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[lovely ladies]

Shocked that this hasn't been in any basketball game yet. I'm sure there are many female gamers out there who love basketball, and can now put themselves on a WNBA team. It probably won't do much for EA in terms of sales over 2K, but good on them for doing it anyway.

Someone can correct me if I'm off but I think the last time women's basketball was featured on a videogame was back in a March Madness game for the PS1 so it's been awhile. Maybe they had women's basketball included in some Olympic videogame but I can't really recall.

 

[StanleyStutters]

I wonder how 2K will respond

With a quality game that people enjoy.

Glad to see this added to some NBA game. Much rather this be in 2K, but I don't think they have the license for the WNBA.

 

[MarineMountie]

I'd definitely rather have $5 over some soccer shit. But that pic is still sexist.

How? Nobody watches the WNBA. Have you ever taken a look at the stands during a game? It's damn near empty. It's not sexist, it's just not entertaining to watch. FWIW I don't enjoy the NBA either, but at least the athleticism is there, the dunks are there, the strength is there.

I don't enjoy Cricket. Is that sexist or is it because it's just not entertaining to watch? I'm thinking about getting NBA Live this year and I'll definitely try out the game mode if I do.

 

[The Greek Freak]

The NBA also owns it, so very well may have thrown in the license for free to try and get the league more exposure. The NBA has effectively been subsidizing the WNBA for years. If not for their financial backing it would have died years ago.

Yup, and I would be shocked if it ever changes.

I actually have enjoyed watching the WNBA in person a few times, that said I don't know anyone who gives the slightest shit about it. Hell my wife wouldn't go to the game when I had free tickets. It's better than the NCAA garbage that masquerades as basketball as well.

 

[darkside31337]

WNBA might have a small fanbase but... so does NBA Live. Any step to try to win some hearts and minds is probably a good idea. This is cool.

Also making a good game would probably help

 

[Darkman M]

Good for who enjoy the WNBA, but this game graphically looks really ass to me.

 

[MarineMountie]

Good for who enjoy the WNBA, but this game graphically looks really ass to me.

The game play is looking really good though. The new dribbling mechanics are on point, the on ball defense is realistic, the animations are so much better and less canned than 2K...Looking like Live for me this year for the first time since I can remember. 2K needs to fix a lot of things with their game play like the scripted rebounds, long and slow animations when stopping and starting with a player, contact being scripted and canned instead of physics based(like Live is this year). Finally getting the competition back it seems.

 

[Luckydog]

This is stupid, and sexist.

I wonder why this is considered sexist? With approx half a million votes, it might show some semblence of how popular WNBA is. Is it sexist because it shows the lightly popular WNBA in a bad light? If we replaced WNBA with Major League Lacrosse and got the same or worse response is that OK or sexist?

 

[panthapanda]

Cool for the WNBA because they need more exposure to get big but they picked the wrong game. Well, not like they had a choice lol.

 

[BroBot]

the colors should be switched

Speaking of switc- Oh nevermind.

Anyway this doesn't mean much to me if this game won't create-a-female player. Now if they had that feature, I might consider picking this game up on Black Friday. I haven't played as a created female basketball player since the NBA Street games. I kinda miss having a female shoot all the 3s and having my main male dunk like a maniac.

 

[Cheebo]

I wonder why this is considered sexist? With approx half a million votes, it might show some semblence of how popular WNBA is. Is it sexist because it shows the lightly popular WNBA in a bad light? If we replaced WNBA with Major League Lacrosse and got the same or worse response is that OK or sexist?

The chart isnt sexist, posting it as a "LOL NO ONE CARES ABOUT WOMENS BASKETBALL" shitpot about this news is what was sexist.

 

[theWB27]

The chart isnt sexist, posting it as a "LOL NO ONE CARES ABOUT WOMENS BASKETBALL" shitpot about this news is what was sexist.

Can you post facts that state otherwise? The league would be dead if not for the NBA.

 

[saltyramen]

Here's some more gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRUaOhIiTwc

Actually doesn't look half bad this year. Looks like NBA Live 10 which was the last decent one. Praying for responsive controls.

 

[OfficerRaichu15]

The chart isnt sexist, posting it as a "LOL NO ONE CARES ABOUT WOMENS BASKETBALL" shitpot about this news is what was sexist.

Not sexist because barely anyone watches it.
You do know how much the finals got in terms of viewership(it was bad)?
(I'll just say some episodes of kids cartoons had higher viewership.)

 

[JB-the-Hunter]

This is stupid, and sexist.

It's sexist... why exactly?

 

[MisterR]

The chart isnt sexist, posting it as a "LOL NO ONE CARES ABOUT WOMENS BASKETBALL" shitpot about this news is what was sexist.

But nobody does give a shit about the WNBA? Do people need to pretend it's popular to be less sexist?

 

[FirmBizBws]

I wonder why this is considered sexist? With approx half a million votes, it might show some semblence of how popular WNBA is. Is it sexist because it shows the lightly popular WNBA in a bad light? If we replaced WNBA with Major League Lacrosse and got the same or worse response is that OK or sexist?

You could replace it with NASCAR, hockey, mls, it wouldn't matter. So it's not sexist. If it isn't one of the big 3, NFL, MLB, NBA, no one cares.

 

[Luckydog]

The chart isnt sexist, posting it as a "LOL NO ONE CARES ABOUT WOMENS BASKETBALL" shitpot about this news is what was sexist.

Fair enough. But posting about how popular a feature to a game is on a game board doesnt seem too out of place. You can't swing a dead cat in a Halo thread without people stating how (in their opinion) Halo is no longer relevant.....

 

[GlitchyDegree]

Someone can correct me if I'm off but I think the last time women's basketball was featured on a videogame was back in a March Madness game for the PS1 so it's been awhile. Maybe they had women's basketball included in some Olympic videogame but I can't really recall.

NBA Street Showdown on PSP lets you create female athletes that can compete with the male athletes. I don't think there are any WNBA stars in the game tho. The game came out in 2005.

 

[Basketball]

This is stupid, and sexist.

I don't think you know what that word means

 

[the most mountain of dews]

This is stupid, and sexist.

explain how it's sexist. I really don't understand.

 

[Shil Pencer]

If Philadelphia had a WBNA team I'd probably start watching their games

Someones not Trusting the Process

 

[SatoAilDarko]

Wonderful news.

Not really into sims though. Hopefully the next arcade basketball game includes the WNBA.

 

[Solemn_In_Berlin]

Very welcome news for me. Excited to play as the greatest CP3 today.

 

[CamHostage]

How many WNBA players can dunk like that girl in the trailer? Was that Brittney? My son loves CP3 so he might wanna bang out with this...wait this is "Live"? Nevermind.

It's Brittney Griner in both dunks of the trailer, yes.

And yeah, I'm a little nervous about how EA is approaching WNBA given what they're focused on in the advertising. WNBA is not an above-the-rim variant of the sport. I feel like the WNBA mode will just play like the NBA game with swapped character models, and that's not how the WNBA tends to move on the court.

That said, showing cool stuff in a trailer makes you want to play the game, and dunks make for good b-ball footage. They did get the balance of the shots-taken right, so that's a start. In the past, EA did manage to make the college and pro version of its basketball games play differently (albeit almost a decade ago,) so they're capable of capturing the rhythm of the WNBA, good luck to them. And they at least have animations that captures the way Griner reaches up for the rim single- or double-handed. So hopefully it works out and they get this right. Good on EA for committing to it either way.

 

[Jeronimo Jones]

I would say this is nice exposure for the WNBA but Live has had its struggles too. I've watched WNBA before but honestly haven't paid attention to the league in the last couple years.

 

[Ever]

People calling it sexist POWERLUL

That's assuming people care enough about the WNBA to call it sexist. It's no secret that the League doesn't get much attention.

Besides, NBA 2k is already a superior game and the battle was over in 2011.

 

[jdmonmou]

we got next

 

[KaYotiX]

A league nobody really watches goes to a Game nobody plays....

Best of luck to both. I'll be trying 2k this year for the first time in a long time.

 

[D3VI0US]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7tkK-1-fFM

 

[Khaos Kontrol]

This is stupid, and sexist.

Nothing sexist about it. And if someone has no interest in the WNBA, why wouldn't they want to be $5 dollars richer over seeing a team they don't care about winning a championship?

 

[lush]

Good on EA Sports following FIFA's inclusion of women's international sides. People itt need to realize this announcement is about the inclusion of women's players/teams in another major sports title, not about the WNBA's popularity.

Some more info:

The Women’s National Basketball Association and all the players of its 12 teams will make their video game debut with NBA Live 18, EA Sports announced this morning.

The teams will be available from the game’s WNBA Play Now menu, meaning they will be available only for one-off play offline or online (not in any of the game’s career modes, in other words), and not against NBA teams. The league’s most recent All-Star team will also be available to users, senior producer Mike Mahar told Polygon

Also interesting:

Though he made no commitments, Mahar hinted that, after launch, the WNBA’s individual players could appear in NBA Live 18’s The Streets mode of its “The One” single-player career. This is the mode in which users create a personal superstar and then compete at well-known venues in cooperative/competitive pickup games.

“It’s a great partnership and it expands the options available in the product, and it’s the stepping stone to, probably, some cool implementations with female characters going forward in the game,” Mahar told Polygon. “Future iterations on how they will appear in the product, that will be added later.”

Source: https://www.polygon.com/2017/8/3/16088412/wnba-nba-live-18-teams-rosters

 

[ShdwDrake]

Wow people in here calling people sexist? Is it sexist to say they don't dunk or play very aggressive in the WNBA... I'd take the 5$ man sorry ladies. WNBA is super boring.

 

[VendettaRed07]

Think that the WNBA is a case where the league is actually hurt by too much emphasis on parity and player salary/movement restriction.

Far more people watch college women's basketball despite the fact that UConn dominates it so much. I think if one of the richer owners like Dolan or Magic want to dump some cash to put together a women's super team they should just let them. I think that would actually help create some more interesting narratives/story lines and propel some of the leagues players to more proper "stardom"

 

[The Last Wizard]

Wow people in here calling people sexist? Is it sexist to say they don't dunk or play very aggressive in the WNBA... I'd take the 5$ man sorry ladies. WNBA is super boring.

I believe it's the fact that it's being used to clown on the WNBA and women.

This is really cool, I just wish live would give 2K a run for their money.

 

[Q--_-]

Obvious question: can we play wnba teams against nba teams? Put wnba players on nba rosters?

The teams will be available from the game's WNBA Play Now menu, meaning they will be available only for one-off play offline or online (not in any of the game's career modes, in other words), and not against NBA teams. The league's most recent All-Star team will also be available to users, senior producer Mike Mahar told Polygon.

According to polygon, no.

 

[RS4-]

I wonder how 2K will respond

More micro transactions and no fixes to their online servers and netcode.

 

[Raging Spaniard]

With a quality game that people enjoy.

Glad to see this added to some NBA game. Much rather this be in 2K, but I don't think they have the license for the WNBA.

Eeeh, I havent bought 2k in years, I find the game to be very, very unenjoyable. Completely unintutive controls, always find that trying to play "proper" basketball is secondary to just run fast breaks a thousand times per game.

I dont think Live is going to be any better either, this is a welcome addition, however. Overall Im pretty down on the state of basketball games.

 

[The Last Wizard]

I wonder how 2K will respond

We're really fixing the servers this year guys we promise.

 

[Farsi]

I wonder how 2K will respond

"You can now buy Pack boxes with MT again"

 

[JusDoIt]

Being able to play as Candace Parker is a legit incentive to pick up Live this year for me. I don't know if I'll pick it up before 2k18, tho...

 

[meerak]

I imagine that is pretty damn exciting for WNBA members and fans, cool to see this happening.

One small step...

 

[lwilliams3]

Wow people in here calling people sexist? Is it sexist to say they don't dunk or play very aggressive in the WNBA... I'd take the 5$ man sorry ladies. WNBA is super boring.

I don't think most of these comments are not really sexist as much as it is in bad taste. The thread is about the game including the WNBA, which may increase awareness of the league and its players in general, and some posters are like, "who cares, and the WNBA sucks."

Either way, it is great that EA is finally including the league.

 

[TraBuch]

I'm legit curious to see how many people will play this mode and how the women actually play. Will it just be the exact same as the men's game with the dunk slider turned to 0 and speed slider halved?

This will never be a selling point for 99% of the people that buy basketball games, but it's nice of them to include it.

 

[Revas]

I hope Live is good because 2K desperately needs some competition. 2K is still playable but the emphasis on VC and story modes for the last few years has really turned me off.

 

[Metzhara]

I find this a curiosity.
Personally, I think it's a cool addition.
Commercially, I am curious about the viability. The WNBA isn't nearly as lucrative as the NBA so I'm curious if they are able to make this profitable. I believe the NBA actually bumps the WNBA holdings but I'm not totally clear on how accurate that is.
If viewership influences purchases, and the WNBA gets less than 1/3rd viewership,will that play a large role? I have no idea how possible exclusivity or viewership at all affects sales either.
Of course it would be awesome if this somehow turned more interest to the WNBA (similar to racing games turn people into car enthusiasts).
I definitely think EA is doing something good here and I just hope it pays off. This could be a great marketing opportunity to unite gamers and the sport.

I think this will be a good process to watch for other sports which aren't as well received possibly getting seen, even less visible. EA would know this better than anyone I suppose so I am definitely intrigued.

 

[LionPride]

This is stupid, and sexist.

But like, factually no one cares about WNBA basketball. For a multitude of reasons.

I wonder how 2K will respond

"We still have the better game."

 

[JusDoIt]

But like, factually no one cares about WNBA basketball. For a multitude of reasons.

For a multitude of sexist reasons.

 

[KSweeley]

This made the AP, AP reports this is the very first time the WNBA is in a video game: https://apnews.com/3f86c488da7243c6...-Live;-entire-WNBA-in-video-game-for-1st-time

Add ‘W’ to NBA Live; entire WNBA in video game for 1st time

Breanna Stewart can now compete against other WNBA players in a video game.

NBA Live 18 is adding women’s basketball players to the popular game this fall. It’s the first time players on all 12 WNBA teams will be featured.

“It really is cool. For me, I played video games when I was younger, whether it was the NCAA basketball game or 2K,” Stewart said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “To be in a video game, it’s humbling. You see men’s players all the time, but it’s good for women’s basketball to have us in there.”

Head scans of WNBA players were conducted over the past year. The developers held motion capture sessions with No. 1 draft pick Kelsey Plum of the San Antonio Stars and others. Veterans Candace Parker and Tina Charles are featured, along with stars Maya Moore, Brittney Griner and Elena Delle Donne.

The game’s creators fine-tuned player ratings and skill moves. There’s a WNBA play mode where video gamers can pit two WNBA teams against each other with authentic jerseys, rosters and courts.

Stewart hopes that her younger brother, who plays video games a lot, will pick her when he plays the game.

“I’m going to have to talk to him about this,” she said, laughing. “It’s the first question I’m going to ask him.”

The second might be her ranking. Always a bone of contention in other sports games, Stewart is confident EA Sports will get the rankings right.

“My rating is going to be important, I’m curious to see what it will be,” she said. “EA Sports will do me right.”

San Antonio guard Kayla McBride also hopes her rating is high. She considers herself a gamer, having played NBA Live and Madden Football against her brothers and cousins since she was young. She was pumped to be featured in a game now .

“My brother called me so excited this morning saying ‘you’re in a video game!’” McBride said. “We had so many battles when we were younger playing against each other and now we can take it to a whole new level.”

McBride said it will be fun to play as other teams in the league since “a true gamer can take anyone to the title.”

It’s not the first time EA Sports has added females to its games. FIFA2016 highlighted 12 women’s soccer national teams, including the U.S., to the game in 2015.

“It should have happened a while ago,” Stewart said. “They should have given video gamers the option.”

 

[Jakartalado]

Every sport game should adopt both genders.

Even if in a small portion, everyone deserves to be represented in a game in terms of gender, race and belief.

I'm pretty sure my girlfriend would love to play forever WNBA even if there's 2 teams available.

Kudos for EA for being supportive with this on Fifa, UFC and now NBA.

NOW, 2K MAKE YOUR MOVE.