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Amid talk of Facebreaker and the impact of an exclusive NFL license, an quick IGN interview with EA Sports President Peter Moore highlights the prominent studio's focus on making sports games more accessible to a wider audience.

"There will be more announcements that will be ... looking at the more casual consumer that we see as a bigger force in the business," Moore told IGN. "We need to do better on the Nintendo platforms, and we intend to do that. It's a different type of game mechanic that the Nintendo Wii consumer, in particular, can play."

The statement seems to indicate a continuation and upgrade for the company's Family Play initiative, which made simplified, Wii remote specific controls for games like Madden, NBA Live and Fifa. But do these dumbed-down controls end up dumbing down the gameplay? Or could sports games use a dose of simplicity? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Hot out of the oven and freshly available on the XBLM to most Live members (except some European countries and Japan) is a brand spanking new NBA Live 08 demo. This basketball demo-o-fun clocks in at a mere 562MBs and we're guessing it features lots of enjoyable basketball gameplay. Although, we will not be held accountable if the demo turns out to be a dud.

Get your download on, give it a whirl and maybe, just maybe you'll get a shoe named after you or your favorite Xbox news site if your skills are unrivaled. We can see it now ... Air-Fanboys FTW!

Starting September 1st, EA will officially shut down servers for the following online-enabled PSP titles:

• FIFA Soccer 06
• FIFA World Cup 2006
• Fight Night Round 3
• Madden NFL 06
• NBA Live 06

In addition, Need for Speed Most Wanted will go offline starting November 1st. It looks like those of you that need an online racing fix might need to consider an alternative (like Test Drive Unlimited?). Unfortunately, it's commonplace for games to lose online support after a few years. Considering EA's love of making their franchises annual, it seems like they're really urging you to buy a new version of one of their products.

[Via PlayStation boards]

The Electronic Arts sports titles on Nintendo Wii are making every effort to appeal to every Wii owner possible. In addition to throwing on minigames like they were free gifts in an informercial offer, the publisher is also introducing Family Play controls to their upcoming Madden, NBA Live and FIFA Soccer releases.

According to the press release, those who opt for the Family Play controls play without the nunchuk adapter and handle the key actions (e.g., shooting, passing, snapping, and throwing) while the game handles everything else. It sounds a lot like how Wii Sports handled tennis and baseball.

More fleshed-out and advanced controls are still available and can be used alongside a Family-style player. Let's hope the Family Play-assisted AI isn't too helpful and gives them an unfair advantage in multiplayer.

Never let it be said that EA can't innovate! Whatever we usually think of EA Sports, their new Family Play control system is really cool.

Madden '08, NBA Live '08, and FIFA Soccer '08 will all include Wiimote-and-Nunchuk-based control schemes that will allow players to "take full control of the game"-- running, passing, kicking (not so much in NBA Live) and such. But they'll also include simplified Wiimote-only control schemes that reduce the games to Wii Sports-level . The controls become fully gestural, and the AI takes over some of the gameplay tasks that were previously yours.

The coolest part? You can switch back and forth on the fly, just by plugging in or unplugging the Nunchuk. Even the method of choosing controls is streamlined. We are quite impressed.

The next time EA decides to put an athlete who's an actual gamer on their NBA Live cover, it might help to have vetted him first. As Jon Robinson of IGN points out in a piece about who will replace Shaq as NBA 2K's cover athlete, Gilbert Arenas would have made sense. In a Q&A session on NBA.com last November when Arenas was asked if he plays NBA Live he answered, "No. I play NBA 2K. It's real, the NBA 2K. The other one, now ... it's too fake."

Robinson points out that while 2K was looking at Arenas for their cover this year, EA Sports grabbed him and got his signature on a contract to promote the game he has described as "fake." Arenas is apparently giving feedback to the team behind NBA Live on how to improve the game and "taking an active role in the product." Given the reviews for the last NBA Live title, hopefully Arenas is spending plenty of time with the EA team improving the game while he recovers from a knee injury. If Arenas actually helps in turning the franchise around it may usher in a new era of gamer athletes who don't want their likeness on a mediocre product.

Today, EA unveiled the new NBA Live 08 cover featuring Wizard's own Gilbert Arenas and also released a few screenshots to boot. And as you can see from the screen above, the face mapping on the models is quite lovely. We also noticed the muscle definition, the subtle vein effects, the jersey fabric and the forehead lines ... it's like a sensory overload. Make the jump to see the official cover art and treat yourself to another screenshot. Anyone hoping NBA Live 08 will end up being something special?

A reminder regarding one of the most obnoxious Xbox 360 achievements ever conceived. For the next hour, if you've got a copy of NBA Live '07, turn that puppy on, it may be the best chance to get the "1,000 People Online" achievement. The achievement is worth 100 points. The event was promoted by Achieve360points.com. It is going on right now, and here's the simplest way to lay it out:

• February 10th at 5:00 to 6:00 pm (Pacific)
• February 10th at 6:00 to 7:00 pm (Mountain)
• February 10th at 7:00 to 8:00 pm (Central)
• February 10th at 8:00 to 9:00 pm (Eastern)
• February 11th at 1:00 to 2:00 am (United Kingdom)
• February 11th at 10:00 to 11:00 am (Japan)

Even after you gain the achievement, stay on. Remember, you got 999 people to thank for your easily gained, but ridiculously conceived, achievement.

[Update 1: Apparently the event was a success. Congrats to those who participated.]

The objective is simple: unlock NBA Live 07's "Online with 1,000 people" Xbox 360 Achievement. To do so, Achieve360Points.com is asking all would-be b-ballers to get online Saturday night (8-9 pm EST). You don't even need to play. Simply stream ESPN radio (via Xbox Live) and go about your business; making this arguably the easiest 100 Achievement points you'll ever earn.

Needless to say, NBA Live 07 does not rank among the top titles played by Xbox Live users. The most difficult part of Saturday's task might be locating the game for cheap. Anyone wanna loan us a copy?

Xbox 360 Fanboy astutely notes that Achieve360 has apparently hijacked the idea for this community effort from competitor Xbox360Achievements.org, which is hosting a similar initiative on the 25th; though digging around on Achieve360 turns up this evidence, which suggests the NBA Live feat was attempted (and failed) in late January. So props to both sites -- we hope to see both forthcoming efforts succeed!

While in-game ads aren't new, Wired News explores recent additions to the trend. Some advertisements are becoming more overt, while other forms of product placement are more subtly placed in games.

Adidas uses the product-placement route with frequent branding in NBA Live 07. Burger King takes the obvious, if comical approch in Fight Night Round 3, with an unlockable King mascot character who joins your ringside entourage.

Acclaim plans a different approach with free, ad-supported MMO games; pop-up ads from corporate sponsors would let you know which real-world company just paid for your in-game sword. We're interested in seeing how gamers view that tradeoff, but clearly there's a line where too many ads will scare players away.

See also: Grand Theft Auto: Coca-Cola City
See also: The King is in your Xbox 360

There's an early Christmas present waiting for everyone under their tree inside their online-enabled next-generation video game console. Available for your downloading pleasure: an NBA Live 06 theme and a gamer picture for each and every NBA team (including the Philadelphia '76ers!) Sometimes I forget that I don't really care about basketball... but a Halo 2 gamer picture, now we're talking!