NEW ORLEANS--EA Sports kicked off the NBA All-Star Weekend in style with its annual NBA All-Star Challenge, held at the Republic night club in the warehouse district. Eight NBA All-Stars were in attendance to play NBA Live 08 on Xbox 360 at center stage on huge plasma screens as a DJ provided play-by-play for the tournament.

LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland Trailblazers), Caron Butler (Washington Wizards), Kevin Durant (Seattle SuperSonics), Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies), Gerald Green (Minnesota Timberwolves), Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs), Brandon Roy (Portland Trailblazers) and Deron Williams (Utah Jazz) were the videogame combatants that took part in the competition. Also in attendance was Parker's wife, "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Langoria Parker, NFL running back Reggie Bush of the Saints and his girlfriend, Kim Kardashian.

With an open bar and true Louisiana cuisine (the best food in the world) catered by K Paul, the crowd of several hundred VIPs got up close and personal with these NBA players and their virtual courts. Each player took control of his real team in NBA Live 08 and played abbreviated eight-minute-long games. When all was said and done, Parker, a former NBA Live cover athlete for the French version of the game, emerged victorious. Langoria sat on the arm of the sofa he played the game from for the last two rounds and was really into the virtual competition.

Parker's been a gamer since he was a little kid and he told me he's owned every gaming system since Nintendo, including that pricey Neo Geo system back in the day, which featured $200 cartridge ports of hit arcade games. Although he said he doesn't game as much now, at least as much as teammate Tim Duncan does, he still knows his way around a controller. That was evident as Parker sliced through the competition at the tournament.

More than any other league, the NBA really embraces videogames at its annual All-Star Weekend and EA Sports, 2K Sports, Midway Games and Sony--all companies that make NBA games--are present throughout the city with various events featuring videogames, NBA players and some of the best NBA videogame players in the country. There are actually two Finals this weekend featuring gamers who competed in the NBA Live Challenge eight-city tour and the NBA 2K8 East vs. West Challenge.