Electronic Arts Message Board older than one year ago

EA recently acknowledged a few gameplay issues for FIFA 14 in an official forum post as items being considered for a future update. The three pieces of feedback from players regarding the soccer sim's on-field gameplay the developer will look to tweak are the reported over-effectiveness of goals scored on headers from crossed balls and corner kicks, overpowered finesse shots as well as the accuracy of lofted through-balls. It didn't list a specific timeline for when the game would be patched.

EA also acknowledged continued reports of freezing during the game, an issue we encountered a few times during our review process, and will "continue to investigate these reports internally." The game's day-one patch addressed stability issues in FIFA 14's Skill Games and Creation Centre modes.

Apparently following an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" methodology, the FIFA team hasn't introduced any large, game-changing features this year. Heading into the next console generation, this is very much a "tune-up" year in regards to FIFA 14, and for good reason: It's pretty hard to top EA Canada's efforts with the FIFA series in recent years. Each iteration of the soccer sim has gradually tapered off its impactful improvements, with the introduction of physics in FIFA 12 and then First Touch Control in FIFA 13.

Continuing the trend, the biggest on-field changes in FIFA 14 revolve around one of the first things players will notice: The game feels a bit slower. The fact is, the game's actual speed may not be any slower than before, but the continual tweaking of passing and dribbling mechanics has lead to FIFA 14 becoming a much more methodical game than before. Your team's progressions seem to take a little longer since the defense plays your attackers tighter, resulting in passing lanes that are a tad harder to find. The dribbling mechanics added in FIFA 13 have been altered - no longer requiring players to hold the left trigger - and effectively performing some of the fun combinations from last year is more difficult and confusing now.

NEWSFLASH: SimCity still isn’t very good. It mostly functions now, but that doesn’t mean it’s particularly deep or enjoyable. But time has healed part of a wound, so maybe more of it will stitch up the rest? That, I suppose, is the idea behind upcoming expansion SimCity: Cities of Tomorrow, which takes your buzzing metropolis 50 years into the fuuuuuuuuuture. Will this bring it forward (or, I suppose, back) into the Good Ages? Time – as ever – will tell.

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SimCity is heading to the future with the "Cities of Tomorrow" expansion pack, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled for November 12. Taking place 50 years in the future, new technologies allow Sims to travel by MagLev trains, use fusion reactors and "tidal wave generators." Surfs up, man! What do you mean that's not what tidal wave generator means? Well, maybe you should figure out a better word!

There's also the classic future quandary of creating clean technology or encouraging giant corporations to strip the planet of resources. Nope, wait, that's a current problem. The game will also get around the issue of smaller lot sizes by allowing players to build up in "multi-zone MegaTowers that extend high into the sky." The expansion is priced at $30.

Ahead of the game's October 29 launch, EA Games executive VP Patrick Soderlund recently talked up Battlefield 4, discussing the series' competition with Activision's Call of Duty.

"Competition is good. It brings the best out of people. If there was only Battlefield or only Call of Duty, then the development teams might have been a little bit more content," Soderlund told MCV. He added that the developer doesn't mimic Activision's efforts on the Call of Duty series.

"Maybe they weren't thinking about us much when we made Battlefield 3, but I can tell you, they are thinking about us now. They need to," Soderlund said. "We made a dent in the FPS market and we took share from them. And I am not going to give up until I'm No.1 and I am going to make sure I'm No.1."

Ahead of the game's October 29 launch, EA Games executive VP Patrick Soderlund recently talked up Battlefield 4, discussing the series' competition with Activision's Call of Duty.

"Competition is good. It brings the best out of people. If there was only Battlefield or only Call of Duty, then the development teams might have been a little bit more content," Soderlund told MCV. He added that the developer doesn't mimic Activision's efforts on the Call of Duty series.

"Maybe they weren't thinking about us much when we made Battlefield 3, but I can tell you, they are thinking about us now. They need to," Soderlund said. "We made a dent in the FPS market and we took share from them. And I am not going to give up until I'm No.1 and I am going to make sure I'm No.1."

Warhammer Online, we hardly knew ye. OK actually that’s not true at all. But still, it is a bit weird when you realize that Mythic’s fantastical dig through Games Workshop’s toy meticulously crafted figure chest launched in 2008. Five years is hardly a mail-clad, blood-drenched spring chicken, but it is rather young by MMO standards. And yet, here we are. Mythic’s deal with Games Workshop has run its course, and the once tighter-than-a-too-small-sweater war buddies have decided to part ways.

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EA is partnering with the Red Cross for special SimCity DLC, the publisher announced. The partnership brings a Red Cross-themed set to the game for $9.99, available to purchase on Origin today for one year. SimCity owners that pick the set up will be able to build Red Cross centers and tents in the game, which offer aid to natural disaster victims in players' cities.

EA said it will give at least 80 percent of proceeds from the Red Cross DLC with a minimum of $100,000 "to support humanitarian services of the participating Red Cross National Societies," of which there are ten across the globe.

If you watch the NFL and play Madden every year as the season progresses, you might use the game as a barometer for real-life player performance. There are over 1,600 athletes playing in the NFL during the regular season, but due to increased roster limits during the offseason - when coaches are testing players to compile their final roster - there could be over 1,100 more players to account for on the field and in the game. Someone has to create and manage the skill ratings for these players in the series every year, and that someone is EA Tiburon's Donny Moore, known at the developer as the Madden team's "Ratings Czar." Moore knows firsthand that some athletes are simply better than others, and they prove it as the NFL season progresses.

Take Victor Cruz, for example. He started Madden NFL 12 with an overall player rating in the 60's out of a possible 99, among the worst players in the game. Like other NFL player hopefuls, the New York Giants receiver was an afterthought, since he wasn't selected among the 255 athletes chosen in the seven-round NFL Draft. The odds of an undrafted free agent, and even the occasional players drafted in a lower round in some cases, making a team's final 53-man roster is fairly low, and the perceived talent level of those players, compared to their drafted peers, are even lower.

Cruz made the cut, and eventually wowed fans and fantasy football owners throughout the 2011 season. In his debut season's third week, Cruz caught three passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns against the Philadelphia Eagles. In that week's Madden 12 roster update, his overall rating - the out-of-99 score given to players based on performance - jumped from 64 to 72. By season's end the Giants were Super Bowl champions and Cruz's overall Madden 12 rating leapt to 88, thanks to an astonishing 1,536 yard, nine-touchdown season. As Cruz impressed fans, Moore increased his Madden rating, which meant his virtual counterpart's abilities improved as well.

Has it really been an entire age since Dragon Age: Inquisition lead designer Mike Laidlaw and I last spoke? Of course not. The first part of our interview went up yesterday. We discussed combat, choice, and exploration, and today we’re delving even deeper into the rabbit hole dragon den of certain doom. Read on to find out how race/sex, crossovers with previous DA games, romance, and more will function in BioWare’s hopeful return to form.

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EA’s free-to-play reimagining of Command & Conquer just keeps on growing. Next year, it’ll slowly but surely roll out a full single-player campaign set in the Generals universe, replete with triumphant returns (or cackling callbacks) from the Global Liberation Army and revamped Chinese and US factions. But how exactly will these missions release? And what lies beyond, after what essentially constitutes Command & Conquer Generals 2 has given up all of its tiny, suicidally obedient ghosts? Victory Games explained in a new video, and let’s just say that they haven’t forgotten the legendary RTS series’ legacy.

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There are a contingent of RPS readers who hate it when we say “foot-to-ball”. Quite why foot-to-ball is a problem for these foot-to-ball-hating people is hard to fathom. I mean, the sport’s called foot-to-ball, and always has been called foot-to-ball, ever since foot-to-ball was invented by Geoffrey Foot-To-Ball in 1986. Some people just like to complain, I guess. Anyhow, you can now get your hands on the demo version of FIFA Foot-To-Ball 14, if you’ll only install Origin.

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BioWare’s finally taken the wraps off Dragon Age: Inquisition, and hey, it looks like it might actually be worth getting excited over. Far from the chaffingly cramped confines of Dragon Age II’s Kirkwall, Inquisition seems rife for roaming – a land that will whet your appetite for exploration and then stuff your intestines with intrigue until you have no choice but to physically ingest a Call of Duty game to correct the balance. Also, combat looks interesting again! There is tactical view. And rolling. Somewhat astonished, I sat down with lead designer Mike Laidlaw to discuss the resurgent role-player’s newfound confidence in tactical combat, wide-open exploration, and choices that actually bar players from a significant portion of the game.

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Free-to-play RTS BattleForge will shut down on October 31. An update on the game's official site notes that those with a remaining balance of in-game currency are "encouraged to spend it" before it is unavailable to play.

BattleForge's developer, EA Phenomic, closed in July, resulting in 60 layoffs. The game first launched in an open beta phase in March 2009, prior to receiving a price drop and subsequently a free to play edition.

My anger issues with team-based multiplayer shooters are well documented in the Logitech Warehouse. I’m cool until things are unbalanced, then Red Craig emerges. Red Craig is my inner Stephen King character. He is who the mice and keyboards in the warehouse warn their little transistors about. He’s why they sacrifice mice lasers to gods of Support Services. He’s the angry Glaswegian I keep hidden away, just in case I’m ever mugged or someone shoots me online, then he emerges. Watching the Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare zombie trailer made my palms itch. It looks really lovely and atmospheric, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy playing it. But as I do, I’ll give off the impression of hating every single second I am doing so. Trailer beneath.(more…)

In its first week on store shelves, Madden NFL 25 has sold through more than 1 million copies, EA announced. The publisher also noted that Madden players have clocked in nearly 6 million hours of play time and opened more than 3.3 million card packs in the game's Ultimate Team mode, all in its introductory week.

Madden 25 is one of the current-gen games included in the Xbox One and PS4 upgrade programs, such as Microsoft's deal for players to trade up to Xbox One versions of select games for $10. Those upgrading from current-gen to the Xbox One or PS4 versions of Madden 25 will receive an extra six All-Pro card packs in Ultimate Team and can transfer teams to their next-gen system of choice.

Nothing of the much-touted tactical view, sadly, but it does look rather slick.

Take a look, below. And then perhaps join the discussion over in John’s article from the reveal of the game in London last week.(more…)

Dragon Age: Inquisition will feature a familiar method for calling out actions for your party, BioWare's Mike Laidlaw and Mark Darrah revealed during a panel at PAX Prime. The game will include a "tactical view" function, which has players shifting seamlessly to a top-down view at any point above a battle, similar to Dragon Age: Origins. With the game frozen in place, players can then issue commands for their companions at will before shifting back to the game's traditional over-the-shoulder, third-person perspective and resuming action.

The in-game action demonstrated during the panel took place in a location called Crestwood, which Darrah said is "bigger than all of Dragon Age 2 put together." The game's delay to fall 2014 allowed the developers to bring multiple playable races back to the series, and it was revealed during the panel that both male and female horned Qunari characters would be among those playable races.

Like our fair, occasionally fire-breathing John, I also recently saw Dragon Age: Inquisition in action, and – against all odds – I came away very impressed. Dragon Age: Origins was a very important game to me for a number of reasons, and the crazy thing is that BioWare actually seems to *get* why its return to fantasy’s pointy eared realms made people like me chant(ry) its name to the high heavens. There’s action-y stuff in Inquisition, sure, but also plenty of tactical options (TOP-DOWN VIEW YEAH) and yummy conundrums to scramble my moral compass. But it wasn’t until I spoke with lead designer Mike Laidlaw that I really began feeling good about Inquisition. His favorite game? Planescape Torment. And, if Laidlaw is to be believed, the Black Isle classic’s influence is strong in this one. 

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Who would have thought that the most dramatic screenshot from Battlefield 3 would not show any snipers, tanks or brilliant teamwork, but dancing... with a broken ankle? I didn't see this one coming.Read more...

An appropriately breakneck look at the latest from the lawbreaking racing series.

According to a tweet issued by EA Sports' official FIFA Twitter account, early access for FIFA 14's Ultimate Team mode will arrive in web app form on September 15, ahead of the game's release date on September 24. Ultimate Team, the popular card-collecting-style mode in the series, contributed to FIFA 13's $70 million in digital sales in Q1 2014.

EA Sports offered a web app last year for FIFA 13 Ultimate Team players prior to the game's launch as well, which allowed players to buy, trade and sell athletes for their teams. It remains to be seen if this year's early access offerings are similar.

EA Tiburon's player ratings list for Madden 25, at least as it stands for preseason football before the weekly roster updates start in September, is now available. Sporting News has a full spreadsheet with every NFL player's rating, from Seahawks QB Russell Wilson's 86 speed rating to Jets rookie CB Dee Milliner's 88 man coverage rating.

Madden 25's release is just around the corner: The game launches August 27 on Xbox 360 and PS3, and will come to Xbox One and PS4 at a later date. Feel free to check out the above trailer for the game's top defensive players, but who doesn't prefer spreadsheets over videos?

Want to know what your favorite college football team made from its appearance in EA Sports' NCAA Football series last year? Average its Associated Press poll ranking over the past 10 seasons. If it's 25 or higher, congratulations. They probably earned about $75,000.Read more...

Robots. Jetpacks. Guns. Men. Parkour. I can’t believe no one put it together sooner. The formula for the ultimate videogame. Then just stir until your giant wooden spoon explodes from 37 different camera angles, and you have a multiplayer shooting delicacy that’s sure to get tongues wagging. I know mine is. Respawn’s put out another Titanfall trailer, and it’s pure robo-blasting bliss. Also, we get a really nice look at how infantry combat’s shaping up, and it’s basically Prince of Persia with jetpacks. And rockets. And sky-high turbo-leaps that’d make satellites think twice about looking down. And and and and and

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I want very, very badly for Dragon Age: Inquisition to be good. Great, even. Once upon a time, I found myself in a torrid, fiery love affair with Dragon Age: Origins, but things fizzled when DA II rushed onto the scene (though I did enjoy certain aspects of it more than some). To its credit, however, BioWare has been making some seriously promising, er, promises about its impending no-longer-a-threequel. It will have dragons, yes, and ages certainly, but also oh so much more. Player choice is taking center stage again, and it’s a mantra that apparently flows through character customization, party control, story progression, and even your commanding role as the Inquisitor. Watch some of BioWare’s beardliest faces talk about it below.

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The Normandy SR2, Shepard & Co.'s ship from Mass Effect 2, couldn't get a better memento as far as I'm concerned. YouTuber ultrabrilliant's amazing clip is the latest one in his series celebrating beautiful game worlds.Read more...

Once bitten, and bitten, and bitten, twice shy, it seems at Maxis. After their utterly stupid and inherently spiteful decision to artificially force SimCity to be always online, and then lie about why, it seems this time out they’ve decided not to push their luck. Sims 4, the PC and Mac-only release (I can’t see that lasting – surely 3DS, Vita and next-gen ports will eventually appear?) will play one hundred percent offline, according to a report from VG247.

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Oh man, phew. I was worried there for a second, but now I see that I was getting all worked up over nothing. But, I mean, seriously: what if Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare and Peggle 2 had come out on PC at the same time they debuted on Xbox One? It probably would’ve spelled the end of all videogames – and, let’s face it, life – as we know it. The Xbox certainly would’ve sold markedly less than one unit as a result. That’s for sure. Thankfully, Microsoft and EA have teamed up to save the day, pushing the PC (and, I suppose, other platform) versions of Peggle’s second coming and PvZ’s green-trigger-finger-ed reinvention into even murkier depths.

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EA have decided it’s time to hit the reset button on their DLC sales machine long running franchise with the official announcement of The Sims 4. The big plays this time around are focused on the titular little beggars themselves, promising “these Sims have evolved into beings whose every action is informed and affected by interactions and emotional states.” Creepier still we’re gifted with enhanced “ability to affect the mind, body and heart” of the poor dears. The promise of never before seen godhood over ever more realistic humans is mighty tempting, I’ll admit. Trailer after you’ve drowned in the pool with no ladder.

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