NBA Elite 11 is no longer indefinitely postponed--it's cancelled. EA's John Schappert confirmed the widely held suspicion during an EA investor call yesterday afternoon, adding that the NBA Elite franchise will eventually make its debut under the auspices of a new studio, Madden developer EA Tiburon.
Schappert didn't say why NBA Elite 11 was canned, but most players of the game's infamous demo would probably agree that Elite 11 kinda sucked, which is as good of a reason as any. Schappert also didn't explain why the franchise was being moved from EA Canada to the Orlando-based studio. A rash of recent layoffs at the northern developer surely had some sort of impact, though.
EA's basketball portfolio isn't totally empty as a result of this. An HD version of NBA Jam is shipping on disc this November 26 for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and the non-HD version is already available for the Wii.
== TEASER ==You could, if you're desperate enough (or a collector type), hunt down a copy of Elite 11. Apparently, some game discs managed to make it out of the production phase shortly before EA scrapped the game.
If you're just looking for a new, finished simulation basketball game, however, just pick up NBA 2K11. It's much more competitive and a tad more realistic than previous entries in the series. The re-tuned AI, for example, actually defends passing lanes, attempts steals, and grabs boards instead of moseying around or just standing in awe. Plus, the new Iso-Motion animations are ridiculously fluid and character-accurate, though it all takes a bit of work to master. Oh, and that Michael Jordan guy? Yeah, he's in it too. (Also, so is Dennis Rodman, the greatest player of all time.)
Schappert didn't say why NBA Elite 11 was canned, but most players of the game's infamous demo would probably agree that Elite 11 kinda sucked, which is as good of a reason as any. Schappert also didn't explain why the franchise was being moved from EA Canada to the Orlando-based studio. A rash of recent layoffs at the northern developer surely had some sort of impact, though.
EA's basketball portfolio isn't totally empty as a result of this. An HD version of NBA Jam is shipping on disc this November 26 for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and the non-HD version is already available for the Wii.
== TEASER ==You could, if you're desperate enough (or a collector type), hunt down a copy of Elite 11. Apparently, some game discs managed to make it out of the production phase shortly before EA scrapped the game.
If you're just looking for a new, finished simulation basketball game, however, just pick up NBA 2K11. It's much more competitive and a tad more realistic than previous entries in the series. The re-tuned AI, for example, actually defends passing lanes, attempts steals, and grabs boards instead of moseying around or just standing in awe. Plus, the new Iso-Motion animations are ridiculously fluid and character-accurate, though it all takes a bit of work to master. Oh, and that Michael Jordan guy? Yeah, he's in it too. (Also, so is Dennis Rodman, the greatest player of all time.)