S. Samuel
The 2K Sports franchise is giving gamers a basketball threesome all on one cover by featuring professional athletes Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose on its upcoming NBA 2K13 title.
Rather than feature a past or present NBA champion, 2K Sports decided to go with today’s current NBA protégés.
Most of the excitement in L.A. last season centered on the dunks the Clippers threw down and less on the aging Lakers. With the purple-and-gold bowing out in the Western Conference semifinals, all eyes were on LeBron James and Kevin Durant battling for league supremacy. And only three years after Bryant appeared on the cover of the NBA 2K video game, it is now embracing up-and-coming albeit less accomplished NBA stars. “NBA 2K13” will feature the Clippers’ Blake Griffin, Oklahoma City’s Durant and Chicago’s Derrick Rose on the cover, The Times has learned. (Los Angeles Times)
All three basketball stars have released statements addressing the covers.
“Being crowned as one of the NBA 2K13 cover athletes is a huge honor and something I always dreamt about,” said Durant, who won his third straight scoring title and led the Thunder franchise to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1996. “It’s definitely humbling to grace the cover after the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird.” (Statement)
“There’s so much young talent around the NBA, so it’s very exciting to be chosen for NBA 2K’s ‘New Dynasty’ alongside Kevin and Derrick,” added Griffin, who helped lead the Clippers to their first postseason since 2006. “The NBA 2K series has always been my first choice when I want to get a game in.” (Statement)
“It’s a dream come true to be one of the cover athletes for NBA 2K13,” commented Rose, the 2010-11 NBA Most Valuable Player, who led the Bulls to a league-best 50-16 record this season. “I’ve worked closely with 2K Sports since NBA 2K10, and I’m honored to follow in the footsteps of Michael Jordan as the latest Chicago Bull to be featured on the cover.” (Statement)
The new 2K title is slated to hit retail outlets in early October.
After having Michael Jordan featured in the previous two installments of 2K’s basketball sim, this time around 2K Sports decided to give cover rights to Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin. Jason Argent of 2K Games stated “We selected what we believe are the three most exciting youngest, hottest players in the league to grace the cover of our game this year”; and in my opinion with the exception of LBJ, what better three players to have gracing this year’s cover. With NBA 2K shifting back into traditional cover art form with current players, hopefully the developers can shift the franchise back to traditional game-play as well. Tip-off is set to begin October 2nd. (Free OnSmash)
Last year’s game also featured three NBA legends, however, each had his own respective solo cover.
The game, which shipped five million units in its last incarnation, previously featured Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan in a triptych of covers individually released with one legend per cover. This year’s model will feature all three stars on the cover at once. (Yahoo News)
Check out the NBA 2K13 promo below:
