EA Sports bringing back NBA Jam

[Andrew]

ESPN's Jon Robinson is reporting that EA is set to announce the return of NBA Jam as a Nintendo Wii exclusive title. NBA Jam was originally published by Midway and enjoyed immense popularity in the 90s, providing an unabashed arcade style of virtual basketball in contrast to EA Sports' more sim-orientated NBA Playoffs and later NBA Live series of games. Robinson's article also contains some tidbits from NBA Jam creator Mark Turmell, recounting some stories about the original games.

It will be interesting to see how well an updated version of NBA Jam will sell and if it will ultimately be ported to other platforms. Tecmo revived its NBA franchise with NBA Unrivaled on the Xbox Live Arcade last November but the game received mostly poor reviews.

A bit disappointing that it's Wii exclusive but if it's successful perhaps that will change. The "inside stories" snippets in the articles are definitely worth a read.

[shadowgrin]

The Drazen story is eerie. The one about Pippen makes me wonder if the Live and 2K team slip that into their NBA games and that Shaq one is ridiculous .

[Andrew]

Yeah, you do wonder if producer bias has led to other instances of it. Presumably it's less of a concern these days with realism being such an important factor in determining the overall quality of both games and things like Dynamic DNA being based on real world data.

[JaoSming]

the Wii only part of this is just a dumb move all around. Not releasing an arcade basketball game on XBLA or PSN at the very least is just

[Andrew]

Absolutely. Still, if it's successful then perhaps there's a chance it will be ported. It seems a natural fit for XBLA/PSN moreso than the Wii.

[Fresh8]

You can pick what players you want to see in the game.

Link

[Andrew]

Yep, EA's made it official.

EA has officially announced their plans to release an updated NBA Jam for the Nintendo Wii, following a report last week from ESPN.com's Jon Robinson. According to the announcement, the new game will follow in the footsteps of the original series in terms of gameplay with added depth along with some new game modes and characters. The game will be available be available at some point in 2010.

The official website for EA Sports NBA Jam has also been launched here and is currently featuring polls to determine the three players that users would most like to see for the Kings, Clippers and Thunder. It would appear that each week new polls will continue to canvass feedback on the players we want to see included for each team.

[The X]

If it's successful on the Wii, which it will be, then it will makes its way to PS3 & 360.

Hoping game is good & people don't vote for nuggets. So far I've voted for Evans, Martin & Thompson for Kings; Davis, Gordon & Griffin for Clippers; and Durant, Westbrook & Harden for Thunder.

[Andrew]

If it's successful on the Wii, which it will be, then it will makes its way to PS3 & 360.

I hope so. Nothing wrong with a flat-out arcade alternative and while I did like Street, Jam ultimately ranks higher on my all-time list.

[JaoSming]

If it's successful on the Wii, which it will be, then it will makes its way to PS3 & 360.

I dont see it happening. This is going to flop big time, the only way I could see this generating money is on XBLA or PSN where the only competition is that terrible Konami game.

[Andrew]

Haven't some of the old school emulations/ports proven to be fairly popular on the Wii though?

[JaoSming]

Punchout is the only one that comes to mind.

Pretty much every other sports game is doomed on the Wii though iirc.

[Andrew]

Jam was pretty popular though. At the end of the day I agree though, it's disapponting that they're leaving out the 360 and PS3 right off the bat.

[Fresh8]

I just want to see what the game is going to look like graphics-wise.

And I voted for...

Thunder: Durant, Westbrook, Green
Clippers: B Diddy, Al Thornton, Blake
Kings: Martin, Reke Evans, Thompson

[The X]

I just want to see what the game is going to look like graphics-wise.

And I voted for...

Thunder: Durant, Westbrook, Green
Clippers: B Diddy, Al Thornton, Blake
Kings: Martin, Reke Evans, Thompson

As I said, don't vote for nuggets I guess I can let you away with Green since you don't fully understand the epic nature of James Harden's game. But Al over Gordon

[Fresh8]

I just want to see what the game is going to look like graphics-wise.

And I voted for...

Thunder: Durant, Westbrook, Green
Clippers: B Diddy, Al Thornton, Blake
Kings: Martin, Reke Evans, Thompson

As I said, don't vote for nuggets I guess I can let you away with Green since you don't fully understand the epic nature of James Harden's game. But Al over Gordon

I like Green more than Harden. And I don't want Eric Gordon on my team. Funny cause u think I would... maybe.

[Andrew]

I think you need Gordon in there to balance out the Clippers' three man roster as the three point threat. I suppose you could get away with just having Davis in there though.

[Fresh8]

I think you need Gordon in there to balance out the Clippers' three man roster as the three point threat. I suppose you could get away with just having Davis in there though.

I don't shoot in NBA Jam.

[Andrew]

Fair enough. I used to enjoy raining in a few threes in between the somersault dunks.

[The X]

Andrew is right, you need the balanced lineup. A guard & forward are usually the way to go. But you definitely need a good 3pt threat like Eric Gordon

[Fresh8]

Argh, I dont need to worry if i got Gordon or not. It's not like I would use that team anyways.

I'm going with Sasha, Walton, Farmar

[Andrew]

Some news:

EA Sports have launched an official NBA Jam page on Facebook. Check it out here and become a fan to get the latest updates directly from EA.

It also seems that a few details about the game have already emerged. A few days ago, Pastapadre posted this screenshot and a Nintendo Power preview has hinted at classic features such as on-fire, secret characters, big head mode and cheats along with playable mascots, legends, flashing shoes and a flashing ball. More details can be found in this post over in the NeoGAF Forum.

[JaoSming]

The faces are actual photograph captures, each character has multiple faces, 3 faces while running the court, 2 dunk faces, and a positive and negative face. (Looks hilarious.
Basically its 3d bodies with 2d heads)

Well it has my attention at least, looks funny.

[Fresh8]

*sigh* Just won't be retro like the old days.

I think it would be cool, like the most recent Street Fighter, to have like a new game and added on is the old arcade one. I wonder if that would work with NBA Jam.

[Andrew]

It'd be great if they could at least port the old games to XBLA.

It's certainly a creative approach with the player faces, I suppose it fits the atmosphere of the game. It may be one of those things that looks better during gameplay as opposed to in screenshots.