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NLSC Podcast #519: Infinite NBA Modes To Keep Us Hooked

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #519 of the NLSC Podcast!

We’re tipping things off this week with a strange (but not altogether surprising) incident on Twitter/X. Indeed, the quality of discourse on social media is on our minds this week, as we feel compelled to respond to the latest ridiculous narrative being pushed about Michael Jordan and NBA history. We also check in with Troydan’s quest to pull a 100 Overall card in NBA 2K24 MyTEAM, and discuss the new mobile game, NBA Infinite. In this week’s mailbag/featured discussion, we join the community in reminiscing about the basketball video game modes that have kept us hooked over the years, and the titles that we played them in.

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!

NLSC Podcast #504: NBA 2K14, Ten Years Later

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #504 of the NLSC Podcast!

If you can believe it, last Wednesday marked a decade since NBA 2K14’s release on PlayStation 4! As such, this week we’re celebrating the tenth anniversary of a truly iconic game, and a personal favourite. That includes looking back to our first impressions of both versions of NBA 2K14, reminiscing about the countless hours we’ve spent with them right through to today, and reflecting on the PC modding scene. We also read out some memories of NBA 2K14 that the community shared with us. Additionally, we have some fantastic basketball gaming sessions from the past week to catch up on, including a game of NBA Live 16 that makes us wistful about yet another missed opportunity for EA Sports.

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 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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Wayback Wednesday: 25 Years Since The Last Dance

Wayback Wednesday: 25 Years Since The Last Dance

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 reflecting on it being 25 years since the Chicago Bulls’ sixth championship, aka The Last Dance.

I admire fans who continue to support teams that haven’t won a championship, or even had the opportunity to compete for one by making it through to the NBA Finals. As rough as it’s been to be a Chicago Bulls fan in the 21st century, I’m comforted by the memories of watching their incredible run in the 90s. That’s not to say that I don’t want to see them get back there, but I had it pretty good growing up as a Bulls fan; far better than fans of most other teams! As such, with so many bandwagoners, and fans that follow players rather than teams, I respect loyalty to clubs despite tough times.

Of course, those memories of the glory days are getting further into the past! To put it into perspective, there were fewer years between Bill Russell’s last championship and Michael Jordan’s first, than there are between MJ’s first ring and today. Sure, that’s just how the passage of time works, but it doesn’t make it any less wild to get your head around! As the 2000s became the 2010s, and the 2010s became the 2020s, every Bulls title began passing milestones that would’ve felt like such a long time ago to a kid like me in the 90s. As an adult in 2023, it seems like it was only yesterday! And now, The Last Dance is a quarter of a century old. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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The Friday Five: 5 Ways NBA 2K Modding Is Better

The Friday Five: 5 Ways NBA 2K Modding Is Better

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 ways that the NBA 2K modding scene is better than what we had with NBA Live back in the day.

So, last week I discussed five ways that NBA Live modding was better than the NBA 2K modding scene. It’s always difficult to write an article like that without sounding like a grumpy old man yelling out clouds, and lamenting bygone days that were far from perfect if we’re being completely honest. As I acknowledged, there were issues in the NBA Live modding community, too. Some of them remain problems with NBA 2K modding, but there are others that we no longer have to deal with. It certainly isn’t all doom and gloom when it comes to tinkering with NBA 2K.

While the different approach to design and file structure has presented us with some new challenges, there are aspects of NBA 2K on PC that make modding much easier. As a community, we’ve also been able to build upon what we established, and take advantage of new technology to help each other out. I stand by what I wrote last week, because there are aspects of NBA Live modding that would be great to have when creating work for NBA 2K. However, there are exciting possibilities with NBA 2K modding, and it’s why I’m interested in getting more involved with it. Here are five ways that the hobby has improved since we started modding NBA 2K on PC.

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NLSC Podcast #467: Retro Content & Respect for Legends

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #467 of the NLSC Podcast!

As March Modness tips off, we’ve received word of an exciting retro project that we’re keen to see come to fruition. We’ve also been working on our own projects – some of which have already been released – and announce our upcoming NCAA Basketball 10 tournament. Recapping some recent retro pick-ups leads us to reflect on how much fun it is to play on original hardware, even with the convenience of emulators. While we’re in a retro mood, we also discuss the historical content that NBA Live needs to have if/when it returns, and share some suggestions from our listeners. In this week’s mailbag, we challenged the community to guess the top-rated Legends in NBA Live 2004, and point out some of the most disrespectful ratings for historical players in those rosters.

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!

NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week: January 28th, 2023

NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week

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.

We’re still over a month away from March Modness, but it’s never too early to see mods being showcased in the NLSC Top 10 Plays! To that point, this week’s countdown includes highlights from KingJMASE’s Elite Street League, and His Airness defying gravity in Hokupguy’s Jordan Challenge rosters. The NBA Live 2001 Legends are also doing their thing (in NBA Live 2002 on this occasion), Dee and I provided some high-flying antics from our NBA Jam: On Fire Edition Road Trip, and other regular contributors have been putting on a show on the virtual hardwood. Enough teasers; check out what’s on tap this week!

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.

The Friday Five: 5 Features NBA Live & NBA 2K Didn’t Originate

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 lists five features that didn’t originate in NBA Live or NBA 2K.

From the mid 90s through to today, NBA Live and NBA 2K are the two biggest names as far as sim basketball games are concerned. Obviously NBA Jam and NBA Street were the top dogs in the arcade space, and there have been other series of sim titles that have produced quality releases. However, when we’re talking about the brand leader in NBA licensed sim titles, it’s been NBA Live and NBA 2K for more than a quarter of a century, with the latter taking the crown from the former during the 2000s. Of course, it hasn’t been a competition for quite some time.

Nevertheless, being the two biggest names/brand leaders in sim basketball games has meant that many of the innovations in the genre did originate with either NBA Live or NBA 2K. To that end, they’ve ended up borrowing ideas from each other, which as I’ve long maintained is actually a good thing when it comes to features that should be staples of a sim game. Of course, there are also some great features that we take for granted that didn’t originate in NBA Live or NBA 2K. Some of them are older than we think, appearing in one of their predecessors, while other times it was one of their contemporaries that beat them to the punch. Either way, another game did it first.

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NLSC Podcast #460: The Community Compares NBA 2K14 & NBA 2K23

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #460 of the NLSC Podcast!

Comparisons of NBA 2K14 and NBA 2K23 have been gaining traction on social media as of late. We discuss the observations that the community has been making,  and why more people are (rightfully) beginning to look back on NBA 2K14 so fondly. Speaking of NBA 2K23, we share our thoughts on MyNBA Eras rosters being available in Play Now once again, albeit with limitations. We also catch up on some recent modding developments, including a forthcoming Fantasy Draft roster for NBA 2K19, Murat’s MyNBA Eras project for NBA Live 06, and new resources for NBA 2K16. After circling back to a couple of responses to last week’s mailbag that came in after we ‘d finished recording, we quiz the community on the top-rated classic players in NBA 2K11.

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!

NBA 2K23 Patch 4.0 Now Available

NBA 2K23 Patch 4.0 Now Available

Patch 4.0 has come through for NBA 2K23 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S, with the PC patch set to arrive on Friday morning. As always, it should come through automatically as long as you’re online. If it doesn’t, try restarting your console/Steam client, or checking for updates manually.

With Season 4 set to tip off in MyCAREER and MyTEAM, Patch 4.0 prepares NBA 2K23 for the forthcoming content. It also includes a number of player likeness updates, nerfs on-ball steals, and addresses an issue with the camera in Triple Threat Online, among other gameplay tweaks and technical fixes.

You can find the full release notes below, as well as in our update history for NBA 2K23 Current Gen and Next Gen over in the Wiki. As always, feel free to share your impressions in the comments below, as well as join in the discussion in our NBA 2K23 Forum.

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Wayback Wednesday: Playing With Defunct & Relocated Teams

Wayback Wednesday: Playing With Defunct & Relocated Teams

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 defunct and relocated teams that are fun to play with in older games.

If it isn’t obvious from producing a weekly Wayback Wednesday feature, as well as playing old favourites with Dee4Three on Parsec and discussing them on the NLSC Podcast, I love revisiting basketball games from multiple eras, and bringing them back into my gaming rotation. Sometimes I get on an extended kick with a game, as is the case with NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4, while other titles I just like to throw on for an exhibition or two. Whether I’m playing solo or with Dee, those exhibition games always raise an important question: who to play with, and against?

Obviously, our favourite teams – the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics – will always be an option. Of course, there are some Bulls and Celtics teams throughout time that aren’t as fun to play with, while other teams are far more intriguing. However, more and more, I find myself being drawn to the defunct, relocated, or re-branded teams in older basketball video games. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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Wayback Wednesday: Retro Teams You Can Create in NBA 2K14 PS4/X1

Wayback Wednesday: Retro Teams You Can Create in NBA 2K14 PS4/X1

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 alternative retro teams that you can create in the PS4/X1 version of NBA 2K14.

While I was on my extended retro kick with NBA 2K14 for PS4, I played several games with the retro teams. There aren’t as many to choose from as in later games, and while inter-era games can be fun, I do like to re-create historical matchups. As such, after a while I tried my hand at creating some alternative retro teams. I’ve already discussed my fondness for minimalist modding, and given the content that’s available and the lack of Create-a-Player in NBA 2K14 PS4/X1, it was a stimulating challenge to see how many new retro squads could be assembled.

To that point, there are some obvious limitations when you don’t have the benefit of mods and external roster editing, to say nothing of having to destroy the lone custom roster save file. However, as long as you have a backup on hand – either via USB or cloud storage – you can mess around and add some new retro teams to NBA 2K14 PS4, and later restore a cleaner custom roster as necessary. If you’re keen to find out how you can change up your retro gaming, let’s take a look back…way back…

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NLSC Podcast #443: NBA 2K23 First Impressions

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #443 of the NLSC Podcast!

NBA 2K23 is out now worldwide, and we’ve been spending plenty of time with both versions of the game since they launched! As such, this week’s episode is all about taking a deep dive into our first impressions of NBA 2K23, and discussing the pros and cons as we currently see them. From gameplay, graphics, and the Jordan Challenge, to MyNBA Eras, MyTEAM, and roster accuracy, we’ve got plenty of thoughts to share with our fellow basketball gamers. We also compare the Next Gen and Current Gen versions, discuss the forthcoming modding season as it tips off, and share our outlook on playing NBA 2K23 consistently in the months to come.

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!

NBA 2K23 The City Preview

NBA 2K23 The City Preview

The release of NBA 2K23 is imminent, but before it officially launches, the latest developer blog has given us all a preview of The City. Once again, The City will be the hub world for MyCAREER in the Next Gen version of NBA 2K23, whereas Current Gen has the GOAT Boat.

Key improvements this year include reducing the size of The City and adding fast travel options to make it easier to traverse. There are also new designs for the stomping grounds of the four affiliations, a central area for the competitive modes, and an arena for NBA games.

Once again, I’ve summarised the blog below, but be sure to read it for the full scoop and preview screenshots. You can also check out the trailer that was released. Got any thoughts? Feel free to share them in the comments below, as well as join in the discussion here in the NLSC Forum! With the game almost in our hands, our post-release coverage will be tipping off very soon. As such, we invite you to stick around for everything we do here, from discussion of the game to our modding community!

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Wayback Wednesday: 10 Years of Embracing NBA 2K

Wayback Wednesday: 10 Years of Embracing 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 reflecting on ten years of embracing NBA 2K, after growing up playing NBA Live.

Just in case there’s any confusion, no, this isn’t a tenth anniversary for NBA 2K. As the special edition of NBA 2K19 reminds us, the series is already twice as old as that! However, 2022 marks ten years that I’ve personally been embracing NBA 2K as a key part of my basketball gaming experience. If you’ve grown up with NBA 2K and never played NBA Live when it was the brand leader, this undoubtedly sounds strange. Why would I need to warm up to NBA 2K, and come around on embracing it? As a keen basketball gamer, shouldn’t I want to play the game that’s been on top for years?

Of course, but for an older gamer like me who grew up with NBA Live, embracing NBA 2K and its approach to sim basketball took some time. There was bias and a comfort zone to push past, not to mention availability and preferred platform. While I have my criticisms – and it’s important that we do constructively criticise any game we play, basketball or otherwise – I have grown to truly appreciate and enjoy the NBA 2K series. It’s been ten years since I’ve fully committed to embracing NBA 2K, so it feels as though some reflections are in order. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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