Make less than ten baskets (6 of 16 from the field)  in your team’s first two NBA Final games, and you too can grace the cover of EA Sports NBA LIVE … assuming you look really cool with a Photoshop blur effect. Congrats Dwight Howard, aka “Superman”, now stop playing like the court is made of Kryptonite. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Three-Time NBA All-Star Currently Looking for First NBA Title

Redwood City, Calif. – Thursday, June 11, 2008 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today that Orlando Magic center, Dwight Howard, will be the cover athlete for NBA LIVE 10. A three-time NBA All-Star, Howard is currently looking to lead the Magic franchise to their first NBA Championship. The No. 1 pick of the 2004 NBA Draft was the 2009 NBA Defensive Player of the Year presented by Kia Motors, an All-NBA First Team selection the last two seasons, and stole the show at the 2008 NBA Sprite Slam Dunk Contest with his superhero antics. Additionally, Howard was the starting center of the 2008 U.S. Basketball Men’s Senior National Team which won the gold medal at the Olympics in Beijing. NBA LIVE 10 is currently in development under the EA SPORTS™ brand by EA Canada in Vancouver, B.C. and will be available worldwide this October.

“It’s an honor to be named as the cover athlete for NBA LIVE 10,” said Howard. “This year has been a crazy ride and this is a cool way to cap it off. Of course – there is one more thing I’m on the hunt for that would complete it.”

Featuring several innovations to the core gameplay experience and online game modes, NBA LIVE 10 is bringing a renewed focus to the long-running EA SPORTS basketball franchise. The groundbreaking Dynamic DNA service, driven by Synergy Sports Technology, will make a return in NBA LIVE 10, with significant improvements that will allow players to connect their game to the NBA season like never before.

Along with Howard, regional NBA LIVE 10 cover athletes for France, Germany, Spain and Italy will be named at a later date.

The NBA LIVE franchise has graced multiple generations of consoles for over 15 years, and has sold more than 35 million units lifetime. The game will be available for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. The game has not yet been rated by the ESRB. For more information, log onto www.nbalive10.com. Media can find screenshots and pack art of the game at http://info.ea.com.

EA SPORTS™ is the leading interactive sports software brand in the world, with top-selling titles and franchises including Madden NFL Football, FIFA Soccer, NHL® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAA® Football and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR®.

As the Los Angeles Lakers begin their season tonight, taking on the Portland Trailblazers, I’d like to let all my fellow Lakers fans out there know that we aren’t the only ones who believe our team will go all the way. NBA Live 09 thinks we have what it takes to be champs once again!

A video game simulation of the 2008-09 season was conducted, using the EA SPORTS NBA Live 09 engine,  and it predicted that the Lakers would end up beating the Miami Heat to win the NBA Championship.

According to the EA SPORTS press release:

A simulation is conducted by artificial intelligence or logic of the video game that uses real-life data from each player. Results are extrapolated by the video game when two teams match up based on player ratings, line combinations, and include variances such as injuries and hot streaks to give a realistic outcome of a game or series.

Pre-season simulations make the assumption that teams will stay healthy and play a season without any big trades, which would alter the end result. NBA LIVE 09 can now be used as a predictive throughout the season to simulate results of big match ups and the rest of the season with authentic data driving the artificial intelligence.

Along with predicting who would win it all, the Live 09 simulation showcased the Award Winners of the NBA season. Here’s are a few:

• Houston Rockets’ Yao Ming  completes an injury-free season and captures the MVP Award after posting 25.8 ppg and 11.1 rpg.
• Kobe Bryant of the championship winning Lakers leads the league in scoring with 27.9 ppg.
• Rockets’ Ming, Lakers’ Bryant and Pau Gasol, Celtics’ Paul Pierce and the Denver Nuggets’ Allen Iverson complete the All-NBA First Team.
• Memphis Grizzles’ OJ Mayo will take home Rookie of the Year honors.
• Randy Foye of the Minnesota Timberwolves is awarded Most Improved Player Award.
• In addition to capturing the NBA Championship, Lakers head coach Phil Jackson will take home Coach of the Year honors.

Being a Lakers fan myself, I’m excited to hear that the Live 09 simulation has the Lakers winning it all, but unfortunately, I still have my doubts.

I mean first of all the simulation has the Lakers taking on the Heat in the Finals. Are you kidding me? The Heat? They were the worst team in the league last year, posting a record of 15-67, and the prediction has them getting to the Finals with a 55-27 record this season.

As for how well the rest of the league faired, here’s the full list of standings:

Final Regular Season Standings:
Western Conference                 W                     L                      Win %
1 Los Angeles                           65                     17                     0.793
2 Houston                                 59                     23                     0.720
3 Dallas                                    54                     28                     0.659
4 New Orleans                           53                     29                     0.646
5 Denver                                   50                     32                     0.610
6 San Antonio                           50                     32                     0.610
7 LA Clippers                            47                     35                     0.573
8 Phoenix                                 46                     35                     0.573
9 Utah                                       45                     37                     0.549
10 Portland                               33                     49                     0.402
11 Golden State                        31                     51                     0.378
12 Memphis                              30                     52                     0.366
13 Sacramento                          29                     53                     0.354
14 Minnesota                            28                     54                     0.341
15 Oklahoma City                      23                     59                     0.280

Eastern Conference                  W                     L                      Win %
1 Miami                                     55                     27                     0.671
2 Detroit                                   48                     34                     0.585
3 Boston                                   44                     38                     0.537
4 Chicago                                 41                     41                     0.500
5 Cleveland                               41                     41                     0.500
6 Orlando                                  40                     42                     0.488
7 Toronto                                  40                     42                     0.488
8 Charlotte                                39                     43                     0.476
9 Milwaukee                              37                     45                     0.451
10 New Jersey                           37                     45                     0.451
11 Philadelphia                          37                     45                     0.451
12 Atlanta                                 36                     46                     0.439
13 New York                              32                     50                     0.390
14 Washington                          30                     52                     0.355
15 Indiana                                 29                     53                     0.354

I guess we’ll have to wait until next summer to find out who’s going to win it all for sure, but I’ll make sure to check back with these predictions to see how well the NBA Live 09 simulation turned out. Here’s to the great NBA season ahead! Go Lakers!!!

I just got a chance to play a game of NBA Live 09, and I gotta say I was really impressed. I was a fan of NBA 2K 08 last year, but I think EA might have the upper hand this year with all the new features and gameplay enhancements.

Let me start off with the EA Sports presentation of NBA Live 09, which took place yesterday.

It started off with Peter Moore introducing the game, but he quickly revealed a surprise guest to the stage: Basketball Hall of Famer and current NBA analyst Bill Walton, who suddenly stole the stage with his presence, humor and overall knowledge of basketball.

He totally won over the crowd and was my favorite part of the conference. To reiterate what Chad said, if Bill Walton was on the stage during the whole EA press conference, it would have been so much better. He was just that awesome.

Ok, enough about Mr. Walton – back to my impressions of NBA Live 09.

During the NBA Live 09 presentation, we saw cinematic gameplay and then we actually got to see the game running for the first time. The animations and player details look superb, easily keeping up with the likes of the NBA 2K series.

The biggest feature added to this year’s NBA Live (based on how many times Peter Moore mentioned it) is the Dynamic DNA, which is essentially a daily update of players and teams playing tendencies.

For example, say there is a real life NBA game going on one night, and Paul Pierce happens to drive to the basket cutting left the majority of the night. Following that game, Dynamic DNA will update the statistics of Paul Pierce in NBA Live 09 making it where he’d most likely be successful when cutting to the left.

Another example of how Dynamic DNA works is if a real life player is making a majority of his shots from one area of the court, that same player will be able to make those same shots in NBA Live 09 because that will become his “hot zone”. It kind of reminds me of NBA Jam’s hot spots, but just not as easy to pull off and the ball doesn’t catch on fire.

I got a chance to finally play a copy of the game today at the EA Sports showcase. I picked up the controller and was immediately impressed with the fluidity of the controls and the graphical detail to not only the players, but the fans and the stadium as well.

I got a hands-on demonstration of how the Dynamic DNA works and it’s just as cool as I thought it would be. It keeps the game as fresh as possible with daily updates. Honestly, I haven’t been this excited for a basketball game in awhile.

Just imagine getting all the latest stats and playing styles of all NBA players during the middle of the season. No more stats and rosters based off of the season before. Oh, and speaking of rosters, Dynamic DNA will also feature the ability to update any mid-season trades or cuts, as well as injuries to any players.

Another feature that I noticed, which kind of coexists with the Dynamic DNA, is the NBA Live Rewind. This all-new feature gives gamers the ability to take a look at stats from previously played NBA games, and use those same stats in the game you are going to play.

For example, say you are playing as the L.A. Lakers and your opponent is playing as the Boston Celtics. You can use NBA Live Rewind to look up the actual matches the two teams played against each other, and use the stats from one of those games. NBA Live Rewind is a really neat idea and gives players just another way to play the game.

Other than the Dynamic DNA and NBA Live Rewind, not much else was discussed during the presentation, but other features including the Pick and Roll Control, Defensive Lockdown Control, Signature Playcalling, Quickstrike Ankle-Breakers and FIBA tournaments have already been revealed for the game.

With the basketball season just recently coming to an end, I can only wait to get my basketball fix this fall when NBA Live 09 is released.