EA SPORTS Set to Re-invent the Basketball Simulation Videogame
Experience This Fall
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jun 02, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq:ERTS) announced today that NBA ELITE
will be the new moniker of the long running EA SPORTS(TM) NBA videogame
franchise. NBA ELITE 11 will revolutionize the way basketball
simulation games are played, with an all-new technology base, a new
control scheme and a real-time physics system. Currently in development
for the PLAYSTATION(R)3 and the XBOX(TM) 360, NBA ELITE 11 will be
available in retail stores this October.
"We plan to profoundly evolve the interactive basketball experience in a
way that the category has not seen for a decade," says Peter Moore,
President, EA SPORTS. "In NBA ELITE 11, we'll introduce a gameplay
experience that gives fans the control on the court that they have been
begging for in a basketball game for years."
Using the design principles from some of EA SPORTS top rated franchises, NBA
ELITE 11 introduces several significant gameplay changes that center
around user control. The new 'Hands-On Control' scheme allows for
one-to-one responsiveness of a player's movement and actions on the
court, as opposed to traditional predetermined animations that require
users to wait while a scenario played out before making the next move.
Hands-on Control applies to everything within a player's offensive and
defensive arsenal, including: dribble moves, dunks, drives to the
basket, fadeaways, mid-air adjustments, blocks, steals and more.
The new real-time physics system in NBA ELITE 11 allows each
player on the court to move independently of one another, removing the
two-man interactions that have long taken the user control out of
basketball simulation videogames. In addition, a new skill-based
shooting system requires accurate user input, based on a player's
position on the court, versus the randomly generated dice rolls that
have driven shooting in basketball videogames in the past.
"NBA ELITE 11 will give gamers the same skill set that a pro basketball
player has at his disposal," said David Littman, Creative Director, NBA
ELITE 11. "This is the first basketball simulation videogame where
you are controlling every movement, dribble move, shot, dunk, lay-up,
steal and block in real time with one-to-one control. You're no longer
going to push a button and watch the computer generate a long animation
sequence. It is like being on a basketball court with an amazing set of
skills. This is going to change what people have come to expect from a
basketball simulation videogame."
"From the first day of development on this product, it was clear that we
intended to pioneer a groundbreaking change in the basketball videogame
segment," said Jordan Edelstein, VP Marketing, EA SPORTS. "It's a whole
new game that warranted a brand new name to fully capture the
transformation we intend to deliver in NBA ELITE."
Electronic Arts has been releasing basketball videogames since 1983. The
first game, titled One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird, was one of
the first basketball games to feature real NBA players. The franchise
was rebranded to become NBA LIVE with the release of NBA LIVE 95, a
brand that has carried on for 16 years culminating in last year's NBA
LIVE 10. EA's NBA-licensed franchises have sold more than 25 million
units since 1995*.
NBA ELITE 11 will be available for the PlayStation(R)3 computer
entertainment system and Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system
with an MSRP of $59.99. It is developed by EA Canada in Burnaby, B.C.
The game has not yet been rated by the ESRB or PEGI.
EA SPORTS(TM) is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the
world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive
technology, global videogame competitions and breakthrough digital
experiences. EA SPORTS delivers personal access to the emotion of sports
through industry-leading sports simulation videogames, including Madden
NFL football, FIFA Soccer, NHL(R) hockey, NBA LIVE
basketball, NCAA(R) Football and NCAA Basketball, Fight
Night boxing, EA SPORTS MMA and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR(R)
golf, and EA SPORTS Active.
For more information about EA SPORTS, including news, video, blogs,
forums and game apps, please visit www.easports.com
to connect, share and compete.
*According to the TRST/NPD Data
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is
a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in
1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive
software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless
devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under
four brand names: EA SPORTS(TM), EA(TM), EA Mobile(TM) and POGO(TM). In fiscal 2010,
EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.7 billion and had 27 titles that sold
more than one million units. 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, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile and POGO are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc.
John Madden, NFL, NHL, NBA, NCAA, Tiger Woods and PGA TOUR are
trademarks of their respective owners and used with permission.
Microsoft, Xbox, and Xbox 360 are registered trademarks of the Microsoft
group of companies. "PlayStation" is a registered trademark of Sony
Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are the property of
their respective owners.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6312346&lang=en
SOURCE: Electronic Arts Inc.
Electronic Arts Inc.
Duke Indrasigamany, 604-456-3150
Sr. Publicist
dukei@ea.com
Jen Riley, 604-456-5081
PR Director
jriley@ea.com
David Tinson, 650-628-5189
Sr. Director, Communications
dtinson@ea.com
Copyright Business Wire 2010