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Before you read any of this post, I have but one request: take two minutes out of your life and watch the above video. It’s of a crazy Dwight Howard dunk from the NBA All-Star Weekend Dunk Contest, and you should watch it not only for the dunk — which is plenty insane in and of itself — but also for the over-the-top (yet completely warranted) reaction from NBA on TNT analyst Kenny Smith (you’ll know who I’m talking about if you watch the video). And he mentions the term “video game” thrice!

What does this have to do with anything? Well, Dwight Howard went on to win the Dunk Contest, which just happened to be great press for Midway’s NBA Ballers: Chosen One, a street basketball game in the vein of their classic NBA Jam series. You see, on January 14th, Howard was announced as the cover athlete for the game, so it was pretty convenient for Midway that he won. Midway has gone the opportunistic route — they’re heavily promoting the game using Howard’s Dunk Contest win as the focal point of their advertising campaign.

Midway had a heavy presence at the All-Star Game to begin with, including helping NBA Cares (the league’s social initiative program) to refurbish two basketball courts at a New Orleans grade school. They also had some demo kiosks for the game on hand during the weekend. Finally, the game’s website was launched on February 14th in conjunction with the Search for the Next Chosen One contest, which asks for custom player artwork designs for the game with the promise of some NBA-related prizes.

Five recent screens from the game are posted below, in addition to a promotional composite shot of photos from Howard’s ridiculous dunk and some more screens from the game. NBA Ballers: Chosen One is set for release on April 21 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.


LAUNCH GALLERY (6 IMAGES)
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32 comments | showing # 1 to 32

MrSadistic's Avatar
MrSadistic at 02/27/2008 11:20
That's ballin'.
Video Cognito's Avatar
Video Cognito at 02/27/2008 11:24
This year's Slam Dunk Contest was amazing thanks to Dwight Howard. That dunk is tied with his first dunk in my mind. Charles Barkley was talking so much shit that night, hahaha.
Gameboi's Avatar
Gameboi at 02/27/2008 11:26
I do that same pose that you are doing in your editor's pic all the time. Does that make us brothers?
Samit Sarkar's Avatar
Samit Sarkar at 02/27/2008 11:42
@Gameboi: That must be the case, then. I don’t know why, but I point at people...a lot.
Kryptinite's Avatar
Kryptinite at 02/27/2008 11:43
first off: Holy Shit! That dunk was amazing and Dwight is a beast

2nd: Damn I hate Kenny Smith.

tree: I know there's a 'h' in three

quad: I hope this game doesn't blow and it has nothing on NBA Street: Homecourt.
Snaileb 's Avatar
Snaileb at 02/27/2008 11:51
BALLER.
Noah's Avatar
Noah at 02/27/2008 11:52
Where'd you come from Samit!? It's so cool to see sport games getting some love on D-Toid for once. Too many people here I think are under the impression that playing the imaginary role of a 16 year old RPG he/she is more sophisticated than playing as a professional athlete. :)

"He is a video game, he is not a real person!" ha ha ha awesome quote...I wish someone will say that about me someday.
Holyetheline's Avatar
Holyetheline at 02/27/2008 11:56
I like sports games that are mixed with fighting games. Mutant League Hockey is a perfect example of this.
Samit Sarkar's Avatar
Samit Sarkar at 02/27/2008 12:00
@Noah: I’m new on the staff; previously, I was a c-blogger under the name “BrOnXbOmBr21”. I’m glad you care about sports games, because that’s exactly what I’ll be covering! And hey...while RPGs aren’t my thing, I’d advise against making statements like that — some people would call it “flamebait”.
Batthink's Avatar
Batthink at 02/27/2008 12:00
Dwight Howard can not only dribble on the court, but on the backboard too? Blimey.
AgentMOO's Avatar
AgentMOO at 02/27/2008 12:01
I had no idea what the fuck happened until the sloo*OH SHIT BALLER*ooww motion recap. That is quite an amazing feat.

Also, video games.
jdub28's Avatar
jdub28 at 02/27/2008 12:02
i think street ball is dying. And 1 was ultra popular 4 years ago now they come on espn @ 3 in the morning. The NBA is pushing team guys like chris paul, lebron, and now players must be outta school at lest one year before getting drafted (college is really the only option). I much rather have an nba jam type a game than tricks and stuff that street and ballers give us
CelicaCrazed's Avatar
CelicaCrazed at 02/27/2008 12:04
Dwight really brought back new life to the dunk competition. I believe it will be even crazy in the years to come.
I still feel that Jamario Moon got robbed. Apparently people in the know say that the dunk he was going to use in the finals was completely out of this world. Hopefully he pulls it off in a game.
jdub28's Avatar
jdub28 at 02/27/2008 12:09
moon shouldnt have put the tape down than jumped from a foot inside of it. it was a great dunk but he had real bad presentation
Professor Pew's Avatar
Professor Pew at 02/27/2008 12:14
Two niggaz in the front,
Two niggaz in the back...
CelicaCrazed's Avatar
CelicaCrazed at 02/27/2008 12:23
The tape did drop his score but I still feel people aren't giving the dunk itself the respect it deserves. Not only did he still jump from pretty far out, he jumped left-footed then caught and dunked with his left. No easy feat, especially considering Kapono did not give him the bounce he was looking for which threw him off.
iron789's Avatar
iron789 at 02/27/2008 12:27
No video of the superman dunk, that's the one that'll stick in my memory. It's fun to see an NBA big man have the athleticism that usually only comes with smaller guards... Too bad his talent is getting wasted with orlando.
Dexter345's Avatar
Dexter345 at 02/27/2008 12:44
I didn't fully catch the dunk the first time through. Thankfully, with the slow motion stuff I really understood why the announcer was freaking out so much. They should retrofit NBA Jam with that dunk.
Qraze's Avatar
Qraze at 02/27/2008 12:46
good fncking dunk. man how i want to play some nba jam,that game was incredibility fun. maybe they'll release it on vc/xbl/psn that would be shweet with online play and maybe some rewards. heard it from me first. #1_in_the_hood_G!!
Guagloves's Avatar
Guagloves at 02/27/2008 12:47
The things I would do for some NBA Jam...

HE'S ON FIRE!!!
Qraze's Avatar
Qraze at 02/27/2008 12:49
that was a good nba jam combo we just got. completely random
Sharpless's Avatar
Sharpless at 02/27/2008 13:13
Is it really that impressive? Players have been doing similar dunks since the days when I actually cared about sports, I'm pretty sure. I don't understand the reaction.
jdub28's Avatar
jdub28 at 02/27/2008 13:47
im pretty sure none of us can do that while on the ground, nevermind being 40 inches off the ground
JohnnyV's Avatar
JohnnyV at 02/27/2008 14:05
The part that this story is missing is that we showed Dwight that dunk back in December at the TV Commercial Shoot - We had motion captured and processed it back in August or so...

Anyway, after he saw it he goes "I'm going to try and do that dunk in the dunk contest!" and the rest is history.

The game is turning out well. I hope D-Toiders take a minute to give it a try, even if you aren't big basketball fans. It is a really fun smack-talking game.
Sharpless's Avatar
Sharpless at 02/27/2008 14:10
I'm not saying it's not an impressive dunk, but that I'm surprised that it's still considered impressive, given that I've seen similar ones numerous times in past slam dunk contests. "Throw the ball, then dunk it on the bounce" is old, old stuff, the only difference here being the little change of hands at the end.
JohnnyV's Avatar
JohnnyV at 02/27/2008 14:14
The video quality is shitty - He's tossing it up, catching it mid-air, then bouncing it off the backboard again, then catching it again and dunking it.

Nothing like that has ever been done in a dunk contest before afaik...
El Fajitas's Avatar
El Fajitas at 02/27/2008 16:34
it says it's no longer available!

Massive youTube fail :(
Justice's Avatar
Justice at 02/27/2008 16:36
That was a great dunk contest and this is great news.
MasterMS's Avatar
MasterMS at 02/27/2008 16:59
That guy has SKILLS
Zero_armada's Avatar
Zero_armada at 02/27/2008 18:03
And thus Pre-orders for NBA Ballers flooded the Gamestops...
Samit Sarkar's Avatar
Samit Sarkar at 02/27/2008 22:30
See, I wasn’t as impressed by the “Superman” dunk because he didn’t come close to touching the rim. It was an amazing athletic feat, to be sure, but I just thought this one looked cooler.
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 02/28/2008 02:05
Yeah, that's a pretty cool dunk. Then again, I don't watch many dunks, so I'm easily impressed.
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