"The 2010 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game Presented by Final Fantasy XIII." That's a mouthful of marbles, and we'll get to hear ESPN announcers say it a bunch on Friday thanks to a promotional pact Square Enix inked with the league.
Square Enix announced the sponsorship in a statement put out today. In addition to the sponsorship, there will be a Final Fantasy XIII preview booth at the NBA All-Star Jam Session, which is the fan festival that accompanies the game. This year's all-star game is in Dallas.
The statement said something about how the NBA's fan base overlaps with the younger, video-game playing demographic. But I'm not sure there could have been a more disparate sponsorship of a professional basketball league than a JRPG. Anyway, the celeb game is Friday at 7 p.m. U.S. Eastern time.