Monday Tip-Off: Video Game Teams

Talk about the NLSC Podcast, Monday Tip-Off, Wayback Wednesday, The Friday Five, Top 10 Plays of the Week, and our Parsec Tournaments! This is also a section for NLSC and community announcements, and other site-related topics.

Re: Monday Tip-Off: Why Modders Stop Modding

Postby Kevin on Tue Jan 05, 2016 12:24 pm

Probably one of the best articles you've written so far.


It does get to a point where modding isn’t fun anymore, because it feels more like an obligation and a chore than an enjoyable creative outlet. If you’ve been active in the modding community for a few years, chances are you’ll want to take a break – or call it a day – once you’re a bit over the hobby.

I took a break because people were acting like they own me and it sort of pushed me away from modding games anymore. They don't care that we spend hours or days working on a cyberface or roster for free, they just want it to be done so they can use it already.


You should always be modding because you enjoy doing it, not because you feel you must. For people who are downloading mods, please keep in mind that modders are people with their own lives, and that modding is something they do free of charge in their spare time. Nothing accelerates burnout like being pestered about releasing work, so a bit of patience and consideration goes a long way.

Too many times, this is the case. They actually think WE (modders) work for them and treat us like we're factory workers.


They’ll often publicly quit and return several times, for the ego boost of being missed and then welcomed back enthusiastically. This isn’t the way to treat the community, and a poor way for a modder to hang it up.

The number of people who do this is too damn high. I remember this attitude happening in the 2k14 releases section where a modder goes "AFK" for 2 weeks or a month and comes back only when there's a certain number of people saying that "his work is going to be missed" or "where did he go? I thought he was going to do *insert cf request*"
Rest In Peace Kobe
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: Why Modders Stop Modding

Postby Andrew on Tue Jan 05, 2016 12:31 pm

Thanks, as I said in my reply to TGsoGood's comment, I felt it was an important matter to discuss.

There definitely is a sense of entitlement at times, which is problematic on both sides. Unfortunately, some people do need to be reminded a little bluntly that "hurry up!" does not make mods get made any quicker, and isn't particularly encouraging. On the modding side of things, I'd really like to be able to curb the egotistical stuff, especially the public quitting and returning in order to feel wanted and receive acclaim. It all comes down to modding for the right reasons, and all of us treating each other fairly and with respect.
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: A Look at Basketball Video Game Story Threads

Postby Andrew on Tue Jan 12, 2016 8:26 am

January 11th, 2016: A Look at Basketball Video Game Story Threads

If you’ve browsed the NLSC Forum, chances are you’ve noticed our Basketball Video Game Stories section. It’s a place where you can entertain your fellow basketball gamers with ongoing coverage of your exploits in NBA Live and NBA 2K, whether you’re playing through the franchise or single player career modes. Over the years, we’ve had some very creative and popular story threads, many of which are now enshrined in our two Story Hall of Fame subsections, so that we can easily go back and enjoy them all over again.

However, story threads have somewhat fallen out of fashion. While we still have gamers posting in the Basketball Video Game Stories section – and we certainly encourage everyone to make use of it, if they feel so inclined – it sadly seems that we’re past the heyday of the story thread. There are a few reasons for this, which I thought I’d explore in today’s Monday Tip-Off, in addition to shining a spotlight on the section and the practice of maintaining story threads in general.

So, what are story threads all about, what was so enthralling about them, and why are they kind of becoming a thing of the past?
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: Playing Old Basketball Video Games

Postby Andrew on Mon Jan 18, 2016 9:39 pm

January 18th, 2016: Playing Old Basketball Video Games

Based on past polls, mod releases, and general discussion, a majority of basketball gamers move on to the latest game in the series they play, usually within a couple of months of its release, if not immediately. While retro gaming is a popular hobby, sports games generally aren’t an ideal genre for it. After all, most fans prefer to play with the latest rosters, and take advantage of the improvements and additions that are made year-to-year. As a result, sports games don’t move well in the second hand market, with lower trade-in prices owing to the annual releases, and less interest in playing them once they’re outdated.

Of course, sometimes we do go back and play older basketball games. I’m sure we all have some old favourites that we can dust off and nostalgically enjoy despite their age, and certain titles do become classics. Arcade-oriented basketball games such as NBA Jam and NBA Street also tend to age a little better, since they’re adopting a more casual and less realistic approach to the sport in the first place. However, some of the best sim-oriented titles in the past decade or so also hold up respectably well. As such, if you have a new roster patch or an old season save game, an older title might still hold a lot of appeal.

But then you’ve got basketball gamers who aren’t going back to older games; they haven’t stopped playing them in the first place. Whether it’s because they’re unable to upgrade, or don’t wish to upgrade, they shun the latest releases in favour of an older game. So, for this week’s Monday Tip-Off, I wanted to take a look at some of the reasons why we play old basketball video games.
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: How Ratings Got Better in NBA Live 16

Postby Andrew on Mon Jan 25, 2016 9:24 pm

January 25th, 2016: How Ratings Got Better in NBA Live 16

The official roster updates for NBA Live 16 haven't exactly received universal acclaim so far. In addition to a couple of players still lacking proper faces, there have been lingering issues with missing players, incorrect jersey numbers, and other anomalies with player bio data, though subsequent updates have included several fixes on all those fronts. I do suspect that there may still be some issues with the update system that's in place, and the lack of in-game roster editing functionality is sorely missed as a result. However, except for a couple of weeks over the holiday break, the weekly updates have been coming through consistently, and on time.

Each week, the official NBA Live website spotlights the biggest movers and shakers in the latest roster update, and there have been some significant ratings changes since NBA Live 16's launch. Generally speaking, I feel that some really good work has been done with the ratings in the NBA Live 16 roster updates, as the season has progressed. Having made unofficial roster updates for NBA Live for many years, I appreciate the constant balancing act of not getting too carried away boosting and decreasing ratings, and the pain of getting overall ratings to look "correct", without skewering the individual ratings to make it happen.

So, what stands out to me the most when it comes to the improved ratings in NBA Live 16?
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: The Hall of Fame Ratings Scale in NBA 2K16

Postby Andrew on Mon Feb 01, 2016 9:34 pm

February 1st, 2016: The Hall of Fame Ratings Scale in NBA 2K16

In last week’s Monday Tip-Off, I discussed how ratings have improved in NBA Live 16, with each week’s roster update. I mentioned that I hoped to see that trend continue, and made note of NBA 2K16’s Hall of Fame ratings scale as a concept that EA Sports should also consider adopting. This week, I’d like to talk a little bit more about that revised approach to player ratings in NBA 2K16, as it’s also something that 2K Sports should definitely stick with.

From the moment that the Hall of Fame ratings scale was mentioned during the preview season for NBA 2K16, it struck me as an excellent idea. There will never be universal agreement about player ratings, and supposedly “perfect” ratings won’t overcome gameplay quirks, but we obviously want ratings to be as accurate as possible. In devising the Hall of Fame concept, I believe that 2K has enhanced their ratings system with a fair and logical approach.

So, what is the Hall of Fame ratings scale, and why was I so pleased to see it adopted in NBA 2K16?
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: Sportsmanship & Online Basketball Gaming

Postby Andrew on Mon Feb 08, 2016 10:33 pm

February 8th, 2016: Sportsmanship & Online Basketball Gaming

If you caught Episode #144 of the NLSC Podcast, you’ll know that I went on a bit of a rant about a recent experience I had while playing NBA Live 16 online. In a nutshell, I had an opponent who was losing quit with a couple of seconds left in the fourth quarter, to avoid the loss and rob me of the win. Needless to say, I wasn’t exactly pleased by that turn of events. The word I used on the Podcast was “scumbag”, and I stand by that description. It was not the sporting thing to do, plain and simple.

The matter of sportsmanship in online basketball gaming is an important one, and since podcasts aren’t everyone’s favourite medium, I’ve decided to write about it in this week’s Monday Tip-Off. Of course, the issue isn’t exclusive to basketball games, but when it comes to both major hoops titles, unfortunately there aren’t really any measures in place to prevent or at least discourage it. Don’t like the way things are going? Want to avoid picking up a loss? Then just quit, or cause a disconnection. Or preferably, don’t. To put it bluntly, it’s incredibly poor form, and shouldn’t be allowed.

You may feel that it isn’t a big deal, that it’s just the way it goes with online play. I would strongly disagree with that assertion, however. This is something that both EA Sports and 2K Sports need to find a way to address, and behaviour that certain basketball gamers need to cut out.
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: A Tale of Two Franchise Games

Postby Andrew on Mon Feb 15, 2016 10:31 pm

February 15th, 2016: A Tale of Two Franchise Games

In the last couple of episodes of the NLSC Podcast, Arcane and I have gotten back to discussing what we’re doing with basketball video games each week, be it NBA Live 16, NBA 2K16, or both. If you’ve listened to Episode #145, you may recall that I mentioned that I’ve started both a Dynasty game in NBA Live 16, and a MyLEAGUE game in NBA 2K16. In each game’s franchise mode, I’ve elected to take control of the Chicago Bulls, and make one offseason move: signing Ben Gordon.

On the surface, the more logical course of action would seem to be opting for completely different experiences in each game’s franchise mode. However, I thought that it would be interesting to see how the same approach would play out in each game, and how the results of each franchise game would ultimately compare to one another. Aside from differences in gameplay, MyLEAGUE is also a much deeper mode than Dynasty, which is likely to be a big factor in changing up the experience.

So, as I look to tip off both franchise games, what are my expectations?
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: Support for Basketball Games, Then & Now

Postby Andrew on Mon Feb 22, 2016 10:45 pm

February 22nd, 2016: Support for Basketball Games, Then & Now

When you’ve been playing video games for a long time, you can’t help but marvel when you look back at the games you used to play, and realise just how far gaming has come since then. This is particularly noticeable when it comes to genres that tend to see annual releases, as is the case with basketball games and other spots titles. Sometimes, it’s difficult to notice the changes and truly appreciate the improvements that basketball games make, until you go back and play an old release, or make side by side comparisons. While there’s still room for improvement and innovation, basketball games have undoubtedly come a long way.

Most of the improvements are obvious once you make a comparison, and they have been frequently spotlighted and discussed over the years. However, one improvement that arguably remains a little underappreciated is post-release support, specifically bug fix updates and new content. That’s not to say that there aren’t still problems and controversial practices, and I will touch on them as well. But looking back, you can see a steady improvement in this aspect of basketball games, which is encouraging as we look ahead to future releases.

So, what has the support for basketball video games been like, then and now?
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: NBA Live 15 Ultimate Team Reel

Postby Andrew on Mon Feb 29, 2016 10:17 pm

February 29th, 2016: NBA Live 15 Ultimate Team Reel

As you may have seen, in the past few months I’ve been making some videos for Wayback Wednesday. I’ve really enjoyed creating some video content for the NLSC, and I’ve been working on sharpening my video editing skills as I’d like to keep making them. To that end, I’ve made use of some NBA Live 15 clips that I’ve had saved, and put together a highlight reel of my exploits in Ultimate Team.

Since my NBA Live 15 Ultimate Team – the Breeze, named after Chicago’s team in World League Basketball – featured a healthy amount of NBA Legends from the 90s, I’ve used songs from the NBA Live 99 soundtrack as the score. Despite the fact I’m traditionally more interested in the franchise modes, I’ve become quite fond of Ultimate Team these past few years. I had a lot of fun assembling and playing with my 90s squad, but sadly, I wasn’t able to acquire Scottie Pippen. Perhaps I’ll have better luck in NBA Live 16. In any event, check out the reel below, or watch it here on YouTube if you can’t see the embedded video.


phpBB [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po6wf0-5HFw
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: Modding Old Basketball Video Games

Postby Andrew on Mon Mar 07, 2016 10:27 pm

March 7th, 2016: Modding Old Basketball Video Games

A couple of months ago, I talked about why we enjoy going back and playing old basketball video games. Dusting off an old favourite is almost always an enjoyably nostalgic experience; however, the further back you go, the more aware you’ll be of how much basketball games have improved over the years. Some games are fun to revisit, but you can’t always spend too much time with them as they’re just too outdated, too primitive compared to what we’re used to now. While that may mean a simpler experience with an appealing “pick up and play” factor, it can also feel a bit shallow after a while.

Of course, there are some gamers who still prefer playing older titles to newer ones, for various reasons. Whether you’re still actively playing an older basketball game, or you’re going back and playing an old favourite for a change of pace, the experience can be greatly enhanced by mods and patches. We still have quite a few people making updates for older titles, as we even had some uploads for NBA Live 2000 as recently as August last year. In terms of newer games, there’s still a thriving modding community for NBA 2K14 PC, even though a lot of gamers moved on to NBA 2K15, and subsequently NBA 2K16.

So, why do we still enjoy modding older basketball games, long after their popularity has started to fade?
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: What Is Constructive Feedback?

Postby Andrew on Tue Mar 15, 2016 12:06 am

March 14th, 2016: What Is Constructive Feedback?

In case you’re unaware, we’re currently in the midst of compiling our Wishlists for NBA Live 17 and NBA 2K17. As always, our goal is to put together comprehensive lists of constructive feedback for the development teams at EA Tiburon and Visual Concepts, spotlighting the additions we want to see, issues that need to be addressed, and improvements that would make the things we like even better. If you take a look at the two threads, you’ll see that some great suggestions and feedback have already been posted.

The fact that we’re aiming to be constructive in our feedback is something that I make a point of mentioning whenever we tip-off our annual Wishlist threads. It’s also a reminder that I like to put out there for everyone involved our modding community. After all, whether you’re talking about the people developing basketball video games, or the people who are making unofficial add-ons and modifications for them, it’s important to give them the kind of feedback that they can put to good use.

So, what do we really mean when we say “constructive feedback”?
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: No Such Thing as Too Much Content

Postby Andrew on Mon Mar 21, 2016 8:56 pm

March 21st, 2016: No Such Thing as Too Much Content

Ask most basketball gamers, and they’ll likely agree that there’s no way that you can have too many options, or too much content, in the games they play. However, there is a vocal contingent of fans who seem to grumble about being presented with too much customisation, or game modes that they aren’t interested in. Words like “overkill” may be used, as well as more self-centred declarations like “I don’t care about that”, and its even more presumptuous cousin, “Nobody cares about that”.

The fact of the matter is, when it comes to basketball games like NBA Live and NBA 2K, you really can’t have too many options. There’s really no such thing as having too much content. After all, if you’re happy with the default settings, there’s no need to worry about changing them. Likewise, if you’re satisfied with one or two of the modes that a game offers, you can simply ignore the ones that you have no interest in playing.

So why do some basketball gamers get up in arms about having too many options made available to them, or content that they’re not interested in?
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: NBA 2K Locker Codes Disappoint Again

Postby Andrew on Mon Mar 28, 2016 8:48 pm

March 28th, 2016: NBA 2K Locker Codes Disappoint Again

Last week, the official NBA 2K Twitter account topped one million followers. To celebrate, a new Locker Code was redeemable for 48 hours, providing gamers with a random prize for punching it in. Judging by some of the Re-Tweets by Ronnie 2K, a decent amount of people did receive worthwhile prizes, including Diamond and Amethyst cards for MyTEAM. As is the case with anything that’s luck of the draw, some people do appear to have been very lucky.

At the same time, it seems that a lot of people were not. Upon entering the code in both the PC and PlayStation 4 versions of NBA 2K16, I received 500 VC in each. Of course, I’m not really in a position to complain, as several people (including Arcane, as he mentioned on last week’s Podcast) received as little as 200 VC. This led to several NBA 2K gamers voicing their displeasure, and the official Twitter account even dipped back below one million followers after a short-lived hashtag campaign, though it did recover and its follower count is now at 1.01 million.

Simply put, there is an issue with Locker Codes in NBA 2K, and things don’t seem to be any better than when I broached the topic in one of my first Monday Tip-Off columns last year. This isn’t the first time that the value of random Locker Code rewards has been criticised, so what needs to change?
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: Should Basketball Video Games Have DLC?

Postby Andrew on Mon Apr 04, 2016 11:25 pm

April 4th, 2016: Should Basketball Video Games Have DLC?

We're at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up...it's Monday Tip-Off! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that's dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games.

Let's broach a controversial topic today: downloadable content. Downloadable content is a polarising aspect of modern gaming to say the least, as many gamers despise it, and believe that it's ruining the hobby. At the same time, there are plenty of gamers who will enthusiastically tell developers to shut up and take their money when appealing DLC is announced. In my view, there are valid arguments on both sides.

DLC isn't something we've had to deal with much when it comes to basketball video games. These days, sports games are expected to receive updates throughout the season, and those updates are included in the price of the game. While they do have bonus content that could feasibly be expanded with DLC, sports games generally don't lend themselves to the concept as much as games that can receive new maps, weapons, missions, characters, and so on.

It would be feasible for EA Sports and 2K Sports to offer that kind of content for NBA Live and NBA 2K though, so I ask the question: should basketball video games have DLC?
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: No Conspiracy with NBA 2K Modding

Postby Andrew on Mon Apr 11, 2016 10:01 pm

April 11th, 2016: No Conspiracy with NBA 2K Modding

In many respects, our modding community for NBA 2K is still going strong. We have modders developing updates for NBA 2K16 PC, as well as some of the other recent releases, chiefly NBA 2K14. Thanks to the talents, intuition, and perseverance of some of our most dedicated members, we've been able to make some in-roads into modding NBA 2K16, despite the challenges posed by the new file containers that were introduced in NBA 2K15, the first time the PC version was ported from the PlayStation 4/Xbox One release.

Of course, the last two PC releases aren't as moddable as their predecessors, which has understandably led to some grumbling. However, it's also given rise to conspiracy theories that 2K Sports are trying to shut down the modding community, especially in light of a couple of former NLSC team members being hired by Visual Concepts. It's a frustrated declaration that I often see whenever the difficulty in modding the latest NBA 2K releases is discussed, and I can appreciate the sentiment. We've been able to do some great things through modding, and it's a shame that the hobby has suffered a few setbacks due to technical limitations these past couple of years.

However, it's a misguided suggestion, and also a little insulting to a couple of people who have done some outstanding work for us. To that end, I feel it's an issue I should discuss in more detail.
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: Tracking Down Old Patches

Postby Andrew on Mon Apr 18, 2016 11:44 pm

April 18th, 2016: Tracking Down Old Patches

You may not have noticed it, seeing as how we're talking about content that appears at bottom of our Forum and Downloads section, but I recently tracked down my old pack of roster patches for NBA Live 96, which contains some of the earliest work that I released. It took a bit of detective work, including hitting up archive.org to find out the filename, and then finally locating it in my backups. While I have unfortunately lost some of my early work forever - or so it would seem, anyway - I was quite happy to discover that I still had those particular releases.

Originally, I was just trying to track down my 1997/1998 roster patch for NBA Live 96, to grab a screenshot for my Friday Five article on lost NBA Live saves. That's when I discovered I couldn't find any of my old roster patches. Originally, I used another screenshot in its place, published the article, and then spent the rest of the evening trying to find those old rosters. I was reluctant to accept that they were gone forever, and as it happens, my persistence paid off. As I said, I found an old link that revealed the filename, and from there, a search of my backups yielded the file.

Needless to say, while I was in that folder, I continued to have a look around...
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: An Ode to Disappointing Screenshots

Postby Andrew on Tue Apr 26, 2016 12:27 am

April 25th, 2016: An Ode to Disappointing Screenshots

Today's column has nothing to do with being disappointed in the screenshots that we see during the preview season. That does happen, of course, but it's an entirely different issue. No, I'm talking about the times when we're playing NBA Live or NBA 2K, something really exciting happens, and we immediately have to fire up Instant Replay to enjoy it again. Unfortunately, when we do, we discover that certain aspects of the play don't look quite as good as they did the first time around. That's when we end up with screenshots that can be pretty funny, but also disappointing when we're after a cool shot.

The technology that's used in basketball video games specifically (and gaming in general) has come a long way, and you can easily spotlight the improvements with side-by-side comparisons of screenshots and videos. There are still limitations of course, and while they aren't always noticeable during gameplay, they can be painfully obvious when we watch the action again from a closer angle, and in slow motion. Today's games look much more realistic than their predecessors, but you can still expect a few glitches to jump out and spoil your screenshots and videos now and again.

This week's Monday Tip-Off is all about memorable basketball gaming moments that don't end up looking so good. This is an ode to disappointing screenshots.
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: Why Basketball Games Need Robust Modes

Postby Andrew on Mon May 02, 2016 11:56 pm

May 2nd, 2016: Why Basketball Games Need Robust Modes

I'd like to talk a little more about something that I touched upon in last week's Friday Five. From time to time, I'll see one of my fellow basketball gamers opine that game modes don't really matter. While everyone is entitled to their own opinions and preferences, and I'll always advocate that everyone should play basketball games in a way that they enjoy rather than how someone else insists they "should", I have to be honest here: I'm definitely puzzled by that point of view.

When it comes down to it, basketball video games absolutely need to have robust depth modes. These days, that means a franchise mode, a single player career mode, a card collecting mode, and a mode that offers some sort of online league or squad play. I'm confident that a lot of people will agree with me here, but for those who don't feel that modes are all that important, please allow me to explain why many of us believe that they're vital to basketball games.
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: Why Basketball Games Need Custom Rosters

Postby Andrew on Mon May 09, 2016 11:46 pm

May 9th, 2016: Why Basketball Games Need Custom Rosters

In last week's Monday Tip-Off, I talked about why basketball video games need to have robust game modes. As I explained in the article, having a variety of deep, engaging modes goes a long way in making a basketball video game feel complete, and fully featured. Combined with satisfying gameplay, appealing bonus content, and a bevy of customisation options, the end result is a well-rounded, quality release. In other words, the kind of basketball video game that we all want to see and play.

One of the customisation options that every basketball game absolutely must have is roster editing. When NBA Live and NBA 2K launched on the current generation of consoles, both games were missing the comprehensive roster editing tools that were available in previous releases. NBA 2K14 had some basic roster editing functionality, while the ability to customise rosters was completely absent in NBA Live 14. NBA 2K has since brought back roster editing, but unfortunately, it's yet to return in NBA Live.

Moving forward, it's absolutely essential that both games offer roster editing and that the functionality continues to expand and improve. Let's take a look at why this is such a vital feature in basketball video games.
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: When Awesome Presentation Isn’t So Great

Postby Andrew on Mon May 16, 2016 10:06 pm

May 16th, 2016: When Awesome Presentation Isn’t So Great

There are a lot of ways that you can see just how much basketball video games have improved over the years. You can compare screenshots, and gameplay footage. You can read retrospectives and reviews, comparing and contrasting their critique. Best of all, you can get some firsthand impressions by playing an old favourite from many years ago; it won’t be long before you notice some outdated tech that’s come a long way since then. Not every basketball video game is better in every single way than all of the titles that came before it, but the further back you look, the more progress you will see.

Another method of seeing just how far basketball video games have come is to glance back at our old Wishlists. We have Wishlists dating back to 1997, when the community was awaiting the release of NBA Live 98. Take a look back at those articles in our content portals, and you’ll see that a lot of the things that we were asking for have since become a reality. Multi-season franchise modes, online leagues, historical teams, single player career modes, full TV-style presentation…a lot of our wishes have made their way into NBA Live and NBA 2K over the years.

When it comes to in-depth broadcast presentation, however, you may have to be careful what you wish for. Sometimes, awesome presentation isn’t so great.
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: The New Game Blues of MyCAREER

Postby Andrew on Mon May 23, 2016 10:18 pm

May 23rd, 2016: The New Game Blues of MyCAREER

In the best case scenario, the release of a new NBA Live or NBA 2K title will tip off several months of enjoyable basketball gaming. Ideally, we’ll see enhancements to the gameplay and game modes, with troublesome issues being resolved and much-desired features being added. In short order, we’ll start building our Ultimate Team or MyTEAM, meet up with friends for some Pro-Am games, choose a team for Dynasty, MyLEAGUE, or MyGM, or step into the shoes of an NBA player with a new Rising Star or MyCAREER game.

Of course, even if we’re enjoying a new basketball video game as much as its predecessor – or enjoying it more, as the case may be – it’s possible to feel at least a little bit of regret about what we’ve left behind. If we spend a lot of time with a game, sinking hours upon hours into a mode that has us hooked, it can be hard to move on. The bar will be set very high for the next game, and recapturing the magic that enchanted us for close to a year is easier said than done.

That’s how I felt when I made the jump from NBA 2K13 to NBA 2K14, and tried to follow up on a memorable MyCAREER experience.
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: Why Do We Care About Cover Players?

Postby Andrew on Mon May 30, 2016 11:43 pm

May 30th, 2016: Why Do We Care About Cover Players?

The reveal of the cover player for NBA 2K17 is just a couple of days away, set to coincide with the grand final of the Road To The Finals Pro-Am tournament in NBA 2K16. Stephen Curry seems like a good bet to appear on the cover for the second year in a row, perhaps joined by Klay Thompson, or maybe even the Golden State Warriors’ entire starting five. Paul George also seems like a distinct possibility, seeing as how he was the cover player of the MyNBA2K16 app, and appeared in the trailer announcing the Legend Edition of NBA 2K17 featuring Kobe Bryant on the cover.

Admittedly, for a lot of gamers, the player that appears on the cover of NBA Live and NBA 2K is largely unimportant. In the grand scheme of things, it has no bearing on the quality of the game, and is mostly only significant in terms of marketing. I imagine that under normal circumstances, very few people would flat out refuse to buy a game if a certain player was on the cover, and anyone who does was probably looking for an excuse not to buy it anyway. Yet, as often as it’s dismissed as an irrelevant topic of discussion, it’s something that we inevitably end up talking about every year.

So, why do basketball gamers care about who’s on the cover of NBA Live and NBA 2K?
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: Are You Modding For The Right Reasons?

Postby Andrew on Mon Jun 06, 2016 9:55 pm

June 6th, 2016: Are You Modding For The Right Reasons?

In previous Monday Tip-Off columns, I've discussed a few issues related to our modding community: problems with ego, why modders stop modding, and why people make mods for older basketball video games. In a couple of those features, I've touched upon the right reasons and the wrong reasons to get involved in the modding scene for basketball video games. While I don't want to harp on the same topics over and over again, sometimes they do bear repeating, especially when certain issues arise time and time again.

We recently had another incident in the Forum which reminded me that although we are a talented modding community, unfortunately there are some individuals who do have a bad attitude. I suppose it's inevitable and it's always disappointing, but it's perhaps even more disappointing when I see other people defend and enable that behaviour. While everyone is entitled to their own point of view, I'd suggest that you're betting on the wrong horse if you're on the side of the person who's throwing a tantrum like a toddler.

I feel like we need a refresher here, so having said that, what are the right and wrong reasons to mod, the good and the bad attitudes to have towards the hobby?
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Re: Monday Tip-Off: Are You Modding For The Right Reasons?

Postby [Q] on Tue Jun 07, 2016 2:40 pm

well, modding used to be a necessity back when all players/faces/courts/etc weren't in the game and needed to be put in. now that 2k's done that an then some with some gnarly bells and whistles, what is left to mod? <-Serious question
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