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Spurs' Tony Parker named global cover athlete of EA's NBA LIVE 09

by: Randy -
More On: NBA Live 09
On Twitter today I overheard 1up Editor, Garnett Lee, saying, "Tony Parker gets the cover of NBA LIVE 09?  Really?  What, was Paul Millsap tied up?"  If I followed basketball at all, I'd know whether or not that statement was tinged with irony.  As it is, in Tony Parker's seven NBA seasons, the 26-year-old is a two-time NBA All-Star, has three NBA championships, and was named the 2007 NBA Finals MVP.  Adding to his video game credentials, Parker won an NBA LIVE 08 tournament against fellow NBA stars at the EA SPORTS All-Star Challenge last February in New Orleans.

TONY PARKER NAMED GLOBAL COVER ATHLETE OF EA's NBA LIVE 09

NBA's Biggest International Stars Grace Covers in Italy, Spain and UK

Picture (Device Independent Bitmap)

Redwood City, Calif. - Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - Electronic Arts Inc.
(NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today that San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony
Parker will be the cover athlete and spokesman for NBA LIVE 09.  In his
seven NBA seasons, the 26 year old is a two-time NBA All-Star, has three NBA
championships and was named the 2007 NBA Finals MVP.  Parker will be the
first European born global cover athlete of NBA LIVE. Off the court, Parker
is an avid gamer and won an NBA LIVE 08 tournament against fellow NBA stars
at the EA SPORTS All-Star Challenge last February in New Orleans.

"I have a long history with EA SPORTS.  I've been on the cover in France for
five years straight and I've been playing NBA LIVE for as long as I'
ve played basketball," said Parker. "It's a real honor for me as a European
player to now be represented on the worldwide cover."

Parker is joined by some of the NBA's biggest international stars on
packaging around the world, including the Los Angeles Lakers' Pau Gasol
(Spain), Toronto Raptors' Andrea Bargnani (Italy) and Chicago Bulls'
Luol Deng (UK).

Player  Territory       Team
Tony Parker     Worldwide*      San Antonio Spurs
Andrea Bargnani Italy   Toronto Raptors
Pau Gasol       Spain   LA Lakers
Luol Deng       UK      Chicago Bulls
*with the exception of the countries named below

NBA LIVE 09 is back with new features like Pick and Roll Control, Defensive
Lockdown Control, Signature Playcalling and Quickstrike Ankle-Breakers that
will make the NBA LIVE experience fun from beginning to end. For those in
need of some extra coaching, NBA LIVE 09 takes you to training camp with the
NBA Academy that gives you a chance to hone your skills.

Now featuring 24 authentic FIBA teams with realistic team play styles and
rosters, NBA LIVE 09 features a FIBA World Championship Mode using FIBA
tournament structure, rules and court dimensions.  Take your game online
with 5 vs.5 team play, where 10 people can play together on 10 different
consoles around the world.

NBA LIVE 09 will be available for the Xbox 360T, the PlayStationR3 computer
entertainment system, the WiiT, PlayStationR2 computer entertainment systems
and the PSPR (PlayStationRPortable). The game will be in stores on October 7
in North America, and on October 14 worldwide.
The game has not yet been rated by the ESRB or PEGI; visit www.esrb.org
<http://www.esrb.org/>  or www.pegi.info for updated rating information.
For more information, log onto www.easports.com/nbalive09
<http://www.easports.com/nbalive09> . Media can find screenshots of the game
at http://info.ea.com <http://info.ea.com/> .

EA SPORTST is the leading interactive sports software brand in the world,
with top-selling titles and franchises including Madden NFL Football, FIFA
Soccer, NHLR hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAAR Football, Tiger Woods PGA
TOURR and NASCARR racing.