People assumed it was a Wii exclusive franchise when they said "At the time there are only plans for a wii retail version of the game."

Big emphasis on retail.  I kept telling people it wasn't a wii exclusive in reality.   I thought they meant downloadble game for the 360, but the throw in for a bundle is just the same.

That is a big presumption, as you are imagining the Wii audience cares about online more than playing with friends. Plus the "free" notion smakes of marketing doublespeak, since you still have to pay for NBA Elite.

well, it's their loss...... loss of sales and reputation.....

No, he's not assuming they care about online MORE THAN playing with friends but that they feel ripped off that they are paying full price for a game with a reduced feature set.

Do you have something against the Wii and online?  Because every single one of your posts goes to great length to posit that Wii gamers don't play online very much.

No, and could you stop misrepresenting my position.

I'm going against the assumption that more Wii owners prefer online without proof that those who prefer local is less. Again, we know that a lot of Wii owners like online, and it might even hurt this game's sales. Yet where is the datat showing the amount of Wii owners who prefer local multiplayer, and that their number is less than those who prerer online?

Considering all the money at stake in the industry, that is not something wise to be certain about without grounds to be certain.

You are also making an assumption, and that assumption is that only "the Wii audience" has bought NSMB (or are the potential market ofr NBA Jam). But many Wii owners also own one or the other HD console, and so yes, my assumption is that many of those would have gone for an NSMB with online (not that it needed it). And they don't need to care more about online, all they need is to have the choice between a version with online and one without (since both would have the offline multiplayer).

As to "free", of course it is marketing doublespeak, but that doesn't prevent people from falling for it at the psychological level (do you know how many times my wife remembers that something costs around 30 when the price is 39.99?).

1. No, I didn't assume that. Plus I think you meant "Wii only owners" as "the Wii audience" is not some mutant audience compared to other systems, especially when you're going off of some liking the HD systems as well.

2. Wait. How could having the choice be enough if you don't want the other more? Are you going off an assumption that people just want more features, even if they don't want it more than the features they already have?

That might apply if video games were a status symbol, and having the most features is important, but if most people don't see games that way, then they aren't going to care about optional extra features.

3. But the mentality of having a game as a free download with another game is about the same as a free prize in a cereal. You still have to pay money for NBA Elite, even if that's a game you don't want. Zone of the Enders didn't tear up the charts, even if the gaming press went crazy over the MGS2 demo.

And Crackdown was not merely sold due to the Halo 3 beta, since Microsoft reported the online play in that game topped the online play of the beta (not the full game of course). People wanted Crackdown for Crackdown.

 HD AND Wii crowd loses. IM not paying full price for a game that doesnt have all the features and im def. not paying for a sports sim that I dont want to play just to play a game that still wont have all the features. So no one buy Nba jam for Wii and no one buy NBA Eilte and maybe EA will see the error of their ways

I doubt this will work cause what they would do in return is blame the lack luster sales on the Wii audience and not themselves.

So wait... the HD version doesn't have options too?

FYI along with online because it was shipped later the HD version is going to have more accurate rostser because the wii's roster was finalized before some big trades.