There have been rumors floating around for a week or so that EA purchased the rights to one of my favorite childhood games, NBA Jam. Today that rumor was confirmed via press release from EA. The game will be launched on the Wii later this year, compliments of EA Canada.

Unfortunately there isn’t much news beyond that. The refresh will include some new game modes, new characters, and a new level of depth according to the press release. Personally, I never felt NBA Jam warranted much depth. You get in, play for 5-10 minutes, and boomshakalaka! What more could you want from an arcade basketball game?

For those of you that like to keep up on your developer lore, one of the original series developers, Mark Turmell, currently has a position with EA in Orlando, so it’s not completely absurd to assume that he might help out on the project.

Source: EA