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Curious what Brandon Jennings is up to this offseason?

“Me and ten of my friends were up until 5 am last night playing ‘Call of Duty,’” Jennings admits with a laugh when I get him on the phone to talk video games.

The 22-year-old baller recently tweeted a picture of his customized “Modern Warfare 3” Xbox 360 with the caption “Always Got it w/Me,” and the kid nicknamed “Young Buck” isn’t shy about his love for virtual shootouts.

“I’m not a guy who is going to get shot a lot,” he says. “I’m more of a guy who likes to stand in the corner and wait for people to come across the screen, then I just start firing with my AK-47.”

Jennings and crew were doing battle against fellow NBAer Gordon Hayward in what must’ve been a special tall-people-only showdown.

Here’s what the flashy guard had to say between trigger pulls.

Jon Robinson: During the NBA season, do you still bring your video game system with you on the road?

Brandon Jennings: My rookie year I did. I used to take my video games with me on every road trip. I was still a kid. I was a rookie. But most of the time now, I just play at the house. I think I’m the only one on the team who even plays video games, so it’s no fun to bring it on the road. When I play now, I’m just playing against my friends.

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The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder will meet in the Western Conference finals in a matchup of teams with contrasting identities -- the Spurs are experienced and fundamental, the Thunder young and blusterous.

Which team will win the series, which starts Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET, is anyone's guess.

But the folks at 2K Sports offered their educated prediction.

The "NBA 2K12" team will be running simulations for ESPN.com throughout the rest of the NBA playoffs, starting with today's simulation of the highly anticipated Spurs-Thunder series.

Here's a hint: One of the teams wins in five games. But which one? Click below to see what happened (or perhaps, what will happen) in 2K's simulation breakdown.

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Last week, EA Sports Creative Director Mike Young announced over Twitter that Tebowing would be included in “Madden NFL 13.”

Today, EA Sports supplied the visuals.

Does any other backup quarterback have his own celebration in the game?

The last time EA dared to lace 'em up for the virtual hardcourt was with the disappointing "NBA Live 10" in 2009. With no EA Sports hoops presence the past three years, it's been easy for competitor 2K Sports to take a market chokehold that would impress even Latrell Sprewell. The "NBA 2K" series sells more than 4 million copies each year and is considered the best sports game around -- yes, some would say even better than "Madden" and "FIFA."

This October, EA attempts a grand return with a re-imagined and rebooted "NBA Live 13." Chipping away at 2K's dominant foothold won't be easy, even for a sports game juggernaut like EA. But every dynasty comes to an end; even Bill Russell's Celtics lost eventually. Here are five crucial steps EA must take for a successful "NBA Live" comeback.

1. Establish an Identity
For years, EA tried to convince gamers that the "NBA Live" series was a realistic simulation. It was not. It was a fun but loose-playing dunkfest. As EA pushed and pulled to be both the classic "NBA Live" and a prefect simulation of basketball, the games became more and more disjointed. For a relaunch of the franchise to succeed, EA needs to decide what type of game it's going to make and stick to it without apologizing.

It's a mistake to take on the same identity as "NBA 2K," which is as pure (and challenging) a sports sim as you're likely to find. The pure sim hoops game already exists. No one needs an alternative to that, because "2K" has just about perfected things. Instead, "Live" needs to embrace a different philosophy: A hoops game must be fun, first and foremost. The gameplay, AI and features are about showing the beauty and passion of NBA players without feeling like a grind.

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We detailed the little things in "FIFA 13" this morning, after bringing you the big "FIFA" improvements last week.

Now let's stop talking about it and take a look at the game with this photo gallery full of "FIFA 13" screenshots.

Click here to see the first images of "FIFA 13."

Earlier this week, I brought you the five things you need to know about “FIFA 13.” But those five new features aren’t the only upgrades gamers will see once “FIFA” hits stores later this year.

In talking to gameplay producer Aaron McHardy, he discussed some of the smaller details being added to the series, details that might not make the back of the box but, to soccer fans worldwide, will go a long way in solidifying “FIFA 13” as the top polygonal pitch on the market.

“We never usually have the time to talk about these little details because we always want to address the biggest concerns first,” McHardy says. “But there are a lot of these little things that we’ve fixed, and we want to make all the ‘FIFA’ gamers and all the ‘FIFA’ community out there aware of some of these changes.”

The “FIFA” team refers to these smaller changes as “the fundamentals,” and if you’re one of millions around the world obsessed with this franchise, these fundamental changes will make a significant difference.

The first upgrade deals with referee intelligence.

“Going from ‘FIFA 11’ to ‘FIFA 12’ we introduced the Player Impact Engine, and while the new engine added to the amount of collisions, it also made the understanding of those collisions infinitely harder to read for the referees,” McHardy explains. “I think last year, we got about 90 percent of the calls right, but the way everything was setup on our end just made things really difficult to handle.”

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Promising major innovations that will change the way you play hockey video games, EA Sports announced Friday the “NHL 13” feature set, including a special “NHL 13 Stanley Cup Collector’s Edition.”

It’s that feature set that should attract the most attention, as it's highlighted by four major franchise advancements.

Here are the details straight from EA Sports.

True Performance Skating: A game-changing innovation for the franchise that adds physics-driven skating and over 1,000 new animations. True Performance Skating authentically replicates the explosiveness, momentum and top-end speed displayed by today’s NHL players. True Performance Skating, combined with the Skill Stick, finally gives gamers access to the entire toolset of an NHL player, delivering unprecedented control and unlocking a level of creativity never before possible in a hockey video game.

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Everyone knows the New York Yankees have the most fans in the MLB, but are they the most tweeted about? Baseball fans in San Francisco, in close proximity to the tech mecca of the world, might have something to say about that.

Learn about baseball's social media trends -- from the difference in generations to how many kilobytes the Toronto Blue Jays use per day -- in this cool infographic from the online backup company Mozy.

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You ever wonder what NBA assistant coaches are scribbling on their clipboards during games?

They’re taking down stats. But not the stats you’ll read in any box score. They’re logging numbers like touches in the paint, passes per possession, three-pointers off kick-out passes, secondary assists, fouls drawn –- information central to a game’s outcome but not found anywhere near a traditional box score.

This is how it’s been for years.

But the stats being tracked by these blazer-wearing NBA lifers -- both during the game and in the film room -- are nothing compared to what’s being done by tiny cameras in the rafters of a number of NBA arenas.

Those cameras are part of a system called SportVU, and it has the potential to change everything we know about analyzing NBA basketball.

“This is everything we’ve been charting, all-encompassing, and so much more, and it’s all sortable,” says one Eastern Conference executive. “This isn’t something I ever thought possible.”

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Activision and Eutechnyx announced today that their second NASCAR team-up, entitled “NASCAR The Game: Inside Line,” will release this fall for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii.

The game is set to feature all 23 officially licensed racetracks, as well as the top drivers, teams and cars.

“We set out to reinvent NASCAR gaming last year with ‘NASCAR The Game 2011,’ and we’re very proud of it. With our continued enhancements to that game, and our very passionate fans helping guide us, we have an amazing platform to go to the next level with ‘NASCAR The Game: Inside Line,’” said Dave Thompson, executive producer at Eutechnyx in a press release. “We’ve added a new in-depth career mode and robust online features that include realistic race weekends, and now aspiring drivers can rise up through the ranks, attract sponsors, and upgrade their car’s components in the quest to be the Sprint Cup Series Champion.”

“The way Eutechnyx has integrated themselves into the sport has been amazing," added Blake Davidson, vice oresident of licensing and consumer products at NASCAR. “From the fans to the teams, to NASCAR itself and now with our broadcast partners, they have been channeling that into something that evolves our NASCAR games into revolutionary interactive entertainment. We think the fans will really enjoy all of the new features Eutechnyx has incorporated into the latest game.”

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After a long, long wait, Rockstar Games has finally given us another dose of Payne.

It was back in 2003 that “Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne” was released, and we haven’t seen another "Max Payne" title ... until now.

“Max Payne 3” is a third-person shooter in which the player assumes the role of a well-known gaming bad boy, Max Payne. It takes us to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where Max accepts a job offer from an old colleague from his days in the police academy. Yes, he used to be a cop, but not anymore. The events that took place in the first two games still haunt him, so he spends his days drinking and taking prescription drugs. Like the other "Max Payne" titles, Max finds himself in the thick of things, trying to find his way out.

The game starts with Max working private security with his old colleague, Raul, for the family of an industrialist named Rodrigo Branco and his two brothers, Victor and Marcelo. The three brothers are well-known, wealthy men in Sao Paulo, so it’s no surprise they walk around with targets on their backs. Everything’s fine until Rodrigo’s prize wife, Fabiana, is kidnapped by a gang called Comando Sombra. And Max ends up in the center of something much bigger than a kidnapping.

This being the first "Max Payne" title not developed by Remedy Entertainment, I was concerned. This also wasn’t written by the original series creator, Sam Lake, so I got even more concerned. But my concerns were mostly laid to rest when I learned that Dan Houser, writer of “Red Dead Redemption” and some of the “Grand Theft Auto” titles, was the lead writer on the project and three Rockstar studios were dividing up development of the game. But this news brought up a new concern: I was afraid “Max Payne 3” would become mission-oriented and open like “Red Dead” and “GTA.” "Max Payne" titles usually flow direct and have a fast pace, a lot like “Splinter Cell” in execution, and I wanted it to stay that way.

But thankfully the game held true to its form, and there are some major improvements.

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Tyler Glen, aka FratStar, is known throughout the "Madden" community as playing the fiercest defense online.

So entering the EA Sports Challenge Series, a video game tournament hosted by Virgin Gaming, where the winner walked away with $140,000, Glen knew he was going to have to step up his offense big time if he wanted to take home the big bucks.

"I've been playing as the Carolina Panthers ever since I got the game, but I switched to the Packers for the tournament," Glen said.

That switch, not to mention the virtual arm of Aaron Rodgers, was just enough for the 22-year-old to beat down all competitors, as FratStar defeated a who's who of "Madden" gamers, including former "Madden Nation" star Sirus The Virus, to be crowned the 2012 champion.

"There hasn’t been a big 'Madden' tournament like this in a while, so the atmosphere in New York was just awesome," said Glen. "The line to get in was blocks long, then when you walked in the building, it was a packed house."

With 512 of the best "Madden" gamers all under one roof, the trash talking escalated to furious levels as Glen worked his way through the masses, dominating win after win before collecting his oversized check from Virgin Gaming co-founders Zachary Zeldin and Billy Levy after the tournament finals ended well past 3 a.m.

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I don’t think anyone would disagree with me when I say that the audio in “Madden NFL 12” was a complete wreck.

Luckily for gamers, EA Sports not only recognized the failure of everything from the commentary to the crowd chants, they set out to make “Madden 13” the most dynamic and intense-sounding football video game ever created.

Check out the video playbook, starring ESPN’s own Mark Schlereth, as he goes behind the scenes with the “Madden” producers to get the lowdown on the game’s booming new audio.

From authentic quarterback cadences straight from the vaults of NFL Films, to the addition of Phil Simms and Jim Nantz to the booth complete with 9,000 lines of commentary, to the new 24-track crowd recordings to better capture that raw emotion from every seat in the house (“Madden 12” only featured a four-track recording), EA Sports went all out this year to please the ears.

But will it be enough to satisfy the “Madden” masses? We’ll have to wait until the game drops August 28 to find out.

The third installment of the "Max Payne" series is out now. And thanks to video game publisher powerhouse Rockstar Games, fans can finally shoot bad guys in slow motion again. We talked to Rob Nelson, Art Director on "Max Payne 3" and he tells us what to expect from the new game and how soccer plays a pivotal part in the story.

Fans haven’t played as Max Payne since 2003 in "Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne." Was it Rockstar’s plan to wait nearly 10 years to resurrect the MP franchise?

It wasn't a strategy. Games take a very long time to make and it takes a lot of people as well. We always intended to come back to Max, but we couldn’t start until we had a team free to do it. And by the time we had the time to do it, games had become much more complicated to make. That’s why this game has collaboration between so many of our studios. It fluctuated at various points, but I would say there were no less than a couple of hundred people working on this game at one time. We’ve been rolling on it really steady for the past 3-4 years and that’s just in terms of full on production.

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Aaron McHardy is the only member of the “FIFA 13” production team to make the head-spinning transition from playing professional football internationally to designing the way his former opponents run and react in the video game.

That’s right, McHardy, who was originally pegged by EA Sports as motion-capture talent for the “FIFA Street” series, has worked his way up from the Jamaica roster to the bottom of the “FIFA” chain, first getting his fingers cramped in quality assurance as a tester before climbing all the way to lead gameplay designer of the most popular sports video game in the world.

“From a young age, I always played video games, and I always played ‘FIFA,’ and you always dream of little features you could add, but I never thought that one day I’d become a ‘FIFA’ gameplay producer,” says McHardy. “I always tell people, when I hung up the boots and I was done playing, I knew that part of my life was over, and I was a little upset about retiring, but then I fell into this job, and it was great for me because it enabled me to stay in touch with the game at a high level. I’m still analyzing the game every single day, just like I did as a pro player, only now I’m doing it in video game form.

“So if playing professional football was the No. 1 best job in the world for me, this is definitely No. 2.”

And seeing that McHardy is the brains behind everything from 360-degree dribbling and custom tactics, to leading the development of the game’s revolutionary Impact Engine, I figured there was nobody better to give ESPN the rundown on what the development team has cooking for “FIFA 13.”

Here are the five things you need to know before the game kicks its way into stores later this year:

1. “Action is the real measure of intelligence.” -- Napoleon Hill

One of my biggest gripes about playing “FIFA” throughout the years is that there are too many players on the pitch who just seem to be taking up space, with no thoughts about what to do until the ball starts rolling their direction (and even then, they might not know what to do). In “FIFA 13,” this has all changed, as all-new positioning code has been written that will not only improve how players analyze space, they will work to create better attacking opportunities, even calculating plays, two moves ahead.

“We’ve completely changed the way our positioning analysis works,” explains McHardy. “What this allows is for our players to now run with more conviction. They’re not as indecisive as they used to be. In ‘FIFA 12,’ they might start running and change their minds maybe three or four times during your run, which really kills off the effectiveness of your run. Players were taking themselves out of the game because they couldn’t decide what to do. Now, you have players analyzing the entire length of the run, and it’s a much more stable system because now when a player decides to go for a run, he sticks with it, and that’s just one small piece of what we’re doing in a new system we’re calling Attacking Intelligence.

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