always found a way to squeeze the most out of now-antiquated technology, but improved tech has opened up several new possibilities.

Furthermore, developers have years of experience to draw upon when designing modes and mechanics. Basketball games have tried many different control schemes and approaches to depicting the sport in a fun and realistic manner, with varying results and the occasional failed concept. As such, there’s much to learn from past releases to avoid pitfalls and build upon successful ideas. Again, there are numerous examples we can cite, from expanded attributes and tendencies, controls and other gameplay mechanics, or even just ease-of-use shortcuts in the menus. Simplicity is appealing in retro titles, but many crave the depth of modern basketball gaming.

2. Array of Game Modes

Speaking of depth, the range of experiences on offer in modern basketball titles caters to a wide range of gaming preferences. As much as I love the old school classics, there isn’t much to do in many of them. Most of the depth came from Season mode, and back in the 90s, NBA Live was the only game that consistently did it well. As you progress through the years, you’ll find games with some engaging franchise modes and other fun experiences, with varying depth and overall quality. The online scene definitely wasn’t as much of a priority; and older games that did include modes such as Pro-Am and Park can’t provide those experiences now that their servers are offline.

That’s not to say that the modes in NBA 2K22 Next Gen and other recent titles are without their problems. There are bugs, features that could still be added, and design concepts that don’t resonate with everyone, such as The City/Neighborhood. And yes, recurrent revenue mechanics are always worth noting as a ubiquitous drawback in modern basketball gaming. Once again though, we’ve come a long way from simply having an offline single season mode, as well as the early franchise and career modes (groundbreaking though they were). While we have our criticisms and some aspects receive more attention than others, contemporary games have something for everyone.

3. Post-Release Support & Content

I don’t disagree that there are issues with the way patches and updates are handled in modern basketball games, and gaming as a whole. The concept of Day One patches and ongoing support has unfortunately normalised the practice of releasing buggy and sometimes incomplete games, with fixes being a part of the post-release “roadmap”. Even with a speedy connection and unlimited data, most of us groan when we see a new 30 GB update waiting to be downloaded. At the same time, as someone who has been playing basketball video games for a long time now, in some ways this is a far preferable scenario to how things used to be with official updates and bug fixes.

After all, there was a time when PC was the only platform that could feasibly receive official patches and roster updates. Even then, we often had to plead and petition for fixes via whomever had connections to the development team. We sometimes despair at the number of patches that come through these days, especially when one seems to cause more damage than it repairs. I’ll take it over minimal fixes, or a December patch that breaks the game with no further updates in sight. Then of course there are modes that are kept fresh by new and interesting content. Controversial though it can be, live service content does have a way of holding our interest until the next game comes out.

4. More Active Modding & Online Scenes

One of the worst parts of retro basketball gaming is that even with all the possibilities, many modding projects aren’t feasible because a majority of the community has now moved on. This is of course to the benefit of everyone playing newer games, as it means new mods to look forward to. If you want to be part of an active modding scene, whether it’s as a creator, user, or both, then modern basketball gaming is the way to go. In this context, that usually means the current NBA 2K release and the previous year’s game, although many modders very quickly migrate to the newest title. With every new release, modding for an older game becomes increasingly niche.

Likewise, if online play is what you prefer, the latest game is your best option. As long as an old game’s servers are active, it will obviously be technically feasible to jump into online games of MyTEAM, and MyCAREER’s connected modes. You’ll likely have a long wait and less success in finding teammates and opponents, though. For all the legitimate complaints about the games and the online scene, many people still buy the new release rather than sticking with the old one. Parsec is now opening up some new opportunities within our community, but it has its limitations. If it’s a big community you want, you’ll find them gravitating to the newest NBA 2K title.

5. Fewer Issues With Compatibility

Sure, if you want to play the PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X version of NBA 2K22, it goes without saying that you actually need to have one of those consoles at your disposal. The PC versions of recent NBA 2K games also require you to have a decent gaming rig. Compared to retro basketball gaming however, there are far fewer issues with compatibility. It’ll take some technical knowhow to get the old PC versions of NBA Live to run on modern systems. It’s also looking like some of the early NBA 2K PC releases aren’t compatible with Windows 11. Backwards compatibility on consoles likewise has its limits, particularly on PlayStation since Sony is less invested in it.

If you’re only interested in playing the most recent games and you’ve got the hardware to run them, there’s nothing further to worry about. By the time updates or upgrades render a game unplayable, you’ve likely moved on to new titles and hardware. I also believe that by and large, we’re now better informed when it comes to PC gaming, and less likely to have underpowered systems. Back in the mid 2000s, it seemed as though many basketball gamers were getting by playing on their family’s PC that was just good enough, but not very powerful or future-proof. I’m sure that still happens, but if you’re into PC gaming in 2021, you’ve probably got a rig that can get the job done.

What do you feel are the best parts of modern basketball gaming? Which of them make it difficult to go back to an old favourite from many years ago? Let me know in the comments, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.