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Allow these Mass Effect iOS screens to infiltrate your brain meat
Yesterday we got a chance to get our eyes on the upcoming Mass Effect iOS game, Infiltrator, during an EA press event. But while there's not much to say about the game (it's a third-person shooter set in the Mass Effect universe), it sure was pretty! Take a look for yourself in the gallery just below.
BioWare looking for 'logical extensions' to its brands for mobile development
"We did that iOS Mass Effect Galaxy thing really early. We said, 'We should just try this and see what happens.' And we learned something from it," BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk told me in a recent interview, when asked about the company's unknown mobile plans. It seems that Zeschuk, and in turn, BioWare, is more interested in using mobile and other burgeoning platforms as testing grounds rather than a focus. "What we do a lot is we'll actually explore a platform and kinda play around with it," Zeschuk added. While he said that mobile, comprising both Android and iOS, is "definitely something we're looking at," he also noted that just one person of BioWare's hundreds of employees has been assigned to focus primarily on mobile development. That person is said to be in charge of identifying "logical extensions to what we do," but Zeschuk is quick to point out his company "haven't announced too much" in that space. He also pointed out that another branch of BioWare's parent company, EA Interactive/Mobile, could be of particular use in the case of BioWare properties on mobile devices. "That's one of the biggest benefits of being at EA. We have EA Interactive, who does tons and tons of mobile stuff," Zeschuk said. "We're always looking around. We're always sort of sharing ideas and figuring out what we're gonna do." Presumably we'll hear more whenever BioWare figures out what exactly that is, or at least whenever the company decides to announce as much. For now, we'll be wantonly hoping for a PopCap crossover, post-acquisition. We can dream, right?
Peter Moore now COO at EA, more execs change jobs
In a year where EA has seen its business model shifting away from the physical to a greater reliance on digital dollars, some similarly massive changes are shaking up the company rolodex. As detailed by CEO John Riccitiello today: Peter Moore is now the Chief Operating Officer of the company, a role vacated by John Schappert in April Current EA Games label boss Frank Gibeau will serve as President of all the EA labels Bioware will become the fourth EA label, joining EA Games (DICE, Visceral, Criterion, EA Partners, etc.), EA Sports (Madden, FIFA, Fight Night) and EA Play (Maxis, The Sims, MySims) Barry Cottle moves from executive VP to of EA Interactive to heading the division, which now includes Playfish, Pogo, EA Mobile, EA's partnership with Hasbro, Asian mobile and online games and PopCap It's a big move, but it leaves plenty of unanswered questions for now. For starters, we're not sure who'll take over for pitchman Peter Moore at EA Sports. We're also curious if the BioWare label is a branding augmentation only, or something more substantive.
EA agrees to buy Firemint, devs behind iOS hits Flight Control, Real Racing
Electronic Arts continues to chase the mobile market, today announcing an agreement to purchase Firemint, the Australia-based developer behind iOS hits like Flight Control, Real Racing and, notably, "an attractive future slate of games." Flight Racing, anyone? While it may be true love, EA and Firemint aren't ones to kiss-and-tell; the purchase price isn't being disclosed. EA isn't just buying Firemint, however. The developer recently purchased fellow Australians Infinite Interactive, the devs behind the popular Puzzle Quest series. For its part, EA recently purchased a company called MPP, a "leader in high quality cross-platform development and porting of games for smartphones." We don't know about you, but we detect a faint whiff of synergy. Oh, here it is: "The added technical expertise of MPP, combined with the creative talent of Firemint and our EAi studio teams, fuels EA's leadership in delivering top selling, high quality games across mobile phones and smartphones, tablets and future digital interactive entertainment platforms," EA Interactive's Barry Cottle said in a press release. This courtship has ostensibly been going on for some time. Before it struck it rich on the App Store, Firemint labored in the EA Mobile mines working on the Madden NFL 3D series, a 2006 mobile release of Need for Speed Most Wanted, and something called The Sims DJ. You can't say Firemint hasn't paid its dues.
