NBA Jam goes multi-platform, Wii owners officially second-class citizens
EA has spent a lot of time and energy building hype for what was supposed to be a Wii exclusive game, NBA Jam. (Remember the catchphrase contest?) But they’ve recently gone ahead and destroyed the good will Wii owners had for the project by deciding to include a sort-of stripped down version of the game as a free pack-in with purchases of NBA Elite 11 on PS3 and 360.
I say the 360 and PS3 version is sort-of stripped down, because while it won’t include the single-player modes of the Wii version, it will include online multiplayer, a mode that looks unlikely to show up on Wii.
NBA Jam for Wii doesn’t have a price yet, but this is a retail game, $40 is probably the minimum it will go for. Meanwhile, PS3/360 owners may have to throw away $60 on NBA Elite 11 to get the game, but the perception for consumers is obvious: HD owners get things for free just for belonging to the HD upper class, Wii owners get shit on.
The saga of third parties mishandling Wii projects and disrespecting Wii owners continues.
I’m not going to explain the wrongness in comparing this “unfairness” to actually being a second class citizen.