14 DAY TRIAL // Basketball fans were eagerly awaiting the release of NBA Elite 11 from EA Sports, largely because it was the beginning of a new franchise that promised lots of innovations, but also because it packed it the remastered retro classic NBA Jam.
Sadly though, it seems that NBA Elite 11 won't be making its scheduled release date of October this year, and has been pushed back to the beginning of next year.
Still, there is a silver lining to this dark cloud, as EA Sports boss Peter Moore revealed that NBA Jam will be released as a standalone product for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as for the Nintendo Wii.
"NBA JAM will launch on the Wii, as scheduled, on October 5," said Moore in a personal blog post. "NBA JAM won recognition this summer as the best sports game at E3 and it’s a blast to play. In addition to the Wii version, we’re going to ship NBA JAM as a standalone product on the Xbox 360 and PS3 in time for the holidays. Watch for more news soon on the exact timing of that release."
This goes against what EA Sports revealed a few months ago, when it said that the only way to play NBA Jam on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 was to purchase NBA Elite 11, fact which angered quite a lot of basketball fans.
It seems that the delay of the full pledged NBA game meant that EA Sports took the decision to launch NBA Jam as a standalone product in order to keep fans happy ahead of the start of the basketball season.
NBA Jam is a modern remake of the original retro arcade game, and features HD graphics, at least for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and even online capabilities, but those were only confirmed for the Wii version.
Expect more details about both NBA Jam and NBA Elite 11 as we approach their release dates.