EA SPORTS Reinvents the Basketball Category with New Hands-On Control

24 June 2010, Australia – Electronic Arts Inc. has announced 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™ 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 revolutionise 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 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®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. The game has not yet been rated by the OFLC. For more information, log onto http://nbaelite.easports.com