NBA Jam Coming To PS3, 360 This Holiday, NBA Elite 11 Delayed

Electronic Arts simultaneously broke and warmed the hearts of basketball-loving gamers by officially announcing today that the upcoming Wii reboot (Weboot?) NBA Jam will, unsurprisingly, be released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this holiday. The bad news is that NBA Elite 11, which was supposed to be released simultaneously with NBA Jam on October 5, has been delayed. Classic giveth and taketh.

Thanks to the ESRB (and common sense), NBA Jam going multiplatform is far from a surprise. While I had hoped that EA would stick by its guns and give the Wii a truly great exclusive title, the sheer economics of such a move, especially with a franchise as beloved and popular as NBA Jam, are impossible to deny.

As for the NBA Elite 11 delay, EA Sports explained the decision on its official blog, saying, “This year, we set extremely ambitious goals for our new franchise, NBA Elite 11. We are creating a game that will introduce several breakthrough features that have been missing from the basketball genre. Unfortunately, NBA Elite 11 is not yet ready and we have made a decision to delay next month’s launch.  We are going to keep working until we’re certain we can deliver a breakthrough basketball experience.”

EA revealed last month that NBA Elite 11 will include access three downloadable game modes from NBA Jam, which also added to the speculation that Jam was destined for multiplatforms.

Basketball fans, what say you? Pleased about NBA Jam? Bummed about NBA Elite 11?

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