The time is finally upon us! NBA Live 19 is now available for everyone to play and can be found on the Microsoft Store today. Before you actually sit down and start your hoop journey, though, let us give you a bit of a primer to some of the modes, so you know exactly where you want to get started!
Be The One in The League and The Streets
We’ve put a lot of emphasis on building out the NBA Live experience to be an authentic, genuine one for players around the world. A major part of that is being able to grow your game, and your name, in the way so many players do these days at a young age. With that, you’ll be able to fully take advantage of social media by having your highlight plays broadcasted on Instagram Live and later taken for debate and analysis by analysts at ESPN, including basketball personalities such as Famous Los or AndOne Mixtape legend The Professor.
Start your career off in high school and watch your status rise as you begin your journey to becoming The One by playing in The Streets. We feature 14 different playable street courts spanning five different countries. While some of the most famous American pro-am leagues like the Drew League, Dyckman League, and Crawsover League are represented, you’ll also see historically, and culturally, important courts like Rucker Park and Kezar Pavilion from the US courts. And you can venture outside of the states, crossing the border to Canada to get some buckets at the Hoop Dome, getting a Brazilian stamp when you hit the Favelas, playing in the middle of the Philippines at Tenement Court, and in front of the scenic Eiffel Tower at Quai 54.
In the process, you’ll be building a squad that’ll travel around with you no matter where you go. The more you play, the more players you’ll be able to recruit to play on your squad. When you go to Philly to play on Cherashore Playground as a member of the Chosen League, you’ll have to see Allen Iverson in the final game of the tournament – if you beat him, you earn his respect and bring him onto your squad. It’s that simple. Each location is full of different current players, and even a few NBA legends. After you spend some time in The Streets, you’ll be given your chance to go through the draft process and earn your draft stock – that’s still just the beginning of a mode in The One that allows you to choose how you want to play, whether that’s in the NBA or Pro-Am, whenever you want.
She’s In The Game, Too
Speaking of The One, there are now no restrictions to becoming The One in NBA Live 19. Last year, we introduced the WNBA to our game as a Play Now feature. This year, both men and women get the chance to scan their face into the game and forge their paths to stardom. Female created players will have every chance to suit up in The Streets against the men and really give a new definition to the played-out stereotype ball like a girl.
One of the fastest rising actors on television right now, Omari Hardwick (“Power TV”), sat down with us to talk about just how important these sorts of additions are. In his interview with us, he spoke about watching the growth of representation in the toy industry as a child. One of his most vivid memories stemmed around his sister waking up on Christmas morning and seeing a doll that carried the same darker complexion as her – something she’d never seen even though she always looked. For Omari, this is a moment as important as that because he, a fellow gamer, wants to see everyone included in the game – not just men.
He brought up an interesting point that it really doesn’t make much sense not seeing women represented as much as they should be in gaming because they’re playing as many games as men. For an NBA game, he was elated to see the option in NBA Live 19 that men and women can play together in Pro-Am because that’s accurate to real life – in many of these venues, you’ll see pick-up games and pro-am games where it doesn’t matter what gender you are, just how you play. When you play NBA Live 19, you’ll get to create a female baller and won’t have any physical limitations for things like height, weight, or athletic ability.
Your Court, Your Rules
When you start playing Court Battles, a topic I went over only a couple weeks ago, you’ll get the chance to set your own rules and dictate how games are played on your court. For example, after you create your own court, you’ll get to choose a ruleset – this could be something like you get a point every time you block a shot or even extra points for a dunk. It’s really completely up to you. At launch, we’ll start off with 38 different rulesets for you to choose from but don’t be surprised to see that grow, too!
Omari, an old-school basketball guy, told me that he wanted some extra fouls on his court considering how soft some calls are these days. He went on to show me the difference between a foul today which was a little shove to an old-school non-foul which spurned him to go ahead and slap my wrist hard enough to leave a temporary mark – when he says physical play, I can vouch that he means it. Let’s use Omari’s court as an example now – you have extra fouls allotted, now he’d have to actually choose his lineup for defending his court.
Ideally, when selecting this group, he’d choose some of the more big-bodied physical players to play – guys like Draymond Green who aren’t afraid to get in your face and play tough-nosed defense. Jadakiss, one of the most prolific rappers alive, gave us a similar answer rooted in his love for 80’s and 90’s basketball – he wanted to make sure that you couldn’t play zone defense. His lineup might have tough defensive man-to-man matchups like Jrue Holiday or Victor Oladipo – members of the 2018 NBA All-Defensive First Team. No matter who you’re bringing onto your court, just make sure that, above all else, you win the game on your own court – it’s your house after all. And then, in the other part of Court Battles, you travel to other player’s courts and try to win on them.
Full Game Out Now
These modes are all great and really bring out the competition in everyone but are only a part of the features brought to you in NBA Live 19. Other features like Franchise Mode and Live Ultimate Team, plus new gameplay innovations like all-new Real Player Motion give plenty of other reasons to grab a controller and fire up NBA Live 19. So, who else is ready?
See the rest of the story on Xbox Wire
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