Past iterations of Electronic Arts’ NBA Live series allowed you to create your own character, but your custom star had to be a man. That changes in NBA Live 19, which is adding female create-a-character options for the first time.
The female players you create in NBA Live 19 will have access to all the same gear and skills as male custom characters, and using the game’s iOS and Android companion apps, women will be able to scan their face and put it onto their character. This rising star can then be used in “The One,” the career mode focused on either the blacktop or the NBA, where you’ll be able to play on teams of both men and women.
“Furthermore, NBA Live 19 will introduce new Icon abilities modeled after some of the greatest female ballers of all time, including Candace Parker and others,” Electronic Arts said in a press release.
Parker spoke about the feature in a new trailer, detailing her own experience playing blacktop basketball and how women who show their skills on the court can get the same respect as male players.
“You have to have a little bit of creativity. Everything is not going to be scripted,” Parker said about playing pickup games. “I think just visibility has helped our game so much, and I hope to make it better and leave it better than when I came into it.”
Last year’s NBA Live 18 was the first game in the series to include the full WNBA roster, and Electronic Arts encourages players excited about the more inclusive follow-up to use the hashtag “#ShesInTheGame” on social media.
NBA Live 19 includes “Real Player Motion,” designed to make players’ animations smoother and more realistic, as well as highlight the unique moves of stars like James Harden and LeBron James. An “interactive environment” means you also see players leap into the bench to get a ball before it goes out of bounds, and artificial intelligence has also been reworked to make players behave more realistically.
NBA Live 19 comes to Buy Now and Buy Now on September 7. EA Access subscribers will get first access to the Xbox One game on August 31, as well as a discount on the full version when it launches.
