VU Games to shoot MMO hoops

April 20, 2006 12:52PM PDT

Publisher to import Korean hit Freestyle Street Basketball; micropayments-driven game set for 2007 release in North America.

VU Games' American massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft has been phenomenally popular in Korea (too popular in some cases), and now the publisher is hoping to re-create that success in reverse. Early next year, VU Games will bring the Korean hit MMO basketball game Freestyle Street Basketball (no relation to Acclaim's ill-fated Freestyle Street Soccer) to American audiences early next year.

As can be inferred by the title, Freestyle Street Basketball trades in the swords and sorcery for slams and jams. Instead of roaming the countryside looking for dragons and ogres to gang up on, players hit the hardcourt with their customized characters and form pickup basketball games.

Given that the game has an unusual MMO theme, VU Games is looking to market it to an unusual MMO audience with an unproven business model. Freestyle Street is designed with mass appeal and quick play sessions to target casual gamers, and it will be supported not by subscription fees, but by the increasingly noticeable trend of micropayments. While there are long-term goals and the ability to level up characters over time, players can also give their character a unique style by purchasing fashions, music, and new skills for their character with experience points and real-world money.

Originally developed by Korea-based JC Entertainment, Freestyle Street Basketball is set to release in North America in the first quarter of 2007. It will be released under VU Games' new Sierra Online label.

By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.

Follow Follow @BrendanSinclair

23 comments

Newest | Oldest

Airek49

Great idea. Hopefully it plays well. I'll be picking it up.

Fasju52

well this game is pretty good. you can play 1v1 2v2 or 3v3. Dont worry to shot is d. you dont use the mouse just your keyboard. well atleast on the version i played

Writeous

i Think the concept will be Raw.. Think about comunicating with the other player over the Heaqdset on a Two-on-Two basketballball Match. Then meet players you like over the NET and team-up with them to form your own team.( 3 man team, or 5 Man team, ) sort of like Clans.

gibb1

humm... this is a interesting release...

Sil3n7Knight

i dont see this appealing to hardcore...

NinjaFoot

Sounds dumb. LOL

Benihana7

What an interesting concept...sounds pretty cool if you ask me though!

Max_Fischer

so this is the basketball agme JC tok on after being dropped by Sega on Shenmue Online. Maybe it'll be a hit, make it a common thing with hockey or tennis of this formula.

NeoJedi

This actually sounds interesting... for an MMO, that is.

blackIceJoe

THis could be a neat MMO hope it will be fun to play.

504Cp3

sounds great to me... considering i love basketball. one thing im worried about is the having to depend on however many guys to play with teamwork to put the ball in the basket. there's gonna be too many ballhogs if you ask me

mrbass208

A fascinating and unique premise, but it's probably just going to be one more voice in the cacaphony that is MMO's

jsmoke03

sounds good but i don't think it would be fun on a pc...would only buy through a console...cuz i'm not pressing spacebar to shoot a ball...

frankeyser

i wish there was a soccer or tennis game like this.

QualityJeverage

Actually, think about it, creating a player and playing on a team composed entirely of other players could actually be a pretty good concept...

Gamemaster1588

WOW....I dont care....at all

Truth01

There are way to many mmos coming out. It's become the new thing now, just like fps. MMO trend means crappy mmos for everyone.

RunnerGunner480

Sounds cool, I wish it was for the Xbox 360, then I would buy it.

homsuplo75

I wonder if this will have a similar set up to The Sims Online. You get your character build them up. make money, buy stuff... then again... what MMO isn't like that. Can't see too many people playing though if it's ONLY basketball... they should consider throwing in other sports too.

ZeroGravX

Never really liked sports games.

dazman92

Hm... mixing WoW with NBA Street? Could work...with no suscription fee, it might get a large audience. Look at Guild Wars.

elrebo

I am no convienced

k04sm02

hmmm...interesting i think

Conversation powered by Livefyre

Related Companies

Hot Stories

Newsmakers

Biden: No legal problem with taxing violent games

United States Vice President Joe Biden believes there is no legal restriction on ability to tax violent media. Full Story
- Posted May 13, 2013 8:50 pm GMT
Just Cause dev promises 'holy f**king sh**' moments in future games

Avalanche Studios co-founder says developer's ambition is for action, not moments that make players cry; steampunk-style game on hold. Full Story
- Posted May 15, 2013 2:33 pm GMT