After months of excitement, knowing that soon I'll be able to get some brand new NBA Jam in my life, EA has ripped my heart out. Now, the only way I'll be able to beat the snot out of the Miami Superfriends with a big-headed threesome of Danilo Gallinari, Amare Stoudamire, and Bill Clinton, is if I buy NBA Elite '11. While EA will continue with NBA Jam as a standalone Wii release, the only way to play everyone's favorite arcade sports game on a system with a competent online feature, is to purchase a different game that will most likely continue to be inferior to the competition.
I'm not a big fan of sports games, mainly because I don't want to have to buy the same game every year for roster updates, bug fixes, and marginal improvements. Isn't that the point of DLC? I have been wanting to buy an NBA game though, if only to go 82-0 with my beloved Knicks. I wouldn't mind buying Elite to get a free copy of NBA Jam if the Live series didn't suck. I realize EA made improvements to the game this year (like changing the name,) but 2K11 put Jordan in the game. You know Jordan, right? One of the most profitable, iconic athletes of all time?
So, EA throws a do want into a not sure if want in an attempt to increase sales against a more appealing competitor. Will it work? I hope not. If you're going to have NBA Jam ready to play on 360 and PS3, let it be it's own game and generate it's own sales instead of piggybacking it onto a stale franchise that you're doing nothing to freshen up.
Just my two cents, EA.