Fri Nov 12, 2021 3:29 pm
Contrary to what you may believe given how often I've talked about going back and playing old titles, I'm not just about retro basketball gaming. I spend plenty of time with the latest release as well, and have the MyCAREER and MyTEAM progress in recent years to show for it. However, I'll always advocate for retro basketball gaming, especially as it receives odd pushback from some gamers. I've seen more than a few people ask about getting older games to run over on the official NBA 2K subreddit, only for them to be mocked and told to just play the newest game.
Putting aside the rudeness of being so dismissive as to answer a question with an unwanted and irrelevant suggestion, there are reasons why people want to play older games, if only from time to time. It doesn't necessarily mean that they have no interest in the latest release, or are unaware of its benefits. Of course, they may be well aware of its drawbacks as well, and seek a more enjoyable experience from an old favourite. There are pros and cons to retro basketball gaming, just as there are pros and cons to playing the newest release. I'm focusing on the pros today, because there is value in going wayback on the virtual hardwood, or sticking with a game you most enjoy.
Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:51 pm
Since I took a look at the best parts of retro basketball gaming last week, it's only fair that I follow up with the downsides. Look, I stand by what I previously said. I'm all for normalising retro basketball gaming in addition to enjoying new releases. There should be no stigma about going back to an old favourite. We also need to can the misguided notion that they can't be any good because new is always better. If you're not enjoying the latest NBA 2K and you're not beholden to online play and live service content, by all means revisit an older game and see if you still enjoy it!
To that point though, you may not. Retro gaming isn't for everyone, and basketball titles are no different. Indeed, because they're aiming to replicate reality, sim games in particular can age very poorly. Even if the core experience does hold up, there are other drawbacks that arise from servers being shutdown, leading to functionality and content being lost. As much as I love retro basketball gaming, I'd be lying if I said that I'm always pleasantly surprised when I fire up a game I greatly enjoyed when it was first released, or that absolutely any old title can re-enter my rotation. With that being said, these are the five biggest downsides of retro basketball gaming, in my view.
Fri Nov 26, 2021 6:11 pm
Since I've taken a look at the best and worst parts of retro basketball gaming, it's only fair that I reflect on the pros and cons of their modern equivalents. As I've said, while I do have a passion for retro basketball gaming and will always advocate for it, I'm also a fan of the modern games and spend a lot of time with them. New isn't always better, but by the same token, old isn't unsurpassable. Not everything holds up well, and basketball video games have come a long way in the decades that I've been playing them. And yes, saying that does make me feel very old.
Not so old that I can't enjoy modern basketball gaming, however! Indeed, even if certain aspects aren't completely to my taste, I can still appreciate them and see their appeal to other gamers; particularly gamers younger than me. It's very easy to get caught up in what we don't like about modern basketball gaming, and to that point, there are many valid criticisms that we can make. I will be getting to them in next week's article, but for now, let's focus on the best parts of modern basketball gaming. These are the five that spring to mind for me, and I'm sure you'll agree that they represent evolution in the genre, and incentive to check out the new game each year.
Fri Dec 03, 2021 3:36 pm
Over the past few weeks in The Friday Five, I've covered the best and worst parts of retro basketball gaming, as well as the pros of playing modern games. This week, it's all about the cons of the latter. Once again, I must stress that despite my advocacy and enthusiasm for retro basketball gaming, I do spend a lot of time with recent games as well, including the latest release every year (albeit with some exceptions). There are many great reasons to play the newest NBA 2K, just as there were for NBA Live back in its heyday. I covered those reasons last week, and I stand by them.
However, it's not all fun and games with modern basketball gaming, and the worst parts can leave you yearning to return to an old favourite. That's certainly something you can do, and again, I'm all for that. However, it's important that we speak out with fair criticism, and it benefits us to make constructive suggestions as to how the next game can improve. To do that though, we must acknowledge that there are issues with modern basketball gaming, and that new isn't always better in every way imaginable. Obviously basketball games have come a long way, drastically improving upon their predecessors in many respects, but they've also fallen short in other areas of concern.
Fri Dec 10, 2021 4:28 pm
In real basketball, there's a phenomenon of knowing a shot is going in as soon as it leaves your hands. It just feels right, the arc looks perfect, and it's almost like there's a sixth sense about it. Of course, that confidence isn't always well-founded, in which case you may end up looking like Nick Young! We can get a similar feeling when we see someone else shoot the basketball, either on TV or when we're on the court. It's why we're so surprised to see the great shooters and clutch performers miss attempts that we were absolutely sure would splash through the net.
As an artificial representation of the sport, basketball video games naturally contain some telltale signs that make them far more predictable than real life. Predictability isn't always a bad thing of course, particularly when it's a favourable outcome. Even when it isn't, you're at least able to brace yourself for the outcome, perhaps avoiding getting your hopes up. However, like a spoiler for a film, TV show, or indeed a video game with an in-depth narrative, it can detract from the experience by removing a sense of anticipation, with certain actions feeling inconsequential. For better or worse, here are five of the most predictable moments found in basketball video games.
Fri Dec 17, 2021 3:14 pm
When it comes to the quality of basketball video games, gameplay is paramount, but modes are still crucial. Deep modes can't be enjoyed without great gameplay, but the gameplay won't be nearly as interesting and engaging long-term without modes that keep us hooked. Fortunately, the modes in basketball games have come a long way. They've gone from a basic single NBA season - or just three rounds of the Playoffs - to comprehensive multi-season franchise modes, career modes with connected online team play, and card-based team building modes.
Of course, whether you're talking about gameplay or game modes, perfection is an impossible goal. As is the case with the experience on the sticks, ideally the franchise, career, card collecting, and other modes will be relatively bug-free and enjoyable, but for a few quirky issues or missing features here and there. Although I was a long-time franchise gamer after the concept was introduced, over the past decade I've branched out into other ways to play basketball video games. I've had literally thousands of hours of fun with my favourite NBA Live and NBA 2K titles, but reflecting on those fantastic experiences, these are some of the worst aspects of my modes of choice.
Fri Dec 24, 2021 3:22 pm
As is the case with other genres, some glitches in basketball video games are well-known. In fact, some of them achieve infamy, such as the "Jesus Bynum" glitch in the NBA Elite 11 demo. Some glitches are helpful, and so we seek them out to gain additional XP or in-game currency. Other glitches are game-breaking; we hope we'll never encounter those and are furious when we do, especially if we end up losing our save files with hours of progress (paid and No Money Spent). And of course, there are the harmless and amusing glitches that are just entertaining when they happen.
Not every glitch becomes common knowledge, of course. If you never experience something for yourself and you're not particularly involved in online discourse, you may not know about a prominent bug in a popular title. Even when it comes to the most infamous glitches such as the aforementioned Bynum bug, not everyone who has seen them in action has experienced them in their own game. Sometimes it's a rare and specific set of circumstances that causes the issue, which is why it's so difficult for developers to fix them in patches. To that end, here are five strange glitches that I've encountered that might've flown under your radar, or you may have forgotten.
Fri Dec 31, 2021 3:14 pm
And so, we've come to the end of 2021! It's been a challenging couple of years with a global pandemic and whatnot, so hopefully better times await us all in 2022. Around these parts, we've obviously had basketball video games to keep us occupied. We get a lot of joy out of our hobby, but there are obviously moments of frustration as well. As I've said before, it's necessary to cover all aspects of basketball gaming. We should celebrate and enjoy our passion for the virtual hardwood, and at the same time, voice our criticisms and concerns. Positive or negative, it's vital that we have our say.
However, there are some things that we should stop saying, and with 2022 upon us, it's a prime opportunity to cut them from the discourse. I don't say this as a way of impeding freedom of speech, and it certainly won't be a rule enacted in our Forum. I just believe it's in our best interests, because thought-terminating cliches ultimately pollute the conversation. They stifle discussion of important issues, and are needlessly divisive. As always, I'm under no delusion that one article will eradicate these tired and trite phrases from the basketball gaming community. Nevertheless, if we see less of them in 2022, the quality of conversations about virtual hoops should improve.
Fri Jan 07, 2022 8:12 pm
This will be difficult to appreciate if you were born in the late 90s or early 2000s, but there was a time that the Year 2000 screamed "futuristic". It felt that way for me as a kid and later a teenager in the 90s, and I'm sure it really felt that way for my parents who were born in the 40s. The Year 2022 truly seemed like the stuff of science-fiction all those years ago, yet here we are. Granted, we're somewhat behind schedule as far as flying cars, living on the moon, and everyone wearing shiny jumpsuits. Still, when it comes to certain technology, we have many things that were once the stuff of sci-fi.
They're now just normal, everyday conveniences, but that's how it goes as technology marches on. All the same, there's something mind-blowing about it being the Year 2022, especially for those of us who remember the Year 2000 like it was only five, ten, or at most fifteen years ago. Once the years start flying by, the rising stars of the NBA are suddenly the veterans with a decade under their belts. The basketball video games you're nostalgic for suddenly feel very retro. Even the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are beginning to seem old! In the spirit of acknowledging the passage of time, here are five basketball gaming facts that are - all clickbait aside - mind-blowing.
Fri Jan 14, 2022 8:31 pm
Putting aside MyCAREER in favour of MyNBA, fun match-ups in Play Now, and a little bit of MyTEAM, has been a breath of fresh air. As always, I must emphasise that I've had thousands of hours of fun with MyCAREER and its connected modes. I mean that literally, as I've checked the Hours Played count on PC and PlayStation alike! It was a mode that I was playing out of habit though, and when I finally broke that habit, I found that I was enjoying basketball gaming in a way that I hadn't been for quite a while. In short, it was time to move on, and I finally did.
Not only was it refreshing, it was also eye-opening. I was aware of how playing MyCAREER had become a habit, to the point where I could say that grinding had become oddly addictive. However, as I've shifted away from MyCAREER and its connected modes, I've been caught off guard by how my style of play, as well as my expectations of gameplay, had been affected by playing the mode for so many years. It's something I noticed when I first started playing head-to-head games on Parsec, as well as diving into MyTEAM and MyNBA. Simply put, as fun as it can be, playing MyCAREER messes with your virtual game. Here are five examples of how it does.
Sun Jan 16, 2022 4:20 pm
Mon Jan 17, 2022 12:10 am
Fri Jan 21, 2022 9:33 pm
Saving our progress in basketball video games is something that we take for granted. Even going back to some of the oldest titles, the ability to save games and rosters was a common feature. After all, it's impossible to finish a lengthy season in one session. Editing the rosters each and every time you boot up the game is a chore, though there are a couple of old games that required you to do just that. As technology improved and storage space increased, basketball games evolved beyond having just a couple of save slots, and a lone custom roster file.
As such, for several years and console generations now, we've had file management functionality that is pleasingly accommodating. There will be times when certain needs aren't met, but generally speaking, it's easy to preserve saved games and custom rosters, and manage them accordingly. Of course, technological improvements mean little in the face of poor design choices or subpar coding. Some games do err when it comes to their file management functionality, or are simply undesirably limited. From inefficient utilisation of storage space to technical issues, these are some of the more annoying problems that we encounter in basketball game file management systems.
Fri Jan 28, 2022 7:16 pm
I'm no psychologist, but I'd hazard a guess and say that most of us have experienced an aversion to change at some point in our lives. Whether it's apprehension of new surroundings, nostalgia goggles, or just plain comfort with the current arrangements, we'd prefer things not to change. Not to get too deep here - again, I'm no psychologist - but it's important to accept change as part of life, and be able to adjust and grow. Of course, not all change is desirable, and change for change's sake can prove to be a bad idea. Given the choice, it would've been preferable to leave things as they were.
We've seen a lot of these changes in basketball video games over the years. Many have been for the best, representing revolution and evolution within the genre. Others haven't panned out so well. In the case of the latter, some of those concepts have only lasted a game or two before the developers scrapped them in favour of a new and better solution; or perhaps, returned to an old approach that still works best. Other concepts unfortunately stick around despite their negative impact, or at the very least, mixed results. For better or worse, these concepts have forever changed the NBA 2K series as we know it, either from a mechanical or philosophical standpoint.
Fri Feb 04, 2022 5:55 pm
There isn't a year that goes by where NBA 2K is missing some noteworthy retro players. Contrary to what some people believe, this isn't due to laziness or ignorance of NBA history. It's all down to licensing issues, as NBA 2K - and any NBA video game, for that matter - cannot include any retro players that haven't agreed for their likenesses to be used. While we have seen some players added (or in certain cases, return) to the roster of retro content, there are some names that just seem unlikely to ever be officially included in NBA 2K moving forward.
Please note that I'm making an educated guess here based on previous remarks and other factors regarding these retro players, at the time of writing. If by some chance they're included in future games, then this is my disclaimer against a "gotcha". I've been wrong before, and situations can certainly change. However, considering the circumstances for these five retro players, I would be very surprised if we see any of them appear in forthcoming releases. It's unfortunate as placeholders stick out like a sore thumb, the absence of big names is strongly felt, and it does make certain classic squads highly unlikely. It is what it is however, and in some cases, it's understandable.
Fri Feb 11, 2022 3:47 pm
Disclaimer: just because basketball video games have come a long way, it doesn't mean that we can't criticise modern releases. It's fair to respectfully point out issues and ways that they could improve, and to expect value for money as a consumer. With that being said, if it's been a while since you dusted off a really old game, it's easy to overlook just how far they've come. Broadly speaking, one of the most significant improvements to the genre has been establishing a standard approach to core modes such as Season, Franchise, Career, Card Collecting, and so on.
I know phrases such as "in their infancy" and "it was the Wild West!" are somewhat cliché, but frankly, when basketball games were in their infancy, it was the Wild West when it came to how they designed certain features! EA Sports and Tecmo pioneered many of the design principles for modes based on the NBA season that have since become the standard approach. As such, if you revisit an old NBA Live or one of the NBA Playoffs games, or Tecmo Super NBA Basketball, you'll find Season modes that clearly laid the foundation for modern titles. They had some drawbacks of course, and other games were also employing some rather unusual ideas in their Season modes.
Fri Feb 18, 2022 10:55 pm
We've seen some noteworthy comebacks take place in the NBA over the years. Two of the most famous NBA comebacks are Michael Jordan - twice, in fact - and Magic Johnson. A number of other players have likewise returned to action after years away from the NBA, though not all of them were retired for that duration. Nevertheless, whenever there are rumours that a former star is contemplating a return, it grabs our attention. Will it happen? Where will they sign? How much do they have left in the tank? And yes, how will it impact their team in video games?
Even before these comebacks are official, we can speculate and play out scenarios on the virtual hardwood. We can also create our own fictional "What Ifs". My cousin and I had Larry Bird make a brief but shocking return to the Houston Rockets in our NBA Live 95 PC Season. Bringing Shawn Kemp out of retirement for one last run in my NBA Live 06 PC Dynasty really made the experience. However, there are some real almost-comebacks that likewise present us with some intriguing "What If" scenarios to dabble with in video games. Some of them would've required a bit of prep work in the form of modding, while others were quite easy to set up using the default assets.
Fri Feb 25, 2022 10:12 pm
When it comes to my basketball video game gripes, issues with the menu or the presentation usually aren't at the top of the list, unless something is particularly bad or frustrating. It's not that I don't appreciate the visual elements of basketball games, but if the gameplay experience is enjoyable, I can usually make allowances for graphical quibbles. Of course, the bothersome nature of gripes and pet peeves isn't necessarily proportionate to their overall importance. Even if you're well aware that something isn't a big deal, it can still bug you all the same.
To that end, over the years I have had some gripes with aspects of the menu design and presentation in various games. I do still stand by some of them as they reflect personal preference and taste (or maybe lack thereof, as the case might be), but others simply reflect stubbornness. In some cases, they're the final straw for a game that I just didn't like the vibe of. And yes, at least one that springs to mind had an effect on functionality in addition to spoiling the presentation. Mind you, sometimes it's the little things that really make a game, or conversely detract from it. As such, here are five menu and presentation gripes I've had. I'm sure I'm not alone with some of them.
Sat Mar 05, 2022 12:17 am
Over the years, certain features and design choices have become standard in NBA-licensed video games. While that may seem counterproductive to creativity, it does establish some norms, and in turn, quality control. As much as it was fantastic to have so many different basketball games on the market several years ago, there were some titles that fumbled the basics due to trying their own approach when an optimal design had been devised. On the plus side, when it did work out, games included some nifty features when their developers thought outside the box.
Sadly, many of these creative basketball game features were short-lived, making them unusually rare in the genre. The two biggest brands in the basketball gaming space, namely EA Sports and Visual Concepts, have also dabbled with creative ideas that have only made it into a few titles. In many cases, it's one-and-done for these features, making a game noteworthy for being the only appearance of an unusually rare mode or function that seemingly should've become commonplace. They're the features that we find when we revisit old titles, leaving us to wonder why they didn't last. It may be that they weren't that popular, but it also feels as though some weren't given a chance.
Sat Mar 12, 2022 6:24 pm
Yes, it's time to take a look at another five players who only made appearances for certain teams on the virtual hardwood! As much as old basketball games can serve as interactive almanacs, they do lack context that tells the whole story. The snapshot of the NBA that they preserve may just be a fleeting moment, which doesn't always make them a reliable reference. Of course, if you're working on a retro roster project, you'll probably be using a resource such as Basketball Reference instead. Then again, it's not infallible, either.
Indeed, one of the players that I'm discussing today had a "phantom stint" that isn't adequately explained over on Basketball Reference. On top of its inclusion in a video game serving as a reminder, this article will probably end up being one of the few places online that mentions it; hooray for search engine visibility! It's not the only interesting story though, and the five players that I'm covering here in Part 3 are not the final examples of players who are members of the Phantom Stint Club. That means more instalments of this series in the future, but for now, here are five more stints seen only in games. A couple of the names will probably be a surprise!
Fri Mar 18, 2022 3:41 pm
Due to the interactive almanac aspect of basketball video games - yes, there's that phrase again - they're a great way of remembering players long after they've retired. If you spent a lot of time poring over the rosters in old games, either while modding or perhaps playing a franchise game, you might even find that you're able to recall the names of benchwarmers from years ago, without even firing up those titles. Even if you can't recall them off the top of your head, once you dust off an old game and start browsing the rosters, even the most obscure names will likely come back to you.
Indeed, you'll probably only recall some of the most obscure names because of the time you spent on the virtual hardwood. As is evident by this being the fifth article covering this topic, there are a number of players who made their way into the official rosters of video games despite never actually playing in the NBA. If you follow the NCAA or foreign leagues, some of these players may be familiar due to their stints and accomplishments elsewhere. Most of us probably remember them as names in the Free Agents Pool, or on the deep bench in the default rosters. Those players do have some interesting stories though, especially when they end up being in multiple titles.
Sat Mar 26, 2022 2:50 am
There are a ton of creative things that our community has done with roster mods over the years. Sometimes the games have been conveniently flexible in what can be done with their roster files, while other times we've had to devise clever workarounds. For the most part, the community has been very understanding when limitations have stood in the way of 100% accuracy, especially when it comes to retro roster mods. At the same time, it usually requires some disclaimers to be posted. If you go back and look at the readme files for Lutz's rosters, you'll see FAQs addressing these concerns.
Unfortunately, there are some details that we just haven't been able to include in roster mods for NBA Live and NBA 2K. It's seldom been gamebreaking, but for those of us who strive for as much accuracy and detail as possible, it's still a bummer. Of course, that's also because they're the kind of inaccuracies that invite messages telling us that we've "forgotten" to do something, even if the release notes are clear that it can't be done due to technical limitations. Once again though, a vast majority of mod users do understand the situation after those limitations have been explained. I can think of five specific details that can't be included in roster mods for one reason or another.
Sun Mar 27, 2022 12:14 pm
Mon Mar 28, 2022 1:09 am
Mon Mar 28, 2022 4:59 am