azdad1978
Championship!!!!
Summer busy with video game, magazine work
Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 2, 2005 12:00 AM
Unceremoniously, the changing of the guard - to the power forward - took place.
A Sony motion capture studio's giant poster of an NBA video-game cover with Ray Allen was up one moment, Amaré Stoudemire's poster was up the next, even before the Suns' marketing marvel arrived for two days of cover-athlete work last month.
Sony took an extra year of development to reinvent its basketball game. The electronics giant is pinning hopes on Stoudemire's draw to sell NBA '06, which requires gamers to involve teammates and incite the home crowd while walking a rookie through his on- and off-court development. If the virtual version mimics Stoudemire's past three years, the game will do just fine.
Stoudemire's image was in demand this summer:
• New Nike contract and Spike Lee's TNT commercials.
• Charity game appearances.
• New foundation for underprivileged kids.
• Magazine shoots.
• Wheel of Fortune appearance.
The Nike deal is believed to be the largest an NBA big man has ever received.
Stoudemire has picked his corporate associations carefully with many more ventures beckoning. He handles the business world with aplomb, as he showed during a two-day run of work for the Sony game.
He spent five hours of the first day at Sony's motion capture studio in San Diego. There, technicians transferred his basketball moves and three-dimensional photos of his head onto computers for game use.
"They have to try to make a man as handsome as me," he joked during the face scanning.
Stoudemire's aura aside, marketing manager Troy Mack said Sony looks for other things when picking a cover athlete: All-Star athletic ability, fan popularity, a fan connection with his personality, team success and market size.
"When he was blowing up in the playoffs, it was that much better for us," said Mack, who signed Stoudemire in April.
Ex-pro athletes come in to do other motion-capture sessions, which had Stoudemire following a floor director like a choreographed dancer at times. For a guy who played the "Bulls vs. Blazers" game as a kid, all the uncomfortable moments and spandex outfits are worth it to make a cover that is as important to him as a magazine cover.
"It's a huge accomplishment," Stoudemire said during a press event that drew mostly non-sports media. "I can't wait to see what I look like."
The highlights of his stretch of interviews included Stoudemire calling Leandro Barbosa his worst-dressed teammate, saying he doubts he will do the dunk contest again, picking Ice Cube to play him in a movie and the usual question that always stumps Stoudemire: "Who is the toughest matchup for you?"
Stoudemire is always stupefied, part of him not wanting to give ground to a foe and part legitimately puzzled to think of an answer.
"Ben Wallace," Stoudemire eventually offered, "because he's a lot stronger than me. But it's going to be a different story this year."
As confident as Stoudemire is with his basketball prowess, he never acted above any of the dozens of crew members who surrounded him for two days. He ate lunch with them on the first day, talking baseball and football but mostly taking in what others had to say. Replenished, Stoudemire moved on to a cinematic shoot that will be used as a game intro. He quickly became the star again.
"I need a ball!" a crew member shouted as Stoudemire, with spray-on sweat, stood in front of eight huge spotlights in a darkened, smoky room. "We got a ball! A ball's coming! Not the black ball!"
The shoot's cinematic project leader, Jeff Vargas, said: "Some guys get on set and act cool and make jokes and all of a sudden, it's 'I gotta go.' He was the best. Super mellow. For someone his age, he's very mature about the whole thing. He understands we have a job to do, too. He gets it."
Stoudemire drew the same sort of raves a day later when he shot the game's commercial in suburban Los Angeles. He improvised a faux interview about other players, including Sweet Money ("He couldn't shoot at all. Good cook. Threw a good party.") and Billy Joe Cuffbert ("Is that the guy with the mullet? He was terrible.").
"He's a natural," commercial director Hank Perlman said. "He's got a great personality. I could've shot with him all day and funnier stuff. He's a great improviser."
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/1002amarebiz1002.html
Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 2, 2005 12:00 AM
Unceremoniously, the changing of the guard - to the power forward - took place.
A Sony motion capture studio's giant poster of an NBA video-game cover with Ray Allen was up one moment, Amaré Stoudemire's poster was up the next, even before the Suns' marketing marvel arrived for two days of cover-athlete work last month.
Sony took an extra year of development to reinvent its basketball game. The electronics giant is pinning hopes on Stoudemire's draw to sell NBA '06, which requires gamers to involve teammates and incite the home crowd while walking a rookie through his on- and off-court development. If the virtual version mimics Stoudemire's past three years, the game will do just fine.
Stoudemire's image was in demand this summer:
• New Nike contract and Spike Lee's TNT commercials.
• Charity game appearances.
• New foundation for underprivileged kids.
• Magazine shoots.
• Wheel of Fortune appearance.
The Nike deal is believed to be the largest an NBA big man has ever received.
Stoudemire has picked his corporate associations carefully with many more ventures beckoning. He handles the business world with aplomb, as he showed during a two-day run of work for the Sony game.
He spent five hours of the first day at Sony's motion capture studio in San Diego. There, technicians transferred his basketball moves and three-dimensional photos of his head onto computers for game use.
"They have to try to make a man as handsome as me," he joked during the face scanning.
Stoudemire's aura aside, marketing manager Troy Mack said Sony looks for other things when picking a cover athlete: All-Star athletic ability, fan popularity, a fan connection with his personality, team success and market size.
"When he was blowing up in the playoffs, it was that much better for us," said Mack, who signed Stoudemire in April.
Ex-pro athletes come in to do other motion-capture sessions, which had Stoudemire following a floor director like a choreographed dancer at times. For a guy who played the "Bulls vs. Blazers" game as a kid, all the uncomfortable moments and spandex outfits are worth it to make a cover that is as important to him as a magazine cover.
"It's a huge accomplishment," Stoudemire said during a press event that drew mostly non-sports media. "I can't wait to see what I look like."
The highlights of his stretch of interviews included Stoudemire calling Leandro Barbosa his worst-dressed teammate, saying he doubts he will do the dunk contest again, picking Ice Cube to play him in a movie and the usual question that always stumps Stoudemire: "Who is the toughest matchup for you?"
Stoudemire is always stupefied, part of him not wanting to give ground to a foe and part legitimately puzzled to think of an answer.
"Ben Wallace," Stoudemire eventually offered, "because he's a lot stronger than me. But it's going to be a different story this year."
As confident as Stoudemire is with his basketball prowess, he never acted above any of the dozens of crew members who surrounded him for two days. He ate lunch with them on the first day, talking baseball and football but mostly taking in what others had to say. Replenished, Stoudemire moved on to a cinematic shoot that will be used as a game intro. He quickly became the star again.
"I need a ball!" a crew member shouted as Stoudemire, with spray-on sweat, stood in front of eight huge spotlights in a darkened, smoky room. "We got a ball! A ball's coming! Not the black ball!"
The shoot's cinematic project leader, Jeff Vargas, said: "Some guys get on set and act cool and make jokes and all of a sudden, it's 'I gotta go.' He was the best. Super mellow. For someone his age, he's very mature about the whole thing. He understands we have a job to do, too. He gets it."
Stoudemire drew the same sort of raves a day later when he shot the game's commercial in suburban Los Angeles. He improvised a faux interview about other players, including Sweet Money ("He couldn't shoot at all. Good cook. Threw a good party.") and Billy Joe Cuffbert ("Is that the guy with the mullet? He was terrible.").
"He's a natural," commercial director Hank Perlman said. "He's got a great personality. I could've shot with him all day and funnier stuff. He's a great improviser."
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/1002amarebiz1002.html
