If you've been aching to once again hear "Boomshakalaka" or "He's on fire!" as you helicopter your way to the hoop, you might need to sit down for this good news. ESPN.com has stated that EA will soon announce that a new NBA Jam title is coming to the Nintendo Wii.
NBA Jam also became hugely popular on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo platforms back in the day. The game also featured a ton of special characters including Bill Clinton, a few of the characters from Mortal Kombat, NBA mascots, and more. If this rumor turns out to be true, the only thing that would possibly make us any happier is to see the Road Rash return rumor come true too.
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."
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."
NBA Jam also became hugely popular on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo platforms back in the day. The game also featured a ton of special characters including Bill Clinton, a few of the characters from Mortal Kombat, NBA mascots, and more. If this rumor turns out to be true, the only thing that would possibly make us any happier is to see the Road Rash return rumor come true too.