ESPN NFL Football to feature "The Crib"
by VGLN Staff

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

Build your own pad as you succeed during your football season.

SEGA's sports studio, Visual Concepts Entertainment, and ESPN, the worldwide leader in sports, today announced details surrounding an innovative new feature called "The Crib," which will be available exclusively in the Fall release of ESPN NFL Football.

"The Crib" gives gamers access to an empty pad that they can deck out with more than 300 unlockable items as they play through the game and score points, make plays or just get lucky. The more gamers play, the more they can win, so "The Crib" will offer players more of an incentive to crush the competition.

"We already knew that our sports gamers were ultra-competitive, so we wanted to keep challenging them to be on their game when they play," said Greg Thomas, president of Visual Concepts Entertainment, maker of the acclaimed '2K' sports game series. "This is one of the many ways that we are raising the bar in 'ESPN NFL Football' this year with innovative features that keep the game not only challenging, but also fun."

As gamers play through "ESPN NFL Football," they will be alerted via overlays that they have unlocked an item for their "Crib." There are a wide variety of unlockable "virtual" rewards ranging from mini-games such as air hockey or paper football; decorative items such as couches, bobbleheads or recliners; team-specific items such as NFL team banners, in addition to a load of other items. At anytime during the game, players can review their User Card to track the progress of their unlockables.

"ESPN NFL Football" will be available at retailers nationwide in September for the PlayStation(R) computer entertainment system and the Xbox(TM) videogame system from Microsoft.

--- Kit