NBA Elite 11 Includes Free NBA Jam

Well this is certainly surprising news. All indications seemed to point to NBA Jam arriving on the 360 and PS3 as a downloadable title sometime next year. However today EA Sports announced that copies of NBA Elite 11 will include a one-time-use code to download NBA Jam for free! There are currently no plans to sell NBA Jam on its own, the only way to get it will be by purchasing a new copy of NBA Elite 11.

NBA JAM has been optimized for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 to truly deliver a next-gen experience of the classic franchise. With Play Now, Classic Campaign, and Online modes included, the downloadable version of NBA JAM, that is available with purchases of NBA ELITE 11, will include a robust single player and multiplayer experience. NBA JAM allows fans to challenge the world, or their friends on the couch, with Online and Play Now, respectively, or climb from worst to first as they take their favorite NBA team through a ladder tournament through the league.

The press release is very specific as to “three modes of NBA Jam” as opposed to a full title so I wonder whether all the same characters are included here or if it will just be the standard NBA teams and what else might differ from the Wii version (Update: there won’t be the “Remix” mode which includes “Boss Battles” on the 360/PS3). I’d also expect NBA Jam to go for sale on XBLA and PSN sometime in the future, maybe in December or early next year, however restricting it to just Elite at first will help push sales of that title. While including NBA Jam is unlikely to tip the scales in the battle between NBA Elite 11 and NBA 2K11 it would seem to provide a huge incentive for many to give Elite a try. That could ultimately be what EA is hoping for out of its inclusion.