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NFL2K rises from grave as All-Pro Football 2K8
Today is a day that sports gamers have prayed for since the fateful morning of December 13th, 2004 when EA locked up the NFL license in an exclusive agreement, effectively shutting down their critically acclaimed rival, NFL 2K. Not one to go quietly, 2K Sports has announced their long rumored gridiron return with All-Pro Football 2K8, slated for this Summer and for "next generation video game systems."Gamespot sat down with Visual Concepts president Greg Thomas to cover some of the more obvious challenges they will be facing in the marketplace. With no license to work with, All-Pro Football 2K8 will be facing an uphill battle for mind share when it comes to dealing with EA's unstoppable Madden series. This doesn't seem to bother Thomas as he is "expecting this game to be a big, big seller, we're expecting our fans to be really excited, and there's a lot of fans."
EA so jazzed about Wii they form exclusive studio
EA, no doubt hypnotized by the low production costs and high profit possibilities of the Wii, has bought Headgate Studios. Headgate, responsible for development on the last six Tiger Woods games on the PC, as well as Madden 07, has been renamed to EA Salt Lake and will focus exclusively on the Wii.EA's support for the console comes as no surprise, what with the Wii-exclusive The Sims installment planned for the console. Still, for how much just about everyone in the gaming industry despises EA, this is a good thing. More companies offering exclusives for the console is one of the errors Nintendo's past console needed to correct and it is looking like that is happening, starting with Ubisoft and EA.[Thanks Brandon!]
NCAA being recalled
A while back, we reported that NCAA was "busted up." We thought that a patch was going to be released, but EA has decided to replace those faulty discs with new ones. This is one of the more recent recalls that can't be blamed on Sony. Ironic that it only afflicts a Sony handheld...If you have a copy of the game and would like a replacement, send your UMD (without the game box) to: EA Customer Warranty Attn: NCAA PSP 209 Redwood Shores Parkway Redwood City, CA 94065 Make sure you include your name, address, e-mail address and phone number. Your new disc should reach you within 10 days.[Via Joystiq]
EA and ESPN integrate real sports into our fake sports
Some new information about the EA/ESPN integration has popped up at IGN regarding NBA Live '07. EA and EPSN had signed a 15-year partnership agreement and this is the first worthwhile use of that. What was displayed was the ability to have a running ticker at the bottom of the screen of your game displaying real world news and scores. If you'd rather hear it than passingly read it, you can vie for the live podcasts of ESPN radio. Or if you want a break from gaming, you can watch ESPN original shows. Cool.This was shown using the XBox 360, but we were told the same abilities and technologies will be available for the Playstation 3. Is there any other sort of integration we'd like to see? Perhaps an online tournament covered by an actual ESPN show -- so you feel like you really are coaching the next champs. Think about it: a live ticker of all the current tourney matches, commentary by famous ESPN fellas (if they can take it seriously), recaps, etc. That would be really cool, but mixing reality with gaming like this is an excellent first step.
