Former EA Chicago studio head heads to Xbox division

The rumor is that Gears 2 will be unveiled at GDC.

So wait, if he is the Project Lead for the new Gears game... Where does that leave Cliffy B. and Epic?

EA Chicago was undoubtedly a group of talented guys, especially in the area of next-gen graphics. However, after watching interviews and studio tours, I get the impression that this guy is nothing more than a new-age John Romero. In other words, without his gang of Carmacks, he's just an ego with an overinflated paycheck.

Why does this dude have a japanese name? just wondering not rying to be a dick

Actually it kind of makes sense, if you think about it.

(Conspiracy hat on)

Microsoft and EA are both United States born companies. Microsoft saw the influence EA had with the Dreamcast vs. Playstation, and how its lack of support pretty much killed the Dreamcast in the United States.

EA gave the backseat to the xbox over the playstation last generation, because the PS2 had the higher install base, and attach rate.
Now, the 360 has a higher install base (in the USA) over the Playstation. EA knows that USA gamers want USA games (like madden, etc).
EA sees this, along with the 360's wonderful attach rate, and makes a deal with MS, behind the scenes.

Thus the alliance of EA and MS was born...

Of course it doesn't really matter. EA would never abandon Sony, there is still too much of a market there to shun. MS would have to hand over many many millions of dollars to make EA abandon Sony. Even so, it wouldn't guarantee MS success in the global market, only the USA.

The 360 will just get precedent over the ps3, but EA will still continue to support both.

That, or I'm just drunk and rambling...

Prediction: MS buys EA and becomes Microelectronic Softarts or MESA.

Hey, two monopolists joining forces? Very fathomable.

Actard beware. Ubi - tremble.

Gears of War RTS, confirmed!

Kudo needs to be nowhere the Gears franchise, I mean NOWHERE.

MS continues to re-enforce it's ties with EA. An evil collusion is afoot. Future sub-par EA games for the PS3 confirmed moar.

No fanboy drivel either, it is CLEARLY not the machine's fault.

i seriously dont understand all these exec shuffles that seem to go one all the time. people constantly hire execs that have run their previous companies into the ground. now im not saying that this guy ran EA into the ground, just generally speaking is all. like Disney hiring that guy from Atari recently. Atari has been horrible in recent years and he was in charge of it, yet they still bring him in and put in charge of the same stuff he just failed at. it just seems like a "once your in, your set for life" type of job.

but anyway, im not surprised by the mass amount of attention that EA gives the 360 since they do this every console generation. they make sloppy ports until one console separates itself from the rest (PS2 last gen, 360 this gen), then they use said next gen console to make ports for all the other consoles of that generation. in other words, 360 has the largest install base so it's obvious that EA is going to support them the most, im just not sure i really understand the whole exec shuffling thing though.

Honestly other than Fight Night which used to analogs ( a scheme I hate) I dont see anything good that came out of ea chicago. Def Jam Icon was pure trash. The music concept for it was neat but failed to be anything more than that. Could they make pretty games? Yes. Did they make good games? Not really. (you know that marvel fighter had a mercy killing.)