National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America, and is widely considered to be the premier men's professional basketball league in the world. It has 30 franchised member clubs (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada), and is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB), which is recognized by FIBA (also known as the International Basketball Federation) as the national governing body for basketball in the United States. The NBA is one of the four major North American professional sports leagues. NBA players are the world's best paid sportsmen, by average annual salary per player.

The league was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946, as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The league adopted the name National Basketball Association on August 3, 1949, after merging with its rival National Basketball League (NBL). The league's several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York City. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, New Jersey.

NBA 2K (series)

The NBA 2K series is a series of basketball video games developed and released annually since 1999. The NBA 2K series was exclusive to the Sega Dreamcast when it was first introduced by Sega to address EA Sports's decision to not publish any sports games. The series was originally published by Sega, under the label Sega Sports and is now published by 2K Sports. All of the games in the franchise have been developed by Visual Concepts. Its primary competitor in the marketplace is the NBA Live series from EA Sports.

History

The first four games of the series featured commentary from fictional announcers "Bob Steele" and "Rod West" (voiced by Bay Area sports radio personalities Bob Fitzgerald and Rod Brooks who works at KNBR 680 San Francisco. They also host a radio show called "Fitz and Brooks"), but since NBA 2K3 the game's announcing team has been something of a revolving door, featuring commentary from the likes of Bill Walton, Tom Tolbert, Kevin Frazier, Michele Taffy, and Bob Fitzgerald. The color and play-by-play commentary in NBA 2K6, NBA 2K7, and NBA 2K8 is provided by Kevin Harlan and Kenny Smith, with Craig Sager providing sideline reports. Peter Barto is the PA Announcer. NBA 2K9 features commentary from Kevin Harlan and Clark Kellogg with Cheryl Miller as the sideline reporter on most versions of NBA 2K9 and NBA 2K10. Starting with NBA 2K11, Doris Burke replaces Miller as the sideline reporter on most versions of the game. On most versions of NBA 2K12, Steve Kerr joins Kevin Harlan and Clark Kellogg in the commentary booth. On the PlayStation 2 versions starting with NBA 2K9, no sideline reporter is featured in the game. In 2002 Sega implemented the American television network, ESPN's brand with their Sega Sports video games. The ESPN brand was used for 3 games, with the second game even being renamed ESPN NBA Basketball, until ESPN signed a 15-year deal with EA Sports.

NBA 2K16

NBA 2K16 is a basketball simulation video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports. It is the 17th installment in the NBA 2K franchise and the successor to NBA 2K15. It was released on September 29, 2015 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 3. A mobile version for Android and iOS was also released on October 14, 2015. There are three different covers for the main game, one featuring Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans, another featuring Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, and the last featuring James Harden of the Houston Rockets. A special edition version of the game was also released; it features Michael Jordan on the cover. Additionally, the French version of NBA 2K16 features Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs as the cover athlete, the German version, Dennis Schröder of the Atlanta Hawks, and the Spanish version, Marc and Pau Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies and Chicago Bulls respectively.

NBA 2K16 simulates the experience of the National Basketball Association. Players play NBA games with real or created players and teams in various game modes, such as MyCareer, MyTeam, and standard games. Players may play regular season NBA games, playoff games, Summer League games, and others. Apart from the NBA, Euroleague teams are also featured, thus simulating the Euroleague. Players may create their own player and take them through a basketball career with the central goal of being the greatest basketball player of all time. The game offers many customization options for the player; the player may customize the physical appearance, attributes, and skill set of any player. Players may also create, build, and customize their own teams. The soundtrack was curated by DJ Premier, DJ Mustard, and DJ Khaled. It consists of 50 different songs.

Glitch

A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system. It is often used to describe a transient fault that corrects itself, and is therefore difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, and in circuit bending, as well as among players of video games, although it is applied to all types of systems including human organizations and nature.

Etymology

Some reference books, including Random House's American Slang, claim that the term comes from the German word glitschen ("to slip") and the Yiddish word gletshn ("to slide or skid"). Either way it is a relatively new term, as on July 23, 1965, Time Magazine felt it necessary to define it in an article: "Glitches—a spaceman's word for irritating disturbances." In relation to the reference by Time Magazine, the term has been believed to enter common usage during the American Space Race of the 1950s, where it was used to describe minor faults in the rocket hardware that were difficult to pinpoint.

Xbox One

The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced on May 21, 2013, it is the successor to the Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox family. It directly competes with Sony's PlayStation 4 and Nintendo's Wii U as part of the eighth generation of video game consoles. The Xbox One was released in North America, several European markets, Australia, and New Zealand on November 22, 2013, and in 26 other markets, including Japan, the remaining European markets, and the Middle East, in September 2014. It is also the first Xbox game console to be released in China, specifically in the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone. Microsoft also marketed the device as an "all-in-one entertainment system", also making it a competitor to other digital media players, such as the Apple TV and Google TV platforms.

Moving away from the Xbox 360's PowerPC-based architecture—back to the x86 architecture used in the original Xbox—the console features an AMD Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) built around the x86-64 instruction set. The Xbox One places an increased emphasis on cloud computing and entertainment integration, offering the ability to overlay live television programming from an existing set-top box with an enhanced program guide, split-screen multitasking of applications, and improved second-screen support. The console optionally includes an upgraded Kinect sensor, providing richer motion tracking and voice recognition for use in its graphical user interface (GUI) and games. The Xbox One also offers the ability for users to record and share highlights from or live-stream gameplay. The console's controller was refined over that of the Xbox 360, with a redesigned D-pad and triggers capable of delivering directional haptic feedback.