Jiggers, fellas! It's the cops! Need for Speed Undercover, EA's latest attempt at pulling its arcade racing stable out of a seemingly never-ending tailspin, will allow players on both sides of the law to size each other up in a new multiplayer mode called Cops and Robbers.
According to EA, the new mode will allow two teams of up to four players each to compete against each other to deliver -- or prevent the delivery of -- a package to a safe house. Additionally, the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC versions will support up to eight players in sprint and circuit multiplayer races as well. Of course, it remains to be seen if Undercover will do enough to remind us why we once cared about this franchise, or if, as our recent impressions found, it will just feel like Most Wanted with a new coat of paint.
When we last spoke to The Sims' studio head, Rod Humble, he was applauding the franchise's retail success. Now the exec has another, albeit more personal reason to celebrate, having climbed up another rung on the corporate ladder, laying claim to the role of The Sims' brand's executive VP. The move follows the recent hiring of Jeff Green, who left the world of game journalism last month to throw his body on the gears of EA's expansion factory as well.
Humble replaces former lead, Nancy Smith, who EA notes will handle "special" The Sims-related projects before eventually moving into a new as-yet-undefined role in the months ahead. We offer congratulations, and suggest he celebrate his new position by locking co-workers in the bathroom or pushing them in the corporate pool before deftly removing any means of escape.
The ongoing drama of who's eating who between mega publishers Electronic Arts and Take-Two has finally been taken behind the curtain, where it should have been all along. After coming to some measure of understanding, the companies have jointly signed a confidentiality agreement, agreeing not to blab about what may or may not happen as a result of ongoing talks until, you know, something actually happens.
According to Reuters, EA has agreed as part of a regulatory filing with the SEC to not "make any further announcements regarding the status of any discussions or negotiations with Take-Two" until the pair come to some sort of mutual accord. We couldn't be happier, knowing that while the drama will likely continue to unfold for quite some time, at least we won't have to read (or write!) about it.
Developer Black Box's nitro button must be worn down to a nub. The studio announced today that its upcoming Need for Speed sequel, Undercover, will ship this November, pulling up to the starting line well before the 2009 release previously mentioned by EA CEO John Riccitiello.
In development for every platform under the sun (yes, even mobile phones), Need for Speed Undercover will also sport what Black Box describes as "big-budget live-action sequences" starring Balls of Fury and Mission Impossible III actress, Maggie Q, as a federal agent who recruits drivers to take down a criminal syndicate. While recent Need for Speed racers have all but siphoned our tanks of what enthusiasm we once had for the series, those who care can look forward to race with Ms. Q in North America on November 18 and in Europe on November 21.
EA has opened the briefcase on Godfather 2, revealing that the sequel you can't refuse will ship for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in February 2009.
EA also shed a bit more detail on the previously revealed "Don's View," which promises to kiss the gameplay with a touch of strategy. Here you'll build up, expand, and defend crime rings against rival families by hand picking "Made Men," and sending them out onto the streets to do your bidding. Godfather 2 will also include the previous game's BlackHand control scheme, promising "more visceral hand-to-hand brutality" this time around. As the old saying goes, if you want something done right, do it yourself.
When PS3 owners are left out of EA's Red Alert 3, they won't just be left wanting for the game's exotically tough real-time strategy. They'll also miss out on the video game acting debut of English actress/model/singer Gemma Atkinson, who will exchange her flimsy lingerie for something a little more formal as Allied communications officer Lt. Eva McKenna.
EA's PR machine tells us that Atkinson is best recognized for her work on the British soap Hollyoaks, as well as one of the region's most recognized models, though to be fair we're just going to have to take their word for it. The company also notes that she'll be on hand at the UK's M Festival gaming event this Friday, just make sure that when she talks you look into her eyes, and not upon her huge ... tracts of land.
The online edition of UK gaming magazine Edge, formerly Next Gen, has come forward with what the proprietors feel exemplifies the top 20 game publishers the industry has to offer. Based on what we're sure represents a complicated formula of revenue, momentum, catalog, and review scores, the magazine found Nintendo to be the absolute crème of the crop, though we imagine it'll be difficult to make out the company's acceptance speech from beneath all that money.
Other notables include Actilizzard and EA, which took home the silver and bronze medals, respectively, while Midway managed to break out of Arkham Asylum just in time to claim the list's 20th -- and final -- spot.
His face may be broken, but EA's Peter Moore likes to speak his mind, and what's on his mind lately is last week's E3, a gathering that he thinks can be fixed by opening it up to the public. Whoa, maybe all of that ink has gone to his brain, or has he already forgotten the madhouse that the annual used to be, when everyone and their brother seemed to find a way to roam the show's halls? Plus, isn't that what E for All is for, anyway?
Calling the event "soulless and lacking an epicenter," the former Microsoft exec suggests that organizers "invite the community" to the show, adding that given enough planning, letting gamers experience E3 first hand will help companies create better games and forge new ideas. Of course, it would likely be too crowded for any of the attending press to get any work done, but that's beside the point. Right, Pete?
In a season of Hollywood blockbusters, it's no wonder why Electronic Arts would want to sink its teeth into the movie industry's delicious celluloid pie. This morning the company announced that it signed with talent and literary agency, UTA, to help catapult its properties onto the silver screen.
EA currently has a movie deal in the works for The Sims, as well as plans to bring an animated version of MySims to TV. In addition, earlier this year EA signed a deal with Starz Media to develop an animated prequel to Dead Space, as well as other unspecified franchises. But that's just the tip of the iceberg, as EA notes that this new deal will "significantly ramp up" efforts to bring its IP to other forms of entertainment, such as movies and television, as well as online, print, and social networks. With some of these projects likely to surface this week in San Diego during Comic-Con, are there any EA properties you could see yourself sitting through with a bucket of popcorn in your lap?
No longer will Belgium virtual rockers have to settle for playing air guitar to dreams of living room stardom, as Harmonix and MTV have announced plans to bring Rock Band to Belgians, as well as those in six other countries later this month, including Italy, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
According to the duo, the Xbox 360 version of Rock Band will be the lead SKU in these territories, shipping on July 24, with other fake instrument flavors arriving sometime later in the fall. As with the existing European release, the disc will include all 58 tracks found on the North American version as well as nine non-English tunes such as Die Toten Hosen's Hier Kommt Alex, Oasis' Rock 'n' roll star, and Playmo's New Wave. We welcome our new friends to the stage -- may you never fail out and your fingers never cramp.
While everyone was distracted by EA's ongoing press conference, EA went and uploaded a bunch or screenshots and some basic information about a bunch of games, including a new one called SimAnimals for the DS. According to EA's Web page, the game lets players "control more than 60 animals" with an "on-screen animated hand that allows you to reach out and touch, pick up and move everything in the game from foxes and bears to trees and flowers." Animals will grow to like or dislike this disembodied, manual overlord based on how it treats them. Remind you of any other popular simulation game? Look for SimAnimals in January of 2009, and more about the project as we hear it.
Update: An official press release includes a few more details and some enthusiastic quotes from EA execs. Fun!
As we nurse a queezy stomach from playing EA DICE's Parkour-inspired Mirror's Edge, we'll be doing so to a story penned by writer and story designer Rhianna Pratchett, who's known for her work on titles such as Triumph Studios' Overlordand Ninja Theory's Heavenly Sword.
The story centers on free runner Faith as she jumps, climbs, and tumbles her way to uncovering the truth behind who framed her sister for murder. Notes Pratchett, "Faith is skilled, but she's certainly not a superhero. She has her flaws, like all of us. In short: she's real. That's her appeal." Mirror's Edge remains one of the more interesting original titles in EA's 2008 salvo, and is expected to leave us feeling vertigo when it ships for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC this winter.
We would love to get excited for the upcoming video game adaptation of the sixth installment in J.K. Rowling's wildly successful series of books -- unfortunately, our ambitions of striding through Hogwarts' hallowed halls have been sullied by previous lackluster Harry Potter titles from Electronic Arts. To make sure Half Blood Prince is as faithful and entertaining as it can possibly be, we've written up a quick cheat sheet for the game's developers to inform them which elements from the source material should be included when the game hits store shelves in November.
Epic wizard duels -- Awesome.
Magical puzzles -- Entertaining.
Exciting quidditch matches -- Compelling, if handled properly.
Collecting "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans", "Chocolate Frogs", "Fizzing Whizbees", or any other form of magical confection -- About as enjoyable as catching a faceful of Avada Kedavra.
PC sports gamers are somewhat justifiably unhappy with Peter Moore right now. Earlier this year, the EA Sports executive announced that Madden and many other EA Sports games won't be coming to the PC market this year. But wait, you didn't give him a chance to explain! Well, actually, you did, and he did, but today Moore went into more detail about his division's scaled back PC support. A summary of the reasoning behind the decision:
PC sports gamers are gravitating to consoles.
The PC sports gaming market is gravitating to a downloadable model rather than a "packaged" model.
The PC versions of EA Sports games aren't getting a good enough return on investment.
You PC gamers just pirate everything anyway and we're not going to make a PC version just so millions of you can just steal it! (We may have exaggerated the tone a little bit on this one, but you get the idea).
PC Sports fans can still hold out hope that EA Sports will change its mind, though. Moore hinted that the company might be coming back into the PC space next year with "new, innovative, maybe even less-expensive ways to play all of our franchises on the PC." If there's one thing sports fans should be familiar with, it's squeezing that one, slim ray of hope for all it's worth.
Electronic Arts has slipped on a pair of bootie shorts and shaked its groove thang all the way back to the well, announcing Boogie SuperStar exclusively for the Wii. A follow up to last year's family-friendly rhythm game, Boogie, the game is the latest to be counted among EA's casual brand, and is being targeted specifically at girls – though how exactly the game will favor the fairer sex remains to be seen.
Once again being developed by EA Montreal, information about the game was first leaked last month, at that time indicating that Boogie SuperStar would have players dancing on the Wii Balance Board, though EA's official announcement makes note of no such functionality. What we do know is that Boogie SuperStar will allow up to four gals to keep rhythm, customize characters, and cut rugs using the Wii remote, all while being judged by the game on their road to win it big in the game's 'Boogie Star Show.' The sequel will also feature more than 40 different licensed tracks from groups and singers such as Maroon 5, Britney Spears, and Kanye West, though EA bills the music as being 'made popular by' these artists, so cheap imitations will likely be the order of the day when Boogie SuperStar ships in both North America and Europe this October.
