News
House of Moves Motion Capture Studios Captures Street Basketball Legends for Activision’s ‘Street Hoops’
LOS ANGELES (June 25, 2002) --- House of Moves Motion Capture Studios (HOM) today announced that the company has provided exclusive motion capture services for Activision, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: ATVI) upcoming street basketball game Street Hoops™. This highly anticipated videogame is based on the culture and vibe of street basketball and is being published by Activision, developed by BlackOps Entertainment, and is slated for release in August.
In addition to the standard basketball moves captured for Street Hoops, HOM’s services were retained to replicate the moves of the signature talent for the game, including: Half Man Half Amazing, Hot Sauce, Speedy Williams, The Future, Booger Smith, Main Event, AO and Headache.
Street Hoops encompasses the look, speed, energy and attitude of park/playground blacktop competition. The game allows players to compete in a nationwide tournament representing their hometown on the most notorious street courts in nine U.S. cites, as well as four fantasy courts that can be unlocked during gameplay.
Adam Goldberg, senior producer at Activision stated, "Street basketball is a fast-paced, contact sport that is full of action and personality. The House of Moves motion capture technology allowed us to realistically translate every amazing dribble move, dunk and victory dance into the game."
Added Jose Villeta, of BlackOps, "For Street Hoops, we wanted to be authentic so the animation database needed to be unique and very creative. To achieve this, we needed not only to get the best talent but also a reliable and top of the line Motion Capture Studio and Processing facility like House of Moves. We motion captured the hottest And 1 street ballers including AO, Hot Sauce, Headache and Main Event, as well as ex-Globe Trotters and Nike Freestyle Commercial players. Each talent brought his/her flavor to the shoot and we got all the aspects of the basketball game covered from fancy cross-overs to over-the-top dunks to celebrations. The Street Hoops video game for PS2, XBOX and Gamecube will be shipping with over 1000 moves all together."
"Obviously, a title designed around the culture of street basketball brings with it the greater responsibility of ‘keeping it real,’" said Jarrod Phillips, vice president of Sales and Marketing/ executive producer for HOM. "One way we have accomplished this is by capturing hand motion during the full-body capture (previously, hand data would have been captured separately). The motion capture elements of this game are revolutionary."
House of Moves has already captured and delivered hundreds of motions that BlackOps is incorporating into the game, in conjunction with key-frame animation. HOM’s Diva™ software will be used by HOM to generate the hyper-realistic digital motion. HOM has utilized the V8 motion capture system from Vicon Motion Systems for the capture work.
About House of Moves Motion Capture Studios
House of Moves, best known for its motion capture work on such films as Spider-Man (crowd capture), Mel Gibson’s The Patriot and Titanic as well as hundreds of interactive games, is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. In addition to its 3,500 square-foot stage facility, HOM boasts a full-time professional staff of over 25 motion-capture experts, animators, programmers and engineers, and offers support for all digital motion formats. HOM can be reached via the Internet at www.moves.com or by calling (310) 306-6131.
About Activision
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products. Founded in 1979, Activision posted revenues of $786 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2002.
Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, and the Netherlands. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's World Wide Web site, which is located at www.activision.com.
About BlackOps
Black Ops Entertainment,
a successful and leading PS2, XBOX and GameCube Developer, has released over thirteen original property and high-profile licensed titles in the sports and action-adventure genres since its inception in 1994. Black Ops is proven and committed to consistently producing high quality games on time, and within budget. Our games have received praise from the media and consumers for outstanding graphics, great sound effects, and innovative and addictive game-play. "Knockout Kings 2000" for N64 won the 1999 "Sports Game of the Year" AIAS Award, and "Knockout Kings 2002" for XBOX has been receiving numerous reviews such as, "Knockout Kings 2002 boasts beautifully modeled boxers courtesy of the XBOX. The animations are fluid and blend seamlessly together, and the game moves at an exciting, fast pace." (www.gamepro.com)Black Ops' 2002-2003 Videogame Line-up will include "Fugitive Hunter" for PS2, "X-Files: Delirium" for PS2/XBOX and STREET HOOPS for PS2/XBOX/GC.

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