14 DAY TRIAL // Ea Sports has announced that for the fifth year in a row it will be staging an event called NBA Europe Live, a basketball oriented event which will bring together teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the New York Knicks, Regal FC Barcelona and AJ Milano. The matches will be taking place in October and will be hosted by cities like Barcelona, London, Milan and Paris.
On October 3, the New York Knicks will face the Armani Jeans Milano on their home stadium with the Los Angeles Lakers battling the Minnesota Timberwolves at the O2 arena in London one day later. The Timberwolves are back in action on October 6 against the New York Knicks in Paris at the Palais Omnisports while the Los Angeles Lakers take on Regal FC Barcelona on October 7 at the Palau Sant Jordi. The NBA and EA Sports will also collaborate on community oriented events that will take place in the four cities.
Peter Moore, the president of EA Sports, said “We are pleased to continue this partnership with the NBA and are proud of our role in helping to present the world’s best basketball across Europe. As the popularity of this event and the sport grows in Europe, it becomes the ultimate platform to support NBA basketball and the globalization of our NBA LIVE videogame.” David Stern who is the commissioner of the NBA, also expressed delight at the return of the NBA to Europe.
NBA Europe Live is part of the marketing push that will be built around the launch of NBA Live 11 which will probably be released at a later date in October. EA Sports has not talked about the upcoming installment in its basketball series, but fans can look forward to improved graphics and some gameplay tweaks along with the now usual shuffling of the player rooster.