EA Changes the Game, Announces NBA Elite 11 (Press Release)

[Steve_OS]

EA SPORTS Set to Re-invent the Basketball Simulation Videogame Experience This Fall

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq:ERTS) announced today that NBA ELITE will be the new moniker of the long running EA SPORTS™ 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®3 and the XBOX™ 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®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360® 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™ 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® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAA® Football and NCAA Basketball, Fight Night boxing, EA SPORTS MMA and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 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.

[jaosming]

Sounds a lot like when they were selling us Quick Strike replacing Freestyle

[DaveDQ]

What a big old plate of cotton candy this announcement is.

[ProStylez]

Re: EA Changes the Game, Announces NBA Elite 11 (Press Release)

Really?

[smithdynasty]

I only have one thing to say. IM NOT BUYING IT!!!!!! I've given EA sports enough chances

[Jasong7777]

Re: EA Changes the Game, Announces NBA Elite 11 (Press Release)

Well they certainly made it sound good. Hopefully they can pull it off. If it works the way they describe it, it could be really good.

[oldman]

Re: EA Changes the Game, Announces NBA Elite 11 (Press Release)

When they announce the changes for their Franchise mode, then I will be really interested. This didn't sound bad, but they still have a long way to go to catch the other guys.

[Valdarez]

Name change? I guess that's one way to 'change the game'. Their NBA game needs far more than a name change and an over hyped marketing announcement to make it relevant again.

[rudyjuly2]

I guess we'll have to wait and see how revolutionary the new controls are. Mike Wang can't jump ship again lol.

[Rebel10]

Re: EA Changes the Game, Announces NBA Elite 11 (Press Release)

THis is what needs to be done for basketball games. Basketball games are one of the few games where the core-mechanic of the game took a step back with the movement from 16-bit to 32-bit consoles, and it's continued to move back. They articulate the problem with basketball games well: everything is a 2-player animation, and the game could probably be played using a quick time event system similar to Heavy Rain: "Press A," :: wait for animation :: "Rotate the stick" :: wait for animation :: :: defender committs and fails to defend :: :: open lane ::. Every move in basketball videogames effectively follows this route.

It's something I've long wanted, probably for about 5 years after basketball games started boring me to tears with lack of control, but I was never sure if it could be done in a basketball game like how it's been done in Hockey or soccer.

I don't know if EA will pull off a good game with it this year, but I'm hoping for a good building block, like how NHL '08 was a great building block for a much better NHL '09.

[UF Fan]

can't wait. i love this game

[tpe14]

Re: EA Changes the Game, Announces NBA Elite 11 (Press Release)

That sounds better than live. I hope this is a huge step forwards for ea.
I expect a lot from "elite" this year.

[ODogg]

Re: EA Changes the Game, Announces NBA Elite 11 (Press Release)

I thought this was just a bunch of BS marketing spin too until I read my OXM (or maybe it was the PS3 mag) and saw some diagrams of how they will use the left and right analog sticks to control your player. This looks a lot like what they did with the NHL series when it got rebooted. This could really be a real challenge to NBA2K series if they have truly redone the game like they did when they did the NHL reboot. I will definitely rent it and check it out.

[Pepenfl]

I don't wanna be a cinic now, i wanna believe.

When the said the same for FIFA, all the PES lovers (and EVERYBODY loved PES and hated FIFA) made laugh about them. Today, FIFA is the best sport game, not just the best soccer game, and this sound exactly how FIFA has changed sports games (free, total control, realism, physics...)

I wanna belive.

[Sens4life]

MLB 10 The Show is easily the best sports game, FIFA 10 is pretty awesome though.