Ultimate Rivals: The Court Basketball Game Will Feature NBA Jam Announcer

Ultimate Rivals: The Court is an upcoming arcade basketball game developed by Bit Fry Games for the Apple Arcade subscription service. The second in the Ultimate Rivals series, Ultimate Rivals: The Court is Bit Fry Games' vision on what a classic arcade basketball game would look like in modern times, similar to its prior Hockey sports title, Ultimate Rivals: The Rink.

Last week, Bit Fry Games revealed an announcement trailer showing off its over-the-top 2D fantasy basketball gameplay. Each character shown in the trailer has their own traits and unique abilities to bring to the table, with scores reaching limits that are well beyond that of a normal 3-on-3 pick-up game. The final part of the trailer shows off a familiar voice with a familiar catchphrase, a surprise for veterans of NBA Jam.

The trailer begins with a news report on the "CEO of Ultratech," who sets the tone for the premise of Ultimate Rivals by allowing players to select the A.I of various players to create the ultimate 3-person team. At the end of the trailer, an onlooker watching the news report from home gets sucked into the television set. Followed by the iconic "Boomshakalaka" catchphrase, the onlooker is revealed to be Tim Kitzrow as realizes that he, too, is now a part of the Ultimate Rivals universe. This doubles as an announcement for Kitzrow's involvement with Ultimate Rivals: The Court, serving as its in-game announcer.

Tim Kitzrow is a voice actor most notable for his role as the announcer for various Midway sports games, including NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, NHL Hitz, and MLB Slugfest. Recently he has lent his voice to Mutant Football League as well as an exclusive DOTA 2 announcer pack aptly named "DOTA Jam." Ultimate Rivals: The Court will also boast the likeliness and names of several athletes ranging from various sports, including the NBA, WNBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, and the USWNT.

In sports video games, player rankings are a big deal. Not only are they important for fans who want to play as their favorite superstar, but for the players and teams as well. It might not seem as significant compared to gameplay mechanics, or graphics, but it's definitely something that players like FIFA star Romelu Lukaku take seriously. Now, the NBA's Washington Wizards are throwing some shade at NBA 2K21 for its All-Star update to player ratings.

Often released at the beginning of a new season, sports video games do their best to rate teams and players based on past performance and rough predictions for how the season will go. Sometimes teams or players have a banner year unexpectedly, and recently, sports games have done a decent job in adjusting ratings as the season goes on. Madden 21 just released its last update, and with the NFL season over, fans will have to wait until Madden 22 to see what might change.

The NBA season is still in full swing, and with the All Star Weekend on right now, NBA 2K21 has updated some player ratings, but Washington is not happy about what happened to its star player, Bradley Beal. Despite making the All Star Game as a starter for the Eastern Conference, and averaging a career-best 32.9 points per game, Beal was dropped a point by NBA 2K21 in the latest update. While one point might not seem like a big deal, a number of All Star players saw a boost to their rating.