EA Sports nets NBA Jam creator

Suggestions that EA Sports is about to revive the NBA Jam series intensified today as the publishing enterprise announced it had appointed Mark Turmell as a senior creative director.

Experienced developer Turmell was central to the creation of numerous breakthrough games such as Smash TV, NFL Blitz and – of course – NBA Jam.

His prodigious experience in the development business, which spans over twenty years, will now be the driving force at Florida-based EA Tiburon, working inside the studio’s Central Gameplay Group.

And yet, in an internal interview with EA, Turmell’s excitement seemed to reside in making football games with EA.

“I am perfectly positioned to impact and improve the moment to moment football gameplay for both Madden and NCAA," he said.

“I love to have my hands on the sticks, trying to improve pacing, impact of moves, velocities, AI decisions, etc. We have many talented developers in the mix on football, but hopefully I can bring a little extra magic to the mix and our games will appeal to an even larger audience. It doesn’t get much better than working on EA football titles!”

Elsewhere in the interview, Turmell suggested that his management approach at EA Tiburon was going to be more ‘hands-on’ than managerial.