Joystiq

Peter Moore explains EA Sports' PC snub

Kyle Orland — 2008-07-04T01:00:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Sports

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.

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Prizefighter dev counted out, Take-Two 'assessing' staff

Randy Nelson — 2008-07-03T20:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sports

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."

Continue reading Prizefighter dev counted out, Take-Two 'assessing' staff

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Rumor: Next Tony Hawk to have peripheral, not developed by Neversoft

Ross Miller — 2008-07-02T15:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Sports, Peripherals

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 Hawk game 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.

[Via NWF]

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Joystiq hands-on: EA Sports All-Play

James Ransom-Wiley — 2008-06-27T17:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Sports

"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.

Continue reading Joystiq hands-on: EA Sports All-Play

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EA Sports drafts Wii 'All-Play' lineup

James Ransom-Wiley — 2008-06-26T21:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Sports

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.

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Blood Bowl trailer channels Madden + Warcraft

Kevin Kelly — 2008-06-25T23:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo DS, PC, Sony PSP, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sports

Tabletop gamers are no strangers to the game Blood Bowl, which we mentioned back in November. The game has spanned 22 years, multiple editions and several expansion sets. The basic concept is "fantasy" football, literally. As in orcs, trolls, elves and the like playing an organized team sport where they try to tear their opponents' heads off. Check out the newly released, Warcraft-tastic trailer after the break.

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Joystiq hands-on: Madden NFL 09

Kevin Kelly — 2008-06-25T17:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Sports

Is the annual arrival of a new Madden game as unremarkable as a change in the seasons? We got some hands-on experience with the latest iteration last week at EA Studios, and it's definitely come a long way since Madden 08. How many yards? Read on!
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Continue reading Joystiq hands-on: Madden NFL 09

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Don King Prizefighter demo on Xbox Live

Justin McElroy — 2008-06-24T16:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Sports

We were quick to chuckle into our sleeves at Don King Presents Prizefighter, especially when the overwhelmingly mediocre reviews started rolling in. But that was before we read his Wikipedia entry, which says that he shot a man who was robbing a gambling house he owned and beat an employee, who owed him $600, to death. So you'll understand when we're coming from when we tell you that there's a demo for Don King's game on Xbox Live and it's freaking amazing.

As we sat there with our mouths agape enjoying the splendor of the demo, we kept wondering "Is it even possible a game this magnificent was designed and programmed by just one man?" ... Not that we'd ever doubt you, Mr. King. Ever. Hey, what are you doing with that bat?

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EA Sports peripherals due in next year, bundled

James Ransom-Wiley — 2008-06-24T12:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Sports, Peripherals, Business

EA Sports executive producer and VP David McCarthy has revealed that Moore's division plans to create and bundle peripherals with some of its sports games. "I think you'll see games using that Rock Band peripheral strategy from EA Sports, even within the next 12 months," McCarthy teased during his Paris GDC lecture, reports Gamasutra.

According to additional comments McCarthy made to Next-Gen, it would seem that EA Sports is specifically focused on developing ~~plastic shells~~ peripherals for Wii. "One of the things we're doing is looking at just playing with the Wii remote in a different way, using a whole new peripheral that's out there, kind of thing. So, basically enabling control for the user in a much different way," McCarthy said, adding, "we are prototyping stuff that really does allow us to play with the Wii remote differently." McCarthy promised that something would be shown to the public in the next few months, maybe as soon as E3.

Source - Gamasutra
Source - Next-Gen

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Double D Dodgeball coming to XBLA on July 30

Justin McElroy — 2008-06-24T09:10:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Sports

It's rare that we find out Xbox Live Arcade release dates this early, but it's right there in green and black in the above trailer: The July 30 release for XBLA will apparently be Double D Dodgeball. So, the question we have to ask ourselves now is, "Should we care?"

Let's do pros and cons. Pro: Yuke's Future Media Creators is a really wonderful name for a video game company. Cons: The gameplay-free trailer above is really terrible and DDD is competing against another dodgeball game that pits pirates against ninjas. Well, that equals one pro and two cons ... looks like you can begin the forgetting about Double D Dodgeball process whenever you're ready.

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See gameplay video from Deadliest Catch

Justin McElroy — 2008-06-20T19:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Sports

We're not exactly sure what we were expecting from the new 360 game based on the Discovery Channel's crabbing adventure Deadliest Catch (giant enemy crabs, perhaps?), but it certainly wasn't what we see in this recently released gameplay video: A surprising amount of detail and realism ... and a constant stream of Bon Jovi.

Be sure to check out the video below the jump wherein the boat's captain preemptively berates you before you go to pick up a fellow crabber from a grocery run. See what we're saying? It's all in the details.

Continue reading See gameplay video from Deadliest Catch

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Metareview -- Don King Presents Prizefighter (Xbox 360)

Justin McElroy — 2008-06-19T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Sports, Metareviews

Boxing has so many wonderful terms that hacky writers can employ when something is good. Knock out, 1-2 punch, we could go on. But there is a severe deficiency of boxing terms that just mean "OK" or "Kind of decent." It's a shame, because a few would have come in really handy when writing an intro to the reviews of Don King Presents Prizefighter.

Gamervision (60/100): "Don King Presents Prizefighter is a flawed boxing game with excellent presentation and some features that should make the next Fight Night team stand up and take notice. I stop short of calling it a solid effort because of the actual boxing gameplay, but 2K definitely has something to build on in the future."

IGN (50/100): "The poorly constructed gameplay handcuffs the game from the word 'go' and it never recovers. It's neither strategic or arcadey in nature and the animations are just plain ugly to watch. Boxing fans will just have to wait for the fourth addition to the Fight Night series in 2009 for another worthy addition to their boxing library."

1UP (33/100): "When a boxing game gets announced with (in)famous boxing promoter Don King as the pitchman, it's hard not to take notice. But if you're looking for the second coming of Fight Night here -- or even a viable alternative -- you've gotta continue the search elsewhere."

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NCAA Football 2009 demo hits Xbox Live

Justin McElroy — 2008-06-19T09:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Sports

We love sports games. No, we don't really play them that much, but we like the insight that they give us into the mind of the non-gamer. The way we feel when we comb through various combinations of acronyms and numbers is how we imagine non-video game fans feel when they look at any shelf of game titles. ("Tracy, he asked Santa for God of War, do you think Gears of War is close enough?") So understand that when we tell you that there's a demo for NCAA Football 2009 on Xbox Live we don't really know what we're saying.

Is that one of the good ones? Does it have new stuff? We can't tell you. All we gleaned from Major Nelson is that the game has "unique college-style animations" and you know what that means: Post-touchdown beer bongs. So at least you've got that going for you. Hopefully the more knowledgeable among you will let us know how the demo fares in the comments.

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FaceBreaker to pummel retail shelves September 5

Jason Dobson — 2008-06-18T08:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sports

Living room pugilists can finally circle a date on their calender, provided they can hold a pen while wearing gloves, as GameSpot reports that Electronic Arts plans to ship its arcadey boxing title FaceBreaker for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii on September 5.

As the first title to emerge from EA's newly launched Freestyle brand, the game promises over-the-top ringside heroics. FaceBreaker is a game that continues to remain on our radar as one of our more anticipated games at next month's E3, though honestly we're conflicted if this has more to do with the title's tooned-out gameplay or simply the opportunity to uppercut Peter Moore.

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Wii Move to do "something" with the Wii Balance Board

Kevin Kelly — 2008-06-17T02:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Sports, Exergaming

Last week a mysterious video appeared online featuring probably the most boring ever sequence of a low-rez woman. jogging monotonously while a clock ticked down to ... nothing. It wasn't quite clear if this was a terrorist training video, the rough cut of an intro to a new Lifetime series, or some teaser for a new game. If you picked the game option, you guessed right.

PheroseSoft is a new company formed by ex-staffers from Electronic Arts and Rockstar North, and we hope that doesn't rule out some hooligan-style body checks and tackles in what looks to be another workout video, aimed at getting you up off the couch and onto a piece of plastic. Wii Move will be available through WiiWare in "Quarter Four" 2008. Plenty of time for you to buy your running outfits and wristbands.

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EA Sports wants to make your fantasy (football) come true

Kevin Kelly — 2008-06-16T14:45:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Online, Sports

Electronic Arts is dogpiling new features onto their Fantasy Football service in an effort to get people to migrate from the siren-like call of other fantasy football sites, including the ever-popular (and free) one at Yahoo. EA has created both a free fantasy football website as well as downloadable applications for both Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network that will be available for an as yet-unannounced fee. Both services will give you the ability to manage your fantasy teams and track stats through the extremely long-named EA SPORTS Fantasy Football Live Score Tracker application.

However, what really caught our eye in the press release was this: "The fantasy scores can be viewed in two ways: full screen mode with complete rosters and details or picture-in-picture mode which allows gamers to keep an eye on scoring updates while watching live football action." Is EA magically adding live television to our consoles? If so, thank you, wonderful elves! We've contacted EA about this and will pass (get it?) an update once we have it. Oh, you'll also be able to import your fantasy team into Madden NFL 09 and pit them against other players. Finally, we'll have fantasy fantasy football.
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Block Breaker Deluxe and Fishing Master come to WiiWare

Justin McElroy — 2008-06-16T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Puzzle, Sports

Far too often we don't know what the heck we're looking at when we load up the new WiiWare entries for the week, so it's nice to see some familiar names this week. You're sure to remember Block Breaker Deluxe from its appearance on cell phones all over this great land. And Cocoto Fishing Master originally appeared on the PS2. Welcome home, guys, welcome home.

Block Breaker Deluxe (Gameloft, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points): They say: "Prepare for the frenzy of the coolest block-breaker game ever. Block Breaker Deluxe is a reinvention of the classic arcade brick-breaker game with a trendy graphical style, fun atmosphere and an exclusive multiplayer mode. Lively characters and amazing graphics provide distinctive settings of the jet-set nightlife, including a cool bar, dance club, casino and more." We say: If you wanted to pay $8 to play Arkanoid, you should just invent a time machine and go buy it in the Sears bargain bin in 1986.

Cocoto Fishing Master (Neko Entertainment, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 700 Wii Points): They say: "Welcome to the adventures of Cocoto, Fishing Master. Get ready for a completely new experience on Wii. Play the role of Cocoto and travel the world to find five millennial fish. Only they can stop the magic cauldron from overflowing with lava and prevent the world from being destroyed. Thanks to Cocoto Fishing Master for Wii, fishing has never been such fun. Use the Wii Remote[TM] and Nunchuk[TM] controllers like a real fishing rod to catch more than 30 different fish." We say: At least it's a buck cheaper than Arkanoids: Urban Nights.

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Seen @ NYC: Women bar fight over Wii

Majed Athab — 2008-06-14T16:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Nintendo Wii, Sports, Casual, Galleries

Click for high-resolution version

This may seem like a raunchy story -- the kind of catfight tale ending with broken nails and torn clothing. We were sort of expecting such scuffles to happen as seven beautiful ladies tussled this past Thursday night over at a Manhattan bar & restaurant called Sutton Place. Alas, we didn't get to see anything underlyingly lewd, but there were certainly enough sweaty bods to drive the male crowd into a frenzy.

Taking part in a Nintendo publicity stunt called "Wii Box in the City," these women tested out their gaming aptitude and fighting skills in a Wii Sports boxing tourney to win a Wii system. The night was wild all night as crowds of supporters cheered and jeered. It came down to Mari (in blue) and Regina (in yellow) for the championship. We caught up with Mari before the big fight; she told us about her Wii experience: "I've played Wii before. It's like a workout." Regina on the other hand had never played the Wii before, while both ladies never had any gaming experience beyond that.

Soon, it was time for the final fight. The two fought bravely, but in the end Regina won with a knock out. "Oh my god, you won!" exclaimed May, Regina's best friend, whose excitement was like that of a kid on Christmas morning. Regina gave her winning prize over to May who continued to laud her bestest friend: "She really killed it! She's the bestest friend ever!" Who knew that gaming and bar fights could bring friends closer together?

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Peter Moore to get more ink if EA Sports misses mark

Justin McElroy — 2008-06-12T13:25:00+00:00

Filed under: Sports

There are tattoos you regret, and tattoos you love forever. Our Eight Days tattoo now seems remarkably short-sighted, and we wish we had waited on our Duke Nukem Forever tattoo, if only so we could avoid paying to have it touched up every few years. But we think Peter Moore's Halo 2 tattoo was a solid choice all around. It put him on the map as a personality and was a great bit of promotion for the game. Now, after leaving Microsoft for EA Sports, P-Moore is talking about a repeat performance.

"We're hitting this season in terms of quality and innovation stronger than we ever have at EA Sports," he writes on his blog. "If I'm wrong, you'll see me sporting a new tattoo - maybe a competitor's logo?" As much as we love Pete, we know it's an empty threat. 1. We're assuming the decision of how innovative EA has been will fall to him and 2. Exactly what competitor will be left to get a tattoo of at the end of the year?

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EA sued by gamers over football exclusivity

Ross Miller — 2008-06-12T11:53:00+00:00

Filed under: Sports, Business

Two gamers have filed a lawsuit against Electronic Arts, alleging that the publisher's exclusivity agreements with the NFL, NCAA and Arena Football have led to anti-competitive practices. The focus of the suit, according to Gamespot, stems from EA's actions after sales of Take-Two's NFL 2K5 pushed the publisher to drop Madden 2005 from $50 to $30. Instead of competing with Take-Two, according to the suit, EA entered into multiple exclusivity agreements and was able to raise the price of Madden 2006 back to $50.

Additionally, the suit notes that should the EA-Take-Two acquisition come to fruition, it would "remove one of the few companies with the ability and expertise to compete in the market for interactive football software." The plaintiffs seek restitution for all those who purchased an EA football game after August 2005, "disgorgement of all profits made as a result of anticompetitive actions, and that the infringing agreements be declared null and void."

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