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If you've caught some of the recent episodes of the NLSC Podcast hosted by Arcane, Kenny, and myself, you'll have heard us talking about our recent games of 2K Pro-Am in NBA 2K16. I realise that audio content isn't for everyone, and a written article can sometimes be better at starting discussion, since it's easier to directly quote and respond to each other's points. To that end, I thought I'd follow on from Kenny's first official edition of The Sunday Substitute with some of my own thoughts on 2K Pro-Am.
As I've said many times before, I'm not a big online gamer. I prefer the franchise mode experience, and I've come to quite enjoy the card collecting, team building modes as well. However, playing basketball video games online is significantly more fun when it's done with friends, so I've really enjoyed getting together with Kenny, Arcane, and some other members of our community for a few games each week. As Kenny noted in the Forum, our record isn't stellar, but we have a good time…for the most part.
So, what are my overall impressions of 2K Pro-Am to date, and what would I like to see done moving forward?
The 2016 NBA season is in the books, as the Cleveland Cavaliers made history by coming back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Golden State Warriors, putting a damper on the Warriors' own historical campaign. For basketball fans - or at least, those of us who are mostly interested in the NBA - so begins the wait until next season, with the Draft, Summer League, and potential offseason movement breaking up the monotony along the way. With the Olympic Games being held this year, we'll also get to watch another international basketball tournament.
For those of us who are also basketball gamers, we have a few things to look forward to as well. It will be some time before we hear anything about NBA Live 17, and we likely won't hear much about NBA 2K17 for at least a couple of months yet, but nevertheless, we have a new game coming out in September. Until then, we obviously have several years' worth of games at our disposal, which can help us get our basketball fix while we wait for the new releases, and the 2017 NBA season.
So, what does the offseason look like when it comes to basketball gaming, and what are some of my own plans?
As I write this week's Monday Tip-Off, we're still preparing to move to our new server. We've encountered a couple of snags, but if all goes well, we'll be at our new home within the next couple of days, hopefully with as few interruptions as possible. My apologies for the downtime in the Forum and Downloads section in the past twenty-four hours; I had anticipated a quicker move, and did not want to jeopardise the proceedings that were already underway. There will be some further interruptions and downtime as we complete the move, but if you're reading this, we're either back up and running temporarily, or the move is complete.
In trying to sort out the server move over the weekend, as well as taking care of a couple of other matters, I haven't had an opportunity to prepare a column or video feature for today. With Monday rapidly drawing to a close here in Australia, I've found myself scrambling to find something to write about, while I continue to take care of matters behind the scenes to get the NLSC onto its new hosting. After tossing around a few ideas, one topic came to mind that was quite obvious, given the circumstances.
What does the NLSC mean to me?
Our server move is now complete! While we're still ironing out a few issues and making sure that everything is working as intended, most of the basics seem to be in order. That means I can get back to spending some more time creating content, and actually talking about basketball video games. I've been compiling some ideas for future columns, as well as some videos that I'd like to try to make in the coming weeks. This week, however, a fun idea for a topic came to mind: superstition and basketball gaming.
I don't think of myself as a very superstitious person in general - my uncanny ability to jinx NBA teams aside - but over the years, I've developed a few habits when it comes to basketball video games. It may not be entirely accurate to call all of them superstitions, but it does make for a catchy title, so I'm going to run with it anyway. Basically, they're the little things that I do in the hopes that they'll improve my chances for success on the virtual hardwood.
With message boards and social media providing us with a plethora of platforms to speak out on, we gamers are not shy about expressing our opinions on the games we play. It's a key part of being a gaming community, and it serves an important purpose, given how much contact we now have with video game developers. It's usually a bit easier to talk at length about the things that we don't like rather than the things that we do, but in doing so, we are able to provide constructive feedback. While we may be a niche demographic compared to other genres, the basketball gaming community is no different in that regard.
The basketball games that we play have come a long way over the past couple of decades, and generally speaking, most of us have at least one release that we enjoy. We do have high expectations however, and when a particular title doesn't measure up, we'll certainly express our disappointment. The interesting thing is, although some basketball gamers will indeed put aside a game that they find disappointing, many others do continue to play games despite their frustration with glaring flaws. In short, even when a title is problematic, we often find a way to have fun with it.
So, how do we find ways to enjoy flawed basketball video games?
If you're a regular listener of the NLSC Podcast, you'll have heard me describe the current time of year as a very quiet period. After the initial flurry of deals, all of the major free agent signings are over and done with. There's been Summer League play, of course, but here in the basketball gaming community, we're anxiously awaiting the start of the preview season. With NBA Live 17 being pushed back to early 2017, we're obviously not going to hear much about it for some time. NBA 2K17 will be dropping in mid September, but details on that release are similarly scarce.
That isn't anything too out of the ordinary, though. Even when both titles have been released around the same time, Visual Concepts has often waited until almost the last minute before finally revealing the juiciest details on the next NBA 2K game. I would suggest that a lot of the time, the information has been worth waiting for, and the success of the series certainly speaks for itself. At the same time, I miss the days of getting a steady flow of information, and feeling really hyped about the upcoming releases.
As such, I find myself asking: where is the preview season?
When I logged into Facebook this morning, "On This Day" presented me with a look back at previous posts that I'd made on July 25th. As it happens, on this day last year, I made a post letting my friends and family know that I'd be heading to the United States in the near future. The trip was for an NBA Live 16 community event that was being held at EA Tiburon in Orlando, but as I didn't have clearance to talk about it openly just yet, I held back on the details and simply posted a teaser photo. I also had to be very coy on the NLSC Podcast, when discussing upcoming playtesting sessions and expressing a desire to be a part of them.
The NBA Live 16 event was one of the best that I've ever attended. While the game still had a ways to go - then and now - it was fun to get some early hands-on time with it, and experience the improvements. I also really enjoyed having the opportunity to meet with the developers and provide feedback to them directly. On top of all that, the whole event was extremely well-organised, with every detail taken care of, and maximum time allotted for gaming. Past events were fun and productive, but several years of organising them have definitely given EA Sports' community managers the opportunity to make them better and better.
Since it's been almost a year since the last one I attended, I thought that I'd reflect a little upon the NBA Live community events that I've been a part of. Hopefully, last year's won't be the last.
Although glitches are generally seen as a problem in gaming - and for good reason - they're not always a bad thing. Sure, they aren't a lot of fun when they cause games to crash and lock up, or ruin features and functionality, but when glitches are relatively harmless, they can be pretty funny. I wouldn't say that it's as common in basketball video games as it is in other genres, but there are even times when bugs and glitches can be advantageous, making certain tasks easier, or even completely bypassing difficult and tedious sections of a game. TV Tropes calls them Good Bad Bugs, and the speedrunning community obviously knows them very well.
A lot of people are probably familiar with the "Jesus Bynum" glitch that drew a lot of negative attention to the NBA Elite 11 demo. Although most people probably never experienced the glitch for themselves, it became a symbol of the game's problems. While NBA Elite 11 was shaping up to be a disappointing game for other reasons before it was ultimately cancelled, the Bynum issue is really more of an example of a glitch that is fun and amusing; something weird that obviously shouldn't be happening, but certainly funny when it does. With that in mind, I thought I'd talk a little about some amusing glitches today, and share a few of my favourites.
By now, you're probably aware that the 1992 Dream Team will be among the pre-order bonuses for NBA 2K17. While a lot of the pre-order bonuses are more or less cosmetic, adding the Dream Team for the first time since NBA 2K13 is offering users an enticing expansion to the game's historical content. For at least some basketball gamers who might have been on the fence about pre-ordering the game, it's a genuine incentive to put their money down. To that end, it's certainly a smart business decision on the part of Visual Concepts.
However, from the point of view of the consumer, it's also a disheartening practice that is all too common with video games these days. Whenever content is restricted to being a pre-order bonus – particularly content that feels like it should be included out of the box, and especially if it's been featured in a previous title – there's going to be controversy, and goodwill is going to be tested. It does lead me to ask the question: should content like the 1992 Dream Team be pre-order exclusive? For that matter, should basketball video games have pre-order exclusive content at all?
Last Friday night, the regular NLSC 2K Pro-Am crew got online to play a few games, as we usually do. As we've mentioned on the NLSC Podcast, and in the Forum, our record isn't exactly stellar across our three Pro-Am teams, but we still enjoy getting in some games each week, picking up the occasional win here and there, and joking around on the party chat. We started our most recent session in high spirits, but after only a few games, we were feeling disenchanted and ready to call it a night.
I'm sure that Arcane, Kenny, and I will discuss it in more detail on this week's Podcast, but in short, it was one of our worst sessions of 2K Pro-Am. Aside from our own mistakes - and the usual MyPARK cheese that spills over into 2K Pro-Am - we really seemed to be battling some gameplay quirks in all three contests. I can't speak for the rest of the guys, but when we decided to call it a night early, I found myself wondering if I wanted to keep playing 2K Pro-Am in NBA 2K16. Mulling that over led me to ponder another question: when is it time to shelve basketball games?
At long last, we're on the verge of getting trailers and substantial information on NBA 2K17! It's been a quiet preview season, with gamer frustration coming to a head on social media last week following some ill-advised trolling by 2K community representatives. Many of us have been frustrated at the lack of news and previews, but with less than a month until the Early Tip-Off Weekend, it would seem that the wait is finally over, as the first gameplay trailer is reportedly set to be released this week.
Without much in the way of news, all we've been able to do is wish, want, and speculate. Even in the busier preview seasons of years gone by, a significant part of covering basketball video games has been wondering what if, and talking about what we want to see. When there is news, it's going to be posted and analysed. Should anyone that's producing basketball gaming content secure some kind of an exclusive - a tidbit of information, a developer interview - they're obviously going to push and promote it, us included. All content creators want to build their audience and brand, but there's an underhanded way of doing so.
It's the bane of the Internet, and the basketball gaming community is certainly not immune from it. Today, we're talking about clickbait.
A few weeks ago, I talked about having fun with glitches in basketball video games. I posted a video of an amusing glitch that occurred while performing a mid-air adjustment with Stephen Curry's layup package, which saw the ball zoom off the screen before dropping straight back down and through the hoop for two. Since then, I've been able to trigger the glitch on more than one occasion. Quite often, the result is just an unrealistically high arcing adjusted shot, but a few times the ball has once again rocketed off the screen, presumably into the rafters.
To date, I've only encountered and tried to trigger the glitch while shooting around on Arcane's MyCOURT, but I'd love to make it happen in a game of 2K Pro-Am, just to see if it does occur elsewhere. Whenever it has happened while shooting around in MyCOURT, I've made sure to capture a clip, which has allowed me to put together a short reel that I'd like to share with you today.
By now, you've probably heard that NBA 2K17 will feature revamped shooting controls on the Pro Stick, with the angle of the stick now determining whether or not your attempt is on target. While many of the early impressions suggest that it's not as complex as it may sound, it's something that basketball gamers will ultimately decide for themselves upon getting their hands on the game. Fortunately, for gamers who prefer to use the Shoot button, Mike Wang made it clear in his developer blog that it's still going to be a viable option in NBA 2K17.
One of the things that made it difficult for me to get into the NBA 2K series all those years ago was its controls. I was accustomed to dribbling controls on the right stick, I didn't care for the original approach to Isomotion, and I felt like the Shot Stick was overkill. With the Shot Stick becoming the Pro Stick in recent editions of NBA 2K, combining dribbling and shooting controls, I've definitely warmed up to the concept. However, when it comes down to it, I still prefer using the Shoot Button. With the changes in NBA 2K17, I now find myself wondering if I'll change my approach.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. We have a good thing going here at the NLSC, especially when it comes to our modding community. Although the changes to the file formats beginning with NBA 2K15 PC have presented some challenges, our community remains dedicated to creating some outstanding mods. Fantastic work is also being done to keep old favourites up to date, and breathe new life into the retro basketball gaming experience. We can be proud of the work we do here.
Of course, every hobby or "scene" has its issues, and modding is no different. I've written about some of those issues in previous Monday Tip-Off and Friday Five articles, because I do want to see our community continue to get better and better. With the release of NBA 2K17 and a brand new season of modding looming on the horizon, I thought that I'd dive deeper into the reasons behind some of the rules and procedures in our modding community. This week, I'd like to discuss an issue that came up just the other day, which I realised we've never really explained in detail: why we don't charge for mods.
As I mentioned in last week's Friday Five, one of my goals for NBA 2K17 is to return to my roots as a franchise gamer, and spend a lot more time in MyLEAGUE. I'm still deciding which team (or teams) I'll control, what kind of moves I might make, and whether or not I'll experiment with league expansion and relocation in my primary MyLEAGUE game. As I mentioned in this thread, I generally prefer to maintain a certain level of realism when I play franchise modes, as I've discovered that making too many trades or using the fantasy draft options quickly leads to boredom, due to the more rapid departure from reality.
Of course, the very nature of franchise modes means that there will generally be some deviation from reality. Whether it's a player's stats, a team's record, or the odd trade here and there, most of our franchise games are not going to be one hundred percent realistic. For many of us, it's those small changes - or if we so choose, big changes - that make franchise modes so fun and enjoyable. At the same time, however, many of us do believe that franchise modes should be as realistic as possible, and are frustrated when our desired level of realism isn't achieved. The question is: what actually constitutes realism in a franchise mode?
When it comes to basketball video games, we have a responsibility to ourselves as consumers to be honest in our feedback. While it's important to be constructive and refrain from childish insults, we don't do ourselves any favours if we hold back on all negative criticism. Visual Concepts has a quality product in NBA 2K, but there are still areas in which the game can improve. With NBA Live, EA Sports still has a long road ahead of them. In both cases, our suggestions and criticisms can help in the development of future games.
In a previous Monday Tip-Off article, I discussed what it means to give constructive feedback. It's important to keep that in mind when we're talking about what we want out of future releases from EA Sports and Visual Concepts, and I believe that for the most part, we do a great job of compiling useful feedback for both developers. Unfortunately, when it comes to certain issues, it's hard for us to have a unified voice and reach a consensus, due to polarised opinions on certain features. When that happens, it's tough for EA Sports or Visual Concepts to win with basketball gamers.
I've been away camping over the weekend, so it's been a few days since I played NBA 2K17. However, I can guarantee that it won't be long before I'm picking up the controller once more, and returning to the virtual hardwood. So far, I've been playing a lot of MyCAREER and meeting up with the guys to play 2K Pro-Am, but I'm still very keen to return to my roots as a franchise gamer and begin a MyLEAGUE game. Of course, that's something I might still hold off on until the opening night rosters have been pushed through.
In the meantime, I'm still mulling over a few ideas for what I'd like to do with MyLEAGUE. My first choice is always the Chicago Bulls, and their offseason acquisitions have made them an interesting option. I'm intrigued by the possibility of taking control of the Philadelphia 76ers, and I also really like the Charlotte Hornets' branding. The team you choose to play a franchise game with obviously plays a huge role in how much you enjoy the experience, so I thought that for this week's Monday Tip-Off, I'd discuss the selection process and offer up a few tips.
In the twenty years that the NLSC has been around, we've developed our own sense of etiquette in our modding community. For a long time, many of these rules were unwritten, the "done thing" that everyone was expected to know about. That's not really the best approach however, so in my most recent revision to our Forum Rules, I made sure to include information about procedures and etiquette when it comes to modding. To be honest, those unwritten rules were long overdue to be written, in order to cut down on any ambiguity and ensure new modders know about them.
Two of the most important rules in our modding community are giving credit where it's due, and asking permission before using work that isn't open source. Most people seem to agree with the spirit of these rules, but others are occasionally puzzled by our adherence to them, especially if they've been a part of other modding communities that have approached the matter differently. Continuing my series of articles on our modding community here at the NLSC, I'd like to explain why we place so much emphasis on asking for permission and giving appropriate credit when using someone else's work.
Since the release of NBA 2K17, an issue that's come up a couple of times on the NLSC Podcast is the general reduction in the amount of Virtual Currency that can be earned in a single game. Having spent most of my time so far playing MyCAREER and 2K Pro-Am, this is certainly a problem that I'm very familiar with. Although the MyNBA2K17 app offers additional opportunities to earn Virtual Currency, it doesn't do much to contribute towards the cost of the various in-game items that are purchased with VC.
We're not the only ones complaining about Virtual Currency in NBA 2K17, either. A petition is currently circulating in an effort to get Visual Concepts to re-work or eliminate the VC system in NBA 2K. It's highly unlikely that we'll see the complete removal of Virtual Currency in future iterations of NBA 2K, but given the issues with VC in this year's game, I'd definitely agree that some changes need to be made. While I do have a lot of good things to say about NBA 2K17, the problems with Virtual Currency absolutely need to be highlighted.
As I discussed in a recent Friday Five column, despite my resolution to return to my roots as a franchise gamer in NBA 2K17, I've been drawn into MyCAREER once again. I'm definitely enjoying the less intrusive storyline, getting to spend more time on the virtual hardwood instead of in cutscenes, and improving my MyPLAYER for use in 2K Pro-Am. With the 2017 season looming, I am looking forward to starting a MyLEAGUE game soon, but I expect that I'll also continue to play MyCAREER over the next several months.
On top of the endorsement deals that result in billboards, advertisements, and so forth, MyCAREER includes opportunities to develop connections with NBA players and other personalities. Following the completion of your social and business obligations, photographs of magazine covers, advertisements, and certain events you've attended can be accessed through the in-game phone. Some of them are pretty funny, while others are somewhat terrifying. Just for fun, I thought I'd share some of my favourite photos so far, with a disclaimer that what is seen cannot be unseen.
I have a revelation that'll probably make a lot of music fans in our community chuckle. My favourite band is the Barenaked Ladies. What can I say? I was a teenager in the late 90s, "One Week" was a hit, and to this day, I like the stuff they're putting out. Anyway, on the same album as "One Week" was another song that charted: "It's All Been Done". The lyrics deconstruct and critique clichéd romantic gestures, framed in the context of a relationship that spans across reincarnation (or possibly immortality), literally or metaphorically depending on your interpretation. Its conclusion is right there in the title: it's all been done.
What's the point I'm ham-fistedly trying to get at here? Well, when a community or fandom has been around for a while, long-time members are bound to suffer a touch of déjà vu when certain topics arise. The current NLSC Forum has been open since November 2002, so naturally there are going to be some recurring topics. That's to be expected, and to be fair, they're often given a new spin. Unfortunately, some of us do get carried away when it comes to certain subjects, and if we've been around for a while, chances are other people have grown weary of our beating the same drum over and over again. To borrow BnL's lyrics, it's all been done - or rather, said - before.
Playing through MyCAREER in NBA 2K17, I've learned a few things. One, never underestimate the importance of Badges; they really help give your player an extra boost. Two, when you're a point guard playing for the Denver Nuggets and you're looking to rack up a lot of assists, Justice Young and Kenneth Faried will happily oblige with baskets on catch-and-shoot and pick-and-roll opportunities respectively. And three, getting on the Italian cover of NBA 2K17 has clearly gone to Danilo Gallinari's head…well, his virtual counterpart's head, at any rate.
Halfway through my rookie season, the Nuggets are clearly the Orange Juice show. Yes, that still sounds a bit silly to say, but the point is, Justice and I have clearly taken over, and the team is thriving as a result. It seems that Danilo Gallinari didn't get the memo though, because his play and attitude in practice and in games seems to suggest that he believes himself to be the star of the team. He still plays his role and he hasn't cost us any games – yet, anyway – but there are times when it feels like he's keen to impeach The President of Basketball. I have nothing against the real Gallo, but in MyCAREER, he's become my least favourite teammate.
Something that I've complained about on the Podcast, as well as in previous columns and most recently in this Forum thread, is the problematic nature of the grading logic in NBA 2K. Although there have been some subtle improvements in recent years, it's extremely rare that I play a game of MyCAREER or 2K Pro-Am where I'm not hit with a deduction that leaves me grumbling, and wondering how the grading logic figures that I should be penalised. Even in situations where my grade should take a hit, there are deductions that seem needlessly harsh.
Of course, at a certain point you need to channel those complaints into something more constructive, namely suggestions and solutions. Since we've tipped off the NBA 2K18 Wishlist, it's come time to start talking about some of the improvements and additions we want to see, and how we believe certain problems should be addressed. Since I've been playing a lot of 2K Pro-Am and MyCAREER in NBA 2K17, my issues with the grading logic sprang immediately when I was considering what I wanted to talk about this week. Without any further ado, here is an outline of how I feel the grading logic can be fixed in future NBA 2K releases.
My NBA 2K17 MyPLAYER is currently sitting at 92 Overall, which means I'm getting close to hitting all the level caps and maxing out my ratings (at least without levelling up MyPARK rep, anyway). This also means that it takes several sessions of Doin' Work to unlock the next upgrade. With only one Playmaker Badge left to unlock and upgrade through the MyPLAYER Store, and new ratings upgrades only becoming available every other in-game week or so, I'm currently earning more VC than I can spend on improving my abilities.
As such, I can spare more VC to spend on frivolities such as MyPLAYER clothing, and decorating MyCOURT. Having purchased a few of my favourite jerseys and outfitted MyPLAYER with Michael Jordan's shoes and uniform, I decided that MyCOURT could use some rebranding. I definitely like the changes I've made and I'm enjoying MyCAREER a lot, though I have to admit that I've been thinking about my future. Normally, I'd prefer to stay put with the team that drafted me, but as of late, I can't help thinking that I should keep my options open.
Last week, we received a very small snippet of news about NBA Live 17, courtesy of a brief interview with Senior Producer Mike Mahar. While we still don't know a lot about what's happening with NBA Live, we do know that the development team is still working on a console version of the game, and that a release is slated for the first quarter of 2017. We also know that there's a different team working on NBA Live Mobile (thus its development does not affect the console version), and thanks to Mike's interview, we've discovered that gameplay, animations, and new ways to play certain game modes have been a focus.
Of course, when it comes to future NBA Live releases, the proof will be in the pudding. After all, we've heard those promises before, and while the series has made progress since its rocky return with NBA Live 14, there's still plenty of untapped potential and room for improvement. I would really like to see NBA Live get back to where it once was, and I hope that whatever EA Sports is working on right now will be a big step in the right direction. What do I consider the "right direction"? Well, here's how I would craft NBA Live's comeback.
When the concept of MyPLAYER Archetypes was first announced for NBA 2K17, it struck me as being a very good idea. It seemed like a great solution to the issue of gamers creating maxed out 7'3" players, a practice that frequently upset the competitive balance in modes such as MyPARK and 2K Pro-Am. On top of injecting a little more realism into MyCAREER, MyPLAYER Archetypes seemed to be a logical answer to egregious min-maxing and gaming of the upgrade system in order to create overpowered players.
I maintain that it was a very good idea in theory, and something that should remain in future NBA 2K games. However, MyPLAYER Archetypes haven't been quite as effective in preserving competitive balance as I would have hoped, as some gamers are still creating cheesy players. Conversely, in other ways they're too restrictive, allowing for little variation between certain playing styles. Since we're in the thick of Wishlist season, I thought that I'd throw out a few ideas that could possibly improve MyPLAYER Archetypes in NBA 2K18 and beyond.
Yes, I'm going to talk about 2K Pro-Am again, and the ongoing attempts of NLSC THRILLHO to unlock logo importing. As I've mentioned in previous articles and on the NLSC Podcast, we've been enjoying the mode enough to get online for several sessions per week, but we've also had our fair share of frustrating moments. While we have to take responsibility for some of them - we've definitely made our fair share of mistakes, after all - there have been times when it's felt like the game is out to get us. Maybe it's the "NBA Live Series Center" text on our court; perhaps we should change that, if we want fairer treatment?
In all seriousness, I've made a point of saving clips of many of those moments, usually for the purposes of bug reports and Wishlist feedback. However, it's gotten to the point where I can put together a "Shaqtin' a Fool" type of reel, showcasing the times where NBA 2K17 made our jaws drop for all the wrong reasons. Since THRILLHO is a blatant reference to The Simpsons, it only made sense to title it after another memorable Milhouse quote. Without any further ado, please enjoy a highlight reel of the best of our worst, from bloopers to bugs, and several other frustrating and bizarre moments in between!
Well, the holiday season is well and truly upon us! We're just six days away from Christmas, and for many of us, the season brings us a chance to kick back and relax with friends and family. Being gamers, I'd suggest that many of us will also be spending a bit of time in front of a PC or console, enjoying some new releases and old favourites alike. In this community, that probably means playing a basketball title or two. I'll be spending a few days away with friends over New Year's, but when I do have some time to myself, you can be bet that I'll be playing some virtual hoops.
As we gear up to play basketball video games during this holiday season, and in the year ahead, I want to put something out there for the community to consider. It may seem like I'm stating the obvious here, but considering how passionate we gamers can get about the hobby, I feel it's worth mentioning from time to time. No matter what your skill level, preferred style of gameplay, or game mode of choice, please keep this in mind: you should enjoy basketball games the way that you want.
I hope that everyone is enjoying the holiday season, and managed to catch a couple of the Christmas Day games! As we wrap up the year here at the NLSC, I thought that I'd have some fun with this week's Monday Tip-Off, and set myself a challenge in NBA 2K17. While shooting around in MyCOURT, I attempted three sets of thirty three-pointers from mid-court: thirty using the Shoot Button, thirty with the Shot Stick down, and thirty with the Shot Stick up. With the relatively low three-point ratings of a Playmaker point guard, and no Limitless Range Badge to help me out, would I be able to knock down some really long bombs with any kind of consistency?
Let's take a look and find out just how many threes I was able to make from mid-court, and which method seemed to work best for me. Watch below, or tune in here over on our YouTube channel if you can't see the embedded video.
Welcome to a new year of columns and other original content here at the NLSC! There should be plenty to talk about when it comes to basketball video games in 2017 as we continue to play NBA 2K17, await the release of NBA Live 17, and dust off old favourites from time to time. Whether it's sharing advice or tales of our basketball gaming experiences, discussing ideas for upcoming releases, or critiquing certain aspects of the games, there should be no shortage of topics of conversation in our community and elsewhere.
I'd like to tip things off this year by talking a little about one of those topics: critiquing basketball video games. As consumers who want to get value for our money and the most enjoyment possible out of basketball games, we do need to be able to look at them with a critical eye to identify issues that we want to see fixed, and aspects that we'd like to see improvement in. However, I also think that we should always try to improve the way that we critique basketball games, so that we can make the most of the contact we have with the developers at EA Sports and Visual Concepts. Of course, I'd like to see professional reviews improve as well.
If you're reading this, chances are you're a fan of basketball video games. It's what we cover here at the NLSC, so unless you're a Forum veteran who's mostly sticking around for the chatter in the off-topic sections, basketball gaming is probably why you're (hopefully!) visiting us on a regular basis. And if content related to basketball video games is what you're after, then it's quite likely that you're very much into the hobby. In short, it's probably safe to say that most of us around these parts are having fun with basketball games, in one way or another.
Or are we? Discussions about a game's problems seem to have more steam than topics talking about how much fun we're having. There are times when it seems that most of the conversations that aren't related to modding are concerned with troubleshooting and complaints. Those are obviously valid and important issues to talk about, of course, but I do wonder why we're not as eager to talk about our more positive experiences with hoops titles. As such, there are times when I think it's fair to ask: do we still have fun with basketball games?
Andrew wrote:January 9th, 2017: Do We Still Have Fun with Basketball Games?If you're reading this, chances are you're a fan of basketball video games. It's what we cover here at the NLSC, so unless you're a Forum veteran who's mostly sticking around for the chatter in the off-topic sections, basketball gaming is probably why you're (hopefully!) visiting us on a regular basis. And if content related to basketball video games is what you're after, then it's quite likely that you're very much into the hobby. In short, it's probably safe to say that most of us around these parts are having fun with basketball games, in one way or another.
Or are we? Discussions about a game's problems seem to have more steam than topics talking about how much fun we're having. There are times when it seems that most of the conversations that aren't related to modding are concerned with troubleshooting and complaints. Those are obviously valid and important issues to talk about, of course, but I do wonder why we're not as eager to talk about our more positive experiences with hoops titles. As such, there are times when I think it's fair to ask: do we still have fun with basketball games?
Last week, the gaming community learned more about the Nintendo Switch, which is scheduled for release worldwide on March 3rd, 2017. Of particular interest to those of us in the basketball gaming community, we learned that Visual Concepts will be releasing NBA 2K18 for the console in September this year. The announcement reflects the general increase in third party support that has been pledged for the Switch, after several developers abandoned the Wii U very quickly. As you may recall, NBA 2K13 was the first and only basketball game Visual Concepts released for the Wii U, and the last NBA 2K title released on the original Wii.
With the Nintendo Switch being a hybrid portable and home console, and gaining the support of third party developers, it's certainly generating a lot of interest and discussion ahead of its launch. With the confirmation that NBA 2K18 will be released for the Switch, it might be a viable option for basketball gamers who haven't yet invested in a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, and don't have a suitable gaming PC. With that in mind, is the Nintendo Switch something that I'm personally interested in, either instead of or in addition to the gaming platforms that I currently own?
It's been almost four years since I released my last current roster updates for NBA Live 2005 through 08. Although I've dabbled with beta versions of a fictional league roster and an Ultimate Jordan roster - and I would like to return to those projects at some point - it would seem that my days of working on the rosters and other big modding projects are getting further and further behind me. That's not to say that I won't continue to release work here and there, or that I'm completely done with modding, but right now, I'd have to say that I think I'm done with regular current season roster updates.
I'm phrasing it that way because I wouldn't want to say that I'm definitely, unquestionably done, at least until I get to a point in my life where being involved in modding simply isn't feasible. While I don't want to give the impression that any announcements or releases are imminent, doing some more work with rosters is something that I wouldn't want to rule out completely. As tiresome as the process can be, as much as it can become a chore, I can't deny that as someone who has worked on such projects for many years, the lure of roster modding is often strong.
As I briefly described here in the Forum, I had a rather unfortunate experience in my NBA 2K17 MyCAREER game last week. The All-Star Weekend didn't exactly finish with a bang, thanks to a rather nasty glitch that I feared might have messed up my MyCAREER save in more ways than I originally anticipated. Combined with some disappointment in the Slam Dunk Contest, it's fair to say that the All-Star Weekend didn't turn out to be one of the highlights of my NBA 2K17 MyCAREER thus far. As such, I thought that I'd talk a little bit more about it in this week's Monday Tip-Off.
Spoiler alert: I will be talking about a development in the story that happens a considerable way into MyCAREER. It's not exactly a plot point on the level of Tyler Durden, Dr. Malcolm Crowe, or even Luke Skywalker's parentage - though I guess those twists are actually all common knowledge now, anyway - but out of respect to those who'd like to let the story reveal itself, I figure it's only appropriate to offer a heads up. It's also something else that kind of bugged me, so I definitely wanted to touch upon it. With that said, here's how the 2017 All-Star Weekend went down for me in MyCAREER.
TGsoGood offered up an interesting question in the Forum a couple of weeks ago, concerning the current state of modding. He noted that while modding has always had its ups and downs, the hobby is not quite what it used to be, at least for the most recent releases. While modders have been a little more active so far this year, and the tools and resources at their disposal are the best they've been since the PC started receiving the same version of NBA 2K as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, as TGsoGood alluded to, we're not finding ourselves in a new golden era of modding.
With that being said, there are plenty of users who are customising NBA 2K17. As TGsoGood also pointed out, gamers are making great use of the team rebranding and roster customisation options to create a variety of modifications that are distributed through the in-game sharing facilities. Therefore, the question before us is this: is the future of modding in-game? Since Arcane and Kenny aren't involved with the modding scene, I decided that I'd tackle the issue in this week's Monday Tip-Off, rather than on the NLSC Podcast.
A few months back, I discussed the pros and cons of the Pro Stick and Shoot Button in NBA 2K, and my preference for using the button. Since the changes to the shooting mechanics in NBA 2K17 had just been announced, I noted that I'd be open to changing my approach, depending on the precision that was required when using the Pro Stick, and whether or not it offered a noticeable advantage. I also mentioned that I was more inclined to use the Pro Stick for shots in the paint, because of the ability to perform floaters and other elusive shots on cue, as well as have more control over dunk and layup animations.
NBA 2K17 has been out for about five months now, and has received eleven official patches, as well as several tuning updates. With all the gameplay tweaks, and having tried out more than a couple of different jumpshot animations for my MyPLAYER, there have been plenty of variables as I've experimented with both methods of shooting the basketball. I expect to be playing NBA 2K17 for several months yet, so the experiment is ongoing. As I look ahead to future NBA 2K releases, I must admit that my mind isn't completely made up about which method I favour, and the direction that the controls and shooting mechanics should take.
I realise that not everyone is fan of the virtual Twitter and text messaging in NBA 2K17's MyCAREER. For some people, it's a pointless annoyance, an unnecessary addition that has nothing to do with gameplay or replicating the experience of being an NBA player. I can certainly understand that point of view, but I have to admit, I kind of like it. For me, it contributes to the immersive nature and world building aspects of MyCAREER, making the mode seem more alive with something that's very prominent in the real world. Beyond that, of course, some of the messages and Tweets are actually pretty funny...though not always for the right reasons.
There's unquestionably a lot of intentional humour in MyCAREER's text messages and Tweets. Certain Tweets represent (with painful accuracy) some of the less intelligent things that we basketball fans are prone to putting out there on social media. There's in-jokes, banter with other players, and texts that add minor plot points to the background storyline. There are supportive Tweets from Leftos, which I always enjoy. And then, there are the text messages that are just plain weird, and most likely glitched. That's the type of message I'm sharing with you today.
As the artificial intelligence in basketball video games has become more sophisticated, CPU-controlled teammates have thankfully become much more reliable. That's not to say that there aren't any frustrating moments where they seemingly forget how to play basketball, but compared to early hoops titles, there's less of a need to frantically switch control of players and take charge of everything yourself. Needless to say, if you're locked to controlling a single player - as is the basis of modes such as MyCAREER and 2K Pro-Am - it's even more important that CPU-controlled teammates are competent.
Barring a connection problem, you'll never start a game of 2K Pro-Am with more than two AI players. If you consistently run with a full squad of five players, they'll seldom be an issue at all unless someone fouls out, or is booted due to a low teammate grade. However, if you frequently jump online to play 2K Pro-Am, chances are you'll deal with a CPU-controlled teammate at some point. It's at that point you'll discover that although AI in basketball games has come a long way, the quality of your CPU teammates is still very much a mixed bag.
Along with the other members of NLSC THRILLHO, I've been finding 2K Pro-Am a little more frustrating than usual lately. The most recent patch opened up matchmaking across different tiers, which results in more games, but also frequently matches us up against Elite level teams who are more serious about online gaming, or have achieved that status through cheesy builds. We've still had some enjoyable games, but a few tough nights, combined with rising frustration with some of NBA 2K17's issues, have encouraged us to head to MyPARK instead. After an enjoyable experience with Park After Dark #3, it's something we'll probably do more often.
Even though I generally prefer five-on-five gameplay with NBA rules, the streetball approach of MyPARK is a fun change of pace. I like the more casual atmosphere, and when there's only three of us online, a three-on-three game without AI players of questionable skill level feels like a more streamlined experience. I find that I'm less frustrated, perhaps because even though I do want to win and we do compete, losses don't seem to sting as much in shorter games. However, there is one frustrating element of MyPARK, and it's something that's always bothered me about the mode: Got Next. For me, Got Next gotta go.
It's only been a few weeks since I revisited this topic, but there's been a change in my approach, and a noticeable difference in the results. As you may recall from my previous articles, I've tended to stick to using the Shoot Button for jumpshots, while using the Pro Stick for dunks and layups, as well as free throw shooting and moves such as floaters. Given my long history with the NBA Live series, I've always felt more comfortable using the right stick for dribbling moves, and sliding my thumb across to the face buttons when it comes time to attempt a shot.
As I said though, my habits have changed over the course of the past month. After spending more time using the Pro Stick, I've found that I'm using it almost exclusively. Apart from the odd moment where old habits will break through, or when I trust the game to pick a contextually appropriate dunk or layup animation, I'm using the Pro Stick for almost all of my shot attempts. And you know something? Jumpshots in particular have never felt easier.
Over the weekend, I finally wrapped up my first season of MyCAREER in NBA 2K17. As much as I've been enjoying it, I was ready for it to be over and done with, mostly because I was really looking forward to my plans for the second season and beyond. Playing through every game on twelve minute quarters, only occasionally simulating to the end as the regular season reached its final weeks, turned out to be quite a grind. The postseason freshened up the experience a bit, but I was still eager to start the next chapter.
Playing through the Western Conference Finals and NBA Finals over the course of Saturday evening and afternoon, I was able to bring my rookie campaign to a fitting conclusion, and start looking ahead to new challenges. All in all, it's been the most positive experience I've had in MyCAREER since NBA 2K13, so as I begin my sophomore campaign, I thought that I'd reflect on my rookie season and first foray into virtual free agency in this year's game.
As much as we enjoy basketball gaming around these parts, I don't think many of us would argue that it isn't a grind at times. Whether it's playing through a full NBA season, building a collection of quality cards in the team building modes, or turning our avatars into superstars, it's a lengthy process. This is especially true if you're playing with full length quarters. The obvious solution is to set shorter quarter lengths, and make use of the simulation function in modes where it's available, but for various reasons, those options aren't always desirable. Even if you do streamline the experience, the chances of burnout are high.
That's because we pack so much basketball gaming into a single year, in order to get the most out of a title before the next one is released. With other genres of video games, you can generally take your time, and discover the replay value at your leisure. Most games can easily be finished in a much shorter time than it takes to complete one full season playing on twelve minute quarters. Even if you do feel as though you've had a full and satisfactory experience with a basketball game, within a year you'll be starting from scratch and having to do it all over again. The question is: what changes could be made so that basketball games feel like less of a grind?
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Alexander Skarsgard and Ellen Page premiered their new film The East at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood last night! The buzzed-about thriller follows former FBI agent Sarah Moss (Brit Marling) as she infiltrates an eco-terrorist group helmed by Skarsgard's character, which seeks revenge on major corporations for their crimes against the environment. "The movie is a wake up call," Skarsgard told InStyle.com when the film screened at Sundance. "He's trying to wake the nation up and say 'Look what's going on,' and by doing nothing you're actually condoning all the horrors that are happening. So, wake up and smell the coffee!" Catch the film in select theaters nationwide starting May 31. Plus, click the photo to go inside last night's hottest parties and premieres!
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My 4 mo is on poop strike day number 7. My older daughter did the exact same thing at this age and I was told it was normal. She is exclusively breastfed.. She has been very happy up until tonight. My husband said she screamed "bloody murder" for almost 2 hours and finally fell asleep. He gave her her normal 4oz bottle (breastmilk) and that didn't soothe her. He said she seemed to be in pain. I didn't witness it and she is sleeping soundly now.
No fever, belly is soft, seemingly comfortable. Also, She has had wretched gas in the past few days; smells as foul as it gets.
Normal or calling pediatrician in the morning??? I say normal and she'll poop soon, but need some reassurance. Last BM she went 6 days before going, and before that she was an everyday girl.
Thanks in advance for your input.


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Kasumi vs. Katarina – Cosplay Clash
And Ayane trips at the finish line! She was only two more wins away from Hall of Fame status, but Kasumi proved to be too tough an opponent, getting rid of her Dead or Alive colleague with ease. How will she fare against League Legend's master assassin, Katarina?
GrellkaLoli's Kasumi is the Kunoichi of Destiny, but is it her fate to win six more times in order to get into the Arcade Sushi Cosplay Hall of Fame? Time will tell, but she first has to defeat this initial challenger.
ChiseLuneth's Katarina is one of the most accurate depictions of the character we've come across, making her both dangerous in looks and in skill. Can she manage to take the win away from Kasumi?
It's up to you to decide who will win this Cosplay Clash between these two dangerously attractive redheads! Voting closes on May 19th 10AM PST.
Rules of Cosplay Clash:
Fans can vote once per hour for their favorite cosplayer. If a cosplayer remains the reigning champ for seven straight matches, they are retired to the Arcade Sushi Cosplay Hall of Fame. With so many great cosplayers out there, we have to give other cosplayers a chance.


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I am attracted to and awed by all things wild and wonderful! I think my art embodies this love of enchantment and magical wonder, through the eclectic variety of art work that I love creating. This week I have had fun, making magic wands!
The wands are made of driftwood, beach glass, crystals, glass tiles, beads and other found embellishments. The seem to hold powers of intention!


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Service learning is a type of experiential learning that engages students in service within the community as an integrated aspect of a course. Students participate in an organized service activity and reflect on that activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline and an enhanced sense of personal values and civic responsibility.
Service learning is sometimes compared with internships and clinical placements; it's often confused with volunteer work. Some of the differences among the various forms of community outreach are as follows:


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Lumigent Technologies' Log Explorer is the first—and so far the only—utility that reads SQL Server 7.0 transaction logs. Microsoft has never provided a tool for reading a SQL Server transaction log. You can use a query to display the operation codes in the SQL Server 6.5 syslogs table, and third-party products are available to read a SQL Server 6.x transaction log. But because SQL Server 7.0's (and SQL Server 2000's) transaction logs reside in their own files separate from data files, those SQL Server releases don't have a syslogs table. As a result, SQL Server 7.0 transaction logs have been inaccessible until the advent of Log Explorer.
Why would you want to read a database's transaction log? Suppose a user mistakenly deletes data. If you know approximately when the delete occurred, you might be able to determine which transaction log backup file or set of files contains the operation. And if you could read that transaction log, you could find the command that did the damage, the time the error occurred, and perhaps even who executed the command. With that knowledge, you might be able to rebuild the data or generate a SQL script to undo the changes.
For this review, I tested Log Explorer 1.0. Lumigent, though, is moving quickly, and as this issue went to press, the company had already released Log Explorer 1.3. These early versions of the product support only SQL Server 7.0. However, Log Explorer 1.5, which also supports reading SQL Server 2000 transaction logs, is in beta testing, and Lumigent will likely release it in first quarter 2001. According to the company, current Log Explorer owners will be able to upgrade for free to Log Explorer 1.5.
Attaching to a Log File
When you start Log Explorer, you must first attach either to a live log or to a log backup file. The current releases let you attach only to one database's live transaction log or to one transaction log backup file. If a live transaction log has several files, Log Explorer treats the log as one virtual log file. However, you can't currently view two or more sequentially produced transaction log backup files, so you can't view a transaction spanning several log backups.
To attach to a live transaction log, you must log in to SQL Server by using either a standard SQL Server login or a trusted connection. Only Log Explorer 1.3 or later supports trusted logins. I talk more about Log Explorer's security considerations later.
After you've attached to a log file, Log Explorer offers seven functions. The first function—switch to another log file—is self-explanatory, but let's cover the other functions in turn.
Retrieving a log summary. Log Explorer's Log Summary dialog box reports data about a specific transaction log. For example, the Log Summary lists the filename of the log you're attached to, the selected log file's name, the log's duration, the start and stop times for the last transaction log and full database backups, and log space usage data. Most Log Summary report columns are self-explanatory. Note, however, that if a database's transaction log consists of more than one transaction log file, you must choose which log file Log Explorer should attach to, and you can attach to only one log file at a time. Of course, if you back up the log to a single file, you can browse through the whole log.
Browsing the log. Browsing the transaction log lets you look at the details of a transaction log history. To help you navigate the sheer volume of a log's transactions, Log Explorer's Browse Filter dialog box lets you read from the beginning or end of the log or from a particular date. You can also limit the kinds of activities you want to see, the tables involved, the server process IDs (SPIDs) that identify SQL Server connections, the search depth (the amount of time spent on searching), and the database User ID (UID). If you're exploring a live database transaction log, you'll like Log Explorer's Refresh View button on the toolbar, which brings new transactions into the browse window.
When you click View Log in the lower left corner of the Browse Log dialog box, you get a log view that color-codes each transaction, which Figure 1, page 72, shows. The lower part of the Browse Log dialog box shows the data components of the SQL command involved in the selected transaction. The dialog box also shows old and new row data for UPDATE statements. You can even browse the log of a database that truncates its log on checkpoint, but you have to clear the Skip backed up log option in the Browse Filter dialog box. Log Explorer 1.3 labels this option Skip or View Recycled Data.
Undoing or rolling back modifications. Log Explorer provides two ways of reverting data to a prior state: Undo and Rollback. The Undo function generates a script to undo the effects of a given transaction. The Rollback function generates a script to roll back all changes to a given object up to a certain time point.
You can access the Undo function from the Browse Log dialog box and from other parts of the tool. As you're browsing through the log, you can select a given transaction and right-click to see a shortcut menu. From this menu, you can add or clear a bookmark, see the affected row's revision history, view the row's current data values, or undo the modification. To let you undo the transaction, Log Explorer generates an Undo script and saves it to a file along with the T-SQL necessary to undo the selected transaction. You can then apply the file to the database by using Query Analyzer or the osql utility. In Log Explorer's generated scripts, a T-SQL DELETE reverts a transaction's INSERT statement, an UPDATE reverts a transaction's UPDATE statement, and one or more INSERTs reverts a transaction's DELETE statement.
The Rollback function operates similarly to the Undo function. In the Rollback dialog box, you can instruct Log Explorer to generate a script to roll back changes to all tables or to a particular table and up to a certain time. Log Explorer generates the script and saves it to a file, which you can apply later. As you might expect, the rollback file can grow large, depending on how many changes you need to revert. When using the Rollback dialog box, make sure that you don't mistakenly specify a rollback time that's earlier than the log's end time, or Log Explorer won't generate the script.
Undeleting data. Not only does Log Explorer let you undo and roll back changes, but it can also generate a script to revert only the DELETE statements in a log. The Undelete script contains INSERTS against the selected object. The time requirement for Undelete is similar to the requirement for Rollback—you must specify a time that the log covers.
Viewing the row revision history. Log Explorer lets you see specific changes a user made against a particular row, as Figure 2 shows. You just specify a table's row in the RowId tab of the Row Revision History dialog box and optionally provide a log sequence number (LSN) to distinguish among duplicate rows and an appropriate time within the transaction log. From the Row Revision History window, you can inspect each change and selectively generate an Undo script for any change.
Viewing the row transaction history. You can also get a row's transaction history—complete with operation codes and LSN. You just specify a table's row in the RowId tab of the Row Transaction History dialog box by entering a value or set of values for the applicable columns, then choose a sequence number to identify the transaction.
Some Caveats
Log Explorer has a couple of minor problems and one major security concern. First, the minor problems. You can't inspect transactions that span a sequence of transaction log backups by attaching to a sequence of transaction log backup files. But Lumigent promises that feature in a future 2001 release. Also, using a utility to browse through a production database's live transaction log is risky; the safer choice is to browse through the backup file for that transaction log.
A major consideration for Log Explorer users is the security the application provides for reading the transaction log. A database transaction log isn't a security object in SQL Server 2000 or 7.0 because SQL Server doesn't include a tool to read the log. However, a transaction log does contain database data. The lack of security is a concern when you read both a live transaction log and a transaction log backup file.
To attach to a live transaction log, Log Explorer uses an extended stored procedure, xp_logattach, which installs in the master database. By default, no users hold execute permission to xp_logattach, so the only login that can execute that stored procedure to read the transaction log is the systems administrator (sa) login or logins with sa rights. However, by granting execute permission on xp_logattach to the public role in the master database, I was able to attach to and read a live database transaction log file using a login that didn't even carry Database Owner (DBO) rights to the database. The lesson: Restrict the rights to execute xp_logattach. And now that Log Explorer provides a tool to read transaction log backup files, it's just as important to control who can access the folders where these files reside as it is to control access to database backup files.
Log Explorer is a helpful tool for reading and analyzing SQL Server transaction logs (both live files and backup files), solving data problems, and reducing downtime. The tool is especially valuable for repairing a database that users or applications have damaged. Lumigent is offering Log Explorer at a per-server price of $1495. You can download a free trial version at http://www.lumigent.com.
|Log Explorer
Contact: Lumigent Technologies * 866-586-4436
Web: http://www.lumigent.com
Price: $1495; free trial version available for download
Decision Summary
Pros: Lets users read SQL Server 7.0 transaction logs to track down data errors; generates SQL script that repairs or rebuilds damaged databases; multifunctional
Cons: Supports only SQL Server 7.0; provides little security; attaches to only one transaction log file at a time


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Oil dropped from the highest level in four months in New York before European finance ministers meet today to discuss the region's debt crisis and as U.S. lawmakers vote this week on budget measures.
West Texas Intermediate futures slid as much as 0.5%, declining for the first time in four days. House Republicans will use the planned Jan. 23 vote on a debt-ceiling increase to try to force Senate Democrats to outline their spending plans. Finance ministers in Brussels will assess Spain, Greece and Cyprus and debate how to enact policies they promised to subdue the region's crisis.
"In Europe, we believe things are deteriorating rapidly," said Guy Wolf, a strategist at London-based commodities broker Marex Spectron Group Ltd. "Everyone believes the crisis has been solved. Yet politicians haven't done anything, we have just seen markets apply less pressure."
WTI crude for February delivery, which expires tomorrow, fell as much as 51 cents to $95.05 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $95.10 at 1:07 p.m. London time. The more active March contract was down 41 cents at $95.63. Front-month futures rose 7 cents on Jan. 18 to the highest close since Sept. 17.
The average volume of all contracts was 32% below the 100-day average. Floor trading will be closed today for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Relative Strength
Brent for March settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange dropped as much as 48 cents, or 0.4%, to $111.41 a barrel. The average volume of all contracts traded was 28% below the 100-day average. The European benchmark was at a premium of $15.89 to WTI futures for the same month. The gap was $15.16 on Jan. 17, the narrowest since July 24.
WTI is falling as a technical indicator shows prices have climbed too quickly for further gains to be sustainable. The 14-day relative strength index was higher than 70 for a second day on Jan. 18, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. A reading above that level signals a market is overbought and will decline. The RSI is at 69 today.
Futures in New York may fall to $50 a barrel in the next two years as oil output rises in North America, Francisco Blanch, head of commodities research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in a report dated yesterday.
The Treasury Department has said the U.S. will exceed its $16.4 trillion borrowing authority sometime from mid-February to early March. Congress faces two other fiscal deadlines in the next 90 days, and House Republicans plan to use those debates rather than the immediate one over the debt limit to push for federal spending cuts.
Since 1960, Congress has raised or revised the debt ceiling 79 times, including 49 times under Republican presidents, according to the Treasury Department.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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Cameron angler wins BASSMaster Weekend Series title
In the co-angler division, Cameron's Wade J. Dalton won it all in the latest 2012 Toyota Tundra BASSMaster Weekend Series May 19 on Lake Eufaula. He caught three bass weighing a collective 10.41 pounds, which included the big bass winner which weighed 5.88 pounds. For his win, he pocketed $1,433.75, plus an added $169.17 for his big bass winner."I caught the big fish by flipping docks with a homemade jig," Dalton said. "I also caught some fish on a strike king KVD 1.5 square-billed crankbait around riprap points and banks. I caught six fish, and culled twice."All total, there were 71 boats in the co-angler division's competition, and the limit was three fish.Dalton also was runner-up in the BASSMaster Weekend Series March 24 on Lake Tenkiller, and won $800.Dalton is a long-time member of the LeFlore County Bass Club, and the old Green Country Bass Club. He has been fishing some kind of bass tournaments for years, and it's great for him to get to the next level.Who knows? You may see him on television fishing in the BASSMaster Classic some day — that's every fisherman's dream.Congradulations, Wade!Last CastHappy birthday wishes go out to Kaedyn Norris, age 1 on June 4. I wonder if he's Chuck Norris' granddaughter?Another birthday wish goes out to Don Barnes, who will be age 71 on June 6. Jeff Dennis, you had better bring Uncle Don some moon pies and RC Colas for his birthday!The "Hooked on Fishin'" Kids Tournament will take place from 7 a.m. to noon Saturday at Long Lake Resort. Jacques and I are getting ready for that. Tonight, we'll be at Long Lake Resort for our "Friday Night Cookout." The menu includes fried fish, hush puppies, French-fried potatoes, grilled wings and barbecue ribs! Now, that sounds like a party! See you guys there!Thank you Kathy Terry for my big Indian taco at the Lumberjack Cafe Wednesday afternoon for lunch. I thought that thing looked big!The LeFlore County Bass Club will fish in the next tournament of the 2012 circuit Sunday on Wister Lake. I hope the fishing is good! See you all at the boat ramp!Save the world — recycle.God bless our troops and veterans.Have a great weekend.— — —Any questions or pictures, make contact with Jody Ray Adams on Facebook, on the "Jody Ray Fishing Hotline" at (918) 649-7387 or email to firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Looking at the Braves' schedule before the All-Star break, manager Fredi Gonzalez said it was time for Atlanta's starting pitchers to reel off a string of quality outings.
ATLANTA — Looking at the Braves' schedule before the All-Star break, manager Fredi Gonzalez said it was time for Atlanta's starting pitchers to reel off a string of quality outings.
Tim Hudson set the pace with a terrific performance that more than met the standard set by Gonzalez.
Hudson gave up one run in eight innings and the Braves opened their longest homestand of the season by beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-1 on Tuesday night.
Hudson (6-3) allowed seven hits, including four in the first two innings. He had seven strikeouts with only one walk.
The Braves had 17 hits, but Gonzalez said Hudson was the story.
"It all starts for me with the guy on the mound," Gonzalez said.
"He gave us a solid performance. Hopefully tomorrow Tommy (Hanson) follows up with that and we keep rolling with quality starts."
Freddie Freeman had three hits and drove in two runs, Chipper Jones also had three hits and Michael Bourn cracked a first-inning homer for Atlanta.
Arizona right-hander Daniel Hudson (3-2) left in the second inning with soreness in his right elbow. He will have a MRI on Wednesday in Phoenix.
Daniel Hudson gave up five runs and seven hits in 1 2/3 innings.
After yielding five hits and three runs in the second, Hudson motioned to the dugout. Arizona manager Kirk Gibson and assistant trainer Peter Mainville visited the mound. Hudson shook his head as the two approached and was escorted to the dugout.
The team announced during the game that Hudson had tightness in his right forearm, but Gibson said afterward the problem was in the right-hander's elbow.
"He just said his elbow was hurting," Gibson said. "He couldn't finish his pitches."
Gibson said Hudson revealed for the first time the elbow also had been a problem before Tuesday night.
"We were unaware that his elbow was hurting and it's alarming," Gibson said.
Hudson also struggled in his previous start, giving up seven runs in a loss to Seattle last Tuesday.
"I just couldn't get extended on the pitch without some pain in my elbow," Hudson said, adding he hopes the MRI reveals "nothing too bad in there."
"With my arm action I figure it kind of comes with the territory," he said. "I'm pretty concerned. It's your elbow."
Jason Kubel hit a third-inning homer for Arizona, which had its four-game winning streak snapped.
Anthony Varvaro gave up one hit in a scoreless ninth for Atlanta.
Brian McCann drove in two runs with two hits, including an eighth-inning single off Craig Breslow that drove in Jason Heyward.
The Braves won the opener of a 10-game homestand. They play 16 of their next 19 at Turner Field.
Gonzalez said before the game he is confident in his hitters. He said he needs more long outings from his starting pitchers.
"That to me is the only thing that has been missing," Gonzalez said, adding he would "challenge our pitchers to give us six or seven innings each time" in the 13 games before the All-Star break.
Tim Hudson was sharp as he surpassed the standard set by Gonzalez. After Kubel's homer, Hudson did not allow another runner to reach second base. He improved to 7-0 in nine career starts against the Diamondbacks.
"They've caught me on nights I felt pretty good," he said.
Arizona stranded four runners in the first two innings. Tim Hudson allowed only four baserunners in the next six innings.
"It was nice to be able to go out there and take advantage of some opportunities," Hudson said. "If you give any pitcher a four-run lead, if you can't make that hold up, you're not doing your job."
Josh Collmenter took over for Daniel Hudson and gave up a run-scoring single to McCann in the second. Collmenter gave up six hits but no runs in four innings.
The inning began with back-to-back doubles by Jones and Freeman. Andrelton Simmons had a run-scoring single to right field and, following a single by Bourn, scored on Heyward's sacrifice fly to right.
The Braves added two runs off Jonathan Albaladejo in the seventh. Dan Uggla, who was hit by a pitch leading off the inning, moved to second on Albaladejo's balk and scored on Freeman's fielder's choice grounder. Freeman moved to third on Simmons' double and scored on Tim Hudson's sacrifice fly.


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ESO musicians bring comfort to Sherman patients
Fourteen-year-old Brooke Mora and her mother Penelope Garcia played their usual rounds of "War" card games on a recent Thursday in Brooke's room at Sherman Hospital in Elgin.
Suddenly, the delicate sound of a viola began making its way into the hospital room.
Mother and daughter walked to the door, Brooke dragging along her IV stand, and peeked outside.
What they saw -- and especially, what they heard -- was violist Loretta Gillespie, a member of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, playing tunes from "Mary Poppins" in the family sitting area of the pediatric unit.
Brooke is among an estimated 3,500 patients at Sherman who have enjoyed the "Musicians Care" program offered since 2010 by the symphony.
The program now consists of visits every Thursday from ESO musicians who play in the hospital's lobby from noon to 1 p.m., and then in the inpatient units -- including the critical care unit, the cancer care center, the family birthing center and more -- from 1 to 2 p.m.
"I really like it. It takes away from the sickness," Brooke said.
It was a lovely moment during the distress, and sometimes tedium, of Brooke's asthma-related hospitalization, Penelope Garcia said.
"It's very nice that they actually do this for people," she said.
The program brings as much enjoyment to patients and families as it does to staff, said Joni Courtney, patient care coordinator at the cancer care center.
"It's very calming and comforting to everyone. Especially during the holidays, they really enjoyed it," Courtney said. "Music is therapeutic. A lot of patients turn to music, they have their headphones, their iPods, and they listen to music to hep them. Music is very good for them."
ESO musicians volunteer for the job, and are compensated for their time at Sherman.
Scott Metlicka, a flautist with the ESO, said the weekly hospital performances are rewarding, because of the simple joy that music can bring during difficult times.
"Sometimes patients and families are having a really bad couple of days, and it helps them relax and get their minds away from what is going on," Metlicka said.
You don't have to be a hospital patient to enjoy the performances, as anyone can come in and sit in the lobby for the first hour of the Musicians Care program.
LaVonne and Larry Mittermayer of Lake in the Hills started doing that a few weeks ago.
"We found out when I came to see my doctor in this building," LaVonne Mittermayer said while enjoying an ESO quartet performance. "I think it's wonderful that they do this for people."
"And especially because it's free" Larry chimed in.


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With the anacrontab function installed on our Simple Hosting offers, you can schedule in advance the execution of tasks without having to do them manually in the future. Based on the same principle as the popular crontab of Linux systems, anacrontab is a plugin that has been modified by our R&D team that allows scheduling a task from one hour away to a year in the future.
Using this function, with a little development work on your part, you can schedule database backups. You'll choose the frequency that you want, and the system will do the rest. Likewise, you will no longer need to monitor the amount of messages in your logs directory if you make a script to empty it automatically for example.


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WASHINGTON (AP) — Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan read to excited children and cheered them on as she helped kick off the Education Department's "Let's Read! Let's Move!" summer program.
About 175 preschool and elementary age children joined her Wednesday at an event encouraging healthy food, physical activity and summer reading. The children helped make snacks using fruits and vegetables before competing in a variety of indoor relays.
In addition to staying active, the "Let's Read! Let's Move!" initiative encourages summer reading and provides youth with information about eating health and affordable foods.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan hosted the kickoff, which was the first of five planned summer events in the nation's capital and its suburbs. He, Kwan and Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., and Sam Kass, director of "Let's Move!," read "Picky Peggy" and "Can I Play Too?" to the kids, who were from summer programs across the Washington area.
Kwan high-fived the children as they completed the "Shopping Cart Nutrition Race" and cheered them on during the "Make a Salad Relay." The physical activities were inspired by first lady Michelle Obama's initiative to combat childhood obesity.
Kwan hopes her presence taught the children that having an active and healthy lifestyle includes eating healthy and reading daily. She said a healthy lifestyle was essential to her athletic and personal success.
"I would train four, five hours a day. And then in between during my rest periods is where I would always try to pick up a book and continue to read," Kwan explained.
The "Let's Read! Let's Move!" series partners with the YMCA, the Target Corporation and Giant Foods.


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Drastic changes in the Phillies lineup as a three-game series with Washington begins.
Jimmy Rollins is back in his customary leadoff spot for the first time this season. Rollins had batted third in each of the Phillies' first 27 games. It's not that he's done terrible from there -- but a .346 slugging percentage is not optimal for the three hole.
It's not that Placido Polanco will bring much pop to the third spot, but Charlie Manuel apparently felt it was time for a change. Livan Hernandez starts for the Nationals.
It also appears a platoon has fully developed at second base, with Pete Orr earning yet another start against a righthander.
Here's the full nine:
1. Jimmy Rollins 6
2. Shane Victorino 8
3. Placido Polanco 5
4. Ryan Howard 3
5. Ben Francisco 9
6. Raul Ibanez 7
7. Pete Orr 4
8. Brian Schneider 2
9. Cole Hamels 1
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