Last month, eyebrows were raised and speculation began when EA Sports Community Manager Alain Quinto tweeted last month that the company had plans to announce a new game in January. Seems fairly pointless to announce a new Madden or FIFA in January, so it had to be something good.
A quick check of the calendar shows that it is now January, and it looks like the mystery game is indeed a good 'un.
According to sources that have confirmed to ESPN, that game is NBA Jam. And it's Wii-exclusive.
Series creator Mark Turmell is said to have been hired by EA to work on sports games and will also consult on the upcoming Jam. If there's any good in this world, EA should bring back the original announcer.
The Midway-published 1993 arcade original was known for it's crazy, over-the-top take on the game and was a great breeding ground for friendly smack-talk. Hopefully EA can capture that same magic this time around.
Until this is officially announced by EA, take this with a grain of salt. While we're on the subject, we certainly wouldn't say no to a Virtual Console release or two, EA and/or Midway!
[source sports.espn.go.com]
Comments 38
I loved NBA Jam. I hope that EA can keep the magic that the old school versions had.
I had Tournament Edition for my Genesis and played it regularly up until my Genesis finally quit this past summer. I hope they keep it similar in gameplay but with just updated graphics.
well that was unexpected o_O It would be cool to see the 16-bit version (Genesis or SNES) on the VC too.
@buffalobob Yeah I wished they would get it on VC also !
That is great news. I was actually looking for the SNES version last weekend. That would be one of the rare games that I would buy in the first week!.
Great news indeed. I'm calling it now: It'll have online and WM+.
If this is true, then that is awesome! Prehaps we'll get the NBA Jam games on the Virtual Console? I in particular want the Nintendo 64 version of NBA Hangtime the most, I grew up with that game.
Oh wait, any VC apperance are slim.
Boomshakalaka!!!
NBA JAM TE... prob my all-time fav basketball game...
Great news, own both NBA JAM TE and College Slam on Genesis.
Nice I like this news. Two thumbs up
Why not the VC versions as well?
@Tony: I'm betting it's due to licensing issues.
Well, NBA Jam was my first b-ball game - I had the '98 and 2002 versions on my N64.
I'm kinda glad to see it again.
I remember playing it on the SNES, good times...
hahaha,awesome, me and my brother just played this game a few months ago! I hope it uses the same graphics!
He's heating up.
He's on FIRE!!!
I wanna see Will Smith dunk on the Chicago Bulls mascot! lol.
never really cared for Jam when it was originally released, I passed then, & I'd pass now if it did come out.
Is it tha shoes?!! OH MAN!! Bring it!!! Hours of TE with a bracket of friends and all!!! SWEET!
I totally wore out my copy of Jam back in the day. I loved catching fire and then dunking from the three-point line with Patrick Ewing.
"Boomshakalaka!"
I had T.E. on Gamegear and loved it. I may buy a new game but I guess it should be multiplatform in order for more people to enjoy it.
This would be awesome if it were, say, the new NBA Street. I hope they don't do anything dumb with neither gameplay nor art style. Hey EA, stylized and over the top doesn't have to mean "kiddie".
That would be great!
I would like to know how they will pull this off with wii mote and nunchuck.
On a side note, NBA Jam was awesome back in it's days.
A VC release would certainly be dope and much appreciated. NBA Hangtime is my favorite, but I definitely wouldn't mind NBA Jam: TE either.
VC Arcade!
I have the SNES version,but the arcade one is better.
The basketball in Wii Sports Resort is one of my favorite multiplayer bits on the Wii period. Call me crazy, but I have doubts as to whether this may top that, as EA is likely to just turn it into a bloated and awkward affair, rather than distilling the essential, basic gameplay elements out of basketball and making it work well with motion control.
At the buzzer... ugly shot! Getting Mark Turmell back is a confidence move in all (he also created one of my favourite C64 games, Toy Bizarre) so there's better hope for it than I'd imagine. Played the original SNES version to death back then.
The simplicity of the original is what made it great, only Midway can bring that kind of Arcade charm these days.
I'm not sure you can improve on perfection anyway.
"FROM DOWN TOWN!"
Ohhh yeah! I love NBA Jam to death. Hope this gets online multiplayer and sticks to the 2D style gameplay.
I think this was one of the only sports games I actually enjoyed.
FROM WAY DOWNTOWN!! HES A THREE POINT MONSTER!!
THE NAIL IN THE COFFIN!
...of Wii's amazing 2010 lineup.
YES! I love this game on my Sega Genesis. Unfortunately, unless they change the names, I don't see how they can come to VC due to the real NBA teams and players in it.
Lol i just saw this on espn
I have still in my collection the best version ever.............NBA JAM T.E JAGUAR 64 simply the best
The last time I played an NBA Jam game was on Xbox and my friends PS2. NBA Jam is Ok as a single player game but to get the most out of it you have to play with 2 or 3 friends. Also I would like to see them try to implement some good motion control with Wii motion plus but offer classic controls as well.
Man, what made this game so good was its simplicity, and that corny nineties humor. I don't think a new game can match that.
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