Talk a little bit about what gamers’ experience will be like once the game is loaded. I heard something about “The Hangar”? Explain the inspiration and concept behind that.

First we looked at NBA Live 09 and what your first experience was. To back it up a little bit, when you boot up NBA Live 09 you would be put into this practice facility. While that was pretty cool, at the same time I don’t think it really gave users that kinda cool factor. That, “oh my God what is this? This is dope!” So, we kinda re-thought that – and for all the users who really liked the Academy Gym, it’s still in the game, it’s going to be in Dynasty mode. So you can still do your drills and all that. But, for the game this year we really wanted to make a different first impression. Looking at the lifestyle and the culture of hoops; looking at things like…commercials like the “Nike Air Force One 25th Anniversary” commercial, where these guys are playing in an airplane hangar. And it’s the top elite Nike dudes. We looked at that as a big inspiration for us, and thinking of things like, “if these NBA athletes had a big bank roll to design their dream gym, what would it look like?” Basically, that was “The Hangar”. So when you boot up the game this year, right away you’re in this really cool exclusive facility that only the elite players are in. It’s a way for us to give the user some time to practice some of the new game play mechanics. If you pull off a move with your control stick, we’ll have tutorial overlays that pop up in the right-hand corner to tell you “you’ve just performed this move.” So, it’s a way for you to “test out the waters”, see the biggest stars. Also, injected a bit of the lifestyle! When you boot up in the gym, you see this intro of guys wearing un-tucked shirts just like what you’d see when you go to run a “pick-up” game. Some guys – like Adidas and Brand Jordan guys – they’re actually wearing Adidas and Brand Jordan gear in this gym. It’s really taking a step back from the sim experience, because you already get that when you’re playing five-on-five. We wanted to bring you into a more casual experience to give you a bit more of the basketball culture. So, guys are just hanging out in the gym, shooting around. You get the music, the soundtrack playing, which is really SICK this year. On the video screen, in the background, we actually stream in ESPN, as well as our own video content. Throughout the year, if you’re connected online, we’ll actually be giving you some different videos that you could be watching in “The Hangar”. So really it’s like a hub of all things basketball. That’s what we wanted to do with that.

 
Nike’s Air Force 25 Advertisement was the inspiration for Live 10s “Hangar”

In “The Hangar” there’s mention of branded apparel being seen on the players; you mentioned Adidas and Brand Jordan. What other brands will be included; or we looking at any streetwear brands – UNDRCRWN, The Hundreds, Crooks, etc.?

Nah, I mean this is still very much about what these athletes would wear on the court. So, for now, it’s just relegated to Brand Jordan and Adidas. But, if ad opportunities open up later, definitely we could work with other brands. But, right now it’s really just working with the partners of the NBA. So, really it’s just about those brands right now in that venue. But, it’s definitely something to think about for next year. Say for instance we get outdoor courts and things like that; you could start to see other brands like Under Armour or Protégé, or even the streetwear brands like you just mentioned. Like LRG or UNDRCRWN. So that would be something to think about.

You stopped being involved in the NBA Live series starting with the 2005 title. It seems like the games popularity took a nose dive from the ’05 – ’09 title. Do you think there’s a correlation between that and your lack of involvement?

(Laugh) Nah man, I don’t even think it’s that! I think what it’s maybe that some of the direction in the past maybe may not have been there. Or, maybe we just didn’t focus on the right things that our consumers really wanted. I think, coming back to the title this year, some of things that we really wanted to do is really address some of the concerns that our audience has been speaking about for years. Some of the things that maybe we didn’t touch on before are some of the things I’m bringing back. Like the attention to detail with the sneakers, the tattoos, the jerseys, the throwbacks, more of the cultural elements. I think definitely that’s one of the things I feel like I bring to the table. Even the soundtrack, things like that. I’ve always been tight with some of the guys that worked on that team. I think they made a lot of progress throughout the years. I think the jump from ’08 to ’09 was big! I think the leap from ’09 to ’10 is even BIGGER! So, basically we’re just building on the foundation that those guys built.

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