VU Games to shoot MMO hoops

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Apr 20, 2006 12:52 pm PT

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.

23 Comments

  • Airek49

    Posted Nov 28, 2006 11:00 am PT

    Great idea. Hopefully it plays well.

    I'll be picking it up.

  • Fasju52

    Posted Jun 5, 2006 2:32 am PT

    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

    Posted Apr 21, 2006 10:34 am PT

    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

    Posted Apr 21, 2006 7:50 am PT

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

  • Sil3n7Knight

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 11:42 pm PT

    i dont see this appealing to hardcore...

  • NinjaFoot

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 11:39 pm PT

    Sounds dumb. LOL

  • Benihana7

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 10:28 pm PT

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

  • Max_Fischer

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 8:08 pm PT

    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

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 6:53 pm PT

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

  • blackIceJoe

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 6:20 pm PT

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

  • 504Cp3

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 6:09 pm PT

    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

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 3:30 pm PT

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

  • jsmoke03

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 3:20 pm PT

    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

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 3:18 pm PT

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

  • QualityJeverage

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 3:16 pm PT

    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

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 3:05 pm PT

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

  • Truth01

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 2:58 pm PT

    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

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 2:51 pm PT

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

  • homsuplo75

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 2:40 pm PT

    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

    Posted Apr 20, 2006 2:19 pm PT

    Never really liked sports games.

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