14 DAY TRIAL // EA Sports is one of the divisions on which Electronic Arts relies to bring in a big chunk of revenue, with franchises like Madden NFL and FIFA selling millions and millions of copies year after year. But the division has a tough time introducing new franchises, mainly because there are only so many sports that are interesting to the average gamer.
Yet in late 2009, Alan Quinto, who is a community manager at EA Sports, posted a message on Twitter saying that his company was set to make an announcement related to a new property at some point in January. And now it seems that the new game is actually a fresh version of the old NBA Jam franchise.
The reveal was not made by Electronic Arts but by sports-oriented network ESPN, one of its long time partners. It is saying that NBA Jam will be designed by Mark Turmell, who is the creator of the franchise and who was hired in October 2009, and that the game will be arriving exclusively on the Nintendo Wii home console at some point during the fall.
ESPN is stating that EA Sports is set to take the new experience as close to its roots as possible. The publisher has not commented on the reveal and is said to officially talk about it towards the end of January.
NBA Jam first appeared in arcade cabinets in 1993. The reasons for its popularity were the tough competitive mode, the use of an official list of teams and players and the various catchphrases that the characters threw at each other. Acclaim released the last NBA Jam for the original Xbox and the PlayStation 2 in 2003. The series seems to be a good match for the Wii and if EA Sports manages to keep the arcade feel and the fast pace while improving controls and graphics, then it might have a hit on its hands.