Random Thoughts on 10/12/2015: Gender in Sport’s Games Revisited (Briefly)

I wrote a post about how I think there should be a WNBA game a few weeks ago (Here), and after writing and looking for examples of women in basketball games I was pointed towards one. I had my attention turned to EA Sports March Madness 2001, a collegiate basketball title featuring both men and women!

This is a PSOne game, so I grabbed it for 10 bucks new and popped it in. The game is broken up into differences play modes. Quick mode, season, march madness and….wait for it…..it’s coming……. WOMEN’S NCAA SWEET 16!!! It is a mode featuring the sweet 16 teams from the year before.

There is actually a cool graphic for the logo featuring two women jumping after a ball and it’s classy. Graphically, the game is rough. Early 3D games have aged about as well as…well it’s a bunch of triangles. BUT you can tell that the female player models are different than the men. The skill sets the women have are different as well!

The game plays well, the women have lay up animations but could not dunk. There were a few moments where the game would say men or something in a stat and not realizing they were a graphic on a women’s game.

Here’s my point-

IN 2001 VIDEO GAMES REPRESENTED FEMALES IN THEM PLAYING BASKETBALL. ENTIRE TEAMS, WITH ARENAS, ALL WITHIN A LARGER GAME.

WHY CAN’T WE DO THIS NOW? ADD A WNBA MODE TO CURRENT GAMES. /END RANT

also, watch the WNBA Finals. The Lynx are playing the Fever and it is going to a decisive game 5. Maya Moore, Tamika Catchings….it’s a great series.

Why no WNBA Game?

With the inclusion of female athletes in the new FIFA game, why can’t we have a WNBA game?

Let’s look at a brief history of woman in basketball video games-

NBA Street! The NBA Street series has always been very gender inclusive. They have had WNBA stars such as Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi as well as the pop group 3LW.

I am going to be honest with you… this is all I found. There might be more but in a world where Arena Football has a blitz clone AND an EA game you’re telling me we can’t have a WNBA game?!?!

People say they’ll support the WNBA when they can dunk….they can. They have the talent, the women in NBA Street were extremely fun to control in the game.

Females have been in Tennis games, soccer, golf, volleyball but why not a simulation basketball game?

The WNBA is not some fly-by-night league. It is one of the premier leagues for women’s basketball in the world.

Now is the best time to make this game. WNBA 2K16 will have Elena Delle Donne, Skylar Diggins, Brittany Griner, Candace Parker, as well as legends like Sue Bird, Tamika Catchings still playing.

Lisa Leslie is being inducted into the basketball hall of fame. There is a history and present day that deserves to be immortalized in video games. American Collegiate legends are going to the WNBA instead of over seas. Let’s make it happen.

Before the world cries out “But nobody watches the WNBA and a game would never sell!” I will respond that more people would watch if they learned about the players and teams via gaming. Have a WNBA mode in NBA Live or NBA 2K. Women are gaming! Sports games sell! DO IT!