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Share on FacebookAugust 18 -- Ballers want to be rappers. Rappers want to be ballers. It's a relationship that's existed as long as their respective "games" have.
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Wade handles the rock in NBA 2K6.
Courtesy 2K Sports |
Now it appears some of hip-hops hottest acts will finally get a chance to fullfill their hardwood dreams.
Rap luminaries such as Method Man, Redman, Flava Flav, Common, Aesop Rock and ?uestlove from The Roots will be playable characters in NBA 2K6's new The Entertainer's Basketball Classic (EBC) at Rucker Park mode, a streetball tournament feature in the pro basketball simulation title. NBA 2K6 is slated to be released this fall from publisher 2K Sports.
"Basketball and hip-hop culture have always been connected at the street level, so we wanted to ensure that NBA 2K6’s vibe is as authentic as the gameplay," said Tim Rosa, director of marketing and promotions for 2K Sports, the game's publisher.
Additionally, 2K6’s soundtrack will boast 14 original tracks created exclusively for the game, with tracks from Aesop Rock, The Roots, Common, RJD2, Jean Grae, Aceyalone, Lyrics Born, Zion I, Hieroglyphics and more. Not only will they appear in the tile, but they'll be released on a compilation CD by Decon Records entitled "The Tracks."
Rounding out the music integration campaign will be the nationwide 2K Sports Bounce Tour in promotional support of the game and its soundtrack. The tour, which is being headlined by The Roots and underground icons such as RJD2 and Aceyalone, is traveling to more than 30 top markets this fall.
"By featuring exclusive original tracks, accompanied by both a tour and the ability to play as select musicians in the game," Rosa said, "our pioneering approach to music integration marks a turning point in what is possible in the video game industry."
HAPPY MADDEN DAY
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The Madden 06 title marks the first Madden in the last 10 years to include an all-new passing game. QB Vision Control, as its known, lets the user scan the field, look off defenders and make perfect throws within their quarterback's unique field of vision. How wide that field of vision is depends on the ratings of the signal caller. For example, Peyton Manning's is comparatively broader than Michael Vick's. Also, QB Precision Placement lets the user have increased control over where they target their throw.
The other new feature in the 16-year-old series is NFL Superstar, an entirely new single-player mode allowing the gamer to experience the life of an NFL player by earning one of more than 60 personas ranging from MVP to Movie Star. Features include choosing your parents, hiring an agent, getting drafted into the NFL, visiting tattoo parlors, choosing different movie roles and even getting the chance to play in the coveted EA Sports Madden Bowl, a real-life Madden tournament NFL players annually participate in at the site of the Super Bowl.
The Madden tournament specifically for gamers -- the EA Sports Madden Challenge -- is set to kick off August 27th in Las Vegas with a $100,000 grand prize check for the Finals winner. The fourth annual competition, which is being played exclusively on the Xbox console this year, will visit every NFL city in regional tournaments throughout the U.S.
Individual winners from each city will then advance to the Finals in Honolulu, Hawaii on Feb. 10, 2006. Last year, more than 16,800 competitors battled across the nation to determine the best Madden NFL Football player with Eugene “Big Gene” Williams from Washington, D.C., taking home the grand prize.
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Marv Albert and Mike Fratello
TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE
Why have one cover when you can have two? Publisher 2K Sports announced that its hockey title NHL 2K6 will include specially-designed packaging for the Canadian and European markets, with Toronto Maple Leafs’ All-Star center Mats Sundin as the cover athlete.
Highly regarded as an NHL leader in scoring and an international hockey icon, Sundin has been honored as one of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ “All-time Greats,” and has been selected as team captain for the Leafs, and the Swedish Olympic and World All-Star hockey teams. He joins American NHL 2K6 cover athlete Dallas Stars’ Marty Turco as official spokesmen for NHL 2K6.
According to GameRankings.com average scores of 2003-2005 hockey video games and based on NHL 2K5 sales in 2004-2005 from NPD Funworld, the NHL 2K series is the top-selling hockey franchise.
YELLOW CARD
Soccer fans, considered yourself warned. You might not be able to pull yourself away from your controller this winter because the Konami's World Soccer Winning Eleven franchise is set to include online play capability for the first time ever, it was announced Wednesday.
Winning Eleven 9, slated for a Winter 2006 release, will allow gamers all over the world to go head-to-head and even qualify and play in tournaments they put together themselves in the title's new Online Mode.
The series also features upgraded gameplay, more teams, deeper modes of play and improved A.I.
IN OTHER NEWS...
Pricing on the new Xbox 360 has been revealed. According to the San Jose Mercury, a high-end model with a 20-gigabyte hard disk drive will retail for $399 and will come pre-loaded with videos and music. The version of Xbox 360 without a hard drive will retail for $299. ...
The World Cyber Games U.S. Final will be staged in New York City for the first time in its five-year history this Sept. 8-10. Since May over 40,000 gamers across the US have been battling to qualify for the US Final.
Players at the U.S. Final will compete for a prize pool of $34,000 and a chance at the ultimate honor in e-sports, representing their country. The winners will form Team USA and travel to Singapore in November to compete against the world's best gamers at the 2005 World Cyber Games Grand Final. More than 1 million gamers are competing globally to reach their national final and for a chance at an aggregate prize pool of $2.5 million. …
iGames and Intel are sponsoring a three-month, 10-city tour from Aug. 19-Oct. 21 allowing gamers to experience the NextGeneration of PC Gaming with Intel’s First Dual-Core Processor-Based Platform.The "Seasons of Extreme" tour will include stops in Toronto, Seattle, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Houston, Kansas City, San Francisco, Miami and Sacramento. For further information visit www.igamesorg.com. ...
The Cyber Professional League (CPL) recently designated Counter-Strike version 1.6 as the primary team game for the 2006 season.
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