When EA Sports made the call to delay "NBA Elite 11," they also decided to release their previously Wii-exclusive "NBA Jam" as a standalone product for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The wording of that announcement had many wondering whether "Jam" would come out as a downloadable or disc-based game for the two consoles, but EA has now gone on the record to establish that it will come in a case at your local brick-and-mortar retailer.
"The fact that retailers are showing the box is because we are shipping 'Jam' in a box on [Xbox 360 and PS3]," EA Sports Vancouver PR director Jen Riley told Kotaku. "We just haven't announced a firm date."
Her comments came following "NBA Jam" sightings on GameFly, where 360 and PS3 editions are listed with a November 18 release date.
And with this confirmation, the narrative of the shiny white, Wii-exclusive Jedi knight turned Sith-affiliated turncoat, non-exclusive, more fully-featured Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 retail release is almost complete — unless of course EA Sports does decide to leave out some of that "Remix Tour" content that came included for the Wii. Even if that is the case, though, it's still going to have online multiplayer functionality. We'll see what happens when the final product ships, and then we can stack the lists of features and modes up against each other to see what (if any) concrete benefits we reaped if we pre-ordered "NBA Jam" for Nintendo's system months ago.
Is disc-based confirmation for the 360 and PS3 editions "NBA Jam" good news for you? Are you satisfied with it on the Wii? Share your opinions with us in the comment section below.