One of the ways we pushed for increased broadcast integrity was in the lighting of our stadiums. Previously our night and dome stadiums were lit for maximum visibility of the crowd and thus were not consistent with typical broadcast camera exposures. In Madden 11 we attempted to better emulate how stadiums appear when the exposure is set for the action on the field. Using a variety of reference material, we attempted to closely approximate the patterns of light and shadow unique to the individual stadiums.

In a marketing/advertising partnership with men's deodorant Old Spice, Madden NFL 11 features a new Old Spice Swagger rating. While not as meaningful as the clutch of other attributes that define your player, it's no less realistic of a quality. The swagger rating determines who is more likely to break out into celebration after a big play. This prevents normally stoic offensive linemen, for example, from jumping around after a TD like they were Martin Gramatica. On the other hand, it also makes sure guys like Chad Ochocinco have an opportunity to show their latest moves.

It's been promised for some time, and given FIFA's dominance and how Pro Evolution Soccer has struggled to gain a foothold on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 it's arguably four years overdue. Regardless it's here at last, and Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 does what Pro Evolution 6 should have done; it tears up the style sheet, kick-starts a fresh brand of football and is unlike anything you've ever experienced from the series. This truly is a new dawn for Pro Evolution Soccer.

"We're platform agnostic. We sell more software on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 than anybody," said Schappert. "That being said, we partnered with Sony on the press conference; we were on their stage and got to announce some things."

"I wouldn't read too much into what we're showing the demos on, but I will tell you, in the marketplace, the PlayStation 3 is doing incredibly well."

At E3, we were given an eyes-only demonstration of NBA 2K11 that was long on visuals and short on gameplay specifics. The return of Michael Jordan to video games; the second season of its singleplayer career mode; new controls, questions that touched those areas weren't answered. 2K has been pressed by hype for NBA Elite's name change and new control set, but EA Sports, as the long running challenger, is somewhat obligated to get its message out now. 2K isn't about to dump everything it has just because it's a big week for new games, when such news could get lost in traffic.

So what do all of these new controls mean for NBA Elite 11? From what we've seen, the controls work great in one-on-one play. However, producers only showed us five-on-five play--we didn't get a chance to try it for ourselves. This was certainly intentional; it's easy to get a better handle of the controls in a controlled setting, and we suspect that full-team play simply hasn't been tuned yet to make the most of the new controls.

NBA All-Star Kevin Durant Named Cover Athlete of EA SPORTS NBA ELITE 11

EA SPORTS Reinvents the Basketball Category with New Hands-On Control

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) announced today that Oklahoma City Thunder small forward, Kevin Durant, will be the cover athlete for NBA ELITE 11. A 2010 NBA All-Star, Durant became the youngest player in NBA history to lead the league in scoring this past season, and he helped lead the Thunder to an impressive 50 win season and an NBA Playoffs berth. NBA ELITE 11 is currently in development under the EA SPORTS™ brand by EA Canada in Vancouver, B.C. and will be available worldwide this October.

“I’ve always been a fan of EA SPORTS”

NBA ELITE 11 introduces significant gameplay changes that promise to revolutionize the basketball videogame experience. Hands-On Control is an innovative new control scheme that allows for one-to-one responsiveness of a player’s movement and actions on the court, as opposed to predetermined animations from the past that require users to wait while a scenario played out before making the next move. Hands-On Control is unique to NBA ELITE 11 and it is used to manage everything within a player’s offensive and defensive arsenal, including: dribble moves, dunks, drives to the basket, fadeaways, mid-air adjustments, blocks, steals and more.

“I’ve always been a fan of EA SPORTS,” said Durant. “This has been an exciting year for me and the team, and capping it off with being on the cover of NBA ELITE 11 is cool.”

“Durant is a game changer,” said Jordan Edelstein, VP Marketing, EA SPORTS. “There has never been a player his size with his skill set, and there has never before been a basketball videogame like NBA ELITE. Just like we see Durant as the future of the NBA, NBA ELITE 11 represents the future of basketball videogames by providing a gameplay experience you simply won’t find anywhere else on the market.”

Picked second overall in the 2007 NBA Entry Draft, Durant has accumulated an impressive list of accomplishments in his short professional career, including being named the 2008 T-Mobile NBA Rookie of the Year. Additionally, he will be representing the USA in the 2010 FIBA World Championships this summer in Turkey.

Durant is only the third player in EA SPORTS history to be featured both on the pack of an NCAA and an NBA licensed product. Durant was featured on the cover of NCAA March Madness 08.

NBA ELITE 11 will be available for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment 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 http://nbaelite.easports.com

EA SPORTS™ is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, global videogame competitions and breakthrough digital experiences. EA SPORTS delivers personal access to the emotion of sports through industry-leading sports simulation videogames, including Madden NFL football, FIFA Soccer, NHL® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAA® Football, Fight Night boxing, EA SPORTS MMA and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® golf, and EA SPORTS Active™.

For more information about EA SPORTS, including news, video, blogs, forums and game apps, please visit www.easports.com to connect, share and compete.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA Mobile™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2010, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.7 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million units. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile and POGO are trademarks or a registered trademark of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. NHL is a registered trademark of the National Hockey League. John Madden, NFL, NBA, FIFA, NHL, NCAA, Tiger Woods and PGA TOUR are trademarks of their respective owners and used with permission. Xbox and Xbox 360 are registered trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. “PLAYSTATION” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.