We've all witnessed the incredible ways that technomancer Johnny Lee can put a Wiimote to good use, but apparently, attendees of the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference were unaware of the handheld peripheral's vast potential. You can actually hear their minds crackle, then implode as Lee shows off two of his cost-efficient tech demos -- the multi-touch whiteboard, and 3-D head tracking (which was further confirmed to be in EA/Speilburg's Boom Blox as an easter egg). Like all Johnny Lee videos, we can guarantee this to be the coolest thing you've seen today -- unless, of course, you've just watched the entire "American Ninja" quintology.

Electronic Arts has released the final box art for Stephen Spielberg's upcoming very first-party title Boom Blox. Take note at Spielberg's full name, more prominent than the behemoth publisher's abbreviated title. We're pretty sure the famous director is more recognizable to the mainstream crowd and wonder if the order will be swapped for the as-of-yet unknown Xbox 360 / PS3 Spielberg games. Boom Blox, with head tracking, is due out this May.

"It's feels like a Miyamoto game," someone observes. "Yeah, it's very first-party," agrees another. Flying sheep-blocks and all, Boom Blox is destined to earn Spielberg some street cred (or whatever form of kudos it is that gamers bestow). Just what is Spielberg's involvement? It's his idea, EA insists.

An idea so simple, it's really only plausible for Wii. You just pitch a baseball at blocks -- that's it (well, sometimes it's a bowling ball, bomb, or shotty blast ... you get the idea). But where so many mindless motion farts dissipate into the foul heap of Wii "mini-game" crap, Boom Blox stands tall, as a tangible actualization of what Wii games should, no, are supposed to be!

The official site for the 2008 Game Developers Conference has revealed that Steven Spielberg's first collaboration with EA Los Angeles with be the focus of a GDC session, revealing the creative process that turned a simple puzzle concept into a full-on Nintendo Wii title. The announcement also reveals the official name of Spielberg's Wii game: BOOM BLOX (that's right, with the caps-lock and everything).

The game will be discussed during "Creating Spielberg's BOOM BLOX", a session led by EALA's VP of Creative Development, Louis Castle. Sadly, it doesn't seem like Spielberg himself will be on-hand to discuss the physics-based puzzle game.

Check out some early footage of BOOM BLOX from E3 2007 after the break.

Two of filmmaker Steven Spielberg's three projects with Electronic Arts have been shown to Newsweek's N'Gai Croal. Brought to you by the letters L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, and S.

In an article dated July 16 (published a bit too early?), Croal talks about his projects codenamed LMNO (Xbox 360 and PS3) and PQRS (for the Wii). The latter title is reportedly a physics-based action puzzler simulator "that neatly blends the creativity of the building-blocks game Jenga with the charm of a Saturday-morning cartoon," he said. Blocks are manipulated using motion gestures via the Wii remote.

Project LMNO is described as North by Northwest meets E.T. and has you playing as an ex-secret agent alongside an AI-controlled woman. "The challenge is," said Spielberg, "can the game have an emotional impact on players while they are actively manipulating the world?"

We know Spielberg has one other project in the works. Is it ABC, DEFG, HIJK, TUVW, or XYZ? And what happens when he runs out of letters? Hiragana? No news on release dates, but the Wii title was previously mentioned in an EA financial report as coming out before April 2008.

[Update: revised unannounced project suggestions]

Electronic Arts said in a conference call today that the Steven Spielberg-helmed Wii project will be released during the upcoming fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2008. This would likely make the Wii project, dubbed "Wii Spielberg" in the conference call, his first of three games planned to be released.

Regarding Spore's delay, EA's recently-returned CEO John Riccitiello said that though it might come out at the end of the fiscal year, it is more likely to be pushed until the following quarter, which puts the release date sometime before July 1, 2008.

The Spielberg Wii project is said to join other Army of Two, SKATE, EA Playground and Boogie as original IPs being released this fiscal year. In terms of quantity of release, EA said that they are planning around 20-23 games for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, 10-13 for Nintendo DS and 10-13 for the Wii.

EA Los Angeles VP and General Manager Neil Young slipped a little tidbit about the studio's trio of Steven Spielberg games to GameDaily in an interview to be published next week. "I can't really share any game details, but recall our original announcements was for three projects. Well, two of those are underway right now in the studio," Young told GameDaily, adding, "The second project is something Lou Castle is producing, one of the great producers in this industry, and that's one of the products we're building for the Wii."

Apparently Spielberg pops into the studio for a few hours a week to practice his backhand goad the projects along. Aside from the Wii game, he's spinning one of those "big stories shown through the eyes of a small group." The third project remains a total mystery.

The AP managed to snap some shots of Shigeru Miyamoto -- often called the Spielberg of video games -- and Steven Spielberg -- the, uh, Spielberg of movies -- playing a quick round of tennis in LA last week, as celebrities are wont to do. Couple things though: they played using Nintendo's new Wii console, and they did it in amidst the frenzy of E3.

Really wish we got in there for this although, judging by the relatively empty space behind them, it appears Nintendo had these VIPs isolated from the unwashed masses. That reminds me, things to do before I die: play a Nintendo game with Shigeru Miyamoto.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]