EA SPORTS Reinvents the Basketball Category with New Hands-On
Control
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jun 22, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) announced today that Oklahoma City
Thunder small forward, Kevin Durant, will be the cover athlete for NBA
ELITE 11. A 2010 NBA All-Star, Durant became the youngest player in
NBA history to lead the league in scoring this past season, and he
helped lead the Thunder to an impressive 50 win season and an NBA
Playoffs berth. NBA ELITE 11 is currently in development under
the EA SPORTS(TM) brand by EA Canada in Vancouver, B.C. and will be
available worldwide this October.
NBA ELITE 11 introduces significant gameplay changes that promise
to revolutionize the basketball videogame experience. Hands-On Control
is an innovative new control scheme that allows for one-to-one
responsiveness of a player's movement and actions on the court, as
opposed to predetermined animations from the past that require users to
wait while a scenario played out before making the next move. Hands-On
Control is unique to NBA ELITE 11 and it is used to manage
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.
"I've always been a fan of EA SPORTS," said Durant. "This has been an
exciting year for me and the team, and capping it off with being on the
cover of NBA ELITE 11 is cool."
"Durant is a game changer," said Jordan Edelstein, VP Marketing, EA
SPORTS. "There has never been a player his size with his skill set, and
there has never before been a basketball videogame like NBA ELITE.
Just like we see Durant as the future of the NBA, NBA ELITE 11
represents the future of basketball videogames by providing a gameplay
experience you simply won't find anywhere else on the market."
Picked second overall in the 2007 NBA Entry Draft, Durant has
accumulated an impressive list of accomplishments in his short
professional career, including being named the 2008 T-Mobile NBA Rookie
of the Year. Additionally, he will be representing the USA in the 2010
FIBA World Championships this summer in Turkey.
Durant is only the third player in EA SPORTS history to be featured both
on the pack of an NCAA and an NBA licensed product. Durant was featured
on the cover of NCAA March Madness 08.
NBA ELITE 11 will be available for the PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer
entertainment system and Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system
from Microsoft. The game has not yet been rated by the ESRB. For more
information, log onto http://nbaelite.easports.com
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, Fight Night boxing, EA
SPORTS MMA and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR(R) golf, and EA
SPORTS Active(TM).
For more information about EA SPORTS, including news, video, blogs,
forums and game apps, please visit www.easports.com
to connect, share and compete.
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 or a registered
trademark of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. NHL is a registered
trademark of the National Hockey League. John Madden, NFL, NBA, FIFA,
NHL, NCAA, Tiger Woods and PGA TOUR are trademarks of their respective
owners and used with permission. 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.
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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 (VP, Communications)
dtinson@ea.com
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