It's official-official: NBA Jam is coming to the Xbox 360 and PS3, but there are a couple of catches. First, you'll have be the proud owner of NBA Elite 11 in order to play it. Second, it's not the full version that is hitting the Wii this October.

EA has announced this morning that NBA Jam, presented in HD, will be a pack-in with fresh copies of Elite 11, the publishers' promising reboot of the NBA Live franchise. NBA Jam for Xbox 360 and PS3 will be a downloadable on the console's specific services. A download voucher, as you might suspect, is what will come with copies of Elite 11. 
 
EA is saying at the moment that this version of Jam won't be sold over PSN and Xbox Live Marketplace. The only way to get this HD version is to pay the full price--around 60 bones--for Elite 11, which hits on October 5.  (Or wait until EA starts charging for it on XBLM or PSN separately.)
 

It's official-official: NBA Jam is coming to the Xbox 360 and PS3, but there are a couple of catches. First, you'll have be the proud owner of NBA Elite 11 in order to play it. Second, it's not the full version that is hitting the Wii this October.

EA has announced this morning that NBA Jam, presented in HD, will be a pack-in with fresh copies of Elite 11, the publishers' promising reboot of the NBA Live franchise. NBA Jam for Xbox 360 and PS3 will be a downloadable on the console's specific services. A download voucher, as you might suspect, is what will come with copies of Elite 11. 
 
EA is saying at the moment that this version of Jam won't be sold over PSN and Xbox Live Marketplace. The only way to get this HD version is to pay the full price--around 60 bones--for Elite 11, which hits on October 5.  (Or wait until EA starts charging for it on XBLM or PSN separately.)
 

Sounds pretty good to me.

They're fucking idiots for thinking people who like nba jam all like basketball. I would never buy a normal NBA game ever.

they're pretty stupid to go this route.  And obviously it'll be available seperately at some point.  They're really alienating a number of sales by doing this.  I loved the JAM series, but don't care for BBall games in particular.  Most people aren't going to buy a game they don't want or barely/don't care about just to be able to play JAM HD.  Of course some will bite but this makes no sense..overall they'd get more sales and money if they were both stand-alone.
 
oh well.  Guess I'll wait.  no way am I paying $60 for JAM HD.

This is unexpected.

Still getting it for the Wii.

Meh. I was only planning on getting the Wii version anyway. High-def gaming, while nice, isn't all that important to me.

I will wait for NBA Jam HD to be offered on PSN. I doubt this exclusive tie-in with Elite will last long.

What? Fuck that.

meh! for jah jam.

well, sports games do depreciate in value very quickly. won't take that long for this to be cheep enough to buy just for Jam.

LAME.   I don't want to buy a Wii for NBA Jam, and I certainly don't want to buy some basketball game for it either.  If they don't offer it as a standalone product they won't get any money from me.

Too bad nba live/elite has been AWFUL for over a decade and even buggy as hell 2k makes it look like total garbage. 

This is disappointing to say the least.

Bad move EA

This is a bunch of bullshit. I'm a 2K guy and don't have any desire to play Elite but I would have gladly given EA money for NBA Jam HD. But not through this con. I'll stick to the Wii edition.

No thanks!

Ouch, my balls. This one hurts big time...

GOD DAMB IT AND I WANTED THIS. O well time to go buy the cabnet.

Bullshit. I'm just going to get the wii version.

This business is getting ridiculous

Buy a SIMULATION no one wants that will be worth nothing the same time next year to get an HD remix of a beloved ARCADE basketball game. Anyone else see a contradiction here?

FUUUUCKK YOUUUUU. This sucks, I was so excited to get a new NBA Jam game but now I have to buy the shittier, now even more shittier, of the two basketball games to get it.

WHAT? Arghhh, and the remix tour looked like the best part. So it's 60$ or 200 and some $. Which shockingly seems like the better option.

No one is still going to buy that piece of shit NBA Elite anyway. So fuck you EA.

Thats actually a pretty good deal and a great way for EA to fight the used game market.

Still not sure of my feelings on this. I haven't enojoyed an EA made NBA game since last gen, and now I'm actually considering buying Elite 11 just to play NBA Jam in HD. Surely this must be EA's plan after all, but is this EA showing no confidence in Elite 11, and moreover does this mean what I'm really considering, is if I would actually pay $60 for a gimped version of NBA Jam?

Looks like a definite catch-22 situation. The only solution I can come up with is to not buy either version.

mmm. nice news.

Sounds confusing.
 
I was so excited for this NBA Jam reboot - but EA seems to be killing its own buzz around the game with all of these different, contradictory and simply confusing press releases. 
 
@cap123 said:

" They're fucking idiots for thinking people who like nba jam all like basketball. I would never buy a normal NBA game ever. "

I hate when you douchebags use "bones" to account for a sum of money.

Another person who will be waiting for this to come out on Live.  Don't know why EA thinks fans of NBA Jam are also fans of regular basketball games.

Wii version it is then. As much as I'd love to have an HD version with online play, pretty sure I'd get the most mileage out of it through playing it with friends in our living rooms since I can't really move my PS3 around =\
 
Though this is a huge bummer. A $15 pricetag (Hell possibly $20) attached to the downloaded version wouldn't be shabby at all.

I´ll skip it

The way I heard it EA has NO plans for the PSN or XBLA, and the version of NBA Jam that comes with NBA Elite 11 is just a glorified demo. Well look at it this way the resale value will be extra cheap since its a one time code, and to be honest I won't touch EA Sports games with a 30 foot pole, I've always been a 2K sports guy (with the exception of NCAA College Football).

stockholders > customers

I hope it gets released later. Not gonna buy a full game I don\t want to play a downloadable game.

not fair

Not interested.  Unless I can somehow play as Scorpion in the round.

I am going to play on the Wii. I'm also considering buying a couple of classic controllers, I'm kinda into the idea of playing GoldenEye online with basically Call of Duty controls on the Wii. I don't know why that appeals to me, but for some reason it does.

there is going to be a backlash for this

Since sports games get yearly updates, we'll know long before Elite 11 hits the clearance rack if the downloadable version is even worth playing.  Then if it is, Elite 11 can probably be had for under $20 once '12 gets announced.

That head is amazing.

Totally agree with Cap123.  I want NBA Jam, not NBA Elite...I have no interest in it whatsoever.

Fuck that.

" I hate when you douchebags use "bones" to account for a sum of money. "

can't wait to Jam it up basketball games have been very lame as of late

This is really fucking weird. You pay $60 for one game, to get another free HD game with less modes but online multiplayer, or $40-50 for an SD game with more modes but possibly no online multiplayer (but probably gimped online features).
 
And of course, that's ignoring that within a year, there'll probably be a $15 "NBA JAM Gold Tournament Edition" with ALL the modes on both downloadable services.
 
 
What a weird situation.