Business Editors/Sports Editors/Video Game Writers
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 30, 2006--Electronic
Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS) announced today that Adam Morrison, who led the
NCAA® in Division I men's basketball scoring last year and was the
third overall draft pick of the Charlotte Bobcats in the NBA, has been
selected the new face of NCAA® March Madness® 07, scheduled for
release January 16, 2007 under the EA SPORTS™ brand.
NCAA March Madness 07 debuts on the Xbox 360™ video game and
entertainment system by delivering a strategic basketball gameplay
experience and next generation feature set that captures the intensity
and atmosphere that characterizes college basketball. Never before
have home court and the home crowd meant more as your players either
rise to the occasion or wilt under the pressure of charged-up,
authentic college courts. Feel the intensity rise, then watch as each
player responds differently, trying to maintain composure. As the
atmosphere heats up your player composure ratings affect the all-new
Intensity Control that changes momentum by allowing you to pump up the
crowd, motivate your teammates, raise your own composure or even
intimidate your opponent. Plus, become immersed like never before by
interacting with student sections, school mascots, cheerleaders, and
even the band.
"I have always felt that a raucous crowd behind you like those at
Gonzaga University gave the team an extra boost. I fed off the emotion
of the home crowd and replicating this atmosphere in NCAA March
Madness 07 is being true to college basketball fans," said Morrison.
Fans will have the opportunity to experience the all-new
interactive environments by downloading an NCAA March Madness 07 demo
from Xbox Marketplace on November 14 prior to the EA SPORTS Maui
Invitational, the unofficial start to the college basketball season.
This demo will feature the defending NCAA Division I champion and the
top 2 ranked teams in the game, the No. 1 Florida Gators against the
No. 2 Kansas Jayhawks.
Morrison, 22, led the NCAA® Division I in scoring as a junior
forward last season with Gonzaga, averaging 28.1 points per game and
setting a school record with 926 points. He was a finalist for the
Wooden and Naismith Player of the Year awards. Morrison is the third
straight Bobcat to be featured on the cover of an NCAA March Madness
video game, joining current teammates Raymond Felton (2006) and Emeka
Okafor (2005) as EA SPORTS cover athletes on the No. 1 selling college
basketball videogame(1).
Beyond the atmosphere, NCAA March Madness 07 delivers an authentic
college basketball gameplay experience by offering custom playbooks
for each team through the Floor General Playcalling system, the EA
SPORTS Lockdown Stick that allows your players to pressure the ball,
force turnovers and harass opponents on the court, and an enhanced
Dynasty Mode™ with new School Pride and Recruiting features that
let you build your school into a national powerhouse. In addition, the
popular voices of college basketball are back with ESPN's Dick Vitale
and Brad Nessler calling the action courtside.
"There's no place like home in college basketball. A loud and
boisterous home crowd is a big advantage and fuels the momentum of a
game, especially when it smells a comeback," said ESPN's Dick Vitale,
one of the voices of NCAA March Madness 07. "I hear it all the time
from freshmen Diaper Dandies. They don't think the crowd is going to
affect them but when you walk into some of these arenas and hear the
fans for the first time, it can be unnerving."
With the most advanced ESPN integration package available in NCAA
March Madness 07, fans connected online via Xbox LIVE® will be able
to watch college basketball game highlights, segments from Pardon the
Interruption and Around the Horn, interviews and analysis from
SportsCenter, and more. Fans will also be able to download and listen
to ESPN radio podcasts as they play NCAA March Madness 07, including
segments from Dan Patrick, Mike & Mike, Stephen A. Smith and others.
All this is in addition to live ESPN Radio SportsCenter updates every
20 minutes, the ESPN Ticker and ESPNews.
NCAA March Madness 07 is in development at EA Canada in Vancouver,
B.C., and will be available on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation®2
computer entertainment system. The game is not yet rated by the ESRB.
Images of NCAA March Madness 07 box art can be found at
http://info.ea.com.
(1) Based on total franchise sales in 2005 according to the NPD
Group, Inc.
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City,
California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software
company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and
distributes interactive software worldwide for videogame systems,
personal computers and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its
products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA SPORTS
BIG™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2006, EA posted revenue of $2.95
billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's
homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about
EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the
Internet at http://info.ea.com.
EA, Electronic Arts, Dynasty Mode, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG and EA
GAMES are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc.
in the U.S. and/or other countries. All rights reserved. NCAA and
March Madness are trademarks or registered trademark of the National
Collegiate Athletic Association. "PlayStation" is a registered
trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox
Live and Xbox 360 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.
About the NCAA
The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and
universities committed to supporting academic and athletic
opportunities for more than 380,000 student-athletes at more than
1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 49,000
student-athletes compete in NCAA Championships in Division I, II and
III sports. For more information, go to www.ncaa.org.
SOURCE: Electronic Arts Inc.