We're not exactly sure why anyone would want to punch EA Sports' charismatic figurehead, Peter Moore -- especially in his cherubesque face. Still, we guess it's nice to have that opportunity available, should you someday develop a strong Moore aversion. However, traveling to Pete's home and mercilessly pummeling him would likely be a costly and illegal venture -- luckily, EA's upcoming Facebreaker will reportedly allow you to perform a beatdown upon a digital representation of Moore's visage, free of travel expenses and assault charges.
As the first commenter on this post will assuredly point out, this is old news. The second commenter will likely correct him in a patronizing tone, reminding him that a requirement for news is that it be new, and that this story, therefore, is not news at all. The third commenter, a jocular fellow, will then inquire if it is, in fact, olds? We get it, alright? However, we've never failed to mention new additions to the Xbox Live Arcade, and we don't plan on starting this week. Besides, when you see these sterling new releases, we don't think you'll fault us for being a few days late to the new release party.
First up is Double D Dodgeball(800 MS points/$10), which recreates the classic playground sport with an eye-searing "retro arcade design". The game dropped two weeks before its expected release date, though a reported bug that kicks players off of Xbox Live upon starting up the game make us wonder if perhaps a few guns were jumped. Joining it is Coffeetime Crosswords (800 MS points/$10). With 150 puzzles and a co-op mode, this new entry will surely fulfill all your sinister linguiphilic desires.
Rounding out the list is the EA Fantasy Football Live Draft Tracker (400 MS points/$5), which allows users of EA's online fantasy leagues to import their league settings, draft new players, then export their new rosters back onto EA's servers. This is not a game, and we regret including it in this post.
What Wii Sports did for the Wiimote, Wii Sports Resort does for the Wii MotionPlus. The added precision of the Wii MotionPlus gets to show off in the title and, from the three minigames we experienced, it gives an idea of how other games could benefit from the accessory.
We had a chance to try out Disc Dog, Power Cruising and, our favorite, Sword Play. Nintendo says the Wii MotionPlus gives 1:1 control, but that's stretching the truth just a little. The controls certainly feel more precise than the Wiimote in its current state, but we're not exactly sure just yet if it'll fulfill gamer fantasies of precise lightsaber duels.
Move over Imagine and Petz, there's a new Ubisoft boutique label for Joystiq to ignore! The company has just announced Ener-G, the first sports game label for girls. Adventure Riders, Dance Squad and Gym Rockets are the first games lined up for us to be completely oblivious to shortly before they sell 500,000 copies exclusively on the DS.
Good to meet you Ener-G, here's hoping this is both the beginning and end of a beautiful friendship.
At Nintendo's E3 press conference this morning, pro snowboarder Shaun White announced the existence of Shaun White Snowboarding, an Ubisoft game "designed from the ground up" to use the Wii Balance Board. The game will be released by the end of the year for the Wii, with a non-Balance-Board equipped versions coming to other systems.
At their conference yesterday, EA invited NBA hall-of-famer Bill Walton onstage to help them show off NBA Live '09 and its Dynamic Player DNA, and ended up stealing the show. Peter Moore, who also hammed it up with Natalie Gulbis, kept saying that Walton had gone off script, and that must be true -- anyone who wrote a script like this would never want for a job in Hollywood.
In case you weren't aware, EA's Peter Moore likes sports. Probably the reason he's heading up EA Sports, eh? This E3 – his first since being put in charge of bringing in the mammoth publisher's sporting green – he obviously wanted to put his stamp on the brand, or, rather, his DNA.
EA Sports "Dynamic DNA," as it was explained during EA's pre-E3 press conference, is an intriguing new core gameplay gimmick for NBA Live 2009 that uses real players' analytic data (the type provided to sports scouts) to influence their actions (i.e. make them more realistic in-game). "You can't script sports," Moore pointed out – in theory, Dynamic DNA will enable the virtual players to adapt to on-court situations as they would in real life, making their actions far less predictable than in past b-ball titles.
The concept comprises "Player DNA," which is focused on making players act more realistically, and "Team DNA," which builds on individual data and gloms it all together to (you guessed it) more realistically recreate the team dynamic based on all players' DNA. The end result – at least the results we could see during a short Live 09 demo – is a much more visually believable looking game of hoops. Former NBA player and current color commentator Bill Walton was also on hand for the demo, and was impressed by what he saw. Sure he was being paid to be there, but what the hey?
Confirming an earlier report, Midway has announced plans to return to the line of scrimmage this fall with its everything-but-the-license take on American football in Blitz: The League II for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. While details remain scant, the company notes that the game's story mode will be penned by ESPN Playmakers writer Peter Egan, while former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor will also lend his chemically-enhanced likeness to the title as well.
Even so, with Electronic Arts' seminal Madden franchise slated to take to the field and bankroll retail shelves this August, how exactly Midway plans to sack EA's tough actin' fat man still remains unclear.
JoWooD Productions has announced Yoga Wii(not to be confused with Wii Yoga), coming second quarter of 2009 for the Nintendo Wii. The game will support the Balance Board as, according to the press release, "it plays a central role for the exercising (gaming) experience." No other details or assets are currently available. We expect this to be the first of many no-brainer yoga titles coming to the Wii for the next decade or two.
We've been covering Schizoid, the first home-grown XNA game to hit XBLA, since this time last year. Now it's finally blasting bumping its way onto the Marketplace, unique gameplay mechanic in tow. Priced at 800 MS points ($10), the game is entirely co-op centric, tasking players with ramming their ship (or ships, should they feel up to the dual-ship-controlling "Überschizoid" mode's challenge) into enemies of the same color. Play with another Live user or let the CPU control ship two.
Super Stardust HD developer Housemarque brings Golf: Tee It Up! to XBLA ... and an incredible likeness to Sony's Hot Shots Golffranchise to mind. Endless rounds of this golf game for beginners and seasoned vets alike (dare we say it's "golf for everyone"?) will set you back 800 MS points ($10).
PC sports gamers are somewhat justifiably unhappy with Peter Moore right now. Earlier this year, the EA Sports executive announced that Madden and many other EA Sports games won't be coming to the PC market this year. But wait, you didn't give him a chance to explain! Well, actually, you did, and he did, but today Moore went into more detail about his division's scaled back PC support. A summary of the reasoning behind the decision:
PC sports gamers are gravitating to consoles.
The PC sports gaming market is gravitating to a downloadable model rather than a "packaged" model.
The PC versions of EA Sports games aren't getting a good enough return on investment.
You PC gamers just pirate everything anyway and we're not going to make a PC version just so millions of you can just steal it! (We may have exaggerated the tone a little bit on this one, but you get the idea).
PC Sports fans can still hold out hope that EA Sports will change its mind, though. Moore hinted that the company might be coming back into the PC space next year with "new, innovative, maybe even less-expensive ways to play all of our franchises on the PC." If there's one thing sports fans should be familiar with, it's squeezing that one, slim ray of hope for all it's worth.
Just under a month after shipping Don King Presents Prizefighter for Xbox 360, UK-based Venom Games is reportedly closing up shop. Computer and Video Games cites a source at the company, who divulged that Venom staff were informed of the closure Wednesday.
We contacted Take-Two, who published Prizefighter under its 2K Sports label, and were told by a spokesperson that it is currently "assessing the role of Venom Games in Take-Two's overall global studio system," and "in a consultation with the employees of Venom in relation to possible redundancies at the studio."
The latest rumor to come from the pages of EGM lends further credence to one of last month's marketing leaks that Activision has gotten a little gung-ho with their plastic controllers. According to EGM's "skater spy," the next Tony Hawkgame will feature a "new fancy plastic peripheral" (we're thinking something like the Wii Balance Board); for reference, the marketing leak called it "a new motion sensing board controller." Additionally, the game will supposedly not be developed by Neversoft, who at the moment have their hands full with Guitar Hero World Tour's peripherals.
We have a hard time imagining Neversoft, who created the Tony Hawk series and has worked on all previous iterations, not having a part in the next version. We've sent our network of spies into action and will let you know what we come up with.
"All-Play" is the new brand of Wii-exclusive EA Sports titles that takes the publisher's perennial franchises and simplifies them in ways that make the games accessible to, well ... all. It's the obvious direction to take, as the changes in the Wii versions of EA Sports' games continue to distinguish themselves from the linear advances of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. All-Play isn't groundbreaking, it just wants to fit.
All-Play succeeds in its commitment to consistency. Whatever whip Riccitiello is cracking has got the herd moving together in the right direction. We recently spent time with four of the five featured All-Play titles (sorry NCAA Football!) and can report that each has been treated with a certain level of care above the usual year-to-year tweaks EA Sports has come to be criticized by. These treatments are most definitely shaping a more casual product, which gives EA an advantage at both ends of the current-gen playing field.
EA Sports today announced its Wii-exclusive "All-Play" brand lineup: five familiar franchises with a new wrapping. Inside you'll find passable versions (jaggies alert!) of the usual, hardcore simulations, but the reason you might choose All-Play over the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 editions is the new casual focus that aims to appeal to, um, well, just about anyone with a few minutes to waste. Yes, that means minigames ("Party" modes in All-Play), but also simplified versions of the sports -- like 5-on-5 in Madden or 8 vs. 8 in FIFA -- and optional All-Play control settings, which balance the playing field by going as far as to auto-control players. Hear that? That's grandma in your face after she just dunked on you ... and didn't even press a button.
Check out our hands-on with the All-Play lineup right here.
Move over Imagine and Petz, there's a new Ubisoft boutique label for Joystiq to ignore! The company has just announced Ener-G, the first sports game label for girls. Adventure Riders, Dance Squad and Gym Rockets are the first games lined up for us to be completely oblivious to shortly before they sell 500,000 copies exclusively on the DS.
The latest rumor to come from the pages of EGM lends further credence to 
