New York, NY – October 6, 2008 – 2K Sports, the sports publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today details regarding the music soundtrack for NBA 2K9, this season’s highly anticipated basketball title. Known for consistently tapping the freshest and most relevant artists for the NBA 2K franchise, this year’s soundtrack continues the tradition with an eclectic mix of artists.  Standouts include N.E.R.D, Santogold, Gnarls Barkley, The Pharcyde, and Beastie Boys with an exclusive track by DJ UNK, along with an original recording by The Cool Kids titled “2K Pennies.”  Beyond the soundtrack, 2K Sports continues to embrace its artists in a myriad of ways, including in-game characters, national tours, music videos, gameplay trailers, radio promotions, mix tapes, community promotions, music downloads and digital sales.

 

"Every year our NBA 2K soundtrack features music innovators that push boundaries in the same way our franchise does," said Tim Rosa, director of brand and lifestyle marketing at 2K Sports. “With NBA 2K9 we’re continuing the tradition with The Cool Kids representing our deepest music integration. They will appear in the game’s NBA Blacktop streetball mode, will perform on the 2K Sports Bounce Tour, and they recorded an original song which we’re giving away for free on the 2K Sports website.”

 

“Video games are an important part of culture and our lifestyle.  For years we’ve been playing games, but have never been inspired by the songs in them,” said Chuck Inglish and Mikey Rocks of The Cool Kids.  “When 2K Sports presented us with an opportunity to create an original song for NBA 2K9, we knew we had to create a song that embodied the sport of basketball.  We had to make kids everywhere appreciate the song as much as the game.”

 

Along with special The Cool Kids integration, NBA 2K9 will include in-game character likenesses of other past and present 2K music artists including ?uestlove (from The Roots), DJ Steve Aoki, Aceyalone, the legendary Bobbito Garcia, and Phife Dawg (from A Tribe Called Quest).  Fans can now listen to and purchase individual songs from the NBA 2K9 soundtrack through the new 2K Beats channel at www.2ksports.com/beats/games/nba2k9.

 

Below is the full list of tracks in NBA 2K9 (exclusives are denoted with **):

 

NBA 2K9 is the latest edition of NBA 2K, the #1 selling next gen basketball video game* that has also been the #1 rated NBA simulation for seven years in a row**, is back for its 10th season.  NBA 2K9 is the premier basketball game for serious players, and will deliver the most realistic and feature-rich simulation experience ever available in the NBA 2K franchise – from gameplay and graphics to presentation and online features.  NBA 2K9 is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB and will be available on October 7 for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and the PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems and on October 21 for Windows PC. For more information about NBA 2K9, please visit http://www.2ksports.com/games/nba2k9.

 

* According to NPD Funworld estimates of U.S. retail video game sales of Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 NBA titles for the period from September 2007 to August 2008.

 

**The NBA 2K series developed by Visual Concepts outranked competitors based on GameRankings.com average scores of 2001-2007 NBA video games.