Using the design principles from some of EA SPORTS top rated franchises, NBA Elite 11 introduces several significant gameplay changes that center around user control. The new ‘Hands-On Control’ scheme allows for one-to-one responsiveness of a player’s movement and actions on the court, as opposed to traditional predetermined animations that require users to wait while a scenario played out before making the next move. Hands-on Control applies to everything within a player’s offensive and defensive arsenal, including: dribble moves, dunks, drives to the basket, fadeaways, mid-air adjustments, blocks, steals and more.

The new real-time physics system in NBA Elite 11 allows each player on the court to move independently of one another, removing the two-man interactions that have long taken the user control out of basketball simulation videogames. In addition, a new skill-based shooting system requires accurate user input, based on a player’s position on the court, versus the randomly generated dice rolls that have driven shooting in basketball videogames in the past.

Oklahoma City Thunder small forward, Kevin Durant, will be the cover athlete for NBA Elite 11. A 2010 NBA All-Star, Durant became the youngest player in NBA history to lead the league in scoring this past season, and he helped lead the Thunder to an impressive 50 win season and an NBA Playoffs berth.

“I’ve always been a fan of EA SPORTS,” said Durant. “This has been an exciting year for me and the team, and capping it off with being on the cover of NBA ELITE 11 is cool.”

“Durant is a game changer,” said Jordan Edelstein, VP Marketing, EA SPORTS. “There has never been a player his size with his skill set, and there has never before been a basketball videogame like NBA ELITE. Just like we see Durant as the future of the NBA, NBA ELITE 11 represents the future of basketball videogames by providing a gameplay experience you simply won’t find anywhere else on the market.”

Picked second overall in the 2007 NBA Entry Draft, Durant has accumulated an impressive list of accomplishments in his short professional career, including being named the 2008 T-Mobile NBA Rookie of the Year. Additionally, he will be representing the USA in the 2010 FIBA World Championships this summer in Turkey.

Durant is only the third player in EA SPORTS history to be featured both on the pack of an NCAA and an NBA licensed product. Durant was featured on the cover of NCAA March Madness 08.