When Trying to Be Cool Goes Wrong: NBA 2K15 Face Scanning

NBA 2K15 launched today, and with it came a bunch of new features and tweaks. The 2K series hasn’t been without its flaws, but it has a long track record of being a very popular and polished game in the sports space for quite some time. I personally think it peaked with 2K13, but I haven’t spent much time with the latest iteration yet. Beyond the updated rosters and souped-up graphics, 2K Studios added a new feature to the already-excellent MyCareer subset of the game. MyCareer, as the name suggests, allows the gamer to create their own NBA player and simulate a career with said character. In the past, MyCareer basically ensured your player would get drafted. No longer. 2K15 makes you work for it, hustling for 10-day contracts as you try and make your way through the lowest ranks of the NBA. The game also added the option of uploading your own face to your player to give the process a bit of hyperrealism. Anyone who has the camera accessory for the Xbox One or PS4 can perform a facial scan and graft that scan onto a virtual body. It’s a pretty cool idea, but early trials have been a bit hit-and-miss.

Fans who picked up the game today have been uploading their attempts at facial scanning to Twitter, and the results have been fairly horrifying. I don’t mean that in an “if my ex saw me on the street dressed like this, I’d be horrified” type of way. I mean it in a full-on nightmare fuel, call-your-doctor-for-a-refill-of-Xanax kind of way. While some attempts turned out down-right goofy, others looked like they came straight from the set of The Walking Dead. 

This is the problem inherent in releasing a new version of a sports video game every year. Games are expensive, and developers are constantly looking for ways to differentiate between versions so as to not seem like just a roster update. They succeed in many ways. The defensive upgrades in this year’s version of the Madden franchise is just one recent standout (NHL15 failed pretty hard in their release, but that’s a different story). As it happens, even the process of facial scanning can be frustrating. A viewing of Owen S. Good’s attempts for Polygon is a short introduction to a man descending into madness.

NBA 2K15 has already sent along some steps for getting successful scans, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some patches coming in the not-so-distant future. In the meantime, enjoy dominating the NBA as a soulless member of the army of undead. If your character manages to overtake LeBron and snack on his tasty brains, feel free to link a video in the comments.