The NBA In the Zone series is a series of basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 video games released by Konami

Konami

is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...

 for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64

Nintendo 64

The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...

 video game console

Video game console

A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...

s. Konami followed up the In The Zone series with the release of NBA Starting Five for the Xbox

Xbox

The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...

 and PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

.

History

The series started out with two releases on the PlayStation. After the release of NBA In The Zone 2, the series started adopting a yearly naming scheme. The series also started to use NBA players to endorse the games and appear on the series' box art. Konami released three more games in this format for both Nintendo 64

Nintendo 64

The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...

 and PlayStation, NBA In the Zone '98, NBA In the Zone '99 and NBA In the Zone 2000. NBA In the Zone '98 and NBA In The Zone '99 featured Glen Rice

Glen Rice

Glen Anthony Rice is a retired American professional basketball player who played in the NBA. The 6'8" tall Rice was a three-time NBA All-Star guard/forward, ranking 11th in NBA history with 1,559 three-point field goals made during his 15-year career. As a player, Rice won an NCAA Men's Division...

 on the cover, while the 2000 game featured Marcus Camby

Marcus Camby

Marcus D. Camby is an American professional basketball player, who currently plays for the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA. He is a former Defensive Player of the Year during the 2006–07 NBA season, leading the league in blocked shots per game...

.

Features

NBA In The Zone '98 (also known as NBA Pro 98 in Australia) featured NBA rosters from the 1997-1998 NBA season. As in previous In The Zone games, players such as Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan

Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...

 are not in the game and likenesses with generic names take their places. The game retains the "Create a Player" and season/playoffs features of NBA In The Zone 2.

NBA In The Zone 2000 was released in November 1999. The game features 29 NBA teams and more than 300 NBA players, animated using motion capture

Motion capture

Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...

d animation. Ray Clay

Ray Clay

Ray Clay is an American public address announcer best known for his work for the Chicago Bulls organization in the 1990s.-Chicago Bulls:A native of Berwyn, Illinois, Clay began announcing basketball games at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1980. He was hired by the Bulls in 1990 and...

, at the time the public address announcer for the Chicago Bulls

Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...

 does voice commentary. Along with the standard gameplay modes like Exhibition, Season, and Playoffs, a Slam Dunk Contest

Slam Dunk Contest

The Slam Dunk Contest is an annual National Basketball Association competition held during the NBA All-Star Weekend. The contest was inaugurated by the American Basketball Association at its All-Star Game in 1976 in Denver, the same year the slam dunk was legalized in the NCAA...

 and Three-point Shootout

Three-point Shootout

The Three-Point Shootout is a National Basketball Association contest held on the Saturday before the annual All-Star Game as part of the All-Star Weekend. In this contest, participants attempt to make as many three-point field goals as possible from five positions behind the three-point arc...

 are also included.

See also

• Double Dribble
  Double Dribble (video game)
  Double Dribble, known in Japan as , was the second basketball arcade game developed and released in 1986 by Konami, following Super Basketball...
  
  
• Run and Gun
  NBA Give 'N Go
  NBA Give 'N Go is a 1995 Super Nintendo Entertainment System basketball video game that uses licensed teams from the National Basketball Association. The game is essentially a home version of Konami's arcade game Run and Gun, which featured similar graphics and gameplay but no NBA license...