NBA 2K13 is a basketball video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports. It is scheduled to be released on October 2, 2012 in North America for the Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, Wii U and Wii, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers and Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls are the cover athletes.Unlike its predecessor, NBA 2K12, NBA 2K13 features all three cover athletes on the same cover, rather than individual covers. NBA 2K13 is the successor to NBA 2K12 in the NBA 2K series.
Around mid-June 2K Sports announced a 'Uncover the Cover' where the more tweets #NBA2K13 got the more clues would be revealed about the cover athletes. 2K also announced NBA 2K13's compatibility with Kinect for the Xbox 360. On May 3, 2012, 2K Sports announced that as a bonus for pre-ordering the game, buyers would receive downloadable content for an All Star Weekend, which would feature the Slam Dunk Contest, Three Point Contest, Rising Stars Challenge, and the NBA All Star Game.
Developers have gone for a deeper career mode (as well as a new MyCareer mode), which has been re-titled from the former My Player Mode. New features include more off court drama such as endorsement deals, complex contract negotiations and also for the first time - a social media component and the ability to choose the player's pre-game rituals and attires during events.
Jay-Z serves as executive producer of the game. He has been credited with the idea of having both the 1992 and 2012 United States men's national basketball teams in the game.[3] Initially, Scottie Pippen was left out of the game due to the inability to secure use of his likeness. However, after widespread disappointment from fans over his absence, he was then added to the team roster.
Also, Shaquille O'Neal, Shawn Kemp, Wilt Chamberlain, Alonzo Mourning and Allen Iverson were confirmed to be in the game as legends with other legends making appearances in an All-Star mode DLC trailer for the game such as Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler, Dominique Wilkins, Chris Mullin, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.They have announced they are bringing a new skill dribbling style to the game called "freestyle control" Which is similar to the control scheme of its competitor, EA Sports, NBA Live series.
It has also been confirmed that the legendary teams from NBA 2K12 are coming back to be in the game, and that they will be able to be played online for the first time. However, Chris Webber, Julius Erving, Vlade Divac, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar aren't in the game.