All Entries Tagged With: "EA"

Britain Defence Secretary Condemns Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor is making news before release, yet again. The upcoming title, published by Electronic Arts has caused the British defence secretary to call on retailers to show their support for troops by not selling it. Britain’s defence secretary Liam Fox had this to say:

“At the hands of the Taliban, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands. It’s shocking that someone would think it acceptable to recreate the acts of the Taliban against British soldiers. It’s hard to believe any citizen of our country would wish to buy such a thoroughly un-British game. I would urge retailers to show their support for our armed forces and ban this tasteless product.”

Despite not responding immediately to the statement made by Fox, EA spokeswoman Amanda Taggart made the following response:

“We give gamers the opportunity to play both sides. Most of us have been doing this since we were seven: someone plays cop, someone must be robber. In Medal of Honor multiplayer, someone’s got to be the Taliban. Nobody who plays video games is going to be shocked or surprised by this.”

Maybe she’s right, but maybe it’s just a little too soon. With something so recent and still an ongoing struggle, it’s understandable that people will react sensitively to the content of the latest Medal of Honor.

[bigpond]

Medal of Honor Banned from Military Stores

As if this comes at a great surprise, and to add to the growing mound of controversy, it looks like EA’s Medal of Honor will not be sold or promoted in any Army and Air Force bases, as well as 49 GameStops located across the U.S.

If someone wished to pre-order a copy of the game, which focuses on the war in Afghanistan, they will be directed to a GameStop that wll take reserves of the game. Along with the banning, all marketing material will also be removed as well. GameStop employees were told this along with the news of ban:

“GameStop fully supports AAFES in this endeavor and is sensitive to the fact that in multiplayer mode one side will assume the role of Taliban fighter.”

Mirror’s Edge iPhone/iPad Details and Screens

2008’s most slept on cult prize Mirror’s Edge is getting a fresh face with the upcoming iPhone re-release. While there is still no word on the Mirror’s Edge sequel, it’s very nice to see that EA hasn’t completely abandoned the franchise.

Amongst its legions of triple A shooters and action titles, it’s easy to see how a game like this could be forgotten. The game is scheduled to be released sometime this month and there is no word yet on pricing. Hit the break for further details about the game, as well as some new screenshots.

EA Claims Madden 11 is the Best-Selling Game of August

While the NPD numbers are yet to be revealed, Madden 11 is apparently the best selling video game title for the month of August. Not a group to respond modestly to success, EA went on to release the following statement about the game:

“Madden NFL 11 is the number one selling game in August, and the game has created enormous enthusiasm in the online community, each day on consoles, fans are playing as many games online as the equivalent of 750 full NFL seasons.”

EA also claims that sales of Madden are up 5% over last year across all consoles, that more than 2 million games of Madden are played each day, and that more than 20% of players have at least tried the Online Team Play game mode. Remember what I said about modesty?

It doesn’t come as much of a shock that Madden 11 would claim the top spot for sales in August. The series has consistently been a best seller on consoles. The official NPD numbers will be in later this month, just in case you wanted to know just how much of EA’s gloating is factual.

New Dragon Age: Origins DLC Coming Soon

Today Bioware announced that some new DLC for Dragon Age: Origins is coming down the pipeline. This story is called “Witch Hunt”, and will focus on your playing chasing down and attempting to find Morrigan. To me it seems that this actually happens post-game, so it may be somewhat of a conclusion to the Dragon Age: Origins story. Needless to say, it seems like another character-heavy chunk of DLC, which is a great thing considering how much “Leliana’s Song” fleshed out more details about that character. You’ll be able to import your Dragon Age: Origins or Awakening characters, as well as earn rewards that transfer between all the games and expansions.

“Witch Hunt” will be available on September 7, 2010, which happens to be the same day as the “Lair of the Shadow Broker” DLC will be released for Mass Effect 2. I guess they figure they might as well release them all in one fell swoop. It’ll be available for $6.99, or 560 Microsoft/Bioware points. You can check out more info on the new content at Bioware’s official site for the DLC.

Upcoming Medal of Honor Infuriates Military Families

With the new Medal of Honor coming out in about mid-October, there is some controversy arising regarding the game’s settings and plot being set on the war in the middle-east, Afghanistan to be exact. With this new Medal of Honor, players will be able to play Taliban soldiers going against the Coalition troops in Afghanistan. It’s only natural that the families of those who have died during the real-life war be angry that EA would come out with such a game.

GamesCom 2010: The Sims: Medieval Trailer Released

This spring fantasy fans and The Sims players are in for a surprise. Straight from GamesCom the trailer for The Sims: Medieval has dropped showing an earlier time for our digitally personified creations to make their way through in life. If you have a hankering for simulating life but need a reason to jump back into the franchise check out the trailer after the break and let us know what you think.

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GamesCom 2010: Crysis 2 Multi-player Demonstration, Peelin’ Caps in NYC

It seems like every shooter these days comes with a multi-player online mode based on team competition, and why should Crysis 2 be any different? As the world ooo’s and ahh’s over the graphics displayed by Crytek’s monstrously high-tech engine and EA’s monstrous budget for this title, we are finally given a show of team-based multi-player at the EA Press Conference in Germany’s GamesCom 2010. Don’t forget to check out the special editions revealed today for Crysis 2.

You may notice at a few times the camera pans over to those who are on stage playing the game and utter silence is observed. Chalk it up to everyone’s mic being dead at the moment, or simply that this game is so intense there were no words to be said during this match. Enjoy the footage after the break.

GamesCom 2010: EA Shows off Dead Space 2 Zero Gravity Gameplay

Lest we forget survival horror giant Dead Space 2 which was also shown at GamesCom and in the zero gravity variety this time. A little bit of this and a little bit of that and your playing with a jet-pack in space, not too bad of a proposition for those who dismember better without the pesky limitations of, you know, gravity. It feels almost like the gamer is on some type of high-tech death star as space station modules are arranged and unexpected foes dispatched. Keep your guard up while you watch this off-screen footage after the break from the EA Press Conference, and your lights on.

GamesCom 2010: Medal of Honor Tier One Interviews Heat Up

The Tier One crew working closely with EA to bring an authentic, realistic feel to the new Medal of Honor heats up GamesCom with the interviews that will have you crapping in your pants. Check out the latest after the break where they explain some of the aspects to being an operator and how it differs from just being any ordinary soldier out there as well as how their intimate knowledge and life-sacrificing experience has garnered them skills that will make this game one to be remembered. Some one hurry up and get the t-shirts printed, Tier One is telling us right now in so many words, Medal of Honor is the thinking man’s first person shooter.

GamesCom 2010: Dragon Age 2 Release Date Announced

We’ve known about Dragon Age 2 for a while now, even as early as the release of Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening earlier this year. Bioware wasn’t kidding when they were aiming for an early 2011 release date, because that is what was announced today at EA’s GamesCom conference. Dragon Age 2 will see a release date of March 8, 2011 in North America and March 11, 2011 in Europe.

It was also announced that if you fancy to sign up on the game’s official site, you’ll get yourself a free weapon download when the game launches. Check below for the new trailer!

GamesCom 2010: Mass Effect 2 Makes its Way to PS3

You heard that right. Other Bioware games have been multi-platform titles from launch, but not Mass Effect, and that will remain true until January 2011. At EA’s GamesCom press conference today it was announced that Mass Effect 2 will be coming to the BluRay medium in January. This is actually great news for both Bioware and PS3 fans. This also opens the way for Mass Effect 3 to be multi-platform at launch, instead of rigidly sticking to the Xbox 360.