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EA Trying To Cram Wii Features Into NBA Jam On 360, PS3
Here's some news for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners. EA is scrambling to make sure that the version of NBA Jam that's set to hit those systems is on par with the Wii version. Nintendo fans, this is your cue to act smug.
EA Sports originally planned on two versions of the NBA Jam reboot. Wii owners could buy the game on disc at retail. EA tried to get cute with the other two platforms, planning to include a voucher code for a downloadable version for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on new copies of its NBA Elite 11 basketball game. There were only two problems--first, the 360 and PS3 versions wouldn't have several game modes, including Remix Tour, offered in the Wii one. Next, NBA Elite 11 was kind of a disaster, and it's since been delayed.
That left EA Sports in a strange position. They still wanted to offer the game to players, but if it was going to stand on its own (perhaps as it should have, all along), it would be strange to offer a neutered version of the game for the other two systems. EA is now scrambling to put as much of that Wii material into the other games as possible.
Nintendo World Report has a few choice quotes from the game's creative director, Trey Smith, who was speaking to Toronto radio station FAN 590.
"I'll tell you, we're doing everything in our power to get as much on there as possible," Smith said on the station's Got Game program. "I mean, we had online up. It was a really basic online feature set. We're trying to blow that out. And then you get Remix. We're trying to throw it all in there."
As to which one is worth your money, all things considered, Smith isn't saying.
"[I]t's really up to you [which version you buy]," Smith said. "If you want to hang out with your friends and use gesture controls, you got it on the Wii. If you want to go online and you want that HD experience, you go on the PS3/360."
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