Monday Tip-Off

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 the role that humour plays in basketball gaming.

So, a quick note before we get into this week’s topic: yes, I do mean “humor”. I’m spelling it “humour” because Australian English, like British English, tosses the letter “u” into a bunch of words that American English doesn’t. I know it’s not an issue for most people, but I have received the occasional comment about supposed “mistakes” and “typos” in my articles because I’m not using American spelling. It’s a subject that’s bound to come up from time to time on a site discussing basketball, thanks to “centre” and “center”! In any case, humour, humor…I’m talking about the same thing.

With that out of way, humour is something that we do find in basketball video games, both sim and arcade. It obviously has its place in the genre, though the tone of a game tends to influence how heavily it leans into being humorous. Needless to say, personal preference is also a factor here. In a sim game, too much humour may have a negative effect on the atmosphere, making it feel too silly. Then again, how much is too much depends on how seriously you’re taking your virtual hoops! Conversely, arcade titles invite more humour in their presentation and gameplay, and can seem dry without it. When a game is able to strike the right balance, it adds fun to the virtual hardwood.

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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 features that are implemented before they’re truly ready, and how we can and should be willing to wait until then.

Here’s some trivia for you: the first can openers were invented several decades after tin cans themselves were devised as a way of preserving food. Obviously there were ways of opening tin cans before that – knives, primarily – but the point is that tin cans were in use for a long time before a specific tool to easily open them was invented. Mad as it may seem, the two technologies – sealing food in a can for preservation, and then opening the can when required – were not developed simultaneously. Sometimes, that’s just the way it goes.

What does this have to do with basketball gaming? Well, as we’ve often seen, game development can be very similar. NBA 2K21 Next Gen introduced brand new contact dunks, but contact blocks had to wait until NBA 2K22. User control settings for shot timing were added in NBA 2K23, but because they were a late addition, there wasn’t a “normal” setting. Whether it’s a new mechanic lacking an appropriate countermeasure, or a feature that isn’t fully fleshed out, it feels like NBA 2K has a habit of giving us a can while neglecting to provide a can opener. In short, and all metaphors aside, we should wait on new features and mechanics if it means they’re properly implemented.

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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 a frank discussion of how MyCAREER absolutely sucks in NBA 2K23.

Whenever I talk about playing NBA 2K14 MyCAREER or upload videos, I anticipate a few different responses. There are lovely people who take an interest in that journey, and the updates that I share. It’s prompted a few people to reflect on the fun that they had with NBA 2K14, and either resolve to dust it off, or wistfully wish that they still could. And of course, there’s the occasional person scoffing at the idea of not playing the latest game. “There are people still playing NBA 2K14? Why?” Incidentally, I do actually play NBA 2K23, but not MyCAREER, because it sucks.

Part of me wishes that I could phrase that sentiment more eloquently, and less like a clickbait video. It’s always my aim to be constructive and analytical when I assess a basketball video game and its features, avoiding hyperbole and insulting phrasing as much as possible. In this case however, it’s a suitably succinct way of expressing the view that MyCAREER in NBA 2K23 has a strong case for being the absolute worst iteration of the mode to date. It’s not altogether surprising, as in many ways it’s a culmination of years of discouraging design choices. That doesn’t make it any less disappointing though, especially when earlier games provided superior experiences.

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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 taking great screenshots of basketball video games; or, if you prefer, virtual hardwood photography.

When it comes my original content related to basketball video games, I’ve been drawn to writing over more visual mediums. This goes back to what I was passionate about (and generally good at) in school. I enjoyed creative writing far more than arts and crafts, which I wasn’t particularly skilled at. I’ve enjoyed dabbling with some video content over the years, and that will continue, especially as I can combine it with writing through video essays and the like. However, outside of modding, my content has largely consisted of articles.

With that being said, feature articles have a visual aspect to them as well. Besides neatly formatting the text, images are essential as they provide aesthetically-pleasing breaks, and further illustrate the topic being discussed. To that point, I not only take pride in my writing and self-editing to the best of my ability, but also including relevant and appealing screenshots. If I’ve prepared a topic then I’ll go out of my way to get relevant screenshots, but the screenshots and gameplay videos that I’ve captured for posterity have also provided me with a handy media library spanning my entire collection of games. Either way, I take pride in my virtual hardwood photography.

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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 how I prefer to start a game with realistic rosters, but end up with fictional lineups and outcomes.

Realism is relative when it comes to the virtual hardwood. I’m sure I’m not alone in admitting that as basketball video games became more sophisticated and encouraged a more strategic approach, I realised that my style of play wasn’t as “sim” as I thought. If nothing else, I was quite content to toss a more realistic style out the window if I desperately needed buckets, and use reliable tricks that would help me get them. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. The goal is to win – whether you’re up against the CPU or another person – and to enjoy the games that we play.

My point is that even those of us who value the sim style will take some liberties with realism from time to time. Indeed, it’s inevitable in franchise and career play. Those modes invite us to create our own reality, whether it’s placing ourselves in the league, or donning our GM suits to make the trades we wish our favourite team would in real life. The fictional results and player movement make playing through multiple years in franchise and career modes interesting, creating alternate history and fun scenarios. However, despite the appeal of these fictional outcomes, I’ve always preferred to begin new franchise games with real rosters, rather than shake things up right away.

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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 whether it’s possible to enjoy bad basketball games.

On the surface, the idea of enjoying bad video games of any kind seems like an oxymoron. Of course, “bad” may be a matter of personal preference, and it’s not as though we don’t enjoy other media that’s judged to be subpar. We may like a “bad” song because it’s still catchy, even if it’s lacking in artistic merit. The same goes for TV shows and films. No one’s claiming that they’re great art, but they’re fun despite their flaws (or sometimes because of them). They’re the proverbial guilty pleasures: entertainment products that we know aren’t good, but we enjoy them all the same.

As many people have observed throughout the years, it’s harder to accomplish this with video games, given that they’re an interactive medium. Hammy acting is one thing, because it’s either intentionally or ironically humorous. Conversely, broken controls and poor game design are more difficult to enjoy than terrible scripts, or laughably amateur or outdated special effects. And yet, it is possible to enjoy bad video games…sometimes. There’s a limit on how flawed they can be, and you won’t want to have paid full price for them after anticipating their release, but there are ways to enjoy both “bad” and truly bad basketball video games. I know that I have.

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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 my thoughts on ensuring that the journey is worth the time and effort in basketball video games.

In recent years, there’s been a puzzling acceptance of the notion that we should have to work to have fun with the basketball video games we play. I’m not talking about the time and effort it takes to master strategies and stick skills, complete challenges, and level up accordingly. A game that’s over too quickly is generally unsatisfying, unless you’re attempting a speedrun. The best rewards and whatever counts as being 100% completion in a game shouldn’t be quick and easy to attain. For most people, it isn’t fun to be handed absolutely everything.

These are uncontroversial statements that I’m sure we can all agree upon. However, the sentiment has mutated into a bad faith argument about gamers wanting everything right away. That may be true of a scant minority of less patient basketball gamers, but most of us just want a rate of progression that’s fair and enjoyable, with rewards that make the journey feel worthwhile. Again, the key to that bad faith argument is in the wording: “you don’t want to put in the work“. A video game should not have to be treated like an occupation in order to be enjoyed, or feel like a rewarding journey. It’s therefore vital that any rewards system makes us feel like it was time well spent.

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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 my thoughts on anti-cheat measures in NBA 2K23 PC, and their effect on the modding scene.

The Season 6 patch for NBA 2K23 introduced some unexpected complications for the PC version. Specifically, it includes anti-cheat measures that interfere with looyh’s Hook tool, which as modders and mod users are all too aware, is an essential utility for modding. Naturally, this led to some understandable frustration. To state the obvious, modding is a big part of what we do in this community, and these anti-cheat measures resulted in a new barrier to creating and enjoying mods. Considering that the PC version is already a lower priority release, it’s a disappointing development.

Of course, ever since the PC began receiving ports of the PlayStation 4/Xbox One version of NBA 2K, official patches have presented a challenge to modding. The changes to the executable require utilities and Cheat Engine tables to be updated accordingly; something that wasn’t necessary when we were editing the roster files directly. It’s something that other modding communities have had to deal with for a long time, and we have ultimately been able to adapt. The addition of anti-cheat measures makes things tricky, which is obviously unfortunate. It also spotlights the needs of the online scene being at odds with the needs of the modding community.

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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 why NBA Jam and NBA Street need to return.

2023 marks the anniversary of two iconic basketball games. NBA Jam set arcades on fire in 1993, meaning we’ve reached its 30th Anniversary. Meanwhile, though it was the second game in the series, NBA Street Vol. 2 is often considered to be the best release from EA Sports BIG, and it’s now turning twenty years old. For those of us who played those games as kids, teenagers, or even young adults, this might come as an overwhelming milestone; particularly NBA Jam hitting the big three-oh. Not to sound like the Grumpy Elder Millennial that I am, but man, time sure flies!

However, let’s put aside any existential crises that may come with the realisation that there are now adults who weren’t even alive when these classics came out. After all, anniversaries provide an opportunity to celebrate and fondly reminisce. The numbers that bring me down here aren’t how long ago the original NBA Jam and NBA Street Vol. 2 were released, but how long it’s been since either series has seen a brand new game. For NBA Jam, that was On Fire Edition back in 2011. Putting aside the Korean exclusive NBA Street Online, there hasn’t been a new Street release since 2007. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that a return for both series would be extremely welcome.

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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 a recap of my Drive for Five in Year 5 of my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER.

At this point, my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER is well beyond being just a kick. It’s become one of my all-time favourite basketball gaming experiences, and a staple of my rotation on the virtual hardwood. Even though I enjoyed NBA 2K23 far more than NBA 2K21 and NBA 2K22, it couldn’t replace NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4 as the star of my lineup. And honestly, why should it? While I do consider NBA 2K23 to be the strongest release in the last few years, if I’m enjoying an older title even more, there’s no reason to put it aside just because it isn’t the latest game.

Year 5 proved to be another captivating journey. As I’ve said before, I’ve greatly enjoyed how each season in this NBA 2K14 MyCAREER has ended up telling its own story, even if they’ve ultimately culminated with a similar ending. To that point, though every season has ended with my player celebrating a championship, the road to that destination veered off into different routes that were all fun to travel. While the numbers may suggest otherwise, the Drive for Five actually stands as one of the most challenging seasons so far in my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER. It demonstrates the value of playing through multiple seasons, and experiencing an ongoing alternate reality.

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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 whether some of my complaints about basketball video games are on me, or the games themselves.

I’ve been playing basketball video games since the 90s, becoming a part of the online community – then largely centred on NBA Live – towards the end of the decade. As you may or may not know, I started out with my own NBA Live fansite – the NBA Live Domain – not long after I discovered the NLSC and modding, and decided to get involved with the scene. I took over the NLSC in August of 2001, a couple of months before turning 17. At times it’s somewhat overwhelming to reflect on the passage of time, but it has indeed been more than two decades since I started this journey!

What does this mean? Well, I’m sure that some people would have unflattering things to say about me still being a content creator for basketball video games in my thirties, but we needn’t concern ourselves with mean-spirited remarks from small minds with an axe to grind. With that being said, it is true that after all these years and all the different games I’ve played, I am now in the upper end of the demographic. As an Elder Millennial, I’m in a weird place where I’m simultaneously a terrible young person and a bitter old head, depending on your generation relative to mine. I may be a little of both, and so sometimes I wonder where the problem lies when I have gripes.

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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 wishing that I could play certain modes in older titles, now that it’s impossible.

The notion that we want what we can’t have, and that we don’t appreciate what we do have until it’s gone, are very old proverbs indeed. It’s a concept that’s been discussed at length, and portrayed in various works. In a rather infamous episode of Scrubs, J.D. discovers that he doesn’t want to be with Elliot after pining for her all season. Glam metal band Cinderella even had a power ballad literally titled “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)“, which was used rather superbly – even movingly – in an episode of South Park. It’s a sentiment that we can all relate to.

As far as basketball video games are concerned, this is an inevitable part of server shutdowns. There was a time when that only applied to online multiplayer, but thanks to server-side content and connected experiences, single player modes are now also affected. Of course, there’s still plenty to enjoy in older basketball games, especially when you go back to before online content was ubiquitous. Over the past generation though, and even going back to the generation before that, there are modes that I wish I could still play. On top of that, there are modes that I wish I could play for the first time – or at least finally explore in-depth – now that that’s no longer possible.

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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 we approach credit in our modding community, as well as the importance of doing right by each other.

When the NLSC was founded in 1996 and our modding community was established, we adopted several rules that are still in place as of today. Two of the most important rules are the prohibition of charging for mods, and the requirement of giving credit whenever you’re using someone else’s work (as well as asking for permission first, whenever possible). Most of the biggest blow-ups in our modding community have come about due to an incident involving one of those rules, in particular the latter. It’s the reason why it’s gone from being an unwritten rule to a clearly specified policy.

To newcomers, the notion of giving credit and asking for permission may seem odd. After all, anything we make and release is for the benefit of our fellow gamers, and we do walk a fine line with what we do when it comes to modding in the first place. It is part of our established culture and etiquette however, and as long as we’re civil with each other and not draconian in enforcing those rules, it does work for us. At the same time, I do wonder if we can be too precious about our work, not to mention take credit when it isn’t due. There’s something to be said for being flexible, and I say that as someone who has been very particular about credit and permission in the past.

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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 my thoughts on the importance of enjoying your own mods.

While I can still have a blast playing classic basketball games in their vanilla state, it’s a lot of fun to revisit old mods at the same time. That’s something that Dee and I have been doing in several of our Parsec sessions. We’ve revisited NBA Live 98 and 99 with the Legends and Champs rosters that Lutz made more than twenty years ago. We also used some of my old mods, such as the 1996 rosters for NBA Live 2004 and later NBA Live 2001, the current roster pack that also added the Dream Team and Team USA 2012 for NBA Live 06, and a couple of work-in-progress projects.

As I said, all of those games are still fun to play in their default state. However, using those mods made them even more enjoyable, as it was an interesting change of pace from the usual retro gaming experience. Playing Lutz’s rosters for the first time in years, I was once again reminded of how impressive they were, and how the work of our founders and other early modders inspired me to get into the hobby. To that point, as egotistical as it may sound, playing with some of my own old mods led me to think “Hey, I did a pretty decent job with these!” There were also moments that I cringed and wanted to follow up with new releases, but I found enjoyment in my work.

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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 my thoughts on how MyCAREER has reached a point of no return as far as its current approach and design is concerned.

Although I’ll readily defend the past against notions that everything new is better, and point out that many old ideas can be repurposed as modern solutions, it’s absolutely possible to regress. We shouldn’t want to see that in anything, including the basketball video games that we enjoy. One of the biggest knocks on NBA Live during the eighth generation was that it felt behind the times. Even if you enjoyed the experience on the sticks, barebones modes and a lack of additional content made it feel as though the series had regressed to a point that it should’ve been well past.

It’s an issue that contributed to NBA Live’s inability to win back the crowd, and thus a further descent into dormancy and irrelevance. With that being said, while this is a pitfall that NBA 2K has avoided, Visual Concepts’ series has arguably suffered the opposite problem. There are certain ideas and approaches in NBA 2K that have now evolved so far beyond their more humble beginnings that going back to a simpler time is seemingly impossible. You might argue that this isn’t actually a problem; that a new standard or baseline has been established. Not everyone is satisfied with the current approach to MyCAREER however, and unfortunately, it’s at the point of no return.

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