Gaming Friday: Blake Griffin cover of NCAA Basketball 10

So not exactly a huge surprise this year, but Blake Griffin of Oklahoma was named cover athlete for this year's EA Sports NCAA Basketball 10 game. Given that this NBA Draft was set to be basically Blake and a bunch of other guys, EA was essentially in the same slot as the Clippers - just roll with the best available player. (I wasn't surprised EA did the smart thing, maybe a little bit surprised the Clippers did!)

The cover is pretty sweet.

What surprises me though is that we don't see more of a gaming presence inside the draft as a whole. I'm sure there are a bunch of reasons, but I'd love to get to a point where we see more of the gaming spin on the draft as it happens. Madden and the NFL draft rocked this earlier this year (see post here).

Here is a perfect opportunity for EA to leverage the power of having both the NCAA and NBA franchises. I know we'll get there, I'm just anxious to see more.

Steve Nash and Guillermo: The power of fun interviewers

Over the past week I've caught a few interviews that made me laugh. And it is clear just how compelling these interviews become when the interviewer has fun with it. It's kind of ironic that we look at all interviews about being about the subject, when in reality it is the person holding the mike, asking the questions, that steers the story into something entertaining.

First, Steve Nash was named an Official Correspondent for the Late Show with David Letterman this week out at the NBA Finals. I know it's been done in the past (see Chris Bosh at last season's finals on the Tonight Show). There is a magical combination of talented player with a fun personality taking a camera crew and having fun:

But then I saw this piece on the Jimmy Kimmel show. Guillermo Diaz (who rose to fame through pieces on Jimmy Kimmel as a parking lot security guard) was also sent to the Finals to interview Kobe. The interview is priceless, and you can tell from the interview how much fun Kobe is having with it. This is all interesting to ponder -- put the right person out there with the mike and pure goodness results:

OK, and as a bonus for those who read this long - here is last year's Chris Bosh piece on the Tonight Show. Enjoy.

Gaming Friday: Dwight Howard and NBA Live 10

EA Sports made their NBA Live 10 cover official today, naming Orlando's Dwight Howard the man. They released the trailer below, narrated by Mos Def. Interesting trailer, as it makes me curious if EA is going to have a solid soundtrack inside this game.



The other thing that came from this release is that EA is extending the window of interest in NBA Live. There will be a new blog entry each week from now through October. I'd love to see the cadence of what is coming -- the only thing teased here was "drastically improved net and rim physics," which for some reason really excites me. I don't think there's anything that is more hoops than the sound of the ball streaming through the net. What excites me though is that this is a signal that there is a serious analysis going on into all aspects of the game.

There's also a tease for EA Sports Live Radio to discuss these features each Monday following these posts. Can't wait!

Gaming Friday: E3- Project Natal, Twitter, and Facebook oh my...

Just when you think you can predict where the video gaming world is going, something new and unexpected peaks it head out.  Earlier this month at the E3 conference, Microsoft Xbox unveiled Project Natal.  The concept is pretty simple - roughly 40% of households own gaming consoles (60% from what I hear if you count families that game on their computers), leaving a huge chunk of the market that is locked off from gaming.  

Enter Natal.  It's essentially a motion-sensing camera that adds onto your 360 if you have one or becomes your gaming system if you don't.  Here's a video that shows off potential game play.

Key word is potential - I'm tall and I've played a few motion sensing games that couldn't adjust for me to play alongside a shorter person leading to a quick demise of me in some Star Wars jousting match.  What games come out that haven't been there before?  How does voice recognition change things?  No release date was stated, though there are rumors and rumors its a Fall 2010 thing.  

But the thing that most excited me from E3 was learning that we are about to see is the beginnings of linking Facebook and Twitter into the gaming world (link here).  Most specifically, starting with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, you will be able to grab screen shots (and I'm guessing video highlights) from your 360 and save them to your Facebook profile using Facebook connect.  There is a lot of gaming imagery being shared now, and it is pretty complicated for the average person to figure it out.  This has the potential of exploding the amount of sharing, trash talking, and community aspects of gaming.

It also has the potential to link up your friends in both worlds, your Facebook friends and your Gaming friends.  If you're cool with that.  Here's a demo video unveiling things at E3 - hope you enjoy!

THis is a 

Following the MLB Draft on Twitter

OK I admit it. I have always wanted the MLB Draft to be larger than it was. Being a huge Royals fan (where are you 1985?), it is that moment where I can sit back and dream about what we could become.

The MLB Draft just always seemed WAY behind the times compared to the NBA and NFL Drafts. Sure, the odds of making it to the show in baseball are nowhere near the odds Blake Griffin will make an impact in a few weeks (no offense, Stephen Strasburg!). But the emotion and the energy of fans seemed lost.

This year, the MLB did a couple things differently. First, they moved the draft back to 6 pm EST (rather than noon EST). Second, they introduced a webcast integrated with Twitter. (See image below).  Here's a link to the release.

What is most interesting here is not simply the integration of fan tweets alongside a draft cast (though that is cool), but rather the integration of two other components:  1) MLB scout/expert opinions and 2) a select number of players who would be drafted.  I thought this was pretty cool -- give us both expert takes on these picks and the emotion of the kids who were facing their new futures!  

In case you are interested, here are Twitter feeds for those players:

Drew Storen - Closer from Stanford

Jacob Marisnick - High School Outfielder from California

Eric Arnett - High School Pitcher from Indiana

I am interested to see if/how the NBA Draft is impacted by this one...  Please give us a new version of the Green Room!

Kobe vs Howard, Terminator Style

This is a pretty sweet mix put together by a fan - to get us all hyped up about a Kobe vs Dwight showdown in the Finals. Nowhere near as exciting as a Kobe vs LeBron showdown might have been, but it isn't for lack of effort by this video. It's pretty cool to see this collection of highlights and the mixing is interesting.

The ending has a nice climax with the voiceover, music, and an image fit for a poster. Enjoy.

Gaming Friday: NBA 2K10 cover announcement

I've been intrigued to follow the announcements on next year's NBA video gaming covers.  As mentioned earlier, EA Sports will be announcing their cover athlete for NBA Live 10 during NBA Draft week.  Meanwhile, in sync with Game One of the NBA Finals (and e3 week), 2K Sports announced Kobe Bryant as their cover athlete.  Honestly, not a huge surprise.  Here's a good read on ESPN about Kobe and the game.  What I found mildly surprising was their announcement commercial, which also aired last night:

Spike Lee going through a list of possible Knicks to slot on the cover, before settling on his recommendation of Kobe in a Knicks uniform.  Fans can vote online here.  On the site are 4 covers of Kobe (and only Kobe).  3 Lakers poses, 1 Knicks pose.  As of now, NY Kobe is in second place.  Which kind of surprises me -- as the contest itself feels, well unauthentic.  (Did they have this concept in place when they were cutting a deal with LeBron and then just kept it for Kobe?)  It's interesting to me I guess to see this, as 2K's gaming lineup has always been billed as the one with the most authentic feel and this year we see this launch, while EA is delaying showing their hand until NBA Draft week.  Is this a changing of the guard?

What I would like to see though is a way to tap into the emotion of fans in a way that is meaningful and authentic and I just don't think it has been tapped into yet, by anyone.  Spike does a great job of illustrating the passion each fan has for their team.  But how far off are we from customizing your own cover?  Create your own artwork around the chosen athlete and order it...  or (even better) choose from a list of athletes.  That makes gaming covers more pieces of art and less pieces on a shelf or in an entertainment cabinet.  It taps into the minds of creatives out there.  And, well, it's fun.