NBA Playgrounds: Software updates (latest update: Ver. 1.3.0, Ver. 1.4.0 (?) coming soon)

In this post, you will find everything there is to know about the Software updates for NBA Playgrounds (originally released on May 9th, 2017 in North America and Europe).

How to download updates for NBA Playgrounds for the Nintendo Switch?

To download the updates manually, you have three options:

• let the console do its thing if you have automatic downloads activated, and didn’t completely turn it off

If not…

• try to launch the game from the Home Menu while being connected to the internet. You should get a prompt when doing so: simply follow the instructions on screen;

OR

• select the game > press either + or – to go to the Options page > select Software update > select Via the Internet.

BA Playgrounds – Ver. 1.4.0 (?)

• Release date: ??? (Europe, North America)
• File size: ???MB
• Patch notes:

New Features:
* Added: New players join the roster
* * The following players were added: Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Rick Barry, Tim Duncan, Brandon Jennings, Brandon Knight, Deron Williams, Derrick Favors, Gerald Green, Iman Shumpert, Jeff Green, Josh Richardson, Kenneth Faried, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Khris Middleton, Michael Carter-Williams, Mike Miller, Timofey Mozgov, Trevor Ariza, Tristan Thompson, Tyson Chandler, Bob Pettit, Jerry Lucas, Lenny Wilkens, J.R. Smith, Danny Green, J.J. Redick, Wilson Chandler, Alex Len, Dario Saric and Baron Davis
* * The following players can now be played on a second team, in which they played during their career: Chris Paul (New Orleans Pelicans), Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets), Al Horford (Atlanta Hawks), Ray Allen (Boston Celtics), Luol Deng (Chicago Bulls), Dennis Rodman (Chicago Bulls), Tim Hardaway (Golden State Warriors), Scottie Pippen (Houston Rockets), Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic), Goran Dragic (Phoenix Suns), Shawn Marion (Phoenix Suns), Jason Kidd (Phoenix Suns), Grant Hill (Phoenix Suns), LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland Blazers), DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings), Wilt Chamberlain (San Francisco Warriors) and Vince Carter (Toronto Raptors)
* * The following Playgrounders join the Playgrounders team: Ian Eagle, EJ “The Mayor” Johnson, Agent 00, Shake4ndBake and HipHopGamer
* Added: Friends’ invitation system
* Added: 1 vs. 1 Unranked matches (in all game modes), using the matchmaking algorithm, but players don’t risk losing any ranking points or changing their ELO
* Added: 3-Point Contest
* * A new way to compete online. Challenge your opponent to find out who can hit the most 3-Pointers
* Added: A short steal and push protection when changing characters was added for the Client player in an online match to reduce the Host advantage

Notable Changes:
* Adjusted: Pushes are no longer effective once the shot attempt is made and the player jumped.
* Changed: The difficulty of the tournaments was reduced
* Changed: The lightning ball can now be blocked by a player just like any other shot
* Changed: The experience gain during the tournaments was increased and slightly decreased for online matches.
* Improved: The rebound system was reworked and improved to better reflect the intended game style and to make it understandable

Notable Fixes:
* Fixed: Several issues that caused Desyncs during Online Game Sessions
* Fixed: An issue that could prevent a player from joining an Online Match after aborting a former matchmaking search right after it succeeded
* Fixed: Height and Weight stats of the Playgrounders in the metric system
* Fixed: An issue that could freeze the game, after winning the Tokyo tournament

• Additional notes: this is the Hot Update, detailed in this post. It’s not clear when it will be released on Nintendo Switch.
• Official website: Saber Interactive

NBA Playgrounds – Ver. 1.3.0

• Release date: July 10th (Europe, North America)
• File size: ???MB
• Patch notes:

• Added: The Challenge Mode feature, which allows you to challenge other players to online matches
  • You can now switch between unranked challenges and ranked games in the online mode
  • To challenge another player, you must switch to the challenge mode in the online menu and define a challenge code. By default, your challenge code is your nickname, but you can change it to your own, personal code. The person you are challenging must enter your code.
  • If you have been challenged, please enter your challenger’s code and press “Accept”.
  • All challenges are unranked and your ranking/ELO will be unaffected by the results of the challenge.
• Added: Toxicity system/Disconnection Manager, which penalizes players who abandon matches in any other way than surrendering
• Added: 5 new versions of Shaquille O´Neal in various teams from his career (Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic)
• Added: 15 new players join the roster
  • The following players were added: Dennis Rodman, Isaiah Thomas, Larry Bird, Giannis Antetokoumnpo, Kenny Smith, Gary Payton, Klay Thompson, Devin Booker, Tony Parker, Kemba Walker, Seth Curry, Tiny Archibald, John Starks, Tracy McGrady, Pete Maravich
• Added: A shot-meter was added to help finding the perfect timing for shots, dunks etc.
• Adjusted: Shots were adjusted to make the system more accessible and unified throughout all variations
• Adjusted: The steal action was adjusted further to better fit the intended gameplay
  • It is now possible to perform a steal action when behind an opponent
• Added: 35 new players join the roster
  • The following players were added: Ben Wallace, Bernard King, Earl Monroe, Elvin Hayes, Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, John Havlicek, Julius Erving, Kevin McHale, Manute Bol, Muggsy Bogues, Steve Nash, Yao Ming, Joakim Noah, Joe Johnson, Andre Iguodala, Bismack Biyombo, D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, Justise Winslow, Kyle Korver, Manu Ginobili, Nick Young, Robin Lopez, Serge Ibaka, Tyler Johnson, Adrian Dantley, Arvydas Sabonis, Bob Cousy, David Thompson, Larry Nance, Mark Price, Detlef Schrempf, Wes Unseld, Lou Williams
  • The following players can now be played on a second team, in which they played during their career: Lebron James (Miami Heat), Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat), James Harden (Oklahoma City), Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City), Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls), Gary Payton (Seattle Sonics), Shawn Kemp (Seattle Sonics), Rajon Rondo (Boston Celtics), Alex English (Dallas Mavericks), Walt Frazier (Cleveland Cavaliers), Clyde Drexler (Houston Rockets), Alonzo Mourning (Charlotte Hornets), Jason Kidd (New Jersey Nets)
• Added: The Seattle SuperSonics and Playgrounders were added to the team selection
• Added: 5 Playgrounders, this time famous YouTubers, join the roster as “The Playgrounders” in red card packs
  • iMAV3RIQ, iPodKingCarter, QJB, Troydan, and DenkOps
• Added: The playgrounds Madrid and Chicago are now available
• Added: You can now play tournaments in Venice Beach, Seattle, Madrid and Chicago
• Added: New Dunk, Crossover and Finger Roll animations were added
• Added: New Ball styles can be unlocked in the tournaments
• Changed: 3 pointers no longer fill lottery pick bar
• Increased: The difficulty of 3 pointers was increased
• Reduced: The number of steals required for the Las Vegas Challenge #2 was reduced to 10 (was 15)
• Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the Paris Challenge #4 was reduced to 6 (was 7)
• Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the London Challenge #1 was reduced to 6 (was 10)
• Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the Las Vegas Challenge #3 was reduced to 8 (was 12)
• Reduced: The inbound time was reduced to adjust it to the overall style of the game
• Adjusted: Now when the time of the match reaches zero and the ball is still in the air the match won’t end until the shot is resolved (either by scoring or failing).
• Adjusted: the penalization received from disconnecting from matches has been increased. Now the user loses more ELO points and the progression grows faster.
• Changed: Actions from teammates count now towards finishing the tournament challenges
• Improved: The execution time for throws was reduced
• Reduced: The probability of receiving duplicates in card packages
• Fixed: The visual effect when leveling up was corrected
• Fixed: Some miscalculations in shot attempts with long animations regarding their success chance were corrected
• Fixed: Some issues in the matchmaking were fixed which caused that players were unable to join the matchmaking when a former online session was not closed properly
• Fixed: Some issues related to the random selection of players and the rule that prevents the picking of the same players twice for the same team.
• Fixed: Some Legendary and Epic players didn’t have the correct background.
• Fixed: The loading screens with the control scheme and the explanation of the shot meter were not rotating as intended
• Fixed: Some commentator lines were triggered at the wrong moment
• Fixed: Some issues related to the audience and its appearance were addressed
• Fixed: An issue that prevented some users in rare cases from progressing through the tournaments
• Fixed: An issue where one player jumped out of the court and the match could not be continued
• Fixed: An issue where a user with too many unopened packs could end in an endless loading screen

• Additional notes: the patch notes above are for the PC version of the game, but we fully expect to be the same for all the versions (naturally, we removed all the changes related to PC/Steam). They will be replaced if need be when the update is released on Nintendo Switch;
• Source: Saber Interactive (Steam)

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