@John.... "A poll of OSers shows that you guys think the MJ cover is by far the bigger news, and it's no surprise. So even when EA tried to rock the sports gaming universe with their NBA Elite announcement, they were still overshadowed by Take Two's NBA behemoth."

That comes straight from Chris' blog. He is basing his beliefs on a poll that was voted on by the people who visit OS. The last time I looked at the poll it was at 84-16. Everything he says in the story in regards to 2k having an early edge is in reference to the poll. In fact, he even says at one point that if EA can do what they are saying then they will have the opportunity to take over.

I don't understand what is so hard to understand about that.

@John... One other thing, I do agree with you, EA's press release gave tons more information, this blog though was just based off of the overall reaction from the poll that was posted. I'm excited about EA, I thought 2k got really stale last year and I have been hoping Live would bump up their offline features this year so that it will be a better game. We will just have to wait and see though. As of right now, based on the OS poll, it looks like people care more about MJ than Elite.

Nobody wins anything for 2011 based on a poll done so early in the process. Until both games are released and played conclusions made are ignorant to say the least, but any conclusions that are made can only be made in the context of the history of each franchise. This poll itself is stupid IMO because it compares apples to oranges. A name change compared to MJ on the cover is no contest. I don't care who's on the cover anyhow, it's how the game plays.

Having Jordan on the cover dosent mean much where gameplay is concerned because EA had him on their cover before and their game was total garbage.

@Da-Man... what year was MJ on the cover of Live? Bulls vs. Blazers and Bulls vs. Lakers are the only two EA Sports Bball games he has ever been on the cover of and they were the balls!

@jsquigg... I'm not trying to be Chris's defender here, but some of these statements I think are being made without completely thinking of the situation. #1, no one has said 2k11 will be better than Elite, the poll was just basically asking which one of the announcements drew more buzz. #2, you can compare the two topics when you look at them from the standpoint of, which one of these announcements is a bigger marketing success by their respective company, and as Chris stated, according to the poll, 2k's was.

I guess Nba Elite 11 just needs Magic and Bird on the cover... Two Hall of Famers on the cover is better than one right???

Who Gives Two Turds about a cover??? Just make the game as realistic and fun as possible.

People still bringing up gameplay. SMH.

Hey I think EA won round one... MJ on the cover doesn't do it for me. Whatever mode 2K uses MJ I won't touch it. I'm all about Dynasty and online play..

listen I'm all for this jordan thing the b-ball needs a shot in the arm, and i can see now how long the line's are gonna be when this game is released, and wow can you imagine the boost in on-line play......*****'s are gonna hate so let em hate and watch the money pile up EA STEP YOUR GAME UP oops 2k has done it again.

@Chris: yes it will take somebody of Wilts Caliber to even get gamers to look @ NBA Elite 11....And perhaps somebody this gen will recognize even more is Magic Johnson....heck it may even take a group of the original dream team to match MJ's marketability.

@people saying chris made a "poor" decision by giving RD 1 to 2K...go stand in traffic and dance blindfolded.

Michael Jordan is probably THE MOST recognizable name/face/LOGO etc in the NBA. That alone is a HUGE win for 2K. Chris didn't say anything about gameplay or mention anything about one game being better than the other. Only based on NBA Elite 11 (sounds like generic SNES title) vs. NBA 2K11 with MJ on the cover. The two don't even compare. Stop fronting.

I'm amazed that simply including Jordan on the cover of 2K11 has somehow made everyone forget just how broken and terrible 2K10 was! Let's not act like that was the better game by a landslide last year, maybe the real question should be how is 2K gonna rebound and innovate after their lackluster performance?