NBA Elite 11 for PS3: New Controls and NBA Jam Confirmed

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Hey guys, I’m Yaw (pronounced as “yao” like Yao Ming) and I’m the NBA Community Manager from Electronic Arts Canada. I work alongside the EA SPORTS: NBA ELITE and NBA JAM development teams. We have exciting news to share with all of you today — three modes of NBA JAM will be included with your purchase of NBA ELITE.

This year, our team at EA SPORTS wanted to create the ultimate basketball experience for PS3 owners. If you’ve been following all the news and updates on NBA ELITE, then the first thing that you’ve seen is the game is no longer called NBA LIVE. So why the name change?

Well, we believe that NBA ELITE will revolutionize the way you think, feel and play basketball video games — forever. The dev team is driving never seen before innovation in the form of a number of features that are radically different than what you have seen in previous NBA games. The first change you will see is in the revised control scheme: Hands-On Control. This year you have full control over everything in the game; from offense to defense. Your shooting is based on skill (not on the dice roll of hitting a button and letting the AI determine your success.) Dribbling is one-to-one movement, you can link moves together seamlessly like; euro-steps, dunk adjusts, spins-moves and so much more.

The second major revolutionary innovation you’re going to see is the inclusion of real physics driving the game. We’re leveraging the physics animation technology that drove NHL, FIFA and even Fight Night into the upper echelons of sports video games and applying it in way that works specifically for basketball.

PS3 - NBA 11 Elite

People that we’ve shared the game with to date have told us that they are impressed (even amazed) at how NBA ELITE is the first game to “play and feel like real basketball.” We feel this comes down to all the little things you are able to see in this year’s game, such as unique ball deflections every time you play the game and various player collisions that make NBA basketball as exciting as it is. Look for more details to come on real physics, killer new modes, and more about our revamped in-game presentation centered around ESPN and their lead commentary team of Breen, Van Gundy, and Jackson.

With all the new additions that have gone into NBA ELITE 11 — we really feel that we’re doing everything to blaze a new path for basketball games — and we want you to play the game to see for yourself. To make NBA ELITE the ultimate basketball experience for you, we will be including three modes of NBA JAM for FREE with NBA ELITE 11. That’s right, not only will you be getting NBA ELITE 11 when you buy the game, but you will also have NBA JAM available as well — so for the price of one game, you’re getting two full NBA experiences. Another important note to share with all of you — the ONLY way you will be able to play NBA JAM for the PS3 is to buy NBA ELITE 11.

NBA ELITE for PS3 with NBA Jam

With NBA JAM on the PS3, the team is bringing you the classic two-on-two experience that you once knew from the original arcade game but this time with updated teams, and of course all in glorious HD. The controls are very easy to pick up and once you start throwing down monster dunks or begin heating up, it’s going to be hard to put down the controller. The game stays true to the original game but at the same time it offers a brand new take on the classic, with updated graphics and new game-play mechanics.

We’re very excited to be able to share the news with all of you, I know talking with a number of people in the community; everyone has wanted to see NBA JAM on the PS3. I can finally let you all know that your wish has become reality. I’m definitely curious to hear your thoughts about all of this. Be sure to comment below and let us all know what you think of the news.

Pencil mid-to-late September into your calendars for the NBA ELITE downloadable demo on PSN. We really believe that once you play the game for yourselves, you will see the revolutionary change that we’ve been talking about. For more information, join us on Facebook at EA SPORTS NBA, or you can follow me on Twitter @blackflash83.

BOOMSHAKALAKA!!

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208 Comments

24 Author Replies

  • I’ve been more and more impressed with Live (or Elite, now) each and every year and I feel like this year, it’s going to really contend with 2k’s NBA game. The problem with 2k basketball is that they aren’t bringing much to the table each and every year; it’s been the same thing, “been there done that” kind of feeling for the past three years or so.

    I’m happy to see you’re taking a cue from your other sports titles, especially NHL, for the physics engine. Great to hear.

    NBA Jam question for you: can my brother, who is playing on another PS3, and I play a game together against two other people?

  • Please give NBA Jam its own disc version. I loved playing NBA Jam on the Genesis. I would gladly pay 60 for a disc version of NBA Jam. So please think about bringing NBA Jam out by itself. Because if you do it will sell like crazy.

  • Dear EA, kiss my rear. I’m not buying your yearly roster update to play the new NBA Jam. What a completely awesome way to let a publisher screw over your loyal customers Sony. I was totally psyched for NBA Jam, now it’s just another reason for me to avoid EA’s games.

    Even if I was into NBA”Elite”, I would boycott it out of principle.

  • This will be the first sports game I have bought since NBA Jam for the Sega Genesis. Sweetness!

  • I have no interest in a sports game. But I still wanted my NBA Jam.

    So congrats I won’t be getting my NBA Jam now.

  • I thought I’d leave my thoughts to EA as well, if they even care.

    I have ZERO interest in NBA Elite 11. ZERO. Is that clear?

    I have a FIRST DAY PURCHASE-ing interest in NBA Jam. Is that understood?

    See if you can understand this, as well: Because of a lame attempt to grab more sales to a game that (apparently) cannot stand on it’s own, you will be getting ZERO dollars of my money. Yep, it’s amazing how that correlates with my interest in your NBA Elite title.

  • LOL damn you guys are ruthless with the comments, and I don’t blame any of you.

    These companies need to know what we do and don’t like instead of constantly going ways just to make a quick buck for a lazy job.

    • How is this lazy? Giving you two unique basketball experiences for the price of one is anything but lazy. It’s about trying to give you guys as good a basketball experience as you can get.

      We’re not trying scam anyone, it’s about giving you guys a great basketball experience with both JAM and ELITE.

  • @ Yaw
    “Yaw | August 3rd, 2010 at 9:14 am

    How is EA trying to destroy gamers here?”

    EA sports division is destroying gamers by buying up exclusive rights to certain sports because the competition was making sports games that were head and shoulders above any EA sports games. Man I can’t wait for 2K to start making NFL games again. They have basketball on lock-down and had Football on lock-down also until you guys bought the exclusive right to NFL games.

    EA SPORTS sucks and EA as an overall company is good.

  • Bad move EA. I had money set aside for NBA Jam, and would have paid more than I would have normally for PSN title. You were going to get some money from me, but now you are going to get none.

  • I gotta say I haven’t been into BBall games in years but these changes look really awesome.

  • Maybe if the full NBA jam was in Elite I might check it out but a gimped version? Also just because we like NBA jam doesn’t mean we we’re going to buy Elite or 2k11. I have no interest in either game. Hopefully for the people who buy Elite you’ll un gimp the game and for those of us who were never going to buy Elite or 2k for that matter we’ll eventually get to buy the full version of Jam. When will you publishers learn that core gamers DO NOT like playing the Wii. We do it because it’s THE ONLY platform to play Nintendo games. 99/100 times when given the choice we pick the HD systems. I’m not buying Jam for the Wii but I will hold out hope you’ll release it on the PS3.

  • Everyone is a little ticked because you guys aren’t offering nba jam you are offering a gimped version of it i was hyped to not only play a new jam but also to play as the classic teams and try out the boss mode since that sounded interesting but with the way you guys handled this now neither game is complete i can get the non hd version with crap online or maybe no online on wii for full price or buy nba elite and get the incomplete version with hd and online when i just want a full hd complete version of the game(and who knows i might buy elite anyway i need to wait on the demos to decide between elite and 2k11)

  • Adding to my #57 comment:

    In this case, the requirement to buy NBA Elite just to play NBA Jam :|

  • That’s really lame about NBA Jam only coming with this game. I bet if you sold them separately Jam would outsell Elite by a lot. Even though Elite 11 does look like a huge improvement.

  • if you wanna create the ULTIMATE basketball experience, CREATE IT so you dont have to relaese it every year. MAREKETING SCAMS ARE A JOKE THESE DAYS

  • thats MARKETING……

  • What are the 3 modes? Online, Local and ….?

  • Will the secret caracters be in this glorified demo???

  • People wanted NBA Jam… but I dont think they were willing to pay $60 for it.

    By doing this.. you are cannibalizing your own product. Is EA really lack THAT much faith in NBA Elite that they need to pull this stunt.

    All this means is that I won’t get to play NBA Jam… a game I WOULD’VE otherwise purchased

  • I don’t want your “Complete Basketball Package”. I want NBA Jam, full experience, in HD without NBA Elite. NBA Jam has always, always drawn in the non-sports and non-basketball crowd. EA is effectively eliminating a huge portion of the gaming population by holding back NBA Jam from a real release.

  • Would the available NBA Jam for PS3 feature all the teams/players of the wii version? Will it have some kind of season or playoff mode or is it just exhibition and online?

  • Is there gonna be a mini-game where “LeBro” can kick the city of Cleveland in the nuts on national TV?

  • Wanna know what type of stunt they’re pulling? Trying to get you to buy Elite for NBA Jam just to outdo 2K11 since they’ve added Michael Jordan.

    Jordan vs. NBA Jam? I’m siding with Jordan on this one.

  • You know, when each and every year EA comes out and explains why their previous year version of NBA Live sucked it doesn’t make you special.

    We have all noticed that NBA Live has been garbage compared to the 2K series.

    Madden 11 looks really bad this year. I’ve never met someone who said, “Aw man, I hate how I have to choose a play to run, I wish the computer would do it for me so I don’t have to think..”

    “One hour is just too long to play a football game. They should make it a half hour long.”

    Maybe you should just give away NBA Elite 11 with new subscriptions to Sports Illustrated because thats the only way your going to move copies.

  • ..Or you could just include copies of a new NBA JAM. Because Americans are so dumb, that they will buy a horribly made basketball game, so they can receive a code to download a game that stopped being fun 15 years ago.

    If I wanted to play NBA Jam, I would just bust out the sega saturn version that I paid .50 cents for 10 years ago.

  • Apparently NBA Elite is taking its talents to South Beach, because it can’t sell on its own.

  • #60, I suggest you check out NBA 2K11, if you havent checked out a NBA title in years… maybe you should buy NBA 2K9.

    There arn’t any trophies in it, but you can find it at gamestop for less than $10.

    Me, I’ll be buying 2K11 on day one (i buy sports games every other year, so good luck in 2013 EA Sports.)

  • The reason I don’t want elite is that I don’t want a realistic basketball game. I want a fun, arcadey game that I can pick up and play every now and then. Which is why I want NBA jam on PSN. I want to spend $10 and get the game, not $60 to get a game I don’t want included. It may be great value, but it’s crazy to not give people the option to buy Jam separately.

  • I’d rather just wait for the developers of BACKBREAKER to make a baskeball game LOL.

  • Yaw, you are such a hypocrite. You go on to say “I know talking with a number of people in the community; everyone has wanted to see NBA JAM on the PS3” and yet we can’t even play NBA Jam unless we buy that other game; did you tell those people you questioned that you won’t be able to purchase NBA Jam separately. l’d be saving more money buying NBA Jam separately. l don’t understand why you can’t just sell this game on the PSN store, this just seems like the biggest dumb mistake l’ve ever seen.

    • Why is it a mistake to offer two games for the price of one? I understand that you’re looking to play JAM but you have an opportunity to check out another game that’s part of the package and maybe you’ll like what you see.

      There’s nothing hypocritical about what I have to say about it man. I think it’s great that you get two different games for the price of one.

  • SORRY EA IM STICKING WITH 2K11…

  • Not so good for those only looking to pick up NBA Jam, such as myself.

  • Two things…

    1) Does NBA Jam have online support? Not sure if I read this…

    2) Is NBA Jam on the NBA Elite 11 disc, or is it a separate voucher to download from the PSN?

    Thanks for your time.

  • Let me sum this up for most of us:

    $60 packed in with Elite = No buy
    $15 PSN download = Instant Buy

    Either get absolutely no money from us or get some money by making it a download.

    Seems like a pretty easy decision to me, but what do I know about logic?

  • @Yaw:

    “The entire idea of packing JAM with ELITE was to give you guys a full basketball experience where you will have two unique flavors of basketball all in one package.”

    That is a lie and you know it. Stop [DELETED] your customers and be honest. NBA Jam obviously has more interest than Elite, so you are trying to sell more copies by bundling NBA Jam. If this wasn’t true, EA would offer an alternate way of purchasing NBA Jam.

    The other reason is to degrade the resale value of these games. If you attack the used market, you directly, or indirectly, attack the vast majority of your customers. Time will show that this kind of tactic will not work.

    • This isn’t about lying to consumers. Packaging two games together is a great deal. NBA JAM offers a great experience and so does NBA ELITE 11. Two different fun experiences for the price of one, that doesn’t sound like a bad deal at all.

  • This “Three Modes” thing is silly, are we getting the same NBA Jam as the Wii or are we missing some things?

  • At least people from EA are trying to respond to others, I’ll give them that. However, not making NBA Jam a seperate release on PSN and 360 is a mistake. I’m not interested in NBA Elite, until EA changes their style of play AND listens to the fans. 2K has been successful to this point, because of it’s realism (I’ll still play real basketball over it though) and not arcade style play. Putting NBA Jam in NBA Elite is nothing more than a way to drive sales.

    Now, if an EA rep responds to this I would gladly tell them in “exact detail” what has been wrong with the Live franchise, now disguised as Elite. I’ll even do a youtube vid for it, picking it apart, if it helps them.

    • I’m interested in what you didn’t like about past NBA LIVE games. Trust me when I say this, the development DO listen to all of you.

  • This news is a bummer. I really wanted to play the new NBA Jam. I wanted to buy the new NBA Jam, But i wont buy it for the Wii because Wii online is no good. And now it looks like i wont buy it for PS3/360 because its not the complete game. The only people that are getting a good deal out of this are the people that were already planning on buying NBA Elite 11. But everyone else who just wanted to play the NBA Jam reboot are getting the shaft. And to try and pretend that bundling the game with Elite is anything but a cheap tactic is BS.

  • The marketing spin guy posting is just so disheartening. How can you NOT see the issue here? People previously interested in NBA Jam that did not have a Wii hear news that it will be coming to PS3 and 360, the catch is that to get it they have to purchase a full $60 game they likely have no interest in to get a watered down version of NBA Jam. Yeah no thanks.

    For a percentage of gamers already purchasing NBA Elite, this works out. However, if you did your research, you’d know there’s a HUGE following for NBA Jam by gamers that are otherwise not interested in a full-fledged basketball game and in many cases, simulation sports games period. The thing that made NBA Jam so appealing to the masses was not that it was basketball, but that it was an exciting arcade game that appealed to all audiences.

    Nothing more than another marketing scheme by EA, something gamers are likely not particularly surprised by anymore. I truly feel bad for the devs on the NBA Jam update, as this has garnered an intense amount of negative publicity for the relaunch.

  • I don’t like sport games.I do like NBA JAM though.I’ll wait till NBA Jam is releasedon the PSN store

  • I am a huge Jam fan, but I don’t want to drop $60 just to play it in whatever form it is. I’d pay $10-$20 for it, no problem as a stand alone game.

    I do get they are re-branding Live and trying to draw back in the NBA crowd with their improvements and changes. I also think it is a good value to have the NBA JAM lite included along with the standard game with no price increase. I just think it’s a big loss for us casual guys or guys already committed to NBA 2K11.

    I do understand this is a business, and this is a good business move for EA to convert those on the fence about an NBA game this year, but it is preventing me (a consumer with money) from buying something I want (NBA JAM on a modern console).

  • You EA people are very smart.

    But I’m not going to get a half version of the game I want for $60 dollars.

    If you make it that the Full NBA Jam(Full Experience like on the Wii) game comes included then I’ll maybe buy. I’ll try your demo too. The thing is you guys lost the touch in NBA Live games. The last “GREAT” NBA Live game was NBA Live 06. After that it seems like ya changed the plans and those plans ruined our Live experience and enriched our 2k experience.

    I hope you don’t take any offense to what I’m saying but it’s true. You guys use to be the “KINGS” of NBA games just as you are of the NFL ones but you lost the NBA match to 2k a couple of years back. If you guys at EA don’t want to move on then get someone smarter than the person who thought they should put half of NBA Jam into a game people don’t want before they even tried it.

    P.S. MICHAEL JORDAN IS ON THE NBA2k11 CASE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! WHO’S NOT GOING TO BUY THAT?!

    • I respect your opinion about this as everything you’re saying is fair. Our competition has the most iconic player in basketball in their game and we have JAM packaged with ELITE. I think it’s a great move from EA to give you both of these experiences in our game.

  • Note to EA: No one wants to buy Elite. Even with the new name, basketball fans are still going to ignore the Live franchise. People want to play NBA Jam for the nostalgic feeling when we as consumers felt when we played the old versions as kids.

    Everyone gave up on the Live/Elite franchise since 2005. You guys knew that so you had to bundle NBA Jam with Elite so you can make better profit for the franchise than in previous years.

    Oh and the new “pay $10 for online mode if you got the game used” doesn’t help at all.

  • LMAO, Yaw keeps disagreeing with everyone! There is about 85 posts that don’t agree with what EA is doing, but he keeps sugar coating how they’re is two “unique” games! Cut the BS Ea, no one is falling for it anymore, just look at Madden, and what you guys have done with the football franchise ever since you guys went exclusive with the NFL. You were scared 2K was breathing down your necks, so you had to be a SELLOUT!

  • guys if you don’t want to pay 60 bucks for NBA jam, THEN DON’T. its a voucher code for a free download… you know that means it will be available separately on psn store eventually. Ill be playing a full “backup” version on the wii until then :)

  • If you include the full NBA Jam I would buy it but then sell it and get NBA2k11… Until the demo of NBA Elite11 is out that’s all I’m going to think for these basketball games releasing this year.

    • That’s all we’re asking for man. Try the NBA ELITE 11 demo that will be coming in September and form your opinion once you’ve given the game a chance.

  • I wish SCEA would put restrictions on EA doing things like this. First EA screwed me over with Battlefield BC2 then Skate 3 and now with NBA JAM. Well screw EA, I’ll never buy another EA game or DLC.

  • So the cost of having all the NBA legends available in Wii, X360 and PS3 was too high? Is that what I’m hearing? Did Nintendo give $ to help with the Wii version? I really wanted to play NBA Jam on PS3 but I’m not sure I’ll be playing it at all now.

  • It was also a HUGE mistake to add anything that has a 360 symbol on a Playstation website.

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