This was yet again a great opportunity to give players and families a chance to relax, get some food and drink, and play some of the latest PlayStation games including MLB 10: The Show, Gran Turismo 5, ModNation Racers and God of War III. Of course we didn’t just leave it at that. We also brought back the custom laser etching machine to carve some customized designs into PSPgos and wooden cases to provide for the all-star players. The PSPs were painted with unique all-star colors in a variety of styles, and etched with a design of the player’s choice. The laser machine went into overtime though, as the team laser etched the customized PSP boxes, a variety of notebooks, and even random guest items like phones and laptops. Additionally, Sony Electronics was kind enough to donate some equipment to also include for the players.

It was incredibly cool to see how unique each player went with their custom PSPgo design. Can you guess whose PSP this is? (Click through for the answer)

…or this? HINT: It’s not Dwyane Wade.

In addition to getting early hands-on time with the games mentioned above, the competitiveness of these guys also showed with players challenging each other to MLB 10 The Show, racing laps in GT5 with determination, and trying to tackle boss after boss in God of War III. To top it off, NBA 10 The Inside cover athlete Brandon Roy of the Portland Trailblazers stopped in to check out the games and spend some time with the various media that were in attendance. Unfortunately due to injury we didn’t get to see Brandon play in the game, but we did get to witness his skills at the various games available.

Current and former NBA players that stopped by the lounge included:

• Nate Robinson
• Brandon Roy
• Paul Pierce
• Kevin Durant
• Rajon Rondo
• Chris Paul
• Deron Williams
• Derrick Rose
• JR Smith
• Al Horford
• Taj Gibson
• Russell Westbrook
• Stephen Curry
• Dikembe Mutombo
• Patrick Ewing
• Brook Lopez
• Bruce Bowen
• Marc Gasol
• Demar DeRozan
• Ronny Price
• Anthony Morrow
• Flip Murray
• Omri Casspi
• Danilo Gallinari
• Louis Amundsen

You can see all the pictures of the players and their custom PSPs in Flickr. But we can’t possibly leave without showing off a pic of LeBron’s custom PSPgo, plexi case and kicks. Enjoy!

I’d like to thank everyone that came out to our NBA 10: THE INSIDE launch event this past Saturday with special guest and cover athlete, Brandon Roy. The Trail Blazers faithful certainly did not disappoint, showing up in full force with many arriving hours before to guarantee some face time with the All-Star guard. For more than an hour and a half, Brandon signed autographs, took pictures and chatted with the hundreds of fans that attended. But the highlight definitely came when he played a little one-on-one with a lucky fan, our raffle winner, 10-yr old Kyle Martini, who got to play a game of NBA 10: THE INSIDE with the NBA superstar…SCORE!

Thanks again for supporting NBA 10: THE INSIDE! Here a few pics from Saturday’s party:

Portland fans lined up at the Game Crazy store hours before the event!

Brandon doin’ his thing for the Blazers faithful.

Brandon dukes it out on NBA 10: THE INSIDE with a lucky fan.

With training camps starting up and the regular season only weeks away, the smell of basketball is in the air. To get you fired up for hoops on the (virtual) hardwood, our PSP exclusive NBA 10: THE INSIDE will be hitting stores tomorrow, October 6th. As part of the launch festivities, our cover athlete, Brandon Roy, will be stopping by the Game Crazy store in Tigard, OR (right outside Portland) this Saturday, October 10th, to sign copies of the new game and meet with fans. PlayStation will also give one lucky fan a chance to play NBA 10: THE INSIDE with the All-Star guard on-site, so make sure to get their early to test your PSP skills against B-Roy.

Here are the event details. Hope to see you there!

WHEN:
Saturday, October 10th, 2009
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM

WHERE:
Game Crazy
15660 SW Pacific Hwy, Ste. 100
Tigard, OR 97224

RSVP via our Facebook event page!

For those who can’t wait for the game to hit shelves, head over to the PlayStation Store later today and you’ll be able to download a free playable demo of NBA 10: THE INSIDE, which includes:

• NBA Regular Season Gameplay – Pick from two selectable teams and play a full four quarters at a smooth 60 frames per second.



• Block Party Mini-Games – Looking for the lighter side of basketball? Then check out some of the new mini-games in our Block Party…



• Open Lanes – Three frames of our brand new min-game, a traditional 10 frame bowling game with…you guessed it…an NBA look and feel.



• Cherry Pickin’ – One board of our other new mini-game, a puzzle based game where players shoot colored orbs that stick to a game board made of additional colored orbs. The goal is to line up at least three orbs of the same color to remove them from the board. Once you clear out all the orbs on the game board, you can proceed to the next level.

And if you’re looking for even more behind-the-scenes insight into NBA 10: THE INSIDE, check a recent Q&A with our producer Bob Staite on GameZone.com and some early previews on ESPN.com, GameSpot.com, IGN.com and Kotaku.com.

Roy will be entering his fourth pro season when the NBA schedule kicks off on October 27th. Since being drafted sixth overall by the Blazers in 2006, he’s taken the league by storm winning Rookie of the Year (2007), All-Rookie Team (2007), All-NBA Second Team (2009) and two All-Star appearances (2008–2009). I’ll put it another way, as of February 16, 2009, Roy has hit 24 shots where he tied or won the game with 35 seconds or less—the guy is clutch!

Which is why we’re psyched to have the silky smooth guard as our ambassador for the newest version of our NBA franchise, which has been the #1 rated PSP NBA simulation for 3 years in a row now*. From the same makers that brought you MLB 09: THE SHOW, NBA 10: THE INSIDE really offers fans two games in one package—a superior simulation experience for the hardcore hoops fans while also giving gamers a little something different with our Block Party feature that includes our popular Conquest modes and wide variety of carnival style mini-games. Take a look at a few early previews on IGN.com and Kotaku.com.

Here’s a look at some new screen shots of our cover guy Brandon Roy lighting up the competition in NBA 10: THE INSIDE.

Finally, here’s a quick rundown of the new additions and features you can expect from NBA 10: THE INSIDE.

Expanded Conquest Mode: Players can now take on the entire country in Conquest while playing Dodgeball, Give & Go or MiniQuest, which allows you to choose from four different mini-games.

• DodgeQuest: Players can battle teams head-to-head in an attempt to take over the entire country while playing the Dodgeball mini-game.

• Give&GoQuest: Players can face off on the Give & Go mini-game as they battle other cities and acquire players in an attempt to take over the entire country.
• MiniQuest: This new Conquest mode lets players take over the entire country and choose from either Dodgeball, Conquest, Elimination or Give & Go each time two cities battle one another.

New Mini-Games!

• Open Lanes: Offers a traditional 10 frame bowling mini-game with an NBA look and feel.

• Cherry Pickin’: A puzzle based mini-game where players shoot colored orbs that stick to the game board, which is made of additional colored orbs. The goal is to line up at least three orbs of the same color to remove them from the board. The overall objective is to clear out all orbs on the game board to proceed to the next level.

• Classic Mini-Games Return! Shootin’ Bricks, Block A Shot, Big Shooter, Hot Shot!, Alley Oop and more classic mini-games return to make NBA 10: THE INSIDE the perfect blend of arcade and simulation hoops.

*According to Metacritic and GameRankings overall scores. As ranked by Metacritic as of 8/1/2009.