Image via Wikipedia
His Airness is back. Well, sort of. For the first time in what seems like forever, Michael Jordan will be a playable character in an NBA basketball video game. In fact, Jordan will even grace the cover of the game! On October 5, 2010, 2K Sports will release NBA 2K11 across all platforms, and the hype has certainly picked up since it was announced that Jordan will be featured in this latest release.
For those who are unfamiliar with the history of Jordan and video games, it is quite an interesting tale. To the best of MY memory, I have not seen Jordan in a video game since the early 90s when I played games on the old Sega Genesis. I haven't seen him in a video game since, and I would say I buy a basketball video game at least once every three years (most video games these days feature legends in some sort of playable fashion, so players like Bird, Magic, etc. are available as well). People across the gaming world do recall MJ appearing in several games in the early 21st century, but disputes over the rights to his likeness/image ended those cameos. For whatever reason (money), Jordan refused to let video game companies use his name in their products. To combat this, video games sometimes featured a player on the Bulls with a randomly assigned number who had godly attributes just so gamers could have the effect. But it was never the same. You cannot replace Jordan! NBA 2K11 will also feature a special in-game challenge where you get to recreate some of Jordan's most memorable moments.
For NBA fans who love video games, this should be an easy sell. I know I'm buying it. Once I heard the rumor I immediately searched around the internet for confirmation or a press release. I periodically searched for images of the cover, which are now everywhere, including here. I even saw a trailer on the 2K Sports website that gave me goosebumps! I think this was a brilliant move by the staff at 2K Sports. I have no doubt that this game will be the best-selling in their NBA 2K franchise. Basketball fans have had a lot to get excited about over the past several months (free agency, Team USA, the draft) and this just keeps the ball rolling.
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