Topic: NBA JAM - BOOOOOOM-SHAKA-LAKA - He's... stopped, dropped and rolled!!!!!

[Shaymin]

It's a financial decision - if it does go to the HD systems as a retail release, I'll be OK. It's just that I don't want to spend $50 on a game that would be $15/1200 Allards on another system.

[Ian Sane]

  It's a financial decision - if it does go to the HD systems as a retail release, I'll be OK. It's just that I don't want to spend $50 on a game that would be $15/1200 Allards on another system. 

And if it turned out like that then I'm buying the PS3 version, no questions asked.  I would be a complete sucker not to.
 
Third party relations on the Wii are not so hot.  Acting as if a game is a Wii exclusive, only to make it available on the other consoles for LESS money would be taking advantage of Wii owners.  No third party treats the Wii with any respect, we're treated as gullable marks meant for exploitation.  This sort of treatment also makes it so that it is never surprising when a third party does this sort of thing.  I think we almost expect it now and that's why these rumours regarding NBA Jam even exist.

[Mop it up]

Did anyone consider it could be the original NBA Jam being released on the other systems? Or would it not be possible to re-release that?

[BeautifulShy]

Did anyone consider it could be the original NBA Jam being released on the other systems? Or would it not be possible to re-release that?

I was actually thinking that last night. Maybe it is the arcade verson of NBA Jam.

[Adrock]

Wouldn't they have to license all those players to re-release the game?

[Mop it up]

Hm, true, I'm not sure about that. I guess having the NBA licence isn't enough?

[BlackNMild2k1]

I'm pretty sure they would only have to re-license the players that have retired. All other players (unless they opted out by having their own personal contracts) are part of the NBA Players Licensing.

[Morari]

As long as I finally get to see that awesome Mortal Kombat court...

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175219

[Adrock]

I'm pretty sure they would only have to re-license the players that have retired. All other players (unless they opted out by having their own personal contracts) are part of the NBA Players Licensing.

The original NBA Jam came out in like 1993. Shaq might be the only active player from any version of the original.

[TJ Spyke]

Take-Two Interactive was willing to pay hundreds of retired NFL players for All-Pro Football 2K8, so I think Electronic Arts (who have more money than T2) could do the same.

[NWR_insanolord]

Take-Two Interactive was willing to pay hundreds of retired NFL players for All-Pro Football 2K8, so I think Electronic Arts (who have more money than T2) could do the same.

They could do that, and they may, but I think it'd be much more likely that they'd go in and modify the original to give it current rosters. EA's done that before when they included classic versions of Madden as part of Collector's Edition packages.


EDIT: Also, we have to remember that EA didn't make the original. They bought the rights to the name, but that doesn't necessarily mean they have the rights to re-release the original game.

[Adrock]

I'm not sure it'd be worth it to pay someone like Tom Gugliotta to be in a re-release. How many people even remember who that is? Additionally, Take Two had a reason to sign all those players. EA locked up the NFL license for roughly the next 77 years. I think insanolord's suggestion that they just upgrade the rosters is far more likely though I'm curious as to who owns the rights to the original's game's code. The NBA owned the rights to the NBA Jam IP so it's possible they own the code as well.

On a completely unrelated note, the first thing that came to mind when I heard Lebron James was signing with Miami was "Dammit, the Heat are going to be assholes in NBA Jam." Too bad, that's the best scenario they have at being unstoppable. You're not winning championships when you sign 3 max players who all thrive with the ball in their hands and literally no one else. That's like having 3 Michael Jordan's on the same team. Someone is going to have to be Scottie Pippen. This isn't like Boston in 2008.

[Ian Sane]

On a completely unrelated note, the first thing that came to mind when I heard Lebron James was signing with Miami was "Dammit, the Heat are going to be assholes in NBA Jam."

Yeah, they are a perfect videogame team.  But with NBA Jam you can only play as two guys at once so you won't be able to play as all three of them.  So in theory any team with two stars should be able to compete with them.
 
It actually would be fun to play videogames based on the major sports with the best "videogame teams" where it's all about who is awesome on paper.  In the old NBA Jam teams like Utah and Houston were awesome because they were Stockon-Malone and Hakeem-Drexler.  Who cares who's on the bench?  When you're only using those two guys you've got a perfect videogame team.
 
The Heat, Lakers, Spurs, Celtics, Magic, Rockets and Mavericks all have perfect NBA Jam teams because you can exclusively use name players.

[Adrock]

Yeah, they are a perfect videogame team.  But with NBA Jam you can only play as two guys at once so you won't be able to play as all three of them.  So in theory any team with two stars should be able to compete with them.

Isn't there at least 1 sub? Let's say Chris Bosh is the "worst" of the 3, that's still Chris Bosh as your substitution. No team in the NBA has a 3rd option that good.

[BlackNMild2k1]

1000Facepalms.gif

NBA Jam included as a FREE 1 time download with NBA Elite 2011 for PS360

"NBA Jam" will be coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 after all, but not in the way anyone was expecting. In an unprecedented move, EA Sports is packing a free, one-time only download code for "Jam" in every copy of "NBA Elite 11", giving basketball fans two games for just $59.99 when the titles launch October 5.

Included in the downloadable version of "NBA Jam" will be three game modes -- Play Now, Classic Campaign, and Online (up to four players) -- meaning that the new Remix Tour featuring boss battles against legends like Magic Johnson is now exclusive to the Wii version of the game.

"We're still holding back the Remix Tour for the Wii consumer, and that's about 20 hours of gameplay," explains Jordan Edelstein, Vice President of Marketing for EA Sports. "But for the PS3 and 360, we want people to try 'Elite'. We feel like 'NBA Elite 11' is a great product and we want people to give it a chance and see all the changes we're making. So as a way to say thanks to these people, we are going to let them experience 'Jam'. It's not the full product, but it's a good portion of it.

"And the only way to play 'Jam' on the 360 and PS3 is by picking up 'Elite'. There's a one-time use code that will be in every copy of 'Elite', so you just go online and redeem it. We're not selling 'Jam' on PSN or Xbox Live. If you still want the full product, the full experience is on the Wii, but if you pick up 'Elite', you're still getting a good taste of it, especially with the inclusion of online play."

It's a "gimped" version that doesn't include a Wii Exclusive mode, and they aren't selling it separately, but am I really expected to pay full price for some thing that you are mostly giving away to purchasers of a different game on the HD system just because it has one extra mode?


This better be a $29.99 game, and there better be more than just 1 extra "Wii Exclusive" mode.

[broodwars]

1000Facepalms.gif

NBA Jam included as a FREE 1 time download with NBA Elite 2011 for PS360

"NBA Jam" will be coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 after all, but not in the way anyone was expecting. In an unprecedented move, EA Sports is packing a free, one-time only download code for "Jam" in every copy of "NBA Elite 11", giving basketball fans two games for just $59.99 when the titles launch October 5.

Included in the downloadable version of "NBA Jam" will be three game modes -- Play Now, Classic Campaign, and Online (up to four players) -- meaning that the new Remix Tour featuring boss battles against legends like Magic Johnson is now exclusive to the Wii version of the game.

"We're still holding back the Remix Tour for the Wii consumer, and that's about 20 hours of gameplay," explains Jordan Edelstein, Vice President of Marketing for EA Sports. "But for the PS3 and 360, we want people to try 'Elite'. We feel like 'NBA Elite 11' is a great product and we want people to give it a chance and see all the changes we're making. So as a way to say thanks to these people, we are going to let them experience 'Jam'. It's not the full product, but it's a good portion of it.

"And the only way to play 'Jam' on the 360 and PS3 is by picking up 'Elite'. There's a one-time use code that will be in every copy of 'Elite', so you just go online and redeem it. We're not selling 'Jam' on PSN or Xbox Live. If you still want the full product, the full experience is on the Wii, but if you pick up 'Elite', you're still getting a good taste of it, especially with the inclusion of online play."

It's a "gimped" version that doesn't include a Wii Exclusive mode, and they aren't selling it separately, but am I really expected to pay full price for some thing that you are mostly giving away to purchasers of a different game on the HD system just because it has one extra mode?


This better be a $29.99 game, and there better be more than just 1 extra "Wii Exclusive" mode.

Well, as I was already going to get NBA Elite 11 and at a pretty fair discount due to my employer, I'll probably just stick with the PS3 version of JAM and get the Wii version when I can find it severely discounted.  Interesting move on EA's part, though I have to wonder:

A.) Just how little faith do they have in their rebranding of NBA Live if they're using a whole other product to help sell it?
B.) Don't they realize that this is probably going to cannibalize the Wii version's sales rather severely without giving them any profit in return (since they're literally giving away copies of the HD JAM)?

[SixthAngel]

What!!?

Am I supposed to pay full price for a game they are giving away?

This game better be super cheap.

This makes me think, previews aside, there has to be something seriously wrong with the game.  A release across every console for $40 I think would have been great but there has to be something missing/wrong with the game for them to choose the FREE option.

[Sarail]

Hmmm... decisions, decisions.  I'm not really a fan of simulation basketball games anymore (my last favorite sim game was NBA Live '96)... so I think I'll go for the Wii version of Jam.  Although, I'm really hoping the price of this game is either $29.99 or $39.99.  Anymore than that and I think Wii owners will be getting truly gipped of a game -- Remix Tour or none at all.

I do plan to play the crap outta Classic mode, though.  Can't wait for this game... BOOMSHAKALAKA!

[Ian Sane]

Well I am definitely going to be waiting for reviews on this one.  What if NBA Elite turns out to be good and there's only a $10 difference between getting both games?

Isn't it rather frustrating that with Wii third party support there is always a catch?  Anything that could be considered good news is always somehow soiled later on.  EA has been involved in this before.  Dead Space's reveal initially created a lot of optimism and then it was revealed that it was to be a spin-off and then later an on-rails shooter.  It was like if one specifically wanted to cause the maximum disappointment to hopeful Wii owners.

The Wii's "exclusive" is more or less a feature of the PS3/X360 game.  How do we know if NBA Jam was ever truly planned as a standalone title?  Perhaps "Jam mode" was an idea for NBA Elite to begin with and someone came up with the clever idea of adding an extra feature or two, stripping it out and using it as a standalone Wii release to get some NBA product on the system.  And they were clever enough to announce it as a Wii title first so that it looked like the HD consoles got it as a bonus, instead of Wii owners being given only part of a game.

This is realistically only part of a game unless they give it a discounted price.  $60 gets you this and NBA Elite if you don't buy it for the Wii.  In terms of dollar value NBA Jam is worth about $30 tops.

No matter what though I don't see how Wii owners can't be insulted by this.  The Wii is constantly treated as a joke by third parties and then they're not only making one of our exclusives multiplatform but they're giving it away for "free"?  To me it's like they're saying that a Wii exclusive is worth nothing.

[Caterkiller]

How dissapointing... The one non-Mario sports game I was going to get. I hope to go to E3 again next year, I just want to talk to any old rep in person. To be a Wii owner is to have everything and nothing! Mostly nothing...

[nickmitch]

I gotta admit, I'm really upset about this. It would've been a great exclusive, even if it was just a timed exclusive. But FREE?
I dunno if I'm gonna get this at all. I'll wait on the price.

[NWR_insanolord]

I was thinking about getting this, and I was also thinking about buying a basketball game for my 360 this year. I'd have gone with the Wii version of NBA Jam and the 2K NBA game, but getting both in one game is tempting.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I was thinking about getting this, and I was also thinking about buying a basketball game for my 360 this year. I'd have gone with the Wii version of NBA Jam and the 2K NBA game, but getting both in one game is tempting.

And now EA's plan is working....

[Sarail]

I was thinking about getting this, and I was also thinking about buying a basketball game for my 360 this year. I'd have gone with the Wii version of NBA Jam and the 2K NBA game, but getting both in one game is tempting.

And now EA's plan is working....

Evil, EVIL EA.

I think I've decided...  I'm gonna get the Wii version after all.  I'm hoping there's gonna be online, but if not... oh well.  As a Wii owner, I've been shafted majorly when it comes to online features anyway (exceptions being The Conduit and Monster Hunter Tri). I just really hope the price justifies the amount of content in the game.  I don't see myself paying over $39.99 for this...

[NWR_insanolord]

I was thinking about getting this, and I was also thinking about buying a basketball game for my 360 this year. I'd have gone with the Wii version of NBA Jam and the 2K NBA game, but getting both in one game is tempting.

And now EA's plan is working....

For me to do it, Elite would have to get pretty good reviews, and that's if I decide to get an NBA basketball sim game at all. I'm not an NBA fan, and if I were I'd be a Cavs fan, and it's really not a good year for them. If I decide I don't want a sim and just want NBA Jam, I'd go with the Wii version, unless I find a good deal on a download code on eBay.