BOOMSHAKALAKA!
It is hard to believe that it has been twenty-five years since that phrase (shouted with as much panache as possible) entered the average gamer’s lexicon. The NBA Jam franchise has reached its silver anniversary and according to the man who enthusiastically announced our player was on fire, Microsoft may have a shot at another revival for the series.
Tim Kitzrow is the man behind the voice and he says he has been in talks with Microsoft to bring back the series. He especially hopes it can be done in 2018 to commemorate the original game’s 25th anniversary. “I can’t speak anything to the specifics, but I can tell you there is movement in the works to get it done for the 25th year. So I’m hoping that we get a remake that does justice to the original,” said Kitzrow.
NBA Jam was resurrected way back in 2010 as under the EA Sports label. In fact, EA still technically holds the rights to the franchise but Kitzrow remains hopeful that a deal can be worked out.
One of the game’s original developers, Mark Turmell, works over at Zynga now but he hopes the series will be revived and made even better than we’ve seen with earlier iterations of NBA Jam. “[EA] did a pretty good job. But there’s so much more that can be done. It’s really sort of an untapped category, to have that over-the-top NBA action with the official license. It’s a great brand,” he said. “I have so many letters and comments over the years where people said, ‘I wasn’t an NBA fan until the game.
Microsoft is known to be in talks with several developers as the tech giant shops for both timed and full-on exclusive games. Having an exclusive sports game would be helpful for Xbox and NBA Jam would be a great fit for the Game Pass service but there is a part of me that thinks NBA Jam should always be a multiplat franchise. We will be sure to update you on any new developments for this game.
[amazon_link asins=’B00F4CEHNK,B00F4CEOS8,B00F4CEWOY,B00F4CF39C,B00F4CFAV8,B00F4CFBUS,B00F4CFHFC’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’cristianreyes-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’c84a0833-f989-11e7-9d0c-5f105e88c10b’]And then they became fans of the NBA. So I think in a very small way, in that era, there in the early ’90s, it actually had some inflection onto the popularity of the NBA.
