Word of NBA Elite 11's indefinite postponement, and as a result, NBA Jam HD's new forthcoming holiday 2010 standalone release (!), was apparently as much of a surprise to the creators of NBA Jam as it did to us. Now, EA Canada is reportedly in the unenviable position of trying to plop as much stuff as possible into the HD PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the soon-to-be-released Wii game in the face of a new deadline.
Among the things being added? Remix Tour and a less mundane online component, according to creative director Trey Smith in a recent radio interview with Toronto-based sports show Got Game (via NIntendo World Report).
"We got this bomb dropped on us just a couple days ago, as well," Smith said. "So we're shuffling to get everything together, but we got a great team; we got a lot of stuff up and working; we're gonna polish it up; we're gonna get it out there before holidays." (Via Joystiq.)
EA Sports' big boss Peter Moore confirmed speculation that NBA Elite 11 was being hit with a significant delay just last week, mere hours after retailers started pulling down listings for the sports title. In a blog post on the subject, Moore added that the game's pack-in, the HD version of NBA Jam, would be instead be offered as a standalone release this holiday.
== TEASER ==Moore neglected to go into specifics about what would be offered in NBA Jam HD as a standalone release, but thanks to the previous announcement of the game, we know what was supposed to be in the original version of the port: an online mode, a classic campaign tournament mode, and a "Play Now" competitive offline feature. The Wii version of NBA Jam includes a beefier campaign component called Remix Tour, a tournament-style mode that features boss battles against NBA legends. This feature omission alone is why we referred to NBA Jam HD in its original incarnation as a watered-down version of the game.
In his post, Moore also didn't confirm if NBA Jam HD was going to remain a digital download. Smith neglected to talk about that, too. But Smith did reveal that Remix Tour will be included in the HD versions of the game, bringing a little feature parity that would be sorely needed if, say, NBA Jam HD were to be sold as a normal retail, standalone release. You've got to justify that full price, right?
"I'll tell you, we're doing everything in our power to get as much in there as possible. 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," Smith added. By "all," he means Bill Clinton, right?