NBA All-Star Nate Robinson Gets His Kicks on Xbox Live

At the NBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas, Nevada, the console of choice was Xbox 360™. There were videogame tourneys by 2K Sports, Xbox Live®, and EA Games, as well as kiosks available to the tens of thousands of attendees at the NBA All-Star Jam Session at the Mandalay Bay Casino.

Nate Robinson plays NBA 2K7 on stage at the NBA All-Star Game.

NBA All-Star Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks spent some time at the 2K Sports/Toyota booth playing NBA 2K7 with contest winners, and taking on fellow Eastern Conference All-Star Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic. They played onstage in front of a live audience, which is nothing new for Robinson, the victor of last year's All-Star Game Slam Dunk contest in Houston. While Robinson's virtual Knicks lost to Howard's virtual Magic, Robinson was still able to show that he's almost as good at videogame basketball as he is at the real thing.

Secret Identity
"There are a lot of people across the world that play video games on Xbox Live, and I'm one of them," said Robinson. "I play online and use the headset and it's like talking on the phone to the people you're playing against. You can talk trash and it's fun. It's great because you can accept them as your friend and it's somebody that might not even know who you are."

"When I tell people I'm Nate Robinson
from the Knicks they're like, 'Yeah, right,
get out of here!' They don't believe me."

Every once in a while, Robinson will talk to his opponents and reveal his real identity. "When I tell people I'm Nate Robinson from the Knicks they're like, 'Yeah, right, get out of here!'" said Robinson. "They don't believe me. And I'm like 'What do I have to do to make you believe me?' And I end up naming my whole team, naming their kids, everything."

And they usually still don't believe him. Perhaps it's because Robinson's just too good for players to accept him as a gamer and a professional athlete. His favorite games to play online are Madden NFL 07, Gears of War®, NBA 2K7, Call of Duty® 3 and Lost Planet™: Extreme Condition.

"The competition is tough because some guys play online all day," said Robinson. "I remember one time I woke up at like 6 in the morning because we had early practice and I turned on Xbox Live and there were like a million people playing at that hour."

The NBA gamemaker of choice for Robinson is 2K Sports.

The Real Deal
The crowd at the NBA All-Star Jam Session got a chance to see the real Robinson and the virtual one at the same time. The high-definition visuals of the game truly bring both the All-Star and the NBA action to life.

"It looks so real," said Robinson. "They have all of my tattoos. They captured what I do at the free throw line. It's crazy. They have the exact way I shoot in the video game. Your shorts move, you sweat. Honestly, video games might get to the point where they become like virtual reality. You'll be able to go up and dribble and dunk and feel how it feels, or actually do it yourself."

It's not just fun and games for pro athletes, though, at least in the NBA. When it comes to video games, they're as competitive as anyone out there. "The pros take their games seriously, just like regular basketball," said Robinson. "When I played Shaq at the party he had with 2K Sports for NBA 2K7, I beat him. Me and Shaq are sitting there on the sofa playing NBA 2K7, and I'm sitting there thinking I just beat Shaq on NBA 2K7. That put a big smile on my face."

Robinson logs a lot of online hours on Xbox Live.

Play with Nate
Robinson always plays as the Knicks and he always starts himself in the NBA 2K7 game. When asked for any tips when playing as the Knicks, he said, "Tell them to start Nate Robinson. They'll win every time. But have fun, man," said Robinson. "The game's awesome. I'm not saying that because the 2K guys are here. The game is the best NBA game I've seen. The players move like the real thing and they have signature shots. It makes it so real that you don't want to put the game down."

Article by John Gaudiosi