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Video game warriors

Sporting News, The, May 6, 2005 by Vittorio Tafur

The two guys at the front of the line had been there for a day and a half. They were the vanguard of a pilgrimage to the Sony store in downtown San Francisco for the midnight sale of the new PlayStation Portable. Interest in the hand-held version of Sony's popular gaming console was high enough that the line for the Portable launch had started to snake around the corner down the block.

Standing out and above the gamers was a 6-6 bailer in earrings and an Italian leather coat. Warriors forward Mickael Pietrus had come off the bench that night to score 22 points in a loss to Dallas, showered, eaten and jumped in his car for a drive over the Bay Bridge. The Frenchman has been playing video games since he was a kid, and count him among many satisfied customers that early morning.

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"I have my PSP with me every day," he says. "I play after practice, on the plane, in the hotel, on the road."

Today he is playing NBA Live against teammate Jason Richardson on the Xbox in the Warriors' players lounge at their practice facility. Pietrus is Kobe Bryant, and he unwillingly is paying tribute to the Lakers' frustrating season. Turnovers have fueled a dunk parade by Richardson's Detroit Pistons, and now Richardson is clowning and having Ben Wallace shoot 3-A couple even go in.

Richardson also got his hands on a PSP--but befitting his star status, be sure that he didn't wait in line at midnight for one. At first, he won't admit to playing every day. Press him a little, and ... "OK, I am a little addicted to PSP," he says.

He boasts that he has been playing video games since he was 3. He prefers football games to basketball ones--"all basketball players want to be football players, and all football players want to be basketball players"--and loves taking on NFL players who went to his alma mater Michigan State, such as Charles Rogers and Julian Peterson.

"We play Madden, and they think they can read defenses and offenses because they are professional players," Richardson says. "But I am always Michael Vick--that's a rule--and I run him all game, even in passing formations. I can't be beat."

Richardson played a firsthand role in making the Warriors hard to beat in Sega's NBA 2K3 game. Two years ago, he dressed up in motion sensors at Visual Concepts in San Rafael, Calif., and 16 state-of-the-art video cameras captured his every move. A computer re-created his dunks and spin moves for the in-game player model, replicating Richardson's athleticism.

All of the Warriors play video games--at home, on road trips or in the new players lounge, which is equipped with two televisions, sofas, cushy chairs, a pool table, a fridge, a PlayStation, an Xbox and an impressive library of games. Pietrus says he plays video games to forget about basketball, and Richardson calls it an "entertaining way to pass the time." Which brings us to the million-dollar question: Do they play as themselves when they play NBA Live, NBA Inside Drive, NBA Street, etc.?

"Nah, my brother plays as me, and I am always Kobe or (the Rockets' Tracy) McGrady," Pietrus says. "I watch them on television all the time, and then I become them on the PlayStation."

Richardson is always himself.

"I averaged 55 points a game one season, no assists," he says. "Whenever f got one, it was by mistake."

Video game warriors

Sporting News, The, May 6, 2005 by Vittorio Tafur

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