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Dead Space 3's imminently expected official announcement has received its latest harbinger in the form of a set of screenshots making their way through the internet. The screens hint at co-op gameplay for the latest installment in the blue-spine tingling thriller series.

Playing into the authenticity of the screens is that they appear to feature Earthgov Sergeant John Carver, recently introduced in the "Dead Space Graphic Novel Short."

EA's E3 press conference is scheduled for 1PM Pacific on Monday, June 4. Don't be surprised if necromorphs are featured prominently at some point during the presentation.

Like some errant Necromorph, a new video has suddenly popped up on the Dead Space website. Entitled "Dead Space Graphic Novel Short," the video showcases the story of John Carver, an Earthgov Seargent, as he "witnesses an attack on the Marker Site he guards which changes his life forever." There's also a countdown on the site - coded in Dead Space's alien language - set to expire in six days. Electronic Arts' E3 press conference, meanwhile, is set to take place on Monday, curiously only five days away.

Despite the video's title, there's reason to believe this is all tied to Dead Space 3. As noticed by fans on the Dead Space Facebook page, the website's source code contains numerous references to "ds3." The site adds that this is "just the start of John Carver's saga in the Dead Space Universe," implying that something grander than merchandising is on the way. Perhaps Carver is a new protagonist? One way or another, we'll find out next week.

#needforspeed Not too much of a huge surprise, as Electronic Arts earlier this month told everyone it'd be publishing another Need For Speed title in the final three months of the year, and everyone figured that would be Need For Speed: Most Wanted 2. Yesterday, IGN reported that an EA E3 booth schedule being sent around confirms the game will be shown in Los Angeles. More »

EA understand indie games, they really do, that’s why they have their very own indie bundle. They also understand crowd-funding, or at least they understand that it’s becoming a force that they must reckon with, one way or another. This could go one of two ways. Either Kickstarter HQ is about to be breached by corporate assault drones, or all the profits from FIFA 13 will be pledged to the Kick it Forward scheme. Or perhaps there is a third way. Perhaps EA will waive its cut of sales on Origin for 90 days if the game in question was crowd-funded.

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Electronic Arts and BioWare's social soiree in Ferelden will be coming to an end on June 18, 2012, according to the official Dragon Age Legends website. E-commerce for the title ended yesterday, meaning that while the game it still active for the time being, it's no longer possible to convert your real-life dollars into fake Dragon Dollars crowns for use in Ferelden's many shops.

BioWare has also initiated a "massive fire sale" on all in-game items until the servers go down, so anyone with stockpiles of fake internet money can get their fake internet money's worth, at least for a few weeks. If the thought of living without a weird Facebook adaptation of the Dragon Age world is too much to handle, take heart: A single-player version of the game will be made available on the official site "shortly after the current version of the game shuts down."

I think EA and Activision would make excellent stars for a buddy cop movie. Case in point: “John Riccitiello and Bobby Kotick are two multi-million dollar CEOs who just can’t get along. Together, they have to get to the bottom of a clandestine international elephant smuggling operation – but with plenty of zany hijinks along the way.” [Cut to scene of climactic shootout in Kotick's own office. Back-to-back, Kotick and Riccitiello level a small army of vicious, gun-toting thugs that encircle them. But then, Riccitiello accidentally unleashes a spray of gunfire into Kotick's two favorite bonsai trees while downing the final two baddies.] “Whoops,” says Kotick, “guess that’s bonvoyage to those guys.” “Oh, you,” retorts Kotick. “By the way, I’m suing you for $400 million for allegedly luring away two of my most prized employees while they were still under contract.”

See? It’s pretty much a flawless parallel.

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You see that dude above, straight chillin'? Yeah, you've seen him before - like, a few weeks ago, when the image leaked alongside several other Crysis 3 screens. Well here he is again, but this time he's got a whole bunch more totally official screens, straight from EA. Thrilling!

Bioware send word that they’re having another free-to-party party this weekend. It’s taking place from Thursday, May 17th at 12:01AM CDT / 5:01AM GMT, and ends on Monday, May 21st at 2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GMT. The usual limits apply: Level 15 cap, but you can freely play PvP zones. Only people (or email addresses?) that have not played the game previously will be able to participate in this free weekend.

Assuming you’re not busy, of course. You’re probably busy. That’s fine too.

Kingdoms of Amalur creators 38 Studios, who are based in Providence, Rhode Island, are apparently in talks with that state about their financial difficulties, as reported by this Providence newspaper. Superbly-named governor Lincoln Chafee said: “We’re always working to keep Rhode Island companies solvent, and that’s what we’re doing with 38 Studios.”

Reportedly, the game sold 410,000 copies across all formats – a figure which cast doubt on the future of the proposed MMO based on the world.

Insomniac Games (Ratchet and Clank, Resistance series) and Electronic Arts have teamed up on Outernauts, an adventure role-playing Facebook game. Outernauts are sent out into the galaxy to capture and train "exotic alien beasts" and unlock the secrets of the ancients while fighting in asynchronous battles.

"As we have demonstrated for nearly twenty years in the console games space, we're confident we can help evolve the definition of a game experience on Facebook," said Insomniac prez Ted Price. "With Outernauts, we are delivering a deep story with real RPG strategy, coupled with Insomniac's signature sense of humor."

The game popped up across galactic radar relays this past February following copyright registrations, and could be seen in stars after the creation of Insomniac Click. Outernauts will launch this summer and is currently in closed beta.

Yesterday was EA’s annual fiscal earnings call, which meant another night of the publisher baying about sums of money beyond all human imagining to stern shareholders and jumpy journalists. The headline numbers were revenues of $4.1 billion and earnings of $76 million, and a claim that it will be throwing $80 million down the gluttonous money-pit “in development of games for Gen4 console systems.” So consoles didn’t start until PS1, huh? My sister’s still-used Sega Mastersystem says otherwise, bucko.

But enough about the willy-waving. Let’s talk willy-shrinking too. Back in March, EA claimed its frighteningly expensive MMO goliath Star Wars: The Old Republic boasted some 1.7 million active subscribers. It’s now the merry month of May, and the earnings call brought news that subscribers are down to 1.3 million. So that’s 400,000 chappies gone in just two months, eh?(more…)

EA has new Dead Space and Need for Speed titles in the works for the coming year, ending March 31, 2013, it announced during a financial call today. "Need for Speed" is listed on EA's financial results slideshow scheduled for Q3 of FY 2013, which places it around October 2012. EA mentioned Dead Space among its coming "blockbuster" titles for the year.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2 and Dead Space 3 were listed in April by South African retailer BT Games.

EA has new Dead Space and Need for Speed titles in the works for the coming year, ending March 31, 2013, it announced during a financial call today. "Need for Speed" is listed on EA's financial results slideshow scheduled for Q3 of FY 2013, which places it around October 2012. EA mentioned Dead Space among its coming "blockbuster" titles for the year.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2 and Dead Space 3 were listed in April by South African retailer BT Games.

Saying that anything related to a Crysis game "looks good" is a bit like saying the Sun is somewhat hot, or that the Joystiq staff is somewhat attractive - true, obviously, but a bit of an understatement.

This latest batch of concept artwork for Crysis 3 proves once again that, even without a trillion dollar gaming rig and DirectX 30, the artistic vision behind the Crisis franchise is just as beautiful and intense as the finished products are. The swampy, aged, almost Venetian feel Crysis 3's dystopian New York City exudes is so damn pretty, we almost wish the apocalypse would hurry up and get here.

So EA has its own indie bundle now. Yes, I’m aware that hardly makes any sense. At the very least, each game is part of the EA Partners program, which means the devs do, in fact, own their IPs – not EA. That said, it’s all a bit silly, right? Especially in the past year or so, EA’s once again become synonymous with gaming’s fe-fi-fo-fumming, goose-that-lays-golden-eggs-milking corporate side. It is, to be frank, the near-comically polar opposite of the indie “scene.” Clearly, though, EA’s trying to evoke a certain reaction by co-opting that word. But that, in itself, strikes me as problematic, because gaming’s least gentle giant is right: “indie” has a connotation now, and it’s very much coloring the expectations of gamers and indie developers alike. To be a developer of independent games and to be “indie” are now two entirely different things.

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I held out on using Origin until Mass Effect 3. I was immediately struck by the fact that there were precisely two tabs: “my games” and, of course, “store.” Even more striking, however, was the fact that EA’s little wallet-ruffling engine that could, well, couldn’t. Each time I tried to purchase ME3, I got booted by an incredibly vague error message. Eventually, I let out a quiet scream of resignation, left my house, and went on the prowl for reporters to punch. Then I realized I could just send a few of my own teeth flying, which really didn’t end up helping anything. So yes, my experiences with Origin haven’t exactly yielded sunshine, rainbows, or cheap dental bills. Are you in the same boat, or at least a nearby flotilla? Well then, slight consolation: after letting you languish for ages in life’s ancient-magazine-packed waiting room, EA’s finally calling you to the front desk.

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Fire! It’s nice to look at, pleasant to sit around during the harsh winter months, and – because Mother Nature likes a good laugh just as much as the rest of us – one of the most insanely destructive forces on this planet. And now, it’s coming to a SimCity near you. Well, OK, it’s only doing so if you’re a really miserable/sadistic city planner. Wondering how to avoid reducing all your hard work to ash? Hey, me too. We have so much in common. Near as I can tell, step one is to watch the following trailer and then do the exact opposite.

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As advertised, Battlefield 3's "Close Quarters" DLC takes the scope of the game's multiplayer and shrinks it to roughly the size of a few hallways. That kind of shrinkage can lead to some ... embarrassing situations.

After all that back and forth about the DRM, let’s see what this new SimCity really is. There’s no number because it’s not a sequel as such, or so the word goes. I can’t help but see it as a statement of intent – the series first turned fallow and then was perverted, but now it’s back, back, back on track. Pure and faithful. In the same way Dexys Midnight Runners are, in their new incarnation, simply ‘Dexys’ there’s a consciousness that a long history can be as much an albatross as a boon.

And so what might have been Sim City 6 is simply ‘SimCity’, and it is indeed a city management game. A proper one, with zoning and utilities and emergencies and traffic jams and crime and all that metropolitan jazz. My sense was that it’s more accessible than Sim City 4 was, but not in the way that Sim City Societies or – heaven forfend – a Cityville-type is. Yes, the ‘a’ word. Wait, calm down. While I can only speak from a quick, eyes-on impression of a very early build, but the trick seemed be in the presentation of information, rather than sacrifices of the information itself. A surprisingly lavish and high-detail 3D world was backed up by a slick-looking interface, heavily customisable to show what you do and don’t personally want to see at any one time.(more…)

SSX's Zoe doesn't care that you're comfy with reality - she's got a bone to pick with physics in general, actually. And she's taking that bone to the slopes, as evidenced in the latest DLC trailer for this year's SSX. The DLC arrives next week on May 1.

Crysis 3's naturalization of New York City's concrete jungle takes full shape in the first gameplay trailer, released this morning by EA. That compound bow makes plenty of appearances, but don't think Crytek has forgotten about all those other toys Crysis fans have come to expect.

Leak-prone South African retailer BT Games today posted pre-order pages for Dead Space 3 and Need For Speed: Most Wanted 2 (since altered). Neither title has been officially announced, although there's been plenty of chatter about the former.

Eurogamer grabbed screens of the Need For Speed Most Wanted 2 posting. This isn't the first time in recent memory that BT Games, which bases its listings on information provided by publishers and local distributors, has posted pre-orders before an official announcement. The company outed Jak and Daxter HD Collection in October, over a month before it ever became official.

Bonjour! Pardon the French subtitles, but this latest clip of next year's SimCity reboot features how water distribution will work in the simulation. It also reveals how industrial pollution can poison groundwater. What it doesn't show is the multi-million dollar lawsuit that follows.

SimCity wants to you show you its fluids, pumping around the place, most of them good for your thirst but some of them riddled with germs. Since my first trip to the beach as a nipper, fashioning a cathedral of sand and shell, I’ve always enjoyed building things, but now that I’m a withered husk of a man who is more likely to be found propping up a bar than lazing on a beach, it takes more than the promise of a construction set to grab my attention. I was surprised and delighted when I saw that today’s SimCity is a simulation driven from the ground up, tracking tiny people to their jobs, creating traffic jams and the spread of illness through the movement of simulated agents rather than some laws of certain averages. This video shows how that will impact on water distribution.

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Electronic Arts has launched the official Battlefield 3 Battlelog app for iOS nearly ... one, plus two, plus two, plus one ... six months after the game's launch. There is no mention of an official Android app.

The app is similar to that of the Battlelog browser stat-tracking experience, allowing players to keep up to date on what their Battlefield friends were doing, when they were still playing the game three months ago.

The app will be more timely when it's used to satiate crippling Battlefield data addiction after Close Quarters -- the first major addition to Battlefield 3 since December -- launches in June.

Guys! Guys! Can you imagine if that Crysis 3 nanosuit dude is actually just Ted Nugent on a wild bow hunting spree after civilization collapses? That's the Crysis 3 we want to play. Don't you? Take a peek at the gallery below and get all up in this crazy headspace we've got going this morning.

Electronic Arts announced this morning that Crysis 3, which leaked into existence last week on the publisher's Origin service, will arrive in 2013. The "sandbox shooter" will be set in 2047, set inside a rainforest created by New York City being under a dome. This "Liberty Dome" will have "seven distinct and treacherous environments." There's also your standard corporate conspiracy and back-stabbing going on.

The game is also available now for pre-order. The Crysis 3 Hunter Edition includes the Hunter Nanosuit module and a bonus XP boost up to level 5 in the game's multiplayer -- that we know nothing about. It's available on Origin.com and participating retailers (which have other varied bonuses) for $59.99. Think of it as corporate Kickstarter.

Electronic Arts announced this morning that Crysis 3, which leaked into existence last week on the publisher's Origin service, will arrive in 2013.

[developing]

So this is interesting. After we’ve hounded EA for over a year about their bans preventing players from accessing single-player games, and after a year of receiving peculiarly ambiguous statements, and promises to fix things in time periods that now gather dust, EA has finally (a full year since we first raised the issue with them) partly fixed this issue. Partly. Being banned multiplayer violations will no longer lock you out of your single-player games, and their DLC. Because, it seems, they’ve fixed their Offline mode. But there’s no word on whether forum violations can still affect gaming access.

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So EA made a bit of boo-boo. The publishing behemoth recently came under fire for seemingly commandeering and conquering tank designs from Warhammer 40K for use in bite-sized browser-based disaster C&C: Tiberium Alliances. The resemblance was pretty much unmistakable. Every turret, tread, and grindy, mashy thing was replicated almost 1:1. So, EA, it all looks pretty incriminating, and I’ve heard prison is a rough place for giant multi-national conglomerates like yourself. What say you in your own defense?

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