NBA Jam Returning
 

From http://sports.espn.go.com/videogames...ory?id=4795625 :

When EA Sports community manager Alain Quinto tweeted back in December that EA execs were preparing to announce a new game, the rumors and speculation spiraled out of control. Was EA going to steal the WWE license from THQ? Is "MVP Baseball" coming back? Is a new sport like lacrosse finally going to break through with an NCAA-licensed game? To make it simple, no, no and no.

NBA Jam
EA plans to bring back the classic Midway game exclusively for the Wii.

Instead, sources confirmed to ESPN that the new title is actually one of the all-time classics coming back to consoles as EA Sports has acquired the rights from the NBA to deliver an updated version of "NBA Jam" that will ship to retail exclusively for the Wii.

For those too young to remember, "NBA Jam" is a two-on-two basketball game that hit arcades back in 1993 and instantly took the video game industry by storm. The game (originally published by Midway) shattered all coin-op records, and still holds the mark for most money earned at a single location in one week.

"'Jam' was making so much money when it first came out. There was so much four-player action at this one arcade in Chicago that the first week they had to shut the arcade down, because there was a huge fight over whose turn it was to play," the game's creator, Mark Turmell, told me last year for a piece in ESPN The Magazine. "There was so much money coming in, they had to change the coin-box every day. It was crazy."

And that crazy four-player action is set to return big-time as sources claim that EA has not only hired Turmell to work on upcoming sports games (would love to see him also bring back "NFL Blitz"), he's already been brought to EA's Vancouver studio to help consult on the new "Jam." Sources also claim that Turmell isn't the only old-school "Jam" vet being brought back into the mix, which makes me wonder if EA will also hire the voice of the original game, Tim Kitzrow, to once again unleash phrases like "Boomshackalacka!" and "He's on fire!"

And considering that "Jam" was famous for including hidden characters like Bill Clinton and Will Smith, one has to wonder if EA is planning a hidden Obama character to deliver a presidential throwdown on King James.

NBA Jam
"NBA Jam" first hit arcades in 1993 and soon became one of the industry's most popular games.

Then again, even if there's no president this time around, the prospects of who will be in this game are intriguing, to say the least. Thinking back to the dominant teams in "Jam" history, dynamic duos like Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning, John Stockton and Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing and John Starks, and Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp ruled arcades and consoles for years. Will Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol be this generation's best squad? Or will a team of Shaq and LeBron make for an unbeatable one-two punch (especially considering that Shaq was in the original arcade game way back when he was teaming with Scott Skiles).

I guess we won't know until EA Sports officially announces the game later this month.

Until then, I leave you with some of the secrets of "Jam's" past from my ESPN The Mag column, straight from the mouth of famed creator Mark Turmell:

The Limited Edition Team of Michael Jordan and Gary Payton

"Payton didn't make the cut to be in the [first arcade] game, and of course, Jordan pulled himself out of the licensing of the NBA, so we had to pull him out of the game," explained Turmell. "But one day, I got a phone call from a distributor out on the West Coast who told me that Gary Payton was willing to pay whatever it cost to get into the game. So we told him what to do in terms of taking photographs, so he sent in photographs of himself and Jordan, saying, 'We want to be in the game, hook us up.' So we actually did a special version of the game and gave both players all-star, superstar stats. There are only a handful of these machines, but Jordan and Payton did end up being in one version of the game."

The Pack-A-Shaq

"Shaq actually bought two machines," said Turmell. "He kept one at home and then, if you can believe this, they shipped the game with them on their road trips, setting up the machine in their hotel rooms as they traveled. The players would play, then get someone to pack it up and ship it off to the next city."

The Pippen Jinx

Did Scottie Pippen's ratings really drop when he played certain teams or was I just the least clutch shooter every time I played Detroit? "It's true, but only when the Bulls played the Pistons," explained Turmell. "If there was a close game and anyone on the Bulls took a last-second shot, we wrote special code in the game so that they would average out to be bricks. There was the big competition back in the day between the Pistons and the Bulls, and since I was always a big Pistons fan, that was my opportunity to level the playing field."

The One Where Drazen Petrovic Haunted the Studio

"We had already finished making 'NBA Jam' when Drazen Petrovic died," said Turmell. "The game had already shipped and he was on the Nets. So we had all of these coin-op machines around, and one night we were playing 'Mortal Kombat' and there was a 'Jam' machine next to it, and all of a sudden the game started calling out 'Petrovic! Petrovic!' And this only happened after Petrovic had died. Everyone started freaking out. Something weird was going on with the software, and to this day, if you have an original 'NBA Jam' machine every once in a while it will just yell out 'Petrovic!' It's wild."

I knew having a Wii would come in handy for something. I am STOKED

Never knew about the Pippen jinx

Fucking Charlotte Hornets FTW. Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourining, Mugsy Bogues.

I loved NBA Jam. I never was able to stay on fire for longer than a bucket or two, though, which always pissed me off.

One question will be answered in full when this game comes out: Is it the shoes?!?!?!?!

Being able to play as Bill Clinton and Al Gore=epic win.

Can we get an Obama/Biden code in there Nintendo?

Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can!!!

I own both the original Genesis version, and the PS2 version (NBA Jam 2004 or something like that), no way the PS2 version could ever hope to stack up to it.

At one point I owned NBA Jam Extreme on Sega Saturn, but didn't enjoy it quite as much as the original Jam game, but was still pretty fun.

Hopefully EA will be able to use a combination of old and new features to make a fun new NBA arcade-style video game with their efforts on Wii, just as long as it stays true to its roots, first and foremost above all else.

Much, much rather an update.

CAN'T BUY A BUCKET!

The SNES version was bad ass. I use to play the shit out of it with my cousin.

YESSS

As long as I still get to use Juwan Howard I will be fine with it

BOOMSHAKALAKA!

HE'S HEATING UP!

HE'S ON FIRE!

Anyways I used to love blowing out my friends at the game and then going in for a monster dunk and shatter the backboard on them...the looks on their faces said it all...freakin' priceless.

Also enjoyed Tournament Edition, one I'd forgotten about. You could go in under options and have like hotspots with bonus points for buckets worth anywhere from 4-9 points. They put that back in the Jam game on PS2 except I think in that version you actually have to fill out your player's momentum bar, and then you have to not turn it over and go to a hotspot that only lasts like 15 seconds, stand on it and press shoot and the R3/L3 or one of the shoulder pad buttons or something. I dunno, didn't like that "razzle dazzle dunk" on the PS2, the Genesis system on TE made it much simpler to get the bonus points, you just had to get to the spot and shoot within like 15 or 20 seconds or something.

HE COULDN'T HIT THE BACK SIDE OF A BARN

*tarzan yell*

Grabs the rebound

I had NBA Jam: TE for SNES. I brought it over to a friends house one day and challenge all comers. Nobody scored over 10 points on me and I usually dropped around 85-100 on them. I have never ruled over people like that in any game ever. Then, I left my SNES at this buddy's house, and it got broke. I think something got spilled on it. :(

Best combination is Pistons Isaiah Thomas/Bill Laimbeer this is on Genesis NBA Jam prolly 1994

BASELINE LEANER

"RAZZLE-DAZZLE!"

"FROM DOWNTOWN!"

"NO GOOD!"

They'll be using 3D model bodies and photo cut-out heads.

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NBA Jam TE, Rockets, Olajuwon/Cassell

when does this drop?

BOOM SHAKA LAKA

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Seriously, that entire trailer should be "BOOM SHAKA LAKA" repeated over and over.

Rejected!

Get that shot outta here!

CAN'T BUY A BUCKET!

UGLY SHOT
IT'S GOOD

SWISH!

PUTS UP A BRICK!

THE NAIL IN THE COFFIN!

I sorta wish I had Wii, but I'd rather just find an old SNES. TE was the snizz nittle bam.

Indeed. What other basketball game would let you score 9 points in a single possession?

I actually never turned on hot spots because they were gay as fuck.

Also, I hope Dan Majerle returns to this game.

I mean, your chances of hitting a full court last second shot were already pretty good. The last thing you needed was the ability to come behind from a 20 point lead in three possessions. I could see somebody liking hot spots if they sucked at the game, but there's no appeal to skill there.

Easy there, Kalyx

What are you even saying?

Pretty soon you'll have your charts and graphs about skill level/perk systems/which teams belong in which teirs etcetc

lol

Because I didn't like hot spots?

I never liked TE because of the the 10 pointers. Too unrealistic.

Sure I can live with guys doing flaming 360 dunks, but I will not stand for 10 pointers.

Exactly

Someone edit the thread title to take away the question.

Ironically, I liked the hot spots. NBA Jam was a party game to me.

Maybe they could include the shattering of the backboards and make it something that could be done slightly more regularly than just once a game...

So is it a remake with new guys and features, or just a prettied up old game?

Source.

If it comes out on the 360 after all, I'll be DLing it asap. Loved NBA Jam on the SNES.

I dunno, I've already got NBA Street Homecourt.

Lol

Yes

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...an3g/media.jpg

Release date set for early October.

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Can't wait for this.

I'm so pissed off that the 360/PS3 versions have no local multi-player.

At least with the 360 I'm sure it's a matter of pushing/requiring Live.

I think there's eventually going to a full PS3/XBLA release and the NBA Elite free version is only half-featured. At least I'm hoping.

Wouldn't be surprised if they pulled some bullshit like the full version being only DLC for the Elite version. This is EA, after all.

That would end up killing any potential Wii sales since why would someone want to spend $50 on the Wii version even though its the only version to have all the features when a cheaper $15 version would be out after a few months.

Same for NBA Elite since why pay $60 to get an enhanced demo when a few months later you could potentially get Jam without needing NBA Elite.

This wouldn't be the 1st time EA half-assed selling a game since the most recent is Dead Space Extraction and how EA blamed the Wii instead of blaming the fact game was $50 then later announcing the game would be free on PS3 (bundled with Dead Space 2) but not available for Xbox 360.

True, but thanks to the Wii's online experience, even if Jam has online multiplayer, I'm not getting the Wii version either and NBA Elite will have to be DAMN good to be better than NBA 2k11 if it's anywhere near the same as 2k10.

jean claude van slam

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Did they ever do an NBA Space Jam

Wasn't on the NBA Jam engine but they made a Space Jam game.

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So how will it work? One code for each game?

I.e. I can't goozex this?

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/111/1119020p1.html

Some killer combos there

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5 minute interview about NBA Jam, its development, and why Wii doesn't have online while Xbox 360/PS3 has basic online.

Looks like the online was only done very late into development and EA had the team break away from Wii version to make a "demo" version for NBA Elite. Wii version also had online at 30 fps but was told to make it 60 fps and they had trouble so they scrapped the whole thing.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/column...=NBAJam-100914

There's the West rosters.

Suns have Nash, J-Rich, Hill, KJ and Thunder Dan. No Barkley. :(

Gonna make it rain with Nash/Majerle.

I'll wait for the sequel or full 360 version then. Great developer management EA :y:

Booo no gorilla either

Stolen!?

Keeping the tradition alive. :y:

Source.

Still bargain binning it. I got Homecourt, I'm good.

It's official. It'll be a disc.

Source.

I've heard nothing but good things about the game so far.

What exactly is the Remix Tour mode? Because I've played NBA Jam on the SNES and there's only so much you can pack into a game like that.

50 bucks for NBA jam on the Wii is a bit steep..

Yeah if it's 40 or more I'll pass.

It has to be at least $50 to not kill off more sales from the Wii version although EA can get away with a $60 price tag just by using the "HD with online" as the extras excuse.

Biggest unconfirmed rumor right now with the game is even though the Wii version initially had online-play (30 fps), EA wanted it taken out as a way to charge more and generate interest in the HD versions coming later in the future. The NBA Elite debacle meant instead of waiting till early 2011, the HD versions had to come much sooner than expected.

Nintendo is also furious at being lied to when EA kept telling them the game would remain an exclusive and then gave the game preferred treatment during the Nintendo conference at E3 at the cost of a few other games.

Its mostly a tournament-style mode with boss battles or conditions to unlock all the extras characters in the game.

Just confirmed, it will have limited online play in November, full online play in December

And it will be 50 bucks. Pass.

Yeah, Wii version is full price, HD ones are close to half price.

For anyone who's got it, how the fuck do you do the Shaq Orlando boss battle?

After Christmas this will hopefully be in the bargain bin.

Free NBA Jam inspired mixtape:

http://dimemag.com/2010/11/dime-pres...-til-infinity/