Kevin Garnett Joins EA Sports lineup for NBA Live 2001

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Electronic Arts ("EA") and recent Olympic gold medallist Kevin Garnett have reached an agreement naming Garnett as EA SPORTS' spokesman for the latest iteration of its NBA Basketball series, NBA LIVE 2001. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"I am really excited to be in with EA SPORTS and NBA LIVE 2001 because I like to be associated with the best," quipped Garnett. "I had a great time doing motion capture in Vancouver and enjoyed sitting down with the development team to give them my thoughts and ideas about the game. I think LIVE 2001 is going to be the most realistic hoops game ever!"

The Timberwolves captain is coming off a summer that saw him win a gold medal as a member of the USA Olympic basketball team in Sydney, where he averaged 10.8 points per contest. In addition to his International accolades, the 1999-2000 NBA campaign was Garnett's most productive to date. He was named All-NBA First Team after posting career highs in points (22.9), rebounds (11.8) and assists (5.0) per game, and was named to his third All-Star team. In addition, Garnett's tenacious defense earned him a spot on the NBA All-Defensive First Team and his loquaciousness behind a microphone landed him on the NBA All-Interview Second Team. Garnett's image will appear on all NBA LIVE 2001 packaging and merchandising, and he will continue to lend his vast knowledge of basketball to future NBA products in order to achieve the ultimate in game realism and authenticity.

"We believe that KG is the future of the NBA, and his enthusiasm, personality and exciting style of play are a perfect fit for EA SPORTS and the NBA LIVE Series," said executive producer Stan Chow. "Kevin is a huge gamer and a longtime NBA LIVE player, so we really value the input he provided," Chow continued. "We believe that this input and his motion captured dunks and post moves will immerse gamers and help them feel like they are not just watching a game, but are on the court actively participating."

NBA LIVE 2001, the seventh edition in the most successful basketball series of all-time, allows the player to control the post or fly high above the rim with many new moves--up and under, drop step, jump hook, and many more. With all-new player reactions, bench sequences and crowd animations, the stadium comes alive. The PC version features enhanced chat & match-up system, encouraging users to join games by making online play easier to use, faster and more accessible. Franchise mode is back and has been upgraded, as has the Face in the Game(TM) technology, allowing users to be "in the game." The new "NBA Challenge" feature invites PlayStation users to take on numerous gameplay challenges in an effort to earn points for succeeding, with these points going towards a huge selection of awards. Speech and sound effects were also upgraded by incorporating a new approach to speech that captures the essence of the interaction between the play-by-play and color commentators. LIVE also features a cutting-edge soundtrack with the widest array of hip-hop and rap songs ever available in the LIVE series, highlighted by Universal recording artist Montell Jordan who wrote and performed the theme song. NBA LIVE 2001 will be available on the PlayStation, PlayStation® 2 Computer Entertainment System, PC and Game Boy Color. The most realistic looking basketball game ever, LIVE goes hard to the rack, delivering more emotion and atmosphere than ever before. It's the complete NBA experience.

Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, Electronic Arts posted revenues of more than $1.4 billion for fiscal 2000. The company develops, publishes and distributes software worldwide for the Internet, personal computers and video game systems. Electronic Arts markets its products under three brand names: EA SPORTS(TM), EA GAMES(TM) and EA.COMSM. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at www.ea.com.

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