Electronic Arts announced that four-time NBA All-Star Vince Carter and third NBA draft pick Carmelo Anthony, who led Syracuse University to the 2003 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, will serve as spokesmen for EA SPORTS basketball products scheduled for release this fall.
Carter will appear on packaging and merchandising for NBA LIVE 2004, which, going into its tenth season, is the best-selling basketball videogame of all-time with more than 18 million units sold. Anthony will serve as spokesman and cover athlete for NCAA March Madness 2004, the popular EA SPORTS college basketball franchise.
Carter enters his sixth NBA season this fall with a career scoring average of 24.1 points per game. Selected fifth overall in the 1998 NBA Draft, Carter's high-flying dunks and acrobatic play have made him one of the league's most dazzling superstars since he burst onto the scene and won 1998-99 Schick Rookie of the Year honors. He was selected to the 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 NBA All-Star games, three times leading all players in votes received. Carter was selected to the All-NBA Second Team (2000-01), the All-NBA Third Team (1999-2000), and he represented the United States at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he averaged a team-high 14.8 points per game en route to the gold medal.
Being a part of the EA SPORTS team is a tremendous honor and a terrific moment in my basketball career, Carter said. As a longtime gamer, it's a thrill to be asked to represent the Freestyle Revolution that EA SPORTS has brought to NBA LIVE.
Fresh off leading Syracuse to the national title as a freshman, Anthony will appear on the cover of NCAA March Madness 2004. A second-team All-America selection after averaging 22.2 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, Anthony guided the Orangemen to their first NCAA men's basketball championship last April. He was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2003 NCAA Final Four and was the Consensus National Freshman of the Year. Anthony was selected by the Denver Nuggets with the third overall pick in the June NBA Draft.
There's no better way to celebrate last year's national championship than to represent Syracuse and EA SPORTS on the cover of NCAA March Madness 2004, Anthony said. This game is so unique because it brings fans all the excitement, tradition, and strategy of college basketball that I was fortunate to experience last year. It's a great accomplishment for me to be able to appear on the cover of this game cutting down the nets from the Final Four.
NBA LIVE 2004 and NCAA March Madness 2004 are both scheduled for release this fall. NBA LIVE ships on the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, Xbox video game system, Nintendo GameCube, and PC-CD, while NCAA March Madness will be available on the PlayStation 2 console and Xbox.