The Adidas Live Season add-on will use a network of real-world fact finders and stat-grinders to compile performance reports on all the players in Britain's Barclay’s Premier League, Spain's La Liga BBVA, France's Ligue 1, the German Bundesliga, Italy's Serie A and the Mexican Primera Division.

Phew. That's a lot of stats. EA's Andrew Wilson claims that

“The game will feel and play differently each week. With Adidas Live Season if Ronaldinho has a great match on the weekend you’ll feel the difference when you pick up the controller as his in-game attributes increase.”

Contrariwise, it might be a bit galling to be playing your favorite team only to find that real-world injuries rob you of your virtual dreams as well. So much for escapism.

Take a look at the full details after the jump.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – August 20, 2008 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced a new premium service for EA SPORTS™ FIFA Soccer 09 called adidas Live Season that will redefine the soccer videogame experience by dynamically updating player form in-game on a weekly basis so that player attributes mirror real-world performances. FIFA Soccer 09 will now feel and play differently throughout the entire 2008-2009 season matching the weekly rhythm of soccer. The new service will be available for Barclay’s Premier League, La Liga BBVA, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A and Mexican Primera Division on the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system and PC.

FIFA Soccer 09 is now powered with dynamic real-world data and analytics, lifting the game to new heights of authenticity for soccer fans and gamers connected online. The adidas Live Season service is based on how real players performed in the most recent real-world matches. Gameplay will change dynamically as the performance of players and soccer teams in the real world experience the highs and lows during their campaigns.

“This is an ambitious and completely unique feature that has never been attempted before for football videogames,” said Andrew Wilson, Vice President & Executive Producer for the franchise. “The game will feel and play differently each week. With adidas Live Season if Ronaldinho has a great match on the weekend you’ll feel the difference when you pick up the controller as his in-game attributes increase.”

A global network of scouts will monitor every player in the adidas Live Season leagues throughout the season to supply accurate and in-depth player and team data each week. Player attributes will be impacted and player performance will change dynamically. The adidas Live Season service is downloaded into FIFA Soccer 09 each week and will run from the launch of the game to the end of the 2008-2009 season. Gamers will have access to one league of their choice for a free* trial from the moment they activate it to the end of the 2008-2009 season.

Today, EA also announced it has secured an exclusive licensing agreement with the Spanish Liga BBVA and Adelante. The exclusive partnership with the Spanish La Liga grants EA SPORTS sole rights to include every Spanish La Liga club and enables the EA SPORTS FIFA franchise to deliver the most realistic and up-to-date game with current kits, squads and player likenesses.

"La Liga is widely regarded as one of the most exciting leagues in the world and we’re delighted to have been able to secure this deal," said Romain Rossi, Marketing Director, EA SPORTS. "The FIFA franchise has always delivered the most authentic game experience and this relationship will enable us to maintain the high standards fans have come to expect from EA SPORTS."

A FIFA Soccer 09 demo will be available for download on September 11 worldwide on the PLAYSTATION®Network and Xbox LIVE™.

This year FIFA Soccer 09 delivers unique, platform specific experiences that takes advantage of the hardware specifications of each available platform— the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii™, PC, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo DS™, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system and mobile.

To learn more about FIFA Soccer 09 visit www.FIFA09.ea.com.

That’s not to say Madden NFL 09 is a failure or a warmed-over roster update. It is by any objective measure the best version of the game since Madden ‘05, which was the game’s apotheosis on 2nd-generation consoles. Madden 09’s outstanding presentation will please lifelong adherents, and its remarkably accurate replay analysis will educate newcomers and encourage those returning to the series. Foundationally, this version begins the title's next generation. But in gameplay, it takes safe but incremental steps toward the classic, impossible goal of a sports title: Creating realistic competition that is challenging yet winnable. If you are not an experienced player, Madden ‘09 skews toward winnable, but it doesn’t leave you feeling like you played your best.

Loved:
Backtrack: A mistake play brings up an animated breakdown that points out the error you made and exposes the alternatives you had. It’s remarkably accurate for a first effort. A sports simulation really shines when it teaches people something about the game as it is played in real life. Madden ‘09 has always led that effort, and takes another strong step forward with this feature.

Rewind: As a single-player device only, this is a great addition. Rewind allows you a do-over for one particularly egregious play (or more, depending on your settings). Its purpose is to save perfectionists from themselves and keep them playing the game rather than starting over.

Improved ball-running controls: Beginning this year, when a tackle animation starts you can lay on the buttons or the right stick to spin, stiff-arm or sprint loose from the tackle. In time you’ll develop your own go-to set of control choices. Fighting for your yards is a rewarding feeling and deepens the game’s authenticity.

Cris Collinsworth: Widely considered the class of NFL analysts, he is no less than that on Madden 09. His familiar, natural delivery is a part of every play and it matches well with the onfield action. Collinsworth will also startle you with his accuracy in the Backtrack commentary, especially when he says you were staring at a single receiver the entire time. Collinsworth, in substance and style, is more than a good analyst. He’s an upgrade from Madden himself.

Presentation: When the franchise calendar hits November you’ll play with long shadows under foot and leaden skies overhead, and it lends a different quality of light to the turf and the stadium surroundings, especially when the lights are on at twilight. After four quarters of rain, your uniform will be unidentifiably filthy. All it lacked was dirt clods in your face mask. In post-play animations players help each other up, swoop to and run with dislodged balls after the whistle, or shove and jaw at one another. All of these things extend the immersive experience striven for and built on in previous versions of the game.

Hated:
Adaptive difficulty: I don’t literally hate the concept, certainly don’t think it should be stripped from future versions, but I’m not sold yet on the idea that Madden 09’s AI really adapts to your skills. Online single matches tended to come down to the final two series and not a one of them came close to being the kind of well played epic you imagine when the game is decided on the final drive or in overtime. It’s like the football equivalent of a “My kid is a terrific kid” bumper sticker. The diagnostic tests that set your “Madden IQ” at the beginning of the game are way, way too easy. My original tests put me as an all-Madden level runner and I am nowhere near it. You’re inevitably starting the game overrated in one or more categories, and failing at it to bring your AI down to a more reasonable level is both time consuming and not fun. You’re better off sandbagging your diagnostics and letting your Madden IQ rise and fall according to your in-game performance, or just playing on its standard pre-set difficulties. In conversation, online gamers to a man expressed no confidence in or understanding of how Madden IQ either moved or affected gameplay beyond anecdotal assumptions.

Tom Hammond: The new play-by-play man is not at all natural in this environment. The substance of his call is very generic, routinely omits players’ and team names, and his tone is almost always mismatched to the play or the circumstance. Even the between-plays endorsement of EA Sports is off. He needs work, because right now he sounds like C3PO.

Artificial Stupidity: This is nothing new, and is perhaps more of a concern for singleplayer than multiplayer. But the offensive line’s AI is still, year after year, utter crap. Draw plays and screen passes are useless, making obvious passing downs even more obvious. Defenses are helpless against the slant route. But the game really is long overdue for better offensive line play. I would have no problem if the Madden 10 cover boy was Alan Faneca or Matt Light or Jeff Saturday and the game touted revolutionary offensive line AI and pre-snap adjustments, which seem entirely gratuitous as of now. But linemen don’t sell video games.

Madden ‘09 offers to date the most inclusive experience ever for a sport so complex and inscrutable as American football. But it’s based entirely on execution, when so much of the game is about decision-making before the snap. The game has always been given to information overload and a myriad of choices that lack context. Still, longtime gamers have coped with that for years, developing their own systems; neophytes won’t really care and will accept the spoonfeeding; and those coming back to the series after a few years will get a warm welcome from the game’s AI and find strong value for their dollar.

But you get what you give to this game, and if you are expecting Sunday afternoon realism, you still need to give a lot to help create that experience.

Madden ‘09, developed by EA Tiburon, published by EA and released Aug. 12. Retails for $59.99. Versions available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Wii, Nintendo DS and PSP. Reviewed on Xbox 360. Played singleplayer franchise mode for a complete season into the playoffs and played online multiplayer single-game mode.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Thanks, Jelmer for the tip!

Cinematic Trailer [EA]

EA Reps also namedropped professionals like Chris Everett, Pete Sampras and Boris Becker, hinting but not confirming that Grand Slammers throughout the years would be featured.

Also announced was the appearance of Kelly Hu, who will join Gina Carano and Gemma Atkinson as the Empire of the Rising Sun's obligatory sexpot. EA's definitely going straight for the groin with this one.

Finally, in the cinematic trailer shown at Leipzig, it appears that Peter Stormare will play a part in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. Oh snap!

This has been an ongoing problem in this industry for many years. I spent three years on WAR and I, including many other people who spent just as much if not close to the same amount of time, will NOT be credited in the game.

I was told they made SURE to not include anyone in the list who was not at the office the day of the credit list creation. This is wrong on many levels and should not go unnoticed.

Sure, many will point to the film business, and say the exact same thing happens there, particularly with screenplays. But you know what? That doesn't make it right.

Warhammer Online Not Crediting All Developers [Shacknews]

FIFA 09

Need For Speed Undercover

And a sneak peak at RAGE from EA Partner, id Software

Behind closed door sessions for media include:

FIFA 09, FIFA Manager 09, FIFA 09 All-Play, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09 All-Play, FaceBreaker, Dragon Age: Origins, The Godfather II, Mirror's Edge, Need for Speed Undercover, Command & Conquer Red Alert 3, Dead Space, Left 4 Dead, Battleforge, Crysis Warhead, Rock Band 2, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, The Sims 3, SimAnimals, MySims Kingdom, SimCity Creator, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT, Boogie SuperStar, LITTLEST PET SHOP, Zubo, and a range of titles from EA Mobile.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will be available for media to play at the GOA business lounge located at Level 1 B03.

EA titles on display for consumers at the Games Convention include:

Boogie SuperStar, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, LITTLEST PET SHOP, MONOPOLY, Zubo, Battleforge, Battlefield Heroes, Burnout Paradise, C&C Red Alert 3, Dead Space, Rock Band, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, Mirror’s Edge, Need for Speed Undercover, Skate It, Spore, Crysis Warhead, Left 4 Dead, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, FaceBreaker, FIFA 09, FIFA Manager 09, Madden NFL 09, NBA LIVE 09, NHL 09, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09, MySims Kingdom, The Sims 2 Apartment Life, The Sims 2 Apartment Pets, SimCity Creator, MySims.

The Leipzig Games Convention runs from August 20-24, 2008. The EA booth is located in Hall 3, Booth B02.

You might think Nerf N-Strike would be just one more nail in the coffin, but I’m pleased to report after my hands-on time that the game and its flashy controller that it is actually not made of suck. In fact, it’s almost the opposite of suck with it’s old school on-rails gameplay and simplistic graphics. If you liked the last Time Crisis or are looking for a bloodless version of it, Nerf just might be your thing.

One downside: a Nerf video game is a contradiction. It’s not really a Nerf “game” until somebody’s caught one of those foam and rubber darts in the eye and gone crying home crying, doing that little fake limp despite having taken it to the face.

As if in response to this unspoken criticism, EA set up a mega-huge Nerf gun at the event right outside the demo hall for people to shoot. Early in the day, they were all militant about where you could point that thing – targets only, one person at the gun at a time, etc. But by the end of the day, after the PR peeps had a few drinks in them, some EA higher-ups (who shall go unnamed) aimed the gun at the bar and started taking pot shots at abandoned cocktail glasses. One guy managed to land a dart in a martini glass before the gun manager broke it up and started putting the huge apparatus away.

Check it out for yourself:

First up was My Sims because I got it confused with My Sims Kingdom. My Sims is already out on Wii but the upcoming PC release introduces new community features (like shared Gardens where you can hang out) and six new character NPCs that sort of (but not really) tie into My Sims Kingdom. My Sims on PC looked to be more user-friendly for the builders among you than it was on Wii (or maybe I say that because I’m a klutz with the Wii Remote) and I noticed that the terrain now has different elevations. Terraced garden, here I come.

After extricating myself from My Sims, I immediately tumbled into My Sims Kingdom. This is essentially the same as My Sims on the Wii – only there’s a plot and tons of RPG elements tossed in. It almost reminded me of Little King’s Story or My Life as a King – one of those cutesy RPGs with a twist. In this case, it’s the building gameplay. The whole story is that you’re customizable character graduates from lowly pig farmer to King’s Builder and are given a wand to go around the kingdom, building stuff and making things happen by talking to people. The kingdom is broken up into different islands, each with its own theme. We got to see the home base island where the king’s castle needed some bridge-building and later a space island where we got to build a rocket ship. Unicorns, fishing, and princess fill out the fantasy storyline and if you’re a kid, or a girl, or can swallow your testosterone long enough to play the game, it’ll probably charm you senseless for at least a couple of hours.

I hit a wall with My Sims Kingdom when I was told they weren’t ready to unveil Drama Island yet (damn!), so I moved on to SimCity Creator and had a tough choice to make: DS or Wii version? I opted for the DS demo and got a nice look at the Challenge Mode where you’ve got to play through the Ages to win. The guy running the demo took me from the Stone Age where people are incapable of using possessive pronouns through Ancient China with its awesome pagodas into Industrial Revolution Europe where we had to figure out where to put the oh-so-cancerous coal mines for the sake of electricity. The graphics were typical SimCity dull, but the promise of a “Future Age” after completing Challenge Mode had me wondering if there’d be teleporters and rockets and stuff…

I would have stuck around to see, but Challenge Mode would easily take the rest of the afternoon to complete, so I got up to dash to for another game before the demo hall closed when the guy running the Wii version called, “Wait, what about me?”

I’m a bleeding heart, despite my foul mouth, so I turned to the guy and said, “You’ve got three minutes.”

He jumped right in: “Curvy roads. Godzillas. Natural disasters.”

That got my attention. I’m the jerk who kills my pregnant sims, after all. “Show me.”

The roads were curvy, all right. And the graphics were head and shoulder over any SimCity game I’ve ever seen, even on PC. And sure enough, there were Godzilla-type monsters and natural disasters you could inflict on your city with the flick of the Wii Remote of the press of a button.

“Awesome.”

And before I realized it, they were closing down the hall and having last call at the bar. So at the very least, these games all hold true with a basic Sims property: they’re like black holes for time.

Here’s what My Sims Kingdom looks like:

And this is SimCity Creator:

I get why I haven’t heard too much: the game is kind of hard to explain. It uses both screens at all times of the game – the upper is the adventure game where you’re Henry Hattsworth and you’ve got some bad guys to take out. The lower screen is the puzzle, a basic block-slider like Bejeweled. The screens are connected in that the enemies you take out up top fall into and become blocks in the puzzle on the bottom. If the block puzzle fills up because you’re too busy adventuring, the baddies climb out of the puzzle and back into the adventure world to attack you.

So, to take out bad guys for good, you’ve got to switch to the block puzzle and move some things around to get rid of the bad guys. The amount of time you can spend puzzling is limited by a time gauge that can only be extended by making good matches and killing more bad guys in the adventure world. By connecting certain blocks in the puzzle, you can also earn bonuses to use in the adventure world, like freezing time, upgrading weapons or activating an invincible robot mode called Tea Time.

I’m really glad to see this kind of game coming from EA – it’s proof that they’re getting away from the sequel-spitting machine model of game making and it also proves that American publishers can come up with original IPs that don’t get all gimmicky with the motion controls. Seriously – you could play through the entire game without even using the stylus.

So keep an eye out for Henry Hattsworth, and if you catch anyone comparing it to Professor Layton, slug ‘em right in the jaw. For me.

EA REVEALS OPEN BETA DETAILS FOR

WARHAMMER ONLINE: AGE OF RECKONING

Mythic Begins Preparations for September 7th Open Beta

FAIRFAX, Va. – August 18, 2008 – Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) studio, today announced that the open beta for their highly anticipated MMORPG, Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™ (WAR), will begin on September 7th, 2008. This means that hundreds of thousands of fans will be able to enter the gritty fantasy world of WAR to experience the thrill of Realm vs. Realm™ (RvR) combat before the game goes live on September 18th, 2008.

"For three years we have been saying that ‘WAR is coming’ and the team has been working hard to deliver on this promise,” said Mark Jacobs, co-founder and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. "In just a few weeks, we are going to throw open our doors and invite more players into the game than ever before. They will have a chance to delve into the open beta and see for themselves that WAR has arrived and it is glorious!"

Players can get into the North American open beta by pre-ordering Warhammer Online from select retail partners. Participants of the North American closed beta will automatically be granted open beta access. For more information about the WAR open beta, visit www.warhammeronline.com/openbeta.

Available for PC, Warhammer Online is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. WAR will be the first MMORPG to launch servers simultaneously in North America, Europe, and Oceania when it goes live on September 18th, 2008. For more information, visit http://www.warhammeronline.com/.

Much of the rhetoric surrounding these game creation and distribution sites relies on accessibility: they are supposed to make game development easy. But the truth is, simplified creation tools don't necessarily make creativity easier or harder, they just impose different constraints.

Honorarium [Sims Carnival via Ian Bogost]

Here's how AJ earned her keep this week:

Battlefield Heroes – Battling The Stigma Of Battlefield
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – Wii Impressions
Tetris, Spore, Scrabble and Sudoku – EA’s iPhone lineup
Boogie SuperStar – Objectifying And Empowering Tween Girls Everywhere
Celebrity Sports Showdown Impressions
The Odd Couple - EA & Grasshopper or Suda 51 & Shinji Mikami
Epic's New Game – President Tells All

And stay tuned next week for more from EA's 08 Showcase and some stuff on those mysterious events I'm not allowed to talk about yet.

Thanks for the big welcome, y'all! (And I can say that because I'm from Texas, so back off.)

To Toon Town, it looks like. And that’s not a bad move if the idea is to net the casual crowd and attract people who aren’t into any of the other Battlefields. Heroes aims to be for everyone with its charming, cartoon-y look, basic gameplay mechanics, and extensive online community support. Like Team Fortress 2, Battlefield Heroes will feature special abilities depending on what class of soldier you play (invisibility for snipers, whoo-hoo!) – but the similarities stop there. For one thing (and this is most important), it’s free to play. You’d think that’d count against the game in terms of depth and detail, but Heroes is actually way deeper than it’s cartoonish looks and $0 price tag lead people to believe.

The character customization stands out as the most complex – it hogged the limelight at the EA Showcase, even. How can you not like peg-legged snipers sporting bunny ears? You unlock even more options for your avatar’s appearance by going through missions to earn special items that work kind of like Achievements – because the whole community will see those bunny ears and know that you completed a mission to get them.

The community aspect of Battlefield Heroes also adds a whole other layer of depth. Ben Cousins, Executive Producer of the Battlefield franchise, explained that Heroes is as much a game as a web project. There are going to be friend lists, community boards and Facebook type apps for people to get into surrounding actual gameplay.

All of this goes live in winter (hopefully the 2008 side of it). Digital Illusions Studios CE has already started the closed beta phase with dev personnel and their families. This will go to a larger pool of core users in the fall and by winter, when (if) the game goes live, EA and DICE hope it will be the “world’s largest PC action game.”

So what did I expect from Half-Blood Prince on the Wii? Certainly not all the fun I had.

The events demoed at EA’s Showcase were Potions class, Quidditch and Dueling. Before we got to try the game ourselves, we got to watch two cute EA kids go at it in Dueling. They shook the Remotes and mashed the A buttons and bobbed and weaved their heads in time with the motions on screen. Harry dodges Malfoy’s Stupify, Malfoy gets off a freezing spell that knocks Harry off his feet. Back and forth went the magic spells until Malfoy ran out of health icons and the Duel ended with Harry winning best two out of three.

I got spanked at it when I tried it myself, but I was pleased that the controls handled pretty well. Dodging was what I did most, mashing A while moving the control stick in the direction I wanted to go. I was really getting killed until Executive Producer Jonathan Bunney finally bailed me out by showing me how to block, which also reflects spells. I redeemed myself in Potions – but that’s easy to do with such simple controls. The cauldron already has a potion in it and your job is to follow the instructions icons that hover to the right of it. Fan the mixture by moving the Wii Remote and Nunchuk up and down until it turns the right color. The control vibrates in your hand when you’ve nailed the right shade. Point at an ingredient and hold A to pick it up and hold it over the cauldron; tilt your wrist to pour it in.

“The controls are very smooth,” said Mr. Bunney. “We don’t want to break anybody’s wrists.”

I completed the potion and got an A ranking, stepping back to let someone else go at it in Quidditch. Playing as Harry means you’ve got to play as the Seeker and find the Snitch – but there was a hint that you could unlock other characters to play (probably just for the Dueling, though). To win at Quidditch, you’ve got to fly after the Snitch, going through star-shaped hoops to gain speed bonuses as you hurtle along. Like the Potion and Dueling controls, Quidditch looked pretty smooth – with no frantic flailing or extreme flicking to get the on-screen action to occur.

While that was going on, Bunney informed me that this Harry Potter game was built around the Wii instead of the PS2 (like the last one). The Wii Remote looks like a wand, so it was a logical choice; and now that they’ve got the technology of the Wii down, things are looking a lot better for the Potter series.

Let’s hope it works out well for the other consoles.

Boogie SuperStar is all about moving in rhythm to dance moves or singing karaoke on-pitch (but not both at once). The set-up is you make an avatar (skinny boy or skinny girl) who then gets scouted to attend superstar school. From there you dance or sing your way through competitions set to more than 40 girl-centric songs like “Bleeding Love” while you collect points for style and moves. The idea is to max out all the stats, unlock all the outfits and become the all-time SuperStar, despite Judge Vicki’s attempts to sabotage you.

I’m all about having games for girls; and I totally get that there is a demographic out there who likes stuff like Imagine: Babies and doesn’t feel the least bit insulted when people sneer at the Wii as a “girl’s console.” But do we really need to “empower” preteen girls with games designed to embarrass them?

Unlike WiiFit, Boogie SuperStar isn’t going to call a girl fat – but it can be pretty punishing if you don’t nail the complex dance moves and all, I mean all, the character models are stick-thin (even the token “fat” girl).

It’s been a long time since I was a fat 12-year-old; but I do remember going to birthday parties and being too shy to play any game that made me get up and move. I also can’t carry a tune to save my life, so karaoke is out unless it’s Rock Band, where the echo and the accompanying instruments cover the worst of my eff-ups.

So, really, this game is a shy, fat girl’s nightmare if it’s on the party game schedule right after Spin the Bottle.

Somehow, and more eloquently, I managed to tell the PR rep running the demo all of that. He was nice enough to offer to embarrass himself for me and I sat back and watched him get down to Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend.”

The dance moves require all kinds of hand motions and body motions from rolling your arms and shaking your hips to jumping up and down and turning all the way around. The PR rep jumped and shook and pointed and wiggled his whole body until he filled up his star gauge, charging his skinny avatar with glowing peace symbols and red stars. He aced the song – one of the hardest on the playlist – and cajoled me into trying a slower song for myself.

It wasn’t as bad as I feared and somewhere in the back of my mind, the traumatized tween that gave up girlie things for video games began to crawl out and tap her toes to the beat.

So maybe there is something to this game that’s going to click with the tween girls. It’s got the right amount of glitter and glitz, and the right kind of feeling in the Wii controls so that you can’t just sit back and swing the remote; you’ve really got to boogie if you want to win.

Boogie SuperStar ships in October. See if you can spot the token “fat” girl in the screens below. I’ll give you a hint: she’s just as skinny as the other girls.

There’s a slew of sports to choose from – skiing, tubing, badminton, dodge ball… I faced off against the PR rep in a tubing race where the idea is to gather the most stars. The Wii motion controls worked fairly well. Jerk the remote up to jump and flick it down to slam your airborne tube onto a competitor and make him lose his stars. On a skiing level, PR totally destroyed me as we sped down the slopes, trying to do tricks whenever we caught a jump.

The thing that has the most potential for drunk-fun are the rowing games. We played co-op on this level and each had to control a paddle by moving the Wiimote in a rowing motion while held sideways. I confess I blew it by dropping the remote twice. Nailing that synced rhythm with your partner is way harder than it looks even if you aren’t a klutz like me.

The game ships in October. Here, have some screen shots.

I went into my interview with the two Japanese developers with a bunch of questions I knew I couldn’t ask; I lived in Japan long enough to learn that the direct approach is usually not the best. The questions I did ask, though, had some fun answers:

“What do you think of MadWorld?” I shot this one off at Suda directly and he didn’t even wait for the translator. His face lit up and he exclaimed something about how cool it looked – like Sin City. And something about how he had a similar idea, but my Japanese ain’t that great, so I had to wait for the translator to explain that Suda had a similar idea for a futuristic game that now he couldn’t do because it would look too much like MadWorld.

Mikami didn’t seem as thrilled. He’s an “external board member” at Platinum Games, so he probably knows all the guys on MadWorld’s dev team and wouldn’t want to comment on anything of theirs that could be secret. Mikami is the man for horror, though, and that’s how this odd partnership came about.

Suda 51 makes his games with a story first and fits them to genre later. His newest idea (the mysterious new project to be published by EA) seemed to fit well with the horror genre and so he took it to Mikami.

Now we get into globalization business talk. Skip this paragraph if you don’t give a damn. The Japanese gaming industry is mostly closed off from Western gaming; at least, they’re not as chummy as the US gaming industry is with the European industry. The tendency for independent developers in Japan is to find a big studio with a Western presence (Capcom, Sega, etc.) and work through them. But every independent developer is always afraid of having their idea screwed with in the name of brand marketing, and in Japan, the eternal “We’ll think about it” runaround keeps games from getting made for years at a time. Not so with EA. Mikami and Suda pitched their idea and received an instant “When can we start?” which lead to GHM’s new partnership with EA. So while it might look weird on paper to see Mikami paired with Suda and GHM paired with EA – it all makes sense in the global view of gaming politics.

Mikami especially wants to give Japanese developers the chance to go global; and Suda says collaboration is the future of gaming. There are a lot of rock star developers in Japan (Kojima, Miyamoto, Itagaki, etc.) that want to take their ideas to a worldwide audience and that’s always good for the market.

Or at least it’s good for me – I heart Japanese games.

I also heart horror games, so this is going to be an amazing year for me – Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil 5, Dead Space… That’s an awful lot of horror games on the market already.

What do Suda and Mikami think about the possibility of too many horror games? Not much, really. They like horror too – and more horror can only be good. Bear in mind though, that Suda is an action man first and foremost. So whatever we see from the dream team is going to be a blend of action horror; with Suda as the action and Mikami as the horror. We will not see Resident Evil: The No More Heroes Experience, and we probably won’t see Killer 7 Part 2: Electric Boogaloo.

The last thing we talked about in that awkward interview of my lousy Japanese, their lousy English and the translator trying to keep up (don’t you just love language barriers?) was the concept of developing games for multiple platforms. Like Epic Games, GHM doesn’t believe in making a game and then trying to squeeze it onto a system in a watered-down form to fit the audience; but they are determined to bring their game to as many people as possible.

The number one challenge, Suda says, is developing for the Wii. Its audience is less cut-and-dried than the 360/PS3/PC crowd (what with the inclusion of old people, young people and casual gamers) and what appeals to Wii people might not appeal to 360/PS3/PC people. He just has to have faith that his idea is good enough on its own to bring in the fans and not worry so much about maxing out an audience on a specific console.

I’ve got to say I was feeling pretty good about the mystery project when I was ushered out of the door. It normally irks me when a studio gives the “we can’t tell you” spiel, but Suda 51 and Shinji Mikami are guys who know what they’re doing. And hopefully EA trusts them to make an awesome game as much as I do; but then, if they didn’t, they wouldn’t have made them partners, right?

Just yesterday it was announced that Epic Games would be joining EA as one of two new partners along with Grasshopper Manufacture (of Suda 51 fame).

I got some face time with Michael Capps, President of Epic Games, to see how the little independent studio that could feels about going with a Big Scary Publisher – especially one like EA that's got a reputation for ruthlessness with smaller development houses.

“The EA five years ago is not the same EA they are now. We wouldn’t have partnered with them five years ago,” Capps counters – shooting a furtive look at the EA handler at the interview. He scratches the back of his neck and removes a square of tape. “From the [stage] microphone,” he says.

Sure, I believe him. He’s not going all Manchurian Candidate on me.

I asked about his game and got one of those fluffy PR answers about “it’s great, but we can’t tell you about it.” But he did say that it was being developed by Polish studio People Can Fly, which Epic picked up last spring after being blown away by how awesome the studio did with PC content for Gears of War.

“We said ‘do another Painkiller!’” Capps laughs. He’s really into Painkiller – and guns, and things that go “boom.” But what do you expect from the guy who brought the world Unreal Tournament and Gears of War?

Gears of War 2, is what I expect, maybe another Painkiller. But Capps is anxious to go with a new IP; and that’s a big part of why he went with EA instead of some other huge publisher. Their enthusiasm about this mystery project clicked with Epic’s enthusiasm – and that’s the way to make a game, Capps says. You need more than just a dev team that’s jazzed about the game; an entire studio of people has to love the game so much that they’re willing to sacrifice sleep and years off their lives. So People Can Fly + Epic + EA = at least 300 people who aren’t going to sleep for the next few years while this game gets made.

I say “few” because Epic’s average dev cycle is between three and four years and we can assume this idea was pitched well before my interview. Gears of War 2 doesn’t count because most of the game was already made before they even started, so cut that dev cycle down to two years.

So what kind of game are we getting for the collaboration of no sleep? Anyone’s guess at this point, by my money’s on something action-packed with a rich back story and tons of super cool guns that explode things. And multiplayer; they can’t do a game without multiplayer.

“We don’t do unicorns,” Capps says. I asked about exploding unicorns and he wrote something down, muttering, “We’ll see.”

“We only get so many ‘fuck’ tokens,” Capps says. “And ‘badass’ is one of them, so I won’t use that…” But he says bigger than “wicked” and better than “really cool.” And we won’t have to worry about some watered-down version on the Wii. Capps is pretty sure this new game won’t appeal to “that crowd” and that the best way to make a game that works on multiple platforms is to build a super-awesome story, find a badass hero and then work with the system particulars to deliver tailored experiences. So – maybe – mods for the PS3 version and official DLC for 360?

“We’ll see, we’ll see,” Capps says.

As a parting shot, I asked about chicks in this new game. I hinted (flat-out said) every Epic game I’ve seen is severely devoid of badass females (except Unreal Tournament) and wanted to know if he planned to do anything about it. Apparently, I’m not the only one with this concern. Capps’s girlfriend is also very interested in the badassitute of female characters in Epic games – ditto for the EA handler’s girlfriend and double it for all the guys at People Can Fly with girlfriends.

“Well, we thought about…” Capps starts to say. The EA handler sits up and Capps switches to, “Ah! I can’t, I can’t! You almost got me!”

Almost. The option to play as a girl? Co-op female sidekick? Gotta wait a little longer for more details to leak out.

But seriously – Epic – give me Ellen Ripley and exploding unicorns. Is that so much to ask?

“I’ve always been a fan of racing games and working on Need for Speed Undercover was an amazing experience,” said Maggie Q. “I was so impressed by the scope and quality of the overall production that goes into a videogame these days. It was like any other day on a Hollywood set; I felt right at home. The Black Box team is doing tremendous work here and I can’t wait to see the final game.”

Sold! We'll be anxiously awaiting her Xbox 360 theme, EA. Hit the jump for the full press release and yes...a larger version of her PETA ad.

As a person who once got dried jalapeno peppers on his hands and then used the restroom before washing them, I applaud her bravery.

International Box Office Sensation Maggie Q to Star in Need for Speed Undercover
Discover a World of High-Stakes and High-Speed in the Hottest Racing Game of 2008

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Black Box, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced Need for Speed™ Undercover, the intense action racing title scheduled for release this holiday. The new game will feature international movie star, Maggie Q, as the lead character in the big-budget live-action sequences that propel the original story forward as players get behind the wheel. EA’s Need for Speed Undercover takes the franchise back to its roots and re-introduces break-neck cop chases, the world’s hottest cars and spectacular highway battles.

“Need for Speed Undercover features a deep and engaging story of spectacular Hollywood-style live-action that will transport players into the fictional world of the Tri-City Bay Area,” said Bill Harrison, Need for Speed Undercover Executive Producer. “Working with talent the caliber of Maggie Q allows us to deliver an unparalleled level of storytelling that will keep players engaged in between 180-mile an hour races.”

Maggie Q, who has starred in Mission Impossible III and Live Free or Die Hard, plays Federal Agent Chase Linh, a seductive handler who recruits and guides players as they go undercover. Players will take on dangerous jobs and compete in races in order to infiltrate and takedown a ruthless international crime syndicate.

“I’ve always been a fan of racing games and working on Need for Speed Undercover was an amazing experience,” said Maggie Q. “I was so impressed by the scope and quality of the overall production that goes into a videogame these days. It was like any other day on a Hollywood set; I felt right at home. The Black Box team is doing tremendous work here and I can’t wait to see the final game.”

Need for Speed Undercover is being developed by Black Box in Vancouver, B.C., and is slated to be in stores North America on November 18 and in Europe on November 21. The game will be available for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and Wii™ as well as the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo DS™, PSP® (PlayStation® Portable) handheld entertainment system, PC and mobile. More information can be found at www.needforspeed.com. Press can download assets at http://info.ea.com.

For starters, Luscious Entertainment has added the all new Don View. This creates a strategy element in the mobster life where instead of just running around as your custom-made mob man, smashing shit up and collecting racket money, you can pull back into a city-wide view and take in the positions and movements of the rival families. With this bird’s eye view, you can make decisions about who you want to hit and how – which businesses you want in your pocket and what men you want in your crew. Playing the strategy element of GFII makes you think like a Don, while still letting you act like a mobster.

Like the first Godfather game, you serve the Corleone family, with big dreams of being head of your own family if you do Michael Corleone the favor of acting as Don while he sorts out business with the FBI. You recruit a crew to start with – made men with their own personalities, backgrounds, and specialties. The specialties are crucial because they’ll determine your mob war strategy. Got a demolitions guy? Blow up the strip joint. Got an engineer who can knock out power grids? Sneak in the back of the auto shop and knock out their power so you can get the drop on their hired goons. And you can always spend money to level these “skills” up.

Collecting a complete racket gives your family a monopoly – allowing you to cash in on bonuses that each racket offers. If you own all the strip joints, for example, you can knock 50% off the cost of guards (because presumably, you’re paying the other half in sweet, sweet hooker flesh). Having more means having more to guard, however, so as you move up in the city’s mob food chain, you start to attract more attention – the wrong kind, that is. Hiring goons of your own and recruiting more men for your crew only goes so far; the other families have more of the same and putting a hit out on their soldiers doesn’t take them out of play completely. You’ve got to dig around, do a few favors for the right people (district attorney is always a good place to start), and find out what your enemies’ weaknesses are. Because once you know how to hit them, you’ll be taking them out for good, leaving your family free to snatch up the emptied parts of the underbelly.

Godfather will feature Florida, New York, and Cuba as the main settings of the game. If you did your homework (you know – read the book, saw the movie), you’ll be pleased to see that this fits in with the actual story of the The Godfather: Part II, although you’re missing out on most of what Michael Corleone is up to. Tom Hagen’s still around, though, and Robert Duvall was enough of a sport to come back for the second game as voice talent. Robert Di Nero, on the other hand, you probably won’t see (or hear) because unlike the movie, Godfather II the game has zero Old Italy flashbacks to the childhood of Vito Corleone and the founding of the Corleone family.

What I saw at that posh Godfather II event was a bare bones, pre-alpha model of what the game could look like when it comes out next year. I say “could” because it was obvious both from the visuals and from the bizarre tabletop game they had us play to grasp the abstract concept of Don strategy that key parts of how the game will work are still up in the air. For example, the production people copped to the fact that you could play through the game without using the Don’s View feature. It would make it unbalanced, but it could be done; and that won’t look good for Godfather if it’s trying to break away from the GTA model of mindless violence = money = king of town.

Also – and this is a total nit-picking comment – they keep insisting that you are a Don from the beginning of the game; which doesn’t make much sense because Michael Corleone is never not the Don in Godfather II (and would he really appoint someone who’s not blood-related as a replacement? Come on!)

The game could go either way at the point (much like all games in pre-alpha stages), but it’s obvious EA is going the extra mile to make Godfather II into more than just a sequel. I want to say if Francis Ford Coppola can do it, then surely they can – but that guy is magic. Even his own daughter can’t match him, so where does EA hope to get off?

Shinji Mikami: Money. [Laughs]

Goichi Suda: I was really surprised at things such as the size of their studios and their massive marketing and production teams. I've never had the experience of working on such a massive team before. We haven't done voice recording yet, but I know EA would be a huge help in finding talent and getting them to the studio and the motion capture as well. In other cases, I would want to do something before but couldn't, and since working with EA, they've provided everything I wanted. I get tremendous support from EA... Of course I had a chance to present it to different publishers, but EA was the company that understood the game and understood my approach to it. That's why I took the chance to work with EA. Also, EA produced Rock Band, so they understand the "soul of rock."

Shinji Mikami: ...Also, EA has strong marketing power. If Suda just keeps on doing what he wants to do, players might not understand what they're playing. But with EA's strong marketing power, they know what people want from a game, and we combine both their knowledge and his creativity to help create a better game.

This is one to watch.

Mikami and Suda Talk EA Partnership [1Up]

The press release, which does not provide a date for the game, notes that Q Entertainment, responsible for Lumines and Rez HD, helped broker the publishing gig and will be working with Grasshopper on the project. Insert fanboy squeal here, hit the jump for more details.

EA SIGNS PUBLISHING DEAL WITH GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE
Legendary Producer Shinji Mikami and Innovative Designer Suda51 Working with EA Partners on an All-New Action Horror Title

Redwood City, Calif – August 14, 2008 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced a publishing agreement with iconic Japanese development studio Grasshopper Manufacture. Under the terms of the deal, EA Partners will publish an all-new action horror game produced by Shinji Mikami and directed by innovative game designer Suda51.

The title is being developed for the PC, Xbox 360® video game system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Wii™.

“Grasshopper Manufacture is excited to work with EA Partners to bring our new title to gamers around the world,” said Goichi Suda, CEO of Grasshopper Manufacture. “They are a great partner who shares our commitment to quality and innovation while respecting our independence as a studio, which is very empowering.”

“It is an honor for EA to sign Grasshopper Manufacture and help bring their new franchise to gamers worldwide,” said Frank Gibeau, President of the EA Games Label. “The roster of partners at EA is growing and the caliber of talent is outstanding. Grasshopper Manufacture is a world-class studio and, within the EA partner program, they stand alongside some of the world’s most revered independent studios.”

“Grasshopper Manufacture is one of the most daring and innovative independent studios in the world, and EA Partners is honored to be working with Mikami-san and Suda-san on this new project,” said David DeMartini, senior vice president and general manager, EA Partners. “EA Partners is a truly global resource for the world’s best independent developers, whether they’re in North America, Europe or Asia.”

The deal was brokered by CAA, in conjunction with Q Entertainment who will be working with Grasshopper Manufacture and EAP on the project.

For more information about Grasshopper Manufacture, please visit www.grasshoppermanufacture.com

For more information about EA, please visit our press Web site at http://info.ea.com

About Grasshopper Manufacture Inc
Grasshopper Manufacture Inc. is an independent interactive entertainment studio based in Suginami-ku, Tokyo. The studio was founded in 1998 by CEO Goichi Suda, who is known around the world for his distinctive style and innovative work as a game designer and scenario writer. To date, Grasshopper Manufacture has shipped 11 titles, including 2007’s breakout hit, “No More Heroes.” More information about GhM can be found on the internet at http://www.grasshopper.co.jp/

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSTM, EATM, EA SPORTS Freestyle TM and POGOTM. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle and POGO are trademarks or registered trademark in the U.S. and/or other countries. Xbox 360 is a trademark of the Microsoft group of companies and is used under license from Microsoft. “PLAYSTATION” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Wii is a trademark of Nintendo. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

The game will be released for PC, PS3 & Xbox 360 and be developed by Epic's People Can Fly studio, based in Poland. For those of you wondering, People Can Fly were the folks behind Painkiller.

“Epic is excited to work with EA Partners to launch our next big IP on the global stage,” said Mark Rein, vice president, Epic Games. “EA Partners gives independent developers like Epic the muscle of a global publisher like EA, along with the focus and flexibility of a smaller team committed to working with our individual needs.”

Full details after the jump

EA SIGNS PUBLISHING DEAL WITH EPIC GAMES

EA Partners Team up with the Creators of the award-winning Gears of War and Unreal series

to Publish an All-New IP

Redwood City, Calif. – August 14, 2008 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Epic Games, Inc. today announced that they have signed a publishing agreement for an all-new action title for the PC, Xbox 360® video game system and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. The new intellectual property is currently in development by Epic’s People Can Fly studio in Poland.

“Epic is excited to work with EA Partners to launch our next big IP on the global stage,” said Mark Rein, vice president, Epic Games. “EA Partners gives independent developers like Epic the muscle of a global publisher like EA, along with the focus and flexibility of a smaller team committed to working with our individual needs.”

“In the last year, EAP has become a powerhouse player in the publishing world with the best of breed developers signing on to leverage EA’s studio-focused philosophy, global scale and publishing leadership,” said Frank Gibeau, President of the EA Games Label. ”Epic brings first class talent and technology to the development of this new title. We are very proud to have Epic join the growing roster of EA Partners.”

“Epic is a legendary studio that is synonymous with quality and EA Partners jumped at the chance to team up with them on the launch of their next blockbuster IP,” said David DeMartini, senior vice president and general manager, EA Partners. “EA Partners is committed to giving the world’s best independent developers access to EA’s global publishing resources, letting them focus on what they do best – making great games.”

For more information about Epic Games, please visit www.epicgames.com

For more information about EA, please visit our press Web site at http://info.ea.com

In theory, the idea that the game’s variable difficulty settings will make the game more accessible to someone like my mother is somewhat appealing. And then I think a bit and it’s not. When I toast Mom’s secondary for my sixth TD, I doubt I’ll get up, dance around, and mime like I’m teabagging her. But after nearly 20 years at this, beginning with Madden 93 on the Genesis, it’s almost an instinctive reaction.

I also seriously doubt guys’ girlfriends are going to be interested in one of the game’s great diversions — creating 6-11, 300 pound solid muscle running backs of all-99 ability, and giving them names like “Ass Raper.” My buddy David, from the Rocky Mountain News, and I did that on his Gamecube in 2003. (A.R.’s alma mater was Yale.) David brought him out against Jim’s Seahawks and paused every replay so Jim (another RMN pal) could read the guy’s name and number aloud. Jim responded the next week by creating his entire family as 99ers. His dog caught eight touchdowns.

In the new big-tent Madden community, you won’t see things like Spite Bowl, Late-Hit Bowl, and Halfback Option Pass Bowl, complete perversions of the game that can only be dreamed up by two guys, playing on the same couch, at equivalent levels of skill and sobriety. Spite Bowl pits two guys playing as their friend’s biggest rival teams. The object is more “do not lose to those overrated sons of bitches” rather than “I want my team to win.” The 49ers and Dolphins are a hideous matchup this year — unless they’re being led by Bills and Raiders fans.

Late-Hit Bowl, the object was to get flagged for as many late hits as possible and if the other guy ended up on the one yard line or scored on the drive, you got his points. Halfback Option Pass Bowl was a game invented with two other friends in Oneonta, N.Y., on the Playstation version of Madden 98. The only play you could run was the option pass and the only defense you could call was a prevent. Naturally, when you employed drinking-game rules this game became a lot more fun.

And while you might be able to have an online league with 31 of your closest friends, who the hell is going to buy the Taco Bell? There’s no league I could play that will top the Friday Madden League in 2004, with three other co-workers from the Rocky. Four-way, in-person cooperative play tells you just how strong your friendship is when your pal does stupid shit like whiff on three straight kickoffs. It forces you to invent your own hand signals and decoys. You dream up celebrations and end zone dances that didn’t depend on motion capture, quicktime, or moving to an endzone hotspot and pressing the right button.

None of this is to say I won’t enjoy Madden 09, and it's silly to resent others for enjoying it in different ways. But the tone of the game experience seems to be changing. Madden 09’s new AI is meant to tell gamers of all skill levels that there’s no wrong way to play the game. But my friends and I delighted in playing the game the wrong way, and I’m sure we weren't alone. Doing stupid things together online doesn’t have the same appeal, and it no longer provokes the same reaction from the game. It’s a little like your parents giving you permission to cuss all you want. After a few willful minutes on your own, you give up, and join polite company as a well-adjusted participant.

QUICK! Gemma Atkinson 360 theme out now! [CVG]

Yes, he's Welsh. I didn't know either, but I suppose the folks in Wales keep that sort of thing pinned to their refrigerator. Ice box. Whatever. Of course Junkie XL had to remix "Feels Like Music" to make it a bit more palatable for the kids, but if that doesn't sit well with the Welsh they've also got Duffy's "Mercy" to help represent the land of...Welsh things. Hit the jump for the full soundtrack listing, and Go Wales!

EA’S FIFA Soccer 09 Soundtrack Scores on International Music Goals
Roster Features 42 Artists From 21 Countries, Debuts From Kasabian and Datarock, Exclusive Track From Tom Jones Remixed By Junkie XL

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today unveiled the complete music track listing for EA SPORTS™ FIFA Soccer 09, in stores world wide this October. In a game already being heralded for its revolutionary gameplay enhancements, the new FIFA Soccer 09 soundtrack features 42 songs from 21 nations across multiple genres to create an unprecedented global music event.

In what has become an annual tradition, FIFA Soccer 09 features a handpicked roster of Platinum acts and soon-to-break artists from around the world that defines the sound of the coming soccer season as it creates new international stars. This year’s soundtrack includes debut tracks from Italian electro-funk artist Caesar Palace, UK rockers Kasabian, and Artwerk Music Group’s international sensation Datarock, as well as exclusives from French hip-hop phenomenon Soprano and a new track by Tom Jones remixed by Junkie XL. The soundtrack is further highlighted by songs from Hot Chip, The Kooks, Foals, The Ting Tings and My Federation (UK); Radiopilot (Germany), Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley (Jamaica); The Kissaway Trail (Denmark); The Fratellis (Scotland); Gonzales (France); CSS and Curumin (Brazil); Duffy (Wales); Cut Copy and The Veronicas (Australia); and Sam Sparro, The Airbourne Toxic Event, MGMT and The Black Kids (USA).

“We have exceeded our annual challenge to create videogames’ preeminent international soundtrack,” said Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music and Marketing at EA. “No other game has been as influential with regards to new music, and FIFA Soccer 09 truly raises the bar worldwide. We’re excited that Brazilian fans of Curumin will hear Spain’s The Pinker Tones and Norway’s Datarock. We’re proud that Canadians who love Chromeo will discover Ladytron from England and Junkie XL from Holland. We want fans throughout France, Mexico and Germany to find that their favorite new song is by Señor Flavio from Argentina, DJ Bitman from Chile or Jupiter One from New York. FIFA Soccer 09 will take music globalization to a whole new level.”

The complete in-game soundtrack for FIFA Soccer ‘09 includes:

Artist Song Country Album
Caesar Palace 1ne Italy Dogs from V-Gas
Chromeo Bonafied Lovin' (Yuksek Remix) Canada Fancy Footwork: Deluxe Edition
CSS Jager Yoga Brazil Donkey
Curumin Magrela Brazil Japan Pop Show
Cut Copy Lights And Music Australia In Ghost Colours
Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley Something For You (One Loaf Of Bread) Jamaica
Datarock True Stories Norway
DJ Bitman Me Gustan Chile Latin Bitman
Duffy Mercy Wales Rockferry
Foals Olympic Airways England Antidotes
Gonzales Working Together (Boys Noize Remix) France Soft Power
Hot Chip Ready For The Floor (Soulwax Remix) England Made In The Dark
Jakobinarina I'm A Villain Iceland First Crusade
Junkie XL feat. Electrocute Mad Pursuit Holland Booming Back At You
Jupiter One Platform Moon USA Jupiter One
Kasabian Fast Fuse England
Ladytron Runaway England Velocifero
Lykke Li I'm Good I'm Gone Sweden Youth Novels
Macaco Movin' Spain
MGMT Kids USA Oracular Spectacular
My Federation What Gods Are These England Don't Wanna Die
Najwajean Drive Me Spain Till It Breaks
Plastilina Mosh Let U Know Mexico All U Need Is Mosh
Radiopilot Fahrrad Germany Fahrrad
Reverend And The Makers Open Your Window England The State Of Things
Sam Sparro Black & Gold USA Sam Sparro
Señor Flavio Lo Mejor Del Mundo Argentina Supersaund 2012
Soprano Victory France
The Airborne Toxic Event Gasoline USA The Airborne Toxic Event
The Black Kids I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You (The Twelves Remix) USA I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You
The Bloody Beetroots Butter Italy
The Fratellis Tell Me A Lie Scotland Here We Stand
The Heavy That Kind Of Man England Great Vengeance And Furious Fire
The Kissaway Trail 61 Denmark The Kissaway Trail
The Kooks Always Where I Need To Be England Konk
The Pinker Tones The Whistling Song Spain Wild Animals
The Script The End Where I Begin Ireland The Script
The Ting Tings Keep Your Head England We Started Nothing
The Veronicas Untouched Australia Hook Me Up
The Whip Muzzle #1 England X Marks Destination
Tom Jones Feels Like Music (Junkie XL Remix) Wales
Ungdomskulen Modern Drummer Norway Cry-Baby

This year EA SPORTS™ is changing the way sports games are played online, enabling 20 individuals playing fixed positions to play a single game of FIFA Soccer 09 at the same time. Instead of thinking as an individual player, now the gamer has to think and play as a team in Be A Pro: 10 vs. 10 Online Team Play for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360®™ video game and entertainment system.

To learn more about FIFA Soccer 09 visit www.FIFA09.ea.com. For news, exclusive downloads, streaming music clips and more visit www.ea.com/eatrax/.

Developed in Burnaby, B.C., by EA Canada, FIFA Soccer 09 is localized into 18 languages and sold in 37 countries –- it is the most popular franchise globally for EA SPORTS. FIFA Soccer 09 will be available for the PLAYSTATION®3, Xbox 360®™, Wii™, PC, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo DS™, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system and mobile. It is rated “E” for everyone by ESRB and it has not yet been rated by PEGI.

EA has had an extremely successful sports brand for years, but we’re evolving with new experiences targeting new consumers in our space... There’s a hunger that fuels our teams to challenge to be the leading sports brand in the world... We need to knock down the barriers to those who find the learning curve of our games too steep, and find new areas in sports – and health and wellness — that our brand can truly make a difference.

Well, there ya go, Peter Moore lays out his plans for EA to conquer.

EA sets sights on becoming leading sports brand [MCVUK]

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz (3.2 GHz for Vista), Intel Core 2.0 GHz (2.2 GHz for Vista), AMD Athlon 2800+ (3200+ for Vista) or better

RAM: 1GB (1.5GB on Windows Vista)

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Radeon X800 Pro for Vista) or better

VRAM: 256MB of Graphics Memory

Storage: 15GB

Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible

ODD: DVD-ROM

OS: Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Microsoft Vista

DirectX: DX9.0c or DX10

Crysis Warhead [EA]

Madden 09 - 360 Cover
Madden 09 - PS3 Cover
Madden 09 - PS2 Cover
Madden 09 - PSP Cover

"With Spore, we're looking way outside the game space, such as TV, movies, etc. We're basically planting the seeds to spread Spore out to a much wider group of people than would ever play a computer game"

I not sure how I can see how it would work. I mean, Spore is all about being able to create your own, personalized form of life and then cast it off into the stars. A television show or movie with a set cast of characters couldn't come close to capturing the creative freedom afforded by the game. Isn't releasing an amazing game enough?

Electronic Arts aims to license Spore movie rights [Reuters]