by John Gaudiosi on Thursday, February 14, 2008
NEW ORLEANS--The NBA All-Star Weekend takes place February 14-17 in New Orleans. The event has become the premiere showcase for game publishers to connect with diehard basketball fans through parties, game tournaments and the NBA Jam Session experience.
"Each game publishing partner will have a presence at our NBA Jam Session," said Stacey Kerr, senior director global merchandising group, NBA. "Our annual survey of participants finds that year after year the video games are the most popular attraction at the Jam Session."
Electronic Arts will have the EA Sports Live Lounge with kiosks of NBA Live 08. On February 16, they'll hold the Finals of the NBA Challenge, the culmination of an eight-city tour. The winner will be awarded a check for $10,000.
EA Sports is actually kicking off the NBA All-Star Weekend Valentine's Day night with its NBA Live All-Star Challenge at Republic, a popular club in the warehouse district. NBA players LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland Trailblazers), Caron Butler (Washington Wizards), Kevin Durant (Seattle SuperSonics), Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies), Gerald Green (Minnesota Timberwolves), Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs), Brandon Roy (Portland Trailblazers) and Deron Williams (Utah Jazz) will be participating in the NBA Live 08 gaming tournament and LSU alum Glen "Big Baby" Davis of the Boston Celtics will emcee the event.
"We're on the ground with the NBA there at All-Star," said Peter Moore, president of EA Sports. "We typically will do our event the Thursday before, very similar to the Madden Bowl three days before the Super Bowl. We stake out that date. I was at the NBA All-Star Game last year in my Microsoft job and saw how EA Sports and the NBA Live product was heavily marketed there. We were also a sponsor of NBA Live in Europe before this season, which was a big part of our globalization focus."
Midway, which rotates every year with EA Sports Big in bringing an arcade NBA game to market, will debut its NBA Ballers: Chosen One at NBA Jam Session. Kerr expects this game to be a big draw because it's the first time consumers will be able to get hands-on time with the title, which ships April 21 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
"This year's NBA All Star Game will be the launching pad for Midway's video game, NBA Ballers: Chosen One, which allows players to live the life of an NBA Superstar," said Mona Hamilton, vice president of marketing, Midway. "Midway will showcase NBA Ballers: Chosen One at the annual Jam Session event where the game will be playable by fans for the first time ever. We'll be hosting an autograph session with our cover athletes, Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic and Al Horford of the Atlanta Hawks. This weekend will also serve as the debut of our ad campaign with TV spots on ABC, ESPN and TNT as well as print ads appearing in the 2008 All Star program and USA Today, among other publications."
Sony Computer Entertainment America is a partner for the annual Saturday Night PlayStation Skills Challenge. At this year's Saturday night event, an entire row inside the arena will receive PlayStation 3 consoles and a copy of NBA 08. In addition, Sony will have its PlayStation locker room truck inside NBA Jam Session for fans to check out the different versions of NBA 08.
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