NBA Live 2002 ships

Electronic Arts has announced that it has shipped NBA Live 2002 for the Sony PlayStation 2 and the original PlayStation console. The eighth game in the popular Live series, NBA Live 2002 features a variety of pregame and postgame cutscenes to accentuate its overall sense of realism, particularly on the PlayStation 2. The PS2 version also includes a franchise mode, where players can draft rookies, sign free agents, and release and trade players over multiple seasons.

"We started with the goal of making NBA Live 2002 the complete basketball experience, from pregame to postgame and everything in-between,'' said producer Kevin Wilkinson. "Our focus was improving the gameplay and making the game so real that it feels like the player at home is actually perspiring underneath the hot arena lights. We added amazing pregame locker room scenes, bench scenes, and player interaction, in addition to new shooting and passing physics, more than 50 dunks, and a variety of new finishing moves close to the basket.''

Michael Jordan, in his number 23 Washington Wizards uniform, will appear in the game. His likeness will also be used on the back of the game's packaging and in television and print advertising for the game.