From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #463 of the NLSC Podcast!
Following a co-op session of NBA Live 10, we may have to bring it back into the rotation! We also connected to play NBA Live 98 PC with an old NLSC roster, and note that despite improvements in its immediate successors, it holds up just as well. Meanwhile, following up on a basketball management game riddled with microtransactions, it’s clear that the developer has no interest in goodwill or constructive feedback. We’re also talking about franchise mode follies, including the phenomena of “rosteritis” and “tradeitis”. We note how franchise mode burnout is similar to modding fatigue, and share tips on how to have a successful franchise game. In this week’s mailbag, community members share the origin stories of how they became basketball fans and gamers.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:30:15 — 62.3MB)
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 past week, Dee and I connected on Parsec to play NBA Live 98 – a standout game in the series – and as always, our session produced some fun highlights. Dee has put together a reel of those moments, and uploaded them for the community to enjoy.
As you can see, we took control of the Chicago Bulls in a co-op showdown against the Utah Jazz. It was a highly competitive game that saw us make a furious rally to force overtime. In case you’re wondering about the presence of Michael Jordan in these NBA Live 98 highlights, we were playing with the 1998 season roster update created by our founders, Lutz and Tim. That mod is still available here in our Downloads database, for anyone who would like to use it in their own retro gaming sessions!
We’ve said it several times on the NLSC Podcast, but connecting to play over Parsec has been an absolute joy, and we expect it to be a large part of another fun year of basketball gaming in 2023. Dee has been spearheading the initiative to share gameplay highlights for the past couple of years – from reels to the weekly Top 10 Plays – and there’ll be a lot of fun coming your way throughout the year. To that point, please subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel, and feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play!
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.
It’s a new month for the NLSC Top 10 Plays, but as always, we have some old favourites to go along with great moments from NBA 2K23! Hoops for NES is making its first appearance in the countdown, courtesy of a couple of clutch plays in a one-on-one clash. There are some fantastic poster dunks, including one that pays tribute to the 1992 first round series between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat, and one from the NBA Live 2001 Legends with LeBron James in NBA 2K14. You’ll also find ankle breakers, breathtaking layups, and other spectacular plays as the community once again comes through with the goods!
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.
From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #459 of the NLSC Podcast!
As we tip off a new year of basketball gaming, we’re taking a look back at the titles that we and our fellow hoops gamers played and enjoyed the most throughout 2022. We discover that we’re definitely not alone in keeping the classics in our rotations, and from the sounds of things, a number of people will continue to enjoy a variety of games all year long in 2023! However, while we’ll support revisiting classics and enjoying all kinds of basketball games both new and old, there is one management title that we’d advise you to stay away from. If its greedy microtransactions aren’t enough, the way it treated someone with valid criticism certainly will be!
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:21:41 — 56.4MB)
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!
From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #458 of the NLSC Podcast!
To all of our listeners, Merry Christmas and Season’s Greetings! We’ve got a very festive episode for you this week, as we’re reflecting on why we’re thankful for basketball video games, and what basketball gaming and modding has meant to us throughout the years. From our very first games that tipped off our love of the hobby, to the landmark releases and innovations that blew us away, there’s plenty that we’re grateful for. In this week’s mailbag, we join the community in sharing some of our favourite holiday memories on the virtual hardwood, including the hoops titles that we received as gifts.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:20:35 — 55.7MB)
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 technical frustrations that one might encounter when retro gaming.
I love retro gaming! As I’ve said before, when I think back, I was probably born to be a retro gamer. The first console I ever played was one that came out before I was even born, and part of the 1983 video game crash. It’s not that I don’t enjoy playing new games and all the technological advances the medium has made, but my early forays into gaming have undoubtedly influenced my ability to overlook dated aspects if I still enjoy the gameplay. Some games hold up better than others – especially basketball and other sports titles – but bottom line, I can still have a blast with the classics.
Of course, over the years, that hasn’t always been easy to do. This is particularly true of older PC basketball games following upgrades to a new system. At the end of the day, retro gaming (basketball or otherwise) is still something of a niche interest within the hobby, with technical frustrations arising because it’s not kept in mind when new hardware and operating systems are being developed. Fortunately, there are usually workarounds, though they can be intimidating if you’re not technically savvy. I’ve been able to find ways to get all of my old games running for my retro gaming and content creation purposes, but there have definitely been some technical frustrations.
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 Virtual Stadium Technology in the early NBA Live games.
In our desire to see games and gaming technology constantly improve, we obsess over specifications. This isn’t a new phenomenon, of course. One only needs to look back at the console wars of the 90s, where the number of bits and jargon such as Sega’s “blast processing” were thrown back and forth in the eternal fanboy debates. These days, we’re also aware of the most popular game engines, and the use of technology that we hold in high esteem is often celebrated. We also speculate on how it could help the games we’re interested in. “If only NBA Live had used Frostbite!”
It’s interesting to see how the engines and tech of different basketball games have been hyped through the years. Eco-Motion may not have lasted, but it was definitely well-received in NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Conversely, although EA Sports’ IGNITE engine worked out well for other titles, it didn’t make NBA Live better than its predecessors. The Playmaker Engine in NBA Live 13 sounded good on paper, but the game shaped up so poorly that it was cancelled. And then, there’s NBA Live’s Virtual Stadium Technology. What did that entail? Let’s take a look back…way back…
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.
Halloween is almost upon us, so this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays is getting into the spooky spirit! Of course, if you’ll excuse a corny pun, we get some scarily good highlights from the community each and every week. This spooktacular countdown takes things a step further though, with a reminder of an other-worldly cheat in NBA Live 98. Elsewhere, a number of defenders certainly got a fright of their own when they found themselves looking down the wrong end of a poster dunk. I think you get the picture; check out ten fantastic highlights from six games ranging from NBA Live 98 to NBA 2K23!
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.
From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #449 of the NLSC Podcast!
NBA Live 99 PC is arguably one of the most underrated basketball video games of all-time, and we had a blast revisiting it using a 2002 roster update! In addition to giving NBA Live 99 PC its due, our session also inspired us to reflect on the Boston Celtics and Michael Jordan-led Washington Wizards of the 2002 season. We also discuss the latest NBA 2K23 patch, which thankfully appears to have done more good than harm. There’s also some recent retro basketball game pickups to share, including Arch Rivals for the NES, the later NBA 2K titles for PlayStation 2, and a few other classics and rarities that will undoubtedly appeal to our fellow enthusiastic collectors and retro gamers.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:06:32 — 46.0MB)
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 Part 6 in an ongoing series where I look at players who only appeared on certain teams in video games.
Can you believe this topic has produced six instalments of The Friday Five? Actually, it’s not altogether surprising. With the amount of player movement in the NBA, the timing of video game releases, and the eventual introduction of regular official roster updates, stints where players never officially tallied a minute for a certain team have made their way onto the virtual hardwood. It’s something that’s happened for a lot of players who are career journeymen, and generally benchwarmers and training camp fodder. However, it’s also happened with some bigger names as well.
With that being said, the five examples that I’m profiling this time were not big name players. I’m sure most long-time basketball fans will recognise at least some of them though, especially as one is a streetball legend. It’s easy to forget the “phantom stints” that can only be found in video games when it comes to players that move around a lot, but when you revisit an old title, the memories come flooding back. Alternatively, you’ll be led down a rabbit hole when something looks like a mistake! Along with familiar faces in strange and familiar places, it’s an aspect of basketball video game trivia that I really enjoy exploring. To that end, let’s get to five more examples!
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 gameplay mechanics that you may have forgotten, or not ever been aware of.
It would be wrong to say that basketball video games have tried absolutely every idea imaginable. There are still concepts that have yet to be implemented, or explored to their full potential. Developers have experimented with a multitude of ideas on the virtual hardwood though, from presentation and mode design to gameplay mechanics. While some ideas are better than others, we’ve seen that there are multiple ways to represent basketball in video game form, while striving for a fun and authentic experience. This was particularly apparent when we had several games on the market.
Of course, some ideas were better than others. Contrary to what some basketball gamers, NBA Twitter, and Barney Stinson may claim, new isn’t always better. By the same token, nostalgic doesn’t necessarily mean good. Some ideas were good solutions at the time, but would be unsuitable now. We could argue that others are preferable to their modern equivalents, or could be updated for use in new games. It’s interesting to look back at the gameplay mechanics that were attempted, abandoned, or evolved into something else. We remember concepts such as Freestyle Superstars, the original Isomotion, and separate shoot buttons, but here are some that you may have forgotten.
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 7 in an ongoing series listing players that appeared in more video games than actual NBA games.
As I’ve said in so many articles that have examined roster-related trivia, I love how basketball video games serve as interactive almanacs, but it’s important to note that they’re not infallible. If nothing else, they’re lacking in context and additional details, such as whether or not a player actually ever played in the NBA. Needless to say, if they’re in a licensed NBA video game, they were signed to an NBA contract at some point. However, their careers on the virtual hardwood ended up lasting much longer, no doubt featuring debuts and tenures that never eventuated in real life.
Even though these players may not be familiar, there are some interesting stories here. There’s a player that was the first to carve out a specific path to the NBA, though his journey obviously came to an end before actually setting foot on the court. A couple of others have followed a calling in their post-basketball careers that you might not expect of athletes who once chased the dream of playing pro ball. And of course, their stories are intertwined with some video game trivia, with a title other than NBA Live or NBA 2K making the list in this instalment. Enough of the teasers: let’s get to yet another five players with more appearances in video games than the actual NBA!
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 5 in an ongoing series where I look at players who only appeared on certain teams in video games.
As much as I enjoy talking about the gameplay experience and all the ins and outs of modes in basketball video games, I also love player-related trivia. Forgive me for dusting off a phrase that I probably use way too much, but old sim games do act as interactive almanacs. Just as re-watching old games and highlights can trigger our memories of unusual and forgotten stints, so too can browsing the rosters in video games from many years ago. It’s one of the fun parts of retro basketball gaming for me, and it can lead down a rabbit hole of researching old lineups and transactions.
I have several features where I reflect on unusual and noteworthy stints for players, be they stars, journeyman role players, or benchwarmers. It’s fun to look back at familiar faces in strange and familiar places through the lens of basketball video games, as well as other oddities such as returns to teams that were over before they began. As evident from this article being a Part 5, I’ve also been reflecting on several players who only ever saw court time for a specific team on the virtual hardwood. This has usually been due to injuries, or the timing of transactions related to the release of video games and their roster updates. Either way, they’re interesting to look back on!
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 of the updates that have become long-lost, and the quest to track them down.
With the internet’s ability to connect the world and make information and content readily accessible, there’s a particular interest in using it for preservation. It’s why there’s debate over dumping ROMs of games, particularly those that were never released and could otherwise easily become lost media. We’ve felt the sting of lost content in our modding community. So many great mods from the early days are long-lost now, and even more recent releases have disappeared because they were uploaded to file hosts that won’t guarantee availability in perpetuity.
And then, there are the long-lost official updates for various games. We actually have some old official patches in our Downloads section, as well as official roster updates, but it’s not a complete archive. Files that can be downloaded disappear from personal archives as well as the web, and in-game content updates likewise vanish and become long-lost when servers are shut down. This leaves us on a quest to find those long-lost updates, but all too often, it’s unfortunately been a fruitless search. Let’s take a look back…way back…
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 phenomenon of playing an older basketball game after its direct sequel, or one of its later successors.
Basketball video games have been around for decades now, with NBA Basketball – the very first NBA-licensed title – coming out in 1980. Furthermore, there’s been at least one annual release every year for at least a quarter of a century and counting. Every single game, good or bad, has been somebody’s first title and introduction to basketball gaming. In short, most people who are playing basketball games in 2022 haven’t been doing so since the beginning. That goes for me, too. Many gamers have hit the virtual hardwood long before I ever did in the mid 90s.
When you get into an established series, there’s a curiosity about what came before. This doesn’t just apply to video games, of course. If you catch an episode of a TV show that’s a few seasons in, or perhaps see a movie that’s part of a series or cinematic universe, you may be inclined to go back to the beginning. In basketball itself, there’s a desire to learn the history of the sport, the NBA, and other leagues…or at least, there used to be. The nature of video games makes going back to an older title after playing a newer game rather interesting, and it’s a phenomenon that I’ve experienced as both a younger and older basketball gamer. Let’s take a look back…way back…
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