It literally gave me chills.
As I popped in the latest edition of the No. 1 selling basketball video game, NBA 2k11, into my Playstation 3 upon purchase, a special something awaited me.
After hitting “start” to get through the game’s startup screen, it happened. The screen went black. The crowd went nuts. The Alan Parsons Project song “Sirius” began to play.
Da-da-da
da-da-da-da
da-da-da
da-da-da-da
If you were a fan of Michael Jordan or the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The music with which former Bulls public address announcer Ray Clay used to play to accompany his introduction of the Bulls’ starters, plays and when the screen lights up, there is Jordan, in the tunnel of Chicago Stadium and he runs out as Clay yells
“From NORTH Carolina…..at GUARD…….6’6″…..Michael…..JORDAN!!!”
The crowd goes nuts, Jordan runs out to join his teammates and all of a sudden, you get a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. Soon thereafter you realize that you’re in the 1991 NBA Finals: the Chicago Bulls vs. the Los Angeles Lakers. Jordan. Magic. Pippen. Worthy. Horace Grant. Byron Scott. The gang’s all there.
If you were a Jordan or Bulls fan, this is one of the coolest things you could ever experience in a sports video game as NBA 2k11 fully integrated arguably the greatest player of all-time, Jordan, into the video game.
It was two weeks ago when I first acquired my copy of NBA 2K11 and so far, I’m still having a blast with it. I haven’t even delved into online play or many of the other features and have simply spent time on the Jordan Challenge, a series of 10 scenarios that occurred during MJ’s career that you can replay and try to accomplish yourself.
If you were around to witness those moments, it’s tons of fun. Battling the ’86 Celtics with a mean starting five of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge is incredibly fulfilling, as is navigating the other nine opponents, including the Bad Boys Pistons, the ’92 Portland Trail Blazers and the late 90′s Utah Jazz teams just to name a few.
As I type this in the wee hours when I probably should be asleep, I’m through six of the 10 challenges, having just completed the “Double Nickel” game when Jordan dropped 55 on the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden in the midst of his return from baseball. Needless to say I’ve sacrificed some sleep hours here and there trying to get through the challenges.
But if your a sports video game fan and you harken for the days of yesteryear in the NBA and generally enjoyed those times when Jordan was dominating and there were so many other memorable greats, do yourself a solid and check out the game. It’s definitely worth it.
