ESPN Integration

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ESPN Integration in NBA Live 07

ESPN Integration, first introduced in NBA Live 07, is an initiative resulting from the fifteen year agreement between ESPN and EA Sports that allows the ESPN brand to be utilised in the NBA Live series as well as streaming online content from ESPN such as scores, news stories and video highlights. It would later refer to the use of ESPN branding for NBA Live's in-game presentation.

NBA Live 07[edit]

ESPN Integration's debut in NBA Live 07 featured updates in the form of a news ticker, breaking news updates, scores, radio podcasts and ESPN Motion video. Most of these features were only implemented in the Xbox 360 version of the game which left many fans disappointed, particularly fans of the PC version which only featured the news ticker in the EA Sports Online Lobby. All versions of the game featured extensive ESPN branding with stats screens, boxscores and even Dynasty Mode features such as scouting reports and mock drafts being presented in the style of ESPN.com's coverage.

NBA Live 08[edit]

NBA Live 08 continued to use ESPN branding in stats menus and retained the sports ticker and audio updates, while featuring more on-demand content including scores and videos. ESPN content would be accessed automatically or disabled completely if desired.

NBA Live 09[edit]

ESPN Integration in NBA Live 09 retains the same features as NBA Live 07 and NBA Live 08 while also featuring a new ESPN Game of the Week feature as part of NBA Live 365.

In Recent Games[edit]

Beginning with NBA Live 14, the in-game presentation made full use of ESPN branding, including logos, overlays, and music. Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy replace Marv Albert and Steve Kerr on commentary, while Jalen Rose narrates the pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows, all of which are designed to resemble an NBA on ESPN broadcast.

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