At ESPN, Play-by-Play Goes Virtual

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Americans Only Understand Sports In Video Game Format [Espn]
Published 9/5/2008 by Hamilton Nolan at Gawker
... ESPN’s popular “NFL Countdown” program, involves using an Electronic Arts’ title — say Madden NFL 09 — with specialized digital camera equipment in the studio. Presto: Both real and virtual people move around the ESPN set to demonstrate plays and possible situations. The NFL never should have allowed this. Kids already prefer video games to real sports. You're just encouraging them. Hope you like announcing Madden XBox tournaments, ESPN. That's your future. [NYT] ...

'Merging Video Game Graphics With Real-Life Sports Anchors' on ESPN
Published 9/5/2008 by By The New York Times at TV Decoder
Brooks Barnes reports in Friday’s New York Times: ESPN, the cable powerhouse that calls itself “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” is looking to extend its domain in virtual worlds by merging video game graphics with real-life sports anchors. The network, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company, has spent the last year working on a new technology with Electronic Arts, the leading game publisher, that would allow ESPN commentators to interact live with realistic-looking, three-dimensional virtual players as they pontificate about coming matches during broadcasts. “It’s ...