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Monday Tip-Off: Assorted Cover Player Trivia

Monday Tip-Off: Assorted Cover Player Trivia

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 assorted cover player trivia.

I’m sure that it’s apparent from my various features, as well as comments I’ve made on the NLSC Podcast, that I really enjoy trivia about my passions. I love discovering new “fun facts” about my favourite hobbies and interests, and of course, discussing them in the content that I create. Of course, the downside of being passionate about trivia is that it’s easy to come off as a know-it-all, or a bore. Still, I imagine that if you’re here to consume content about basketball video games, you enjoy these facts as well! It’s always my aim to share something that hopefully not everyone will know.

So, cover player trivia. It seems only appropriate, since in the grand scheme of things, there aren’t too many aspects of basketball video games that are as trivial as the cover player! The face of the game doesn’t necessarily indicate its quality, and there have been some out-of-the-box choices on the front of the box throughout the years. It’s still a point of interest, of course. We admire creative cover art, and while it doesn’t (or shouldn’t) impact our enjoyment of a game, we also appreciate a worthy cover player. With so many basketball games and a multitude of players appearing on their covers, there’s some interesting trivia we can dive into as we tip off another week.

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NLSC Podcast #498: Mods vs. MyNBA Eras, & Overdue Call-Outs

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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.

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 Friday Five: 5 Reasons NBA 2K Has a Virtual Monopoly

The Friday Five: 5 Reasons NBA 2K Has a Virtual Monopoly

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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NLSC Podcast #497: Where Are All The Basketball Games?

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #497 of the NLSC Podcast!

NBA 2K24 has been out for almost a month now, and honestly, we’re not exactly having a blast with it. To that end, we join our listeners in giving the game a score out of ten, at least as it stands right now. Our disappointment with NBA 2K24 leads us to reflect on the lack of choices in the basketball gaming space, compared to the array of titles that we once enjoyed. We speculate on the reasons why no one is stepping up to offer an alternative – from design challenges to intimidation and gatekeeping – and the community also weighs in with their takes on the matter. We also note some similarities in the attitudes towards basketball gaming and real hoops nowadays.

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!

Monday Tip-Off: The Sim-Arcade Hybrid

Monday Tip-Off: The Sim-Arcade Hybrid

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 sim-arcade hybrid genre of basketball video games.

When it comes to 5-on-5 basketball video games, I’d consider myself a sim gamer. Going back to playing NBA Live in the 90s, it was my desire to see the series strive for more realism. When I finally warmed up to the NBA 2K series, I was delighted at the authenticity in the games. Sure, there were a few rude shocks as I realised that I perhaps wasn’t as sim as I thought, and had to adjust to play a more realistic style of virtual basketball, but I loved that that was necessary. There have been some great sim titles in every era that I’ve enjoyed immensely.

At the same time, I’m a fan of the arcade style, too. I grew up playing NBA Jam as well as NBA Live, and I’d alternate between the two, depending on what I was in the mood for. To that point, while I’d call myself a sim gamer, I’m an arcade gamer as well, with many fond memories of playing both types of hoops titles. However, there is a style of basketball video game that I’ve tended to overlook through the years: the sim-arcade hybrid. These games have combined elements of sim and arcade titles to create their own style of gameplay that definitely has its place in the genre. As I’ve expanded my collection, I’ve come to appreciate these sim-arcade hybrid games.

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Wayback Wednesday: The Original All-Time Teams in NBA 2K

Wayback Wednesday: The Original All-Time Teams in NBA 2K

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 original All-Time Teams that were featured in early NBA 2K titles.

The concept of All-Time Teams is naturally a staple of sports discussion. Which franchise could field the best lineup with all the players that have ever worn their uniform? Who can boast the best all-time starting lineup? Who would prevail in a showdown of stars, if they could all be together on the team in their prime? Such What Ifs are impossible to conclusively prove in reality, but they’re a great idea for fantasy matchups in video games. Even in the early days of NBA Live modding, the community was creating Legends and All-Time Teams rosters.

Those projects have remained popular over the years, so it’s no surprise that with all of the other historical content in NBA 2K, All-Time squads were eventually added for each franchise. As I noted when I covered those teams in a previous article, while the concept was nothing new, it saved us a lot of time by ensuring that certain players and assets would be in the game by default. However, I neglected to mention that NBA 2K18 wasn’t the first game in the series to feature All-Time Teams, as a few such squads were unlockable in earlier releases. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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Monday Tip-Off: Matching the Original Aesthetic With Mods

Monday Tip-Off: Matching the Original Aesthetic With Mods

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 importance of matching the original aesthetic when creating mods.

Do I even need to say that mods are awesome? In this community, we’re well aware of how modding can enhance basketball video games. It’s something that people around these parts have been doing since 1996, and the work has only become even more impressive over the years with bigger and better projects. We’ve updated rosters to keep old games current, taken games back in time to replay classic seasons, and revamped games to turn them into completely different leagues. Smaller mods have still made a big difference too, fixing inaccuracies and enhancing details.

Needless to say, it takes practice to develop your modding skills, especially if you’re working with textures and models. Furthermore, if you’re updating a logo, or adding a missing portrait or jersey, then you’ll also be aiming for conformity as well as quality. That is to say, the goal is to create mods that seamlessly blend in with the original aesthetic, appearing as though they’re official assets that were always there. Indeed, the best mods often don’t even look like mods – but for knowing that their content isn’t in the original game – because they’re crafted to fit in so well. It’s why it’s important to hone our skills and techniques so that we can properly match that original aesthetic.

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Wayback Wednesday: The Misuse of Legends in NBA Live

Wayback Wednesday: The Misuse of Legends in NBA Live

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 how Legends have been misused in NBA Live over the years.

If you remember hitting the virtual hardwood before NBA Live 2000 was released, then you’ll recall what a big deal it was when Legends were announced for the game. Sure, we had modding, and even on console Create-a-Player could be used to make some serviceable retro players, but now they were going to be right there in the game by default! They’d have proper faces, and their names would be called by the PA Announcer and commentators. And of course, Michael Jordan would at long last appear in an NBA Live game. It was huge news, and a landmark feature.

Considering that EA Sports had found themselves in hot water after trying to sneak some Legends into the 16-bit version of NBA Live 96, it seemed like something that would never happen. That made the official inclusion of Legends even more special, and it’s why I won’t take historical content for granted. However, it’s fair to say that over the years, NBA Live didn’t do as much with the Legends as they possibly could have, leaving the door open for NBA 2K to blow us away with retro content and features. Even before that though, NBA Live was dropping the ball with throwback players. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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The Friday Five: 5 Underrated Aspects of Retro Content in Old Games

The Friday Five: 5 Underrated Aspects of Retro Content in Old Games

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 aspects of retro content in older basketball video games that is underrated.

Retro content has been a staple feature in basketball games for decades now. It’s one of the best additions in sim and arcade titles alike, as it’s a blast to play with the stars of yesteryear in addition to the current generation of players. The amount of retro content has steadily increased since it was introduced, progressing from historical All-Star teams to retro NBA teams and All-Time legends squads. With the addition of MyNBA Eras in NBA 2K23 (and its return in NBA 2K24), it’s fair to suggest that these days we have more retro content than ever before.

With that being said, retro content has indeed been around for a long time, and an admirable effort was made with it in many old games. In fact, while the quantity of retro content in basketball games has never been higher than it is in NBA 2K23, we can certainly point to ways that older favourites boasted better quality. If nothing else, there are some aspects of the retro content in older basketball games that are quite impressive, and not just for their era. In fact, I’d go so far as to call them underrated, or certainly underappreciated, especially as they made the most of the resources that were available to them at the time. Let’s take a look at five examples of these aspects!

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Monday Tip-Off: Why Basketball Game Reviews Suck

Monday Tip-Off: Why Basketball Game Reviews Suck

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 why so many basketball video game reviews suck.

As much as I value thoughtful critique over statements that are blunt and insulting for the sake of being provocative, I must be frank here: many of the reviews of basketball video games flat out suck. They aren’t helpful to enthusiastic hoops gamers who want to know if a title is a significant improvement over its predecessor, and whether it’s worth getting. Their lack of insightful commentary provides no useful feedback to the developers, and seldom holds the publisher accountable for business practices that are predatory and even hostile towards the core audience.

It’s extremely frustrating for me. As someone who has been playing basketball video games for over 25 years, and – at the risk of sounding egotistical – knows a thing or two about them, I’m unimpressed by such poor evaluations of them as products. On top of that, my philosophy is to stand with my fellow gamers rather than shill for a company. I believe it’s vital to be honest with ourselves and each other, and to keep the community informed. Also, while there’s really no such thing as an “unbiased review” as opinions are always subjective, personal bias can impact fairness and accuracy. It’s these recurring issues that result in laughable and subpar reviews.

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Wayback Wednesday: Regional Exclusives & Late Releases

Wayback Wednesday: Regional Exclusives & Late Releases

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 a time when certain basketball video games were regional exclusives, and/or had late releases.

The basketball gaming landscape has changed drastically since our choices were whittled down to just NBA Live and NBA 2K, culminating in a virtual monopoly for the latter. When a handful of developers and publishers were throwing their hat into the ring with hoops games, we received a variety of titles of varying quality, but most brought something interesting to the table. Of course, not every game was available worldwide. While NBA Live and NBA 2K stood as examples of global brands, other games were regional exclusives, usually only released in North America.

On top of that, if other regions did receive a particular game, it might not be until several months later. It may seem like a terrible marketing decision to release an NBA game well after the season has tipped off, but there are titles that have come along quite late in a campaign, even with their domestic release. Indeed, not even NBA 2K and NBA Live have been immune to late releases, if only outside North America. It’s an interesting difference in the way that basketball video games used to be handled, so let’s take a look back…way back…

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Wayback Wednesday: Inaccuracies in Basketball Games

Wayback Wednesday: Inaccuracies in Basketball Games

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 noteworthy and recurring inaccuracies that we’ve found in basketball video games over the years.

Licensed sports titles are judged differently to other genres of video games. Because they’re aiming to depict a real sport played by real athletes, we expect accuracy. Even in arcade games with all of their breaks from reality, there’s an expectation that the players will resemble their real life counterparts, and that their ratings will reflect their strengths, weaknesses, and overall style of play. The bar is set much higher in sim titles, especially as technological improvements have led to increasingly realistic graphics and gameplay. Above all, we expect attention to detail.

Of course, none of us are infallible, and thus human error is inevitable. As anyone who’s ever worked on a roster mod can attest, it’s all too easy to overlook a jersey number, neglect a needed ratings update, or forget to double-check the spelling of a newly-added player’s name. That’s not even getting into leaving a necessary file out of the update, or any other technical mistakes! Still, it’s interesting to discover some of the inaccuracies that made it into the default rosters, especially before official roster updates were commonplace. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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March Modness 2023 Giveaway Winner: Pep

NLSC March Modness

This is a very late announcement, but since NBA 2K24 pre-orders are now open, we’re getting closer to having a prize to deliver! Congratulations to Pep, winner of our March Modness 2023 giveaway! Pep released some retro Charlotte Bobcats jerseys during March, and continues to do awesome work for NBA 2K14, all while upholding the spirit that our modding community was founded upon. Once again, his prize is a copy of the standard edition of NBA 2K24 PC. There’s still much to learn about NBA 2K24, though we do know that the PC version will be a prior gen port again this year.

A big thanks as always to everyone who entered this year’s March Modness contest, and continues to share their mods here at the NLSC! Don’t forget that we offer free and permanent file hosting for our modding community, in order to preserve these great releases for years to come. Whether you’re modding NBA 2K23, an older favourite like NBA 2K14 as Pep is, or indeed a very old NBA Live game, I encourage everyone to make use of our facilities. For more information on uploading and adding files to our Downloads database, be sure to check out this tutorial.

Monday Tip-Off: Depth vs. Simplicity In Modes

Monday Tip-Off: Depth vs. Simplicity In Modes

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 comparison of the benefits and drawbacks of depth and simplicity in basketball video game modes.

Generally speaking, we want to see deep, engaging modes in sim basketball games. Whether it’s a franchise or career experience, or even a card collecting/team building mode, depth is a vital ingredient to them remaining immersive and engaging. On top of being a more accurate representation of the NBA – wherever applicable – there’s simply more to do and care about. As modes have become deeper throughout the years, our expectations have naturally increased proportionately. Shallow modes are criticised for their lack of features and detail, and considered to be behind the times.

At the same time, there’s merit and appeal in simplicity. I’m not just talking about retro gaming either, though that can be part of their draw. Even in modern games though, there’s an argument to be made for simplicity and streamlining in modes. This runs contrary to calls for deep and comprehensive experiences, but for some gamers, that depth and detail can be overwhelming. While having more to do and care about sounds like a great time for many of us, many still see too many moving parts, and tasks that distract and detract from the point of the games: playing virtual basketball. As such, developers are challenged to a balancing act as far as depth vs. simplicity.

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Wayback Wednesday: Ben Wallace & NBA Live 07

Wayback Wednesday: Ben Wallace & NBA Live 07

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 Ben Wallace and his short stint with the Chicago Bulls, and how I associate it with NBA Live 07.

I had to check the archives to see if I’ve ever listed my favourite players in any of my articles. The closest I’ve come was naming my All-Time Starting Five in The Friday Five back in 2014, though I’m not sure I’d still choose that lineup today! One of those players definitely isn’t a favourite of mine, while another one is rapidly becoming a former favourite (seriously, Pip: stop it, get some help!). In any event, while my favourites have come up on the NLSC Podcast and I’ve alluded to them in various articles over the years, I haven’t yet dedicated an entire feature to discussing them.

By the same token, I haven’t ever discussed my least favourite players, except in passing. One name that you may have heard me mention on our podcast is Ben Wallace. Although I acknowledge his talent and importance as a member of the 2004 Detroit Pistons, I’m absolutely not a fan of Big Ben. That’s not to cast aspersions on him personally, as I obviously don’t know him. We all have our sporting villains though, and ironically, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year was solidified as one of mine after playing for my favourite team. It’s a stint that’s represented in one of my all-time least favourite games, NBA Live 07. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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