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New Sim City DS screens
Some new Sim City DS screens have surfaced, and if we weren't dying for this game before, we're certainly in danger of perishing now. The DS just seems like such an incredible medium for this title, and the screens have a familiar, almost nostalgic feel that brings to mind the old SNES game Utopia, particularly in the shot to the right. Our (Google) translation isn't perfect, but it looks like this build of the game is not a port, but was designed specifically for the DS, so we can tentatively expect some really fantastic functionality. Further, there are changes to the game made specifically for the Japanese version. Once we get more detail on what those are, we'll let you know -- and that makes us very curious if English-language versions will feature similar additions.Check after the jump for a few more screens.
EA delivering downloadable games to Nokia handsets
Nokia and Electronic Arts have announced a partnership that'll see the uber-gamemaker delivering some of its mobile titles directly to Nokia handsets via Nokia's "Content Discoverer" portal. The initial line-up of titles, set to drop this holiday season, include: Tetris, Tetris Mania, The Sims 2, Doom, FIFA 06, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 and FIFA Street 2. EA's also announced that it'll support Nokia's next generation gaming platform, with yet-to-be-announced "custom-designed" titles for Nokia S60 devices. Not announced, however, are any indication of prices for the games, or any details on what other games might be forthcoming. Madden would seem like a safe bet, and we can only hope that Spore will find its way into our hands as soon as possible.
Wii-DS link-play confirmed for Spore, plus new Wii info in latest NGamer
GoNintendo.com spreads word that NGamer, a new UK publication, has confirmed Spore for Wii -- of course, Will Wright essentially did the same back in May. According to an article in the new issue, Spore for Wii is scheduled for release in Spring 2007 and will feature some level of data sharing functionality with the DS version, "so you can deform your species on the fly."NGamer also reports that the Wii sensor bar is now "50% smaller ... a little bigger than a couple of pencils glued together" and tosses in a few tidbits about the Wiimote, including its 30–60 hour battery life (with AAs) and ability to store a small amount of data, roughly 6KB, internally. One sour detail reveals that Virtual Console's DRM will prevent gamers from playing their downloaded titles on a friend's Wii.
PS3 delay leads to publisher stock dip
Wall street reacted to yesterday's big news about the PS3's European delay and component shortages by lowering the stocks of some big video game publishers. Shares of Electronic Arts, Activision, THQ and Take Two fluctuated down one to four percent yesterday as investors and analysts took into account the delay's effect on near-term overseas profits. Despite the one-day drop, analysts are predicting that the delay will not affect the medium to longer-term prospects for the companies as they move resources to the next-generation of systems.
EA jumps on the in-game ad bandwagon [update 1]
Reuters is reporting that Electronic Arts has signed deals with Microsoft-owned Massive Inc. and IGA Worldwide to put in-game advertising in up to seven games, including Need for Speed: Carbon and Battlefield: 2142. EA Vice President for Online Commerce Chip Lange promised that this is just the beginning, saying that EA is negotiating with other providers to put ads in many future titles.While sideline billboards in Madden or racing games won't look out of place, it might be a little jarring to see an ad in the middle of Battlefield's battlefields. It might be worth it if the ads lead to lower prices for games, but we're not holding our breath on that count. How do you feel about ads in your games?[Update: the AP is reporting that the ads will be automatically updated over broadband connections on the PC and Xbox Live]
EA interested in Crytek acquisition, reports German newspaper
German newspaper Die Welt reports that EA may be taking the initial steps towards acquiring Crytek. The article quotes EA's international publishing gm Gerhard Florin as describing Crytek as "a very, very interesting candidate [for acquisition]." In January, it was revealed that EA would publish Crytek's Crysis, a deal that has undoubtedly led EA to take a closer look at Crytek and the possibility of bringing the German studio into its fold.Crytek's co-founder Faruk Yerli has confirmed that his company has discussed an acquisition deal with EA, but Yerli added that Crytek might go public instead. Crytek's most significant asset, CryEngine 2, a promising next-gen development engine, would be another big score for EA, fitting nicely alongside Criterion's Renderware.
Metareview - Madden NFL 07 (Xbox 360)
What can you expect from the first "next-gen" Madden to hit the virtual gridiron this year? Well, it's certainly gotta top the wackness that was last year's rushed 360 attempt. RIght?The current verdict seems to indicate that EA Tiburon has yet to discover where snazzy new hardware can take this franchise. Not only that, but Tiburon still can't seem to figure out how to include all the features of the Xbox version in the 360 version. What up with that? Perhaps, with a guaranteed $60 contribution from each blindly fanatical loyalist, EA's in no rush to sort out this mess. And why should they be? It's not like there are other gaming options out there for football enthusiasts... Yahoo! Games (80/100) offers the key to improvement: "EA's challenge is not to simplify their simulation or stop adding detail, but to integrate those features so well that players can simply marvel at how advanced the game has become." Gamespot (79/100) concludes rather bluntly: "There's no denying that Madden NFL 07 comes up short on delivering all the improvements one would hope for after last year's disappointing debut on the 360." 1UP (70/100) suggests that maybe the Xbox version is a better buy: "...those who plan on spending most of their time offline in solo play will want to take a long look at the arguably more polished and superior current-gen versions before committing to one or the other."
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's launch lineup
Before we break out the goods, let's just clarify: these are launch window titles. Meaning they'll come out within the first few months of the Wii's release. They may or may not be taking up shelf space on launch day. That said, Electronic Arts is supporting the Wii launch window with six titles, including a few offerings from wildly popular franchises like Madden and Tiger Woods PGA Tour. These titles were already announced for the Wii, but EA confirmed all six for the launch window at in Leipzig. The full list: Godfather Harry Potter Madden NFL 2007 Need For Speed: Carbon SSX 5 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007
How 'bout a pink PS2 to go with that pink Razr phone?
Everyone knows girls aren't quite as hardcore the gamer as the male species. There are, of course, exceptions. Look at the Sims. The ladies love a game about simulating life. As a quote from an old Electronics Gaming Monthly went, "I was moving to a new house and I thought to myself -- this is just like in the Sims! And then I realized I was comparing my life to a game that simulated life." Why this came to mind, we shall never know. Anyway, Electronic Arts is starting to focus more on the female demographic with their games. At least, they want to.To quote EA's David Gardner, "They don't want 'pink games'. They are not trying to play girly games where Paris Hilton and Britney Spears go shopping and put make-up on." Do those two really go shopping together? Not important. His plan to get girls into games? Make more games about relationships, about chatting. Like the Sims, basically. Oh, not to mention the pink PS2 being released in the coming months. Isn't it just cute? You want to pack it up in a purse with your tiny dog and like, totally go shopping with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, right? Lame. Stop trying to separate girls from guys like this. It can't work... can it?
Madden has a bug in its shorts
Looks like Madden will be shipping with a few known bugs this year. First, gamers will be able to draft Hall of Fame players in Franchise Mode. EA claims that this is actually a feature, and not a bug at all. The other bug, especially disturbing since it should have been discovered in testing long ago, is that players aren't registering fatigue. That is to say, the players do fatigue, they just don't show it in the user interface. So far, EA has only said that a patch will be available "soon" after release.Admittedly, I'm not a football fan, but it seems like this should have been an easy thing to spot.[Via XboxAddict]
Yet more Battlefield
DICE has announced a new Battlefield game in addition to the upcoming Battlefield 2142. Entitled Battlefield: Bad Company, the game promises to deliver a solid single player experience, something lacking in previous Battlefield titles. This single screenshot presumably shows off the bad company in question. DICE hopes to bring the "unpredictable nature of the sandbox experience" found in Battlefield multiplayer to the single player campaign of Bad Company.Could this possibly breathe some new life into an arguably stale genre? We certainly hope so.[Via Joystiq]
Wii to retail for about $170, regurgitates EA chief
Executive VP and COO of EA's worldwide studios, David Gardner, has tossed out "$170" as the rough dollar equivalent of the Nintendo Wii price tag in Japan. At least, that's what he overheard. "I've heard in Japan that the price is about $170," Gardner recently told GamesIndustry.biz.By now, most of us have also heard that $170 figure quoted, or more accurately, the 19,800-yen figure that was published in Nikko Citigroup's report last week. Sorry folks, Gardner hasn't let any juicy details leak here. So let's dead this misleading story before it gets any more press, 'kay?[Thanks to everyone that sent this in]
Go into the light with Army of Two screens
EA dropped some new screens from Army of Two, its co-op centric shooter. The screens show off some amazing detail and even a few gameplay dynamics like parachutes, vehicles, and assisting a wounded teammate. Is it just us, or does this picture look like a CPR minigame? Keep your buddy from going into the light maybe? Hating on EA is somewhat de rigueur around here, but this game actually looks pretty good, and more co-op is always a good thing. Anyone excited for it?
More on Wii's Spore potential
We already know that Spore is a possibility for the Wii, but in an interview with IGN, SimPapa Will Wright had a little more to say about the upcoming console as it relates to the evolutionary sim he's developing. Wright told IGN they were "messing around with the Wii dev kit." Considering that the PC release of Spore isn't scheduled until next year, mucking about with the dev kit for the Wii seems like a very good sign that the Nintendo console will get a little evolutionary love. Wright also stressed the importance of designing games for each platform, which Wii love! Down with bland ports, up with games that make sense.[Thanks, vidGuy!]
DS is "interesting" for Spore
IGN has an interview with SimPapa Will Wright about his plans for Spore, the universe-creation sim scheduled for PC next year. While Wright says that right now, they're focused on creating Spore for the PC, he would like to see it become a full-fledged power franchise, and he points right at the DS as a possibility.Wright, who recently pointed to the lack of a mouse for consoles as a problem for simulation games, said, "the DS is also very interesting to us, as its control scheme could be very manageable for the game." While the stylus is no mouse, it can certainly provide similar functionality and perhaps even more precision in some cases. Sadly, Wright's comments on Spore beyond the PC make any possible plans sound very long range ....[Thanks, vidGuy!]
EA loves to play Big Brother role
There's a post over at the blog Dubious Quality that points out a little something most of you may not know when you sign up to play an Electronic Arts game on Xbox Live: The company is tracking your personal information. What EA exactly wants with this info, is certainly up for debate. But the fact they are going to these extremes is a little frighting for most. Check out what they want: If you sign up to play EA games through Microsoft's Xbox Live Service, Microsoft will provide your Xbox Live user account information to EA. Information collected will vary depending upon the activity and may include your name, e-mail address, phone number, mobile number, home address, birth date and credit card information. We may collect demographic information such as gender, zip code, information about your computer, hardware, software, platform, media, Internet IP address and connection, information about online activity such as feature usage, game play statistics and scores, user rankings and click paths and other data that you may provide in surveys or online profiles. Um, you can take our credit card info? Our home address? Now, we're not one to don the tin foil hat, but put in the wrong hands, this could get a little sketchy. Anyone else have a big problem with this?[Via Evil Avatar]
EA does give a sh-t about System Shock 3, says PC Gamer UK
On one shore, PC Gamer magazine interviewed Irrational Games' Ken Levine who said, "One of the reasons I wasn't interested [in System Shock 3] is EA just didn't give a sh-t about that game." O RLY? Well, as part of their newfound desire to not make us hate them so much, Electronic Arts is returning to the critically (if not financially) successful franchise without Irrational (who're busy working on System Shock's spiritual successor Bioshock for their new corporate overlords at Take 2).At least that is according to PC Gamer's UK variant, who suggest in their September issue that the title will be developed by the team responsible for The Godfather. It's not a really bold guess (EA renewed their trademark earlier this year), but the addition of a developer lends some credence to the claim. Our thoughts: Uh, YAY! System Shock is a classic series that never got the attention it deserves. Let's hope The Godfather team can manage to get this one completed before the next console generation. We're going to get TWO new additions (as it were) to System Shock 2? Very yes. [Thanks for the image, Jakkar]
'No more online gaming for you!' says EA
Game Informer delivers some bad news for online gamers who were still enjoying a few of the older Electronic Arts titles. It seems that the company has already shut down servers for a number of games on Aug. 1 and plans to shut down even more on Oct. 1.While players will be able to play online in these games until the selected date, EA does mention that "certain community programs may begin to close down prior to the shutdown dates."Here are the Oct. 1 titles that you can look forward to not playing online anymore: Madden NFL 2005 for PS2 Madden NFL 2005 for Xbox Madden NFL 2005 for PC NFL Street 2: Unleashed for PS2 NFL Street 2: Unleashed for Xbox Check after the break for the full list of shutdowns.
Spore to hit the Wii?
While a lot of people are actively wondering where EA's sprawling Spore won't turn up, we can tell you where it is likely to appear: on the Wii! Color us unsurprised that Will Wright wants to turn Spore into a franchise powerhouse; we all know what happened with The Sims. With the evolutionary sim, however, Wright intends to focus on the differences of each platform, and he's pointing specifcally to the Wii. Or should that be with the Wii ... mote?In comments this week, Wright let two very telling details drop. First, he lauded the Wii in its creative potential, mentioning specifically the controller (of course). He went on the decry the lack of a mouse for consoles, pointing out that this was something of a limiting factor when dealing with games for both the PC and consoles. The Wiimote, however, can point and click with the best of them. We're betting that we'll be getting ready to guide our own species next year on the Wii.
