by cjmp, HSM team writer

Jam Games, one of the bright young developers in Home that brought the ever-popular racing outfit bundles to the mall, has more great stuff lined up — and already have one item that’s already out, which are the new Razor outfits with their color and vibe.

Although Jam only has a few virtual commodities released at present, they have already received praise for their furniture items and racing gear as well as their personal space. But the question arises: since they’re such a racing-themed developer, where are the locomotions?

The wait is over, as the new Traffic Jam car locomotions are coming to Home. We’ve received word that they will be arriving in June.

The posters have been up all over the place, and I was thinking, “Oh, maybe it will come next week.” A week passes and I say the same thing, and still nothing. So now I’m utterly confused at why the posters are up for so long but still no sign of the actual product. Even in the Message of the Day it said that the Traffic Jam items are out — but still, nothing there. And then finally I got the word from Jam Games themselves, stating that the release of the traffic Jam cars will release in June. So there is something to be excited about, and I’m sure it won’t disappoint.

The Traffic Jam car has a cartoonish look, but still has that racecar feel, which is always nice. Kind of similar to The Bigs and The Bigs 2, by 2K Sports: it had a cartoonish baseball look, but still retained a pure baseball feel.

From the looks of it, there will be two different colors to choose from, with black and pink, but I’m sure other colors will release shortly thereafter. Another thing I noticed: in one of the pictures, the driver had on a racing outfit, but I couldn’t really tell if it was just the racing outfits that were already in the Jam store or not. Granted, it probably was — which, by the way, that outfit would fit perfectly with those cars, so if you plan on getting the Traffic Jam cars then it wouldn’t hurt to get the popular racing outfit too.

I wonder what kind of features these colorful and stylish new locomotions will feature. Will it feature sounds and smoke coming from the pipes, like the brilliant locomotions of Atom Republic? Will there be an emote button, akin to nDreams’ awesome scooters? Or will it just drive? Maybe it will have cool steering maneuvers like VEEMEE’s new quad motor locomotions.

But that’s the beauty of teasing and suspense: we don’t know what will be featured on these cars, but they look gorgeous — and you would think locomotion would be right up Jam Games’ alley, since they are such a heavy racing-based developer from what we have seen from them so far. These Traffic Jam cars will be the closest thing to driving racecars in Home yet developed, and it’s something to be excited about. Yes, they’re small, but so are the majority of locomotions in Home. Nonetheless, they are still very stylish.

Another question, of course, is whether or not they’ll have the speed boost option. Being able to move at 150% speed may not be as hot a selling point as it used to be, but it’s still very convenient for navigating around larger spaces in Home. It’s like they give you the ability to glide through Home.

So: how successful can these be? The reason why this is such a big deal is because it’s a first for Jam Games, and it gets me wondering how they will fare with other developers who made brilliant locomotions. Jam is a young company, and despite the uphill battle new developers face with an entrenched marketplace, they are rapidly gaining a following on their social media streams. The possibilities are endless as to what the Traffic Jam cars will feature, and the anticipation seems high with all of the posters popping up around Home.

(This brings up an interesting question: which actually generates more sales — something which goes out on time without bugs, or something which struggles past FQA, has bugs, gets people talking, and then gets fixed? I’m not suggesting that it’s a good marketing strategy, obviously, but the hardest thing to do with a new product release in Home — particularly for a new developer — is build visibility. Perhaps these delays are a blessing in disguise, since it’s allowing further anticipation to be built up. The hot new thing on the horizon is always more appealing than yesterday’s news.)

I think Jam Games has the opportunity to really make a mark on the locomotion market segment, and are certainly a great company for sports enthusiasts. Speaking of sports, they also have proposed the idea of having more sports-related items and animations in Home, such as baseball, golf, basketball, etc. If that plan follows through, how will there sports animations fare with Granzella’s soccer locomotion, nDreams’ basketball, hockey and football LMOs or Lockwood’s golf LMO? Let’s hope the idea is executed, because it will really be fun to see how they do against the major developers — and if they do well, then Jam Games could become a major developer themselves. Something which I feel confident about, because they have tons of potential, and the Traffic Jam locos will be a huge step for them moving forward.

The sky’s the limit for a new developer in Home right now; all it really takes is that one hit — that one item that people keep talking about — to put you properly on the radar. Perhaps this will be it for Jam Games.

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