Kobe Bryant goes one on one with NBA 2K12 (video)

The latest version of 2K Sports’ basketball series, NBA 2K12, will be the next high-profile sports game to feature motion controls that are slick enough that basketball superstar can learn them on the fly.

2K Sports demonstrated the new game at Sony’s press conference today at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, Calif. The new version of 2K Sports’ NBA 2K12 features motion controls with the PlayStation Move, a Wii-remote-like wand that the PlayStation 3 tracks with a camera. Instead of using a typical controller with analog sticks, players point the controller at the screen and interact with the game by moving a cursor around.

It goes to show how prominent motion-controlled gaming has become as sports games are now regularly adopting motion controls. Some of the current console generation’s most popular games were sports games — like Wii Sports and Kinect Sports — that don’t try to mimic the experience of playing a sport, but emulate it with a type of swing or a simple motion.

If the player wants to pass the ball, they point at the player they want to pass to and press a button. If they want to steal the ball or guard someone, the gamer points at the player controlling the ball and presses a few buttons to try to steal the ball. The controls seem simple enough — even for a basketball player that’s already mastered the game in the real world.

Kobe Bryant, a superstar shooting guard with the Los Angeles Lakers, even came on stage to try the game out and see how well it stood up against his own knack for basketball. After all, the goal is to make the game more realistic and more intuitive — and make gamers feel more like they are playing basketball, even if it’s a few levels of abstraction away.

He had a little bit of trouble controlling his Lakers at first, but soon enough he was able to run and gun with the Miami Heat, which are now in the NBA finals. The Los Angeles Lakers were knocked out of the NBA playoffs during the semifinals series against the Dallas Mavericks, but would have faced off against the Miami Heat had they advanced to the finals.

You can see a full video of the presentation below. Stay tuned to VentureBeat for full coverage of E3 this week.

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