Tag Archives: NBA Live 09

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 weird bugs and design errors that I’ve encountered in the modes of basketball video games.

It bears repeating that no video game, basketball or otherwise, is going to be perfect. If it were possible to design games and software that were completely bug-free, it would’ve happened a long time ago! As basketball games and their modes have become deeper and more sophisticated, the chances of there being a few bugs here and there has only increased. Likewise, while there have been some very smart and passionate people working on basketball video games past and present, not all ideas pan out as well as hoped, leading to what we could reasonably call design errors.

Needless to say, it’s frustrating for everyone when bugs and design errors stand in the way of modes being as fun as they could and should be. In the best case scenario, a patch can fix the problem, or the issue will be resolved in next year’s release at the latest. Sadly that isn’t always the case, and there are times when we’ve been stuck with bugs and design errors for a few games running (and sometimes, even longer). Even when bugs and design errors don’t completely ruin a mode, they still have an impact on the experience, and they become one of the things that we remember most about a title. Here are five weird bugs and design errors that I’ve encountered in modes I play.

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You may recall that Wiscard Rush released a 2009 season roster for the PlayStation 3 version of NBA Live 10 back in November last year. He wasn’t quite done with the project though, as v2.1 of the roster is now available!

In addition to rolling back the league to Opening Night 2008, the roster now also features fixed player ratings for greater accuracy. Wiscard Rush has also corrected some team lineups, added a few extra players who were inactive but still on rosters at the beginning of the 2009 season, fixed a handful of jersey numbers, and updated all player accessories as necessary. All in all, it’s an even more comprehensive retro roster for NBA Live 10, combining the setting of NBA Live 09 with the enhancements of its successor.

You can download the 2009 roster for NBA Live 10 PS3 here! Note that it will work fine on both an original PlayStation 3, and the RPCS3 emulator. As a few people have asked about it, there’s no Xbox 360 version of the roster in the works, owing to the difficulty distributing saved files for 360, and a lack of emulation compatibility.

Congratulations once again to Wiscard Rush for the excellent work on this project! With March Modness underway, hopefully we’ll continue to see a variety of uploads for NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, across all platforms.

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 EA Sports cover players that can be found in NBA Live 16.

Did you know that every single NBA 2K cover player is available to play with in NBA 2K24? Between the cover players that are still active and the game’s array of classic and All-Time teams, they’re all accounted for. Obviously, we haven’t had a new NBA Live since 2018, but even then, NBA Live 19 didn’t include every cover player in the history of the series. On top of that, a couple of the cover players that were included in NBA Live 19 were nevertheless retired, and thus exclusive to the collection of Legends in Ultimate Team.

If we want to find the last NBA Live game that featured a healthy selection of players who appeared on the cover of EA Sports’ long-running basketball sim series, we must go back a few years to NBA Live 16. In fact, not only does NBA Live 16 feature a number of NBA Live cover players, but also players who graced the covers of EA Sports’ college basketball titles. And so, I thought it might be fun to spotlight those cover players who are readily accessible in NBA Live 16, wearing EA Sports jerseys in the game’s practice mode. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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In case you’re not aware, Dee and I are frequently uploading highlight reels to the NLSC YouTube channel, spotlighting a variety of basketball video games that are in our rotations. The latest highlights feature NBA 2K6, NBA 09: The Inside, NBA Live 2004, NBA Live 06, NBA Live 09, and NBA Live 10.

As Dee and I discussed in Episode #516 of the NLSC Podcast, we’ve been on a major NBA Live kick with our Parsec sessions recently, which has produced some really fun co-op games featuring great highlights. Dee put together the reels for those games, which saw us taking on the Hornets with the Rockets in NBA Live 09, using LeBron James’ Cavaliers against Gilbert Arenas’ Wizards in NBA Live 10, picking up a clutch win over the Kings with the Warriors in NBA Live 2004, and staging a showdown between the 80s All-Stars and 90s All-Stars in NBA Live 06.

I’ve also uploaded highlights from my solo sessions against the CPU, including a game between the Nets and Thunder in NBA 09: The Inside, and a re-creation of the 2011 NBA Finals using a custom roster in NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360. These videos represent two of my basketball gaming goals for 2024, namely dipping into my collection to play games that I haven’t spent enough time with, and creating fun scenarios using default assets and minimalist modding.

Check out all of the highlights from NBA 2K6, NBA 09: The Inside, and those four NBA Live titles below! Be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content, and as always, feel free to hit Dee and I up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #516 of the NLSC Podcast!

Suffice to say, we’ve been on a major NBA Live kick lately! To that point, we’ve got some extremely enjoyable sessions with NBA Live 97, NBA Live 2004, NBA Live 06 (both versions), NBA Live 09, and NBA Live 10 to recap. We also join the community in reflecting on the NBA Live titles that we’ve spent the most time with over the years. On a less positive note, 2K has reached a whole new level of greed with NBA 2K24 MyTEAM. In addition to expressing our disgust, we commend some content creators for (finally) speaking out about these issues. We wrap up this week’s show with a celebration of Michael Jordan’s birthday, as we and our listeners share our fondest memories of MJ on the real and virtual hardwood alike.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 2:00:17 — 83.0MB)

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!

Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee4Three! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, or hit up Dee on Twitter.

As you might expect, this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays contains a couple of highlights from the late, great Kobe Bryant. The Black Mamba isn’t the only one putting on a show on the virtual hardwood though, as Michael Jordan and even a created Scottie Pippen in NBA Live 19 provide a dazzling aerial display. There’s also an NBA Live 2000 highlight featuring one of the last roster updates for the game from the mid 2010s, and plenty of other spectacular moves from eight different games. Let’s get to the action!

What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.

Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee4Three! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, or hit up Dee on Twitter.

The NLSC Top 10 Plays has only been getting better and better since Dee revived it, with the community coming through with the goods week in, week out. I don’t envy the task of trying to rank all those submissions, and as Dee noted in the video description over on YouTube, the January 13th countdown has several highlights that might’ve made the top three in other weeks . Of course, that just makes for an even more exciting way to tip off another weekend of basketball gaming! Seven different games are featured this week, from Street Hoops through to NBA 2K24. Let’s get to the action!

What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.

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…

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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 some famous jersey numbers that were worn by players who weren’t so famous, and the video games where you’ll find them.

There was a commemorative magazine published not long after the Chicago Bulls won their fifth NBA championship. As an avid fan, I read it cover to cover until it was no longer pristine. On top of recapping the championship season, the magazine delved into the history of the Bulls. I was fascinated to learn that although Michael Jordan became the last and most famous Bull to wear number 23, he was the seventh player in club history to don it. You have to remember that in 1997, such information wasn’t readily available and accessible in less than a minute!

That tidbit of Bulls and MJ trivia has stuck with me. The longer I’ve been a basketball fan, and the more players that I’ve seen come and go, the more I’ve seen other stars end up sharing their number with far less distinguished NBA alumni. Like so much other historical trivia, these examples frequently present themselves whenever I’m revisiting an old video game, and see players in the rosters that I haven’t thought about in years. While they may not have reached the same level of fame and success as the stars who donned those jerseys, there’s still that connection to their famous peers and their iconic numbers. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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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 Part 18 in an ongoing series looking at players who only appeared on certain teams in video games.

In Part 17, I covered three big names that only appeared on certain teams in video games: Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, and DeMarcus Cousins. The five players that I’m covering today didn’t reach the same heights – not even close in fact – but there are at least two names that I’m confident everyone will recognise, as they had long and fairly successful careers. Indeed, number five on the list was very popular, despite never being an All-Star. If you were into the NBA around 2008, there’s a good chance that you’ll remember the story behind his phantom stint.

There are some interesting stories with the other four players on the list as well. The first player is the most recent example of a player who ended up with a phantom stint. The second player’s phantom stint came about due to an acrimonious departure from the NBA. The third player is frequently in the shadow of his far more famous and successful college teammates. The fourth player is a journeyman who played for eight different teams during his career. Can you guess the five players based on those hints? I’m sure some of you have picked up on a couple of them already, so let’s get to the list! Once again, a huge thanks to David L for his help in finding several examples.

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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 the five best shout outs that basketball games have made to previous entries in their series.

Who doesn’t appreciate a good callback? Whether it’s an Easter egg/fleeting reference or something more prominent, continuity never goes astray. This applies to video games as much as books, films, and television shows, especially as the medium has strived to improve its storytelling across various genres. Whether it’s a cameo like Harold’s appearance in Fallout 3, a peek at an era from a previous game as in the Monkey Island series, or the Elder Scrolls’ running gag about stolen sweetrolls, they’re an enjoyable part of video game lore and exploration.

Needless to say, basketball video games and other annual sports titles are a little different. By their very concept, they have numerous sequels and there are several similarities between games, right down to the players as long as they’re active or on a classic team. In other words, the ubiquitous aspects of the genre don’t count as shout outs to previous games. However, various basketball video games have found ways to celebrate their lineage, or feature a unique nod to their predecessors. These shout outs to previous games may be minor and we wouldn’t necessarily miss them if they weren’t there, but oftentimes they’re the fun details that make a game feel special.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #499 of the NLSC Podcast!

Last week, we imagined the ideal gameplay for NBA 2K and NBA Live by combining our favourite mechanics from previous games. This week, we’re imagining the worst possible NBA Live and NBA 2K by cobbling together our least favourite mechanics; in other words, we’re describing how NOT to make a basketball game! We also revisited NBA Live 07 and NBA 2K18 ahead of that exercise, and suffice to say, that helped us with some of our selections! On a more positive note, we reflect on some fun sessions with NBA 2K6, Blacktop in NBA 2K14, and NBA Jam: On Fire Edition using the Legends On Fire Edition mod, and a recently released fixed roster for NBA 2K10 PC.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:19:31 — 55.0MB)

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!

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 some examples of players debuting in video games long before tallying their first NBA minute.

Every offseason, there’s a new crop of players – both drafted and undrafted – that will make their debut in the real NBA and on the virtual hardwood alike. To that point of course, barring Summer League play, basically all NBA players will be debuting in games before the real NBA, and have done so as long as titles with updated rosters have been released before the season tips off. However, there are players whose real life debuts came well after their first appearance in a video game. For the purposes of this article, this is what I mean when I say “debuting in games before the NBA”.

This includes players that missed what should’ve been their rookie season, and future NBA players who made cameos through other means. These appearances can make it difficult to remember exactly when certain players debuted or were drafted, since we recall playing with them in video games much earlier. There are also fun examples of bonus content leading to pre-NBA cameos for players who would become noteworthy names, and in some cases, major stars. It’s a lengthy list, so settle in as we take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #498 of the NLSC Podcast!

After revisiting NBA in the Zone 2 over Parsec last week, we recap a fun showdown as we took on the Nuggets with the SuperSonics, while reflecting on the sim-arcade hybrid approach and comparing the game to NBA Live 97. We also played NBA 2K13 using the 1993 season roster from URB, which leads us to compare the attention to detail in retro mods to the lack thereof in MyNBA Eras. Speaking of inaccuracies, the WNBA Players Association called out NBA 2K24’s terrible player likenesses, a move that we wholeheartedly support. We also imagine the ideal gameplay for NBA 2K and NBA Live by combining our favourite mechanics from previous games in both series, and give a heads up on a great PC gaming deal.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:10:30 — 48.8MB)

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 reasons that NBA 2K now has a virtual monopoly over the virtual hardwood.

We’re fortunate that the NBA hasn’t followed the NFL’s example of offering video game developers and publishers exclusive rights to their license. In theory, we could still see an array of licensed NBA video games from a variety of companies, since there’s nothing legally preventing them from throwing their hat into the ring. Of course, in terms of feasibility and practicality, it’s not so simple. NBA 2K has set a high bar that sim basketball games are expected to clear and raise, meaning the NBA license alone won’t allow alternative titles to compete.

Since no one else is taking a chance on competing with NBA 2K, they have a virtual monopoly when it comes to basketball video games. Sure, there have been a handful of NBA Live games over the past decade – though none since 2018 – as well as two NBA Playgrounds titles. We’ve also seen some indie hoops games that don’t use the NBA license, including the outstanding Basketball Classics. However, NBA 2K is the only Big Name™ in basketball gaming, and the lack of alternatives and competition is essentially a monopoly. How did we get to this point? Here are five reasons that NBA 2K was able to establish a monopoly, with a little help from its one-time competitors.

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