Team Obama!!!

My big concern with this game is whether it has enough meat to it to make it worthy of a $50 purchase for play on a home console.  To me, none of the Jam games have managed that yet, and they all get old fairly quickly.  I suppose that's what the in-game achievement system is for, though in my experience those Jam characters were all functionally the same character with a different skin.  Nice to see the Jazz represented early on in the screenshots, though.  ;D

So awesome. Yeah, a $50 price point might seem high, but this will be an EXCELLENT party game.

If this is sold for $29.99, it's pretty much an insta-buy for me.  I can see it now: PAX East 2011, me vs. Insanolord in NBA Jam.

It's interesting to find out that the NBA Jam name was owned by the NBA. I was wondering if EA had acquired it from Midway or something.

I find it more interesting that EA was originally planning a game called "NBA Kids" and targeting it to the casual NBA crowd on Wii.

Thank God. that the NBA owned the Jam license.

And it's just as funny that after they realized they could license the name Jam from the NBA, that's when they realized the creator of the funnest NBA basketball game ever(Mark Trumell) was actually working for their company. Hows that for utilizing your talents.

I asked Trey Smith about what price point they were looking at, and he gave me the standard PR-speak bs of "Well, we'll announce that later," but then he made a comment about how if they think it could sell to a broader market if they released it for less, than they would.

Hopefully EA does their market research. This game would sell gangbusters at $30.

Game is looking solid!

The only thing I don't like is how the announcing is still abrupt clips. I feel like they've made the graphics more smooth, so why not the announcing? Not a deal breaker... just my only minor complaint.

I actually wonder what the price should be... The price usually affects one's perception of quality. If the game is $30 then people might assume it is no different than all the other low-quality titles that release at the $30 price point, including some released by EA. If it is $50 then people will think it is up to the quality of EA's other sports titles that retail for $50.

I also wonder if the two Endless Ocean games suffered from being $30. They have the content and quality of $50 games, but people might not have realized that and lumped it in with other "budget" games.

$39.99 is the magic price point.

the $49.99 version should come with a limited edition basketball skinned wiicondom for my wiimote.

they should do that for Madden too(condom made to look like a football material).

Ribbed for your pleasure?

Her pleasure!!

Brown Right 23 Push!!
right up the middle.

Now all we need is an updated version of NHL 95 with 2010-2011 rosters and we're in business.

Absolutely! This way, anyone that remotely recognizes the franchise will impulse buy it...

Those of us who'll scrutinize it will wait for more hands on and word of mouth are more likely grab it after the majority thumbs up...

And Grandma with two Andrew Jackson's and some pocket change that's looking for Jimmy's new sports game with the sweaty mens will be all over it.

What WILL hinder this title(not hurt) is not having the opportunity to have DLC and firmware updates. I understand there going to give us Charters via unlock and if it were the other two consoles we would have to pay for it but it still limits the possibilities...like so...

...everything they put into the game has to be agreed upon NOW, so if the Guerrilla(Suns), The Hornet(New Orleans) and Michael Jordan don't roger up at first then we miss out, but if they were to see the game's success they could change their mind... 

I know some people have there feelings hurt when there ready to play their game but needs to update on the PS3/360 but it fixes things, if this game has any  form of emulation in it, it could be buggy as all hell..

Actually, they could program the game to use the SDHC support of the Wii and save and load DLC and any other game updates there.

Anyone with a little internet savvy knows they can find 2GB SD cards for $5 and, 4GB for $10 & 8GB for $20, so getting an SD card shouldn't be a problem.

Again you are correct.....

But we can add that to THE LIST;
Nintendo could rid us of friend codes..
Nintendo could support more WiiWare demos...
Nintendo could have used the SD feature to "fix" Conduit's Online hack...
Nintendo could...
        Nintendo could...
                Nintendo could...

We sure do say that alot.

1: Friend codes are how the system was set up. 3rd parties have circumvented it already, so if 3rd parties don't want it they probably don't have to use it. Hopefully a singel profile code (with a Mii attached?) will replace it.

2: WiiWare demos...... well, videos, screen shots, reviews and demos, all something the service could use more of. But since the system it self was not planned to take advantage of such things, Nintendo tied their own hands.

3: The conduit wasn't programmed with SD card use in mind.... again it's a problem with how Nintendo designed the system. Hopefully something that is addressed on the next go around with a background OS that can be updated and handles everything.

Nintendo suffered from some serious shortsighting issues this gen, and the thing above are just a few of them that we have all complained about.

...touche..

But to put the thread back on track this game could better serve if it were resealed sooner. By waiting till fall they can have the NBA champ at the top of the tier but that doesn't matter in this type of game Or hopefully they'll be running their campaign during the NBA playoffs. Prodding nostalgic NBA fans is a key component. 

I think it would be a perfect summer release.

Before 4th of July, before the end of June.

Honestly, the best time to release this would be in early June to coincide with the NBA Finals.  Releasing this game during the offseason would be a missed opportunity, unless they were to release it just before the start of the new season.

I agree, but this is EA we're talking about here. Not only would early June be too soon considering the game isn't done yet, but this is a Wii exclusive. It's all about missing opportunities.

Don't forget that this game started off as NBA Kidz afterall.

I'll be all over it Day 1, but it's earlier announced suspected release date was Q3 FY 2011 (Oct. - Dec. 2010), which would line it up with the start of next season since it's too late for this season.

I just think it would be a good summer release since that's when the audience they were aiming this at would have the most time to get with friends and play it(gotta think of the kidz ;)).

The other problem with them getting it out during the offseason is that this is looking like one of the wildest free agent seasons in the history of the game, with players like Lebron; Boozer; and I think Wade as well all up for grabs.  Come next October, you could see wildly different Cavaliers, Jazz, Knicks, and Heat teams, among others.

SD card roster updates.

it's a feature that should have been introduced ever since last generation with the Xbox HDD.

New yearly franchises should introduce something new(like gameplay modes, improved gameplay, etc. etc.) and that should be the reason that makes people update, but you should be able to download a yearly roster update for a set amount of time (at a price of course) for that are happy with the version that they have.... for now.

Yes and no. The difference is branding. NBA anything immediately holds more weight than Deca Sports. Furthermore, it depends on who's on the cover. If they pick one of the 5 best players in the NBA, this game could probably sell on fan recognition alone.

If I had to rank them:
1. Kobe Bryant
2. Lebron James
3. Dwayne Wade
4. Dwight Howard
5. Kevin Durant

Where did you hear this? I have followed this game since it was announced and never seen that stated by anyone (EA, the NBA, websites).

The very article you're posting in the talkback for says it.  Re-read the article and you'll see it.

I read it in this very thread


With the success of the Wii, EA Sports has been trying to figure out how to succeed in the vastly different market. Their last NBA game on Wii, NBA Live 09 All-Play, was met with a 51 Metacritic average. Since then, EA Canada has been working on a new basketball game specifically for Wii. Initially, this game was called NBA Kids, according to NBA Jam's Creative Director Trey Smith.

Proof the article wasn't read.

That makes me cry. I should just start posting NBA Jam Preview with random text and see if anyone notices.

!!!! BADMINTON IS MY FAVORITE SPORT OF ALL TIME!!!! I CAINT WAIT FOR THIS GAME TO DEBUT 3DS!!!!

ControlerFleX, if you like badminton, go read my Racquet Sports review. Then, go cut off your hand, because that's better than playing that piece of shit.

don't actually do that

Well NWR_pap64....., I'd rather play this one! P.S. I love your articles.

I'll tell Pedro (NWR_pap64) you love his articles, but I'm Neal (NWR_Neal). :P

I love badminton.

YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, WAITING FOR YOU, IN THE PARKING LOT.  with a net.

Tiger Woods 10 used an EA account for friends and matchmaking on Wii.  I'm hopeful this will do the same, and I can continue playing sports with already established friends.