EA Sports to Capture NBA Stars Go-to Moves for NBA LIVE

Electronic Arts Inc. announced NBA LIVE 08 cover
athlete Gilbert Arenas (Washington Wizards) will host the NBA LIVE Summer Camp
taking place at EA Canada in

Vancouver,
B.C. on Wednesday, August 29. Along with Arenas, NBA stars Paul Pierce (Boston
Celtics), Josh Howard (Dallas Mavericks), Monta Ellis (Golden State Warriors),
Shawn Marion (Phoenix Suns) and Randy Foye (Minnesota Timberwolves) will be on
hand to have their go-to moves authentically represented in NBA LIVE through
motion capture.

NBA LIVE Summer Camp, open to the media but not to the general
public, will provide the NBA players the opportunity to get their first look at
NBA LIVE 08, give feedback to the development team, and get them on the court
for a little friendly competition. As an added bonus, Arenas will pull out the
hibachi and grill lunch for his guests.

“One of our biggest goals has always been to develop the most
authentic sports games on the market,” said Jordan Edelstein, Director of
Marketing, EA SPORTS™. “Bringing in some of the NBA’s best athletes to EA for
motion capture gives us the means to create a basketball experience as
realistic in the videogame as you see it on the court.”

During the motion capture session, the NBA players will be
dressed in a custom fit suit with reflective markers. Cameras – each with their
own light source – surround the floor and record the point of light reflecting
off the markers as a dot on the screen. The “bones” of the game character are
pulled around by the dots in the same manner a string would pull a marionette’s
body around. This data is transferred into the game and enables the development
team to realistically represent that player’s movement as a videogame
character. EA Canada is home to the largest motion capture studio in the world
pumping out more than a half-million seconds of animation delivered each year
with 200+ shoot days.

All six players attending NBA LIVE Summer Camp will be paired
with kids attending the event from Burnaby KidSport during their friendly
shoot-around in the gym. This locally-based not-for-profit organization raises
and distributes money for kids in

Burnaby,
B.C., aged 5 to 17 who would not otherwise be able to participate in organized
sports due to financial barriers. This will be led by EA Canada’s Community
Relations program, EA Cares, which has a strong tradition of supporting the
community.

NBA LIVE 08 will be available in early October for the
PLAYSTATION 3 and PlayStation 2 computer entertainment systems, PSP (PlayStation
Portable), Xbox 360 video game system from Microsoft and the Wii. NBA LIVE 08
will ship to retailers on PC in late October.