Electronic Arts Message Board older than one year ago

The forthcoming Frostbite-powered free to play Command and Conquer sequel will be enjoying a single player campaign after all, as an interview by Polygon with Frank Gibeau, president of EA Labels announces, going back on the previous No-Single Player reveal. Or will it? It’s not actually that clear. Gibeau sounded perhaps a little defensive in his statement, talking more about fan reaction than detailing the actual game development. The relevant quote: “Does that mean it’s not going to have single-player? No, that’s something we’ve obviously heard loud and clear that is important to people.”

Is that official confirmation of a big story-driven campaign mode? No, that’s a confusingly worded, ambiguous double-negative.

(more…)

The Crysis franchise is 75 percent off this weekend on Steam. Crysis and its semi-sequel, Crysis Warhead, are only $5 apiece. Crysis 2 is currently $10, while all three games are also available as a bundle for $17.50.

The discounts will deactivate on Monday, September 10. The latest game in the series, Crysis 3, should be available in February 2013.

The launch trailer for Battlefield 3's Armored Kill downloadable content hit today, although defining it as a "launch trailer" is being quite liberal with that word.

It's certainly launching day for Premium PS3 subscribers, but Xbox 360 and PC Premium subscribers will need to wait another week until September 11. The non-premium grunts will jump into the pack on September 18 for PS3 and September 25 for Xbox 360 and PC. We think that about covers it for the "launch."

The launch trailer for Battlefield 3's Armored Kill downloadable content hit today, although defining it as a "launch trailer" is being quite liberal with that word.

Let's see now, for Premium subscribers on PlayStation 3 today is certainly the launch day for the DLC. However, Xbox 360 and PC Premium subscribers will need to wait another week until September 11.

For the non-premium grunts, they'll be digging and refilling ditches to jump into the pack September 18 on PS3 and September 25 for Xbox 360 and PC. We think that about covers this month-long launch mess.

Battlefield 3's Armored Kill downloadable content has one of many release dates, with Premium subscribers on PlayStation 3 obtaining first access on September 4. Xbox 360 and PC Premium subscribers have to wait another week until September 11. Premium subscribers receive a two week jump on everyone else, with regular releases of September 18 for PS3 and September 25 for Xbox 360 and PC.

Armored Kill is the third DLC pack for Battlefield 3 after Back to Karkand and Close Quarters. Apart from four new maps, including the biggest in the series' history, Armored Kill will offer a ton of new vehicles for players to drive, fly, and generally blow up. Also included is the new Tank Superiority mode, which is effectively a King of the Hill take on Battlefield 1943's Air Superiority but, you know, with tanks.

Really, if you think about it, the ocean is basically space, but more blue. I mean, both are sorely lacking in breathable air, give us the ability to defy basic physics while shouting “wheeeeee,” and are absolutely, positively, I-really-really-hope teeming with life. (What if fish aren’t real?! Wouldn’t that be a total bummer?) Also, Mass Effect 3‘s now claiming that both have Reapers, and I suppose it would know. So now the hunt for Leviathan is on, and you can watch a trailer of some strange bald man wearing Commander Shepard’s clothes take the fight to the ocean’s briniest depths in a trailer beneath the break’s, er, briniest depths.

(more…)

A new duo of masked bros debuts in Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel. See as the two bros shoot stuff, hide from other bros shooting stuff, and shoot even bigger stuff while manning a turret. Shooting and hiding has never been so cooperative.

EA has laid off employees of its PopCap studios in Dublin, Shanghai and Seattle, Duke Nukem creator George Broussard tweeted today, following an earlier message saying layoffs were "imminent" at PopCap. PopCap Dublin has been shut down, Shanghai has been "shrunk" and Seattle has let go 50 people, according to Broussard.

PopCap may have been quietly firing people for months, VG24/7 reported.

EA acquired PopCap in August 2011 for $750 million, in the hopes it would "accelerate our drive towards a $1 billion digital business," EA CEO John Riccitiello said. Yesterday PopCap announced Plants vs. Zombies 2, which is expected to launch in late spring 2013.

We have reached out to EA and PopCap for more information.

Is this bold enough for you, Craig? Well, IS IT? This cup of coffee, I mean. I find it to have a very insistent flavor. Oh, and also, Command & Conquer: Generals 2 is doing a pretty crazy thing. Now that the near-future sequel has lined up its troops behind F2P’s mighty monetary banner, it’s casting single-player to the wayside. The focus, for the time being, is squarely on co-op, competitive matches, and e-sports.

(more…)

Electronic Arts made over $39 million in just three months off FIFA 12's Ultimate Team DLC last year - a 69 percent increase from the same period the year before - but it also created a lot of headaches for consumers (and us) with what came to be known as the "FIFA hack."

"We learned a lot from the experience. A lot of companies are suffering from this right now. There's a lot of sophisticated hacking happening in the gaming industry and it's a continuous battle," EA Games president Frank Gibeau told us during Gamescom. "We take it very seriously, put a lot of resources on it. The learning from the FIFA example last year has been incorporated this year. There's some incremental and additional things. I don't want to get too detailed because I don't want to tip our hand. Rest assured, we take it very seriously."

Gibeau said that EA did hire someone from Microsoft to add layers of security precautions and other anti-hack methods inside the publisher's products.

"You're never going to win this battle," said Gibeau, recognizing the company can only go so far. "The moment you declare victory, somebody will walk in and show you didn't. So you have to continuously stay on top of it and, most importantly, keep account integrity the first and foremost issue."

So, should consumers feel more confident this year that they won't be hacked?

"I hope that they do, and I think our performance will have to make them feel that way." He concluded, "We can promise it, but we have to actually show it."

"I want more time," I thought leaving my first SimCity hands-on experience. "I must go deeper!" There's just so much I wanted to try out, poke around, but the rails were firmly set to give the tiniest taste of what's to come. Needless to say, I'm ready for the SimCity entree when it launches in February 2013 on Mac and PC.

The demo I tried out went through the super basics of building residential, commercial and industrial zones; along with how the city infrastructure is built out. All of it quite instinctual.

You may not have heard, but SimCity‘s making a big, connection-required-on-start-up play for online, er, play. That said, I doubt the decision was made entirely by a roundtable of cackling men in suits who meet in dark rooms and refer to themselves as “The Council.” There is, in other words, a method to the madness – almost as though it’s being guided by some omniscient presence that has a disturbing amount of trouble preventing tornadoes and wildfires from ravaging entire metroplexes. But what exactly are we getting for our trouble? Well, it’s called SimCity World, and EA’s dropped a video of the basics in action. Build a (curved!) road past the break to see for yourself.

(more…)

EA have cut out a few months of post-launch uhming-and-ahhing by reworking the previously announced Command & Conquer Generals 2 as a free-to-play game, ditching the name and dropping the price. Or, as their press release states: “Today at gamescom, the world’s largest trade fair and event for interactive games and entertainment, Electronic Arts Inc. took a bold step to spearhead the industry’s digital revolution and announced Command & Conquer.” Ahem. “Bold”?

(more…)

Remember all the drills you had to do in little league soccer? Well, EA thinks you'll want to experience that all over again in video game form through the latest FIFA iteration. Call it "training" if you want.

The PlayStation 3 version of FIFA 13 will support the PlayStation Move, and the special controls were demonstrated during Gamescom press conference. Players will be able aim precision passes, paint paths for teammates to follow, shoot with a flick of the wrist and add spin by turning the Move.

For added realism, we suggest you duct tape the Move to your foot.

Registration for a closed SimCity beta has now opened, EA and Maxis announced during their Gamescom press conference in Cologne, Germany. Or rather, it will be open as soon as the registration page goes live, which as of press time it has not.

Eventually though, prospective PC mayors can register for their chance to benevolently/malevolently control the lives of millions ahead of the game's February release window. No word yet on when the beta will actually take place, or whether Mac mayors will get to join in on the fun of not getting to sign up for a SimCity beta.

Crysis 3 will have a Hunter Mode that supports up to 16 people at one time, pitting a majority group of CELL troopers against a handful of cloaked Hunters. Hunters try to eliminate CELL enemies before the clock runs down, with each trooper killed respawning as a Hunter.

Crytek demonstrated a nine-player round of Hunter Mode during EA's Gamescom presentation today.

Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel will include a new Overkill mode, which can be activated to allow you and your buddy to dole out extra damage for a limited amount of time. Players can activate Overkill mode by taking down enemies.

EA showed off a split-screen demo of The Devil's Cartel, including Overkill, at its Gamescom press conference today. During the demo, Alpha and Bravo took out a helicopter with a handgun, and absolutely no one was surprised.

DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson took to GDC Europe today to celebrate his company's 20-year anniversary and the 10-year anniversary of its "core franchise," Battlefield. He revealed that the series has "served" more than 50 million players, and added that DICE is "still in love."

Battlefield's latest franchise entry, Battlefield 3, shipped over 12 million copies as of last November. Battlefield 4 is up next, expected in holiday 2013.

EA Sports wants you in a game of SSX, adding two new modes and dropping the price. The free update adds "3-2-1-Go!" and "Freeride" events. 3-2-1-Go! involves race and trick scenarios, with the former won by getting down the mountain fastest and the latter involving high score.

Freeride is a single-player mode that allows players to explore at their own pace (finally!). No clocks, score, riders or rules.

For those who haven't hit the slopes yet, best of all, the game is now $40 at retail. Which is not a bad deal given GameStop's used charge ($10 online pass is extra).

#stickjockey Let's be candid. As a licensed sports video game, when your series hasn't been on shelves in three years—a gap not seen since the days games were played on cartridges—you really face just one expectation and it's a pretty low bar: Just come out. Launch. Release on time. Somehow, over the past week, NBA Live has left the dreadful message it could suffer the same embarassing fate as its NBA Elite ancestor, canceled in 2010 a week before it was due in stores. More »

#easports EA Sports' "Season Ticket" subscription will offer free downloadable content that otherwise would be paid, modestly sweetening the sales pitch for a service that hasn't generated much buzz since its debut a year ago. More »

Update: The memo we saw is now publicly posted here.

EA have announced tonight they’re planning to sue Zynga, over the similarities between the recently released The Ville, and Maxis’ The Sims Social. It’s not the first time that Zynga has released a game that looks astonishingly similar to another company’s game, but it’s the first time they’ve met an opponent big enough to fight back. We’ve seen an internal EA memo that tells staff that while they are pursuing this because they believe they’re legally in the right, they’re also doing it because they believe it’s time to be “taking a stand”. It says that even if they were to lose, “we will have made a point.”

(more…)

Earlier today, EA announced it had filed a lawsuit against Zynga over The Ville for what it deemed a "clear violation" of copyright laws. Having reviewed the court documents, here are some of the highlights from EA's claims:

• "As The Sims Social increased in popularity and visibility, Zynga turned to its well- known competitive playbook: "Steal someone else's game. Change its name,"1 then cross- promote the Zynga clone to its extensive user base."
• "Zynga's The Ville, released on June 26, 2012, is an unmistakable copy of EA's The Sims Social. Not only does The Ville blatantly mimic the entire framework and style of gameplay in The Sims Social, but it so closely copies the original, creative expression and unique elements of The Sims Social - i.e., the animation sequences, visual arrangements, characters' motions and actions, and other unique audio-visual elements - that the two games are nearly indistinguishable."

EA v Zynga Complaint Final

Like the games themselves, the expansions for The Sims are a surreal blend of the mundane and the extraordinary. There was an expansion that allowed Sims to go out to bars and clubs, which is something that most people can do anyway, but in the world of commercialism and gobbledegook it also became possible to turn into a vampire. The Sims Seasons adds weather and new activities and interactions for each season, so Sims can now become sunburnt or struck by lightning, which seems to burn off all of their clothes but doesn’t quite kill them. There are also festivals along with other season-specific happenings. And then there’s the alien abductions because, hey, the weather isn’t weird enough.

(more…)

#madden For sports fans, there's nothing more powerful than superstition. More »

#battlefield Jets, jeeps and turrets galore feature in Battlefield 3: Armored Kill, the next expansion pack coming for the military shooter from DICE. The extension promises "all out vehicle warfare," DICE said at EA's summer showcase today, and will deliver a Tank Superiority mode as well as "Armored Shield," a map set in Russia. More »

Want to see what EA's revealing today other than Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel? The publisher is broadcasting its "Summer Showcase" event live, and you can watch from the relative comfort of your web browser, starting at 1pm PDT/4pm EDT. Just click here to access the stream.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted features a bunch of very fast, very pretty cars. As it turns out, when those cars go real fast, they get pretty banged up. Also, some short cuts of dubstep play for some reason. We don't quite understand the latter effect, but the former just makes 'em look kinda rugged.

Ahead of today's EA software showcase, the publisher has gone ahead and announced a new Army of Two for PS3 and Xbox 360. Called The Devil's Cartel, this new game is the next project from Visceral Games, developed in DICE's Frostbite 2 engine.

According to EA, this latest game "re-sets the series" with a "more intense, mature, and grittier tone," to the surprise of those of us who found the previous games plenty gritty. Operatives "Alpha" and "Bravo" fight in a drug war in Mexico, making use of "the ability to unleash the power of ultimate destruction."

The Devil's Cartel will be released in March 2013.