EA’s skateboarding sim Skate knocked Tony Hawk off his pedestal (sorry Tony but your last few games were garbage) back in 2007 and hasn’t look back since. It’s kept gamers and skateboarding fans flicking their analog sticks and injuring thumbs with it’s sequel Skate 2. Now EA is getting us all riled up again with a plethora of new screens for the latest entry into the franchise Skate 3.

Hit the break to check out more screen shots. They’ll  make you want to chug some Mountain Dew and say the word “extreme” a lot. You know, like real skaters do.

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It looks like EA is finally going to pull the plug on it’s struggling NCAA Basketball franchise. The series has had dismal sales in the last five or so years (not that it was ever hugely popular) and hasn’t kept critics or fans impressed either. The game was glaringly vacant from the publisher’s financial filing on Monday which lead to talk of the game being discontinued.

EA Sports’ David Tinson confirmed that the franchise was indeed no more in a statement give to Game Informer:

“We do not have an NCAA Basketball game in development at this time, and we’re currently reviewing the future of our NCAA Basketball business. This was a difficult decision, but we remain a committed partner to the NCAA and its member institutions.”

EA Sports was the only publisher still pumping out NCAA licensed basketball games since 2K Sports ended it’s NCAA run last year, pulling out of the market. Next year will be the first year since 1998 that there will be no college basketball game on the market. Developers working on the series will be dispersed onto other projects. One’s that make EA money.

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EA is spending some serious cash to get the word out on their upcoming release Dante’s Inferno. And that trend will continue when they showcase a spot in this weekend’s Super Bowl match up between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints. Estimates have a regular 30 second spot during Sunday’s game costing around $3 million bucks. Not cheap.

The advertisement, titled “Hell Awaits”, will be shown sometime during the fourth quarter.

Hit the jump for more info!

EA president Frank Gibeau had this to say:

“Even within the spectrum of live sports events, the Super Bowl stands apart, almost as a national holiday. The Super Bowl is a bull’s-eye in terms of cross-over to our core demographic and the reach is outstanding. Not only does it draw 100 million viewers, but most people watch the Super Bowl live, a rarity in the world of DVRs. While digital outreach to Facebook, Twitter, and online bloggers is a core part of our marketing strategy, we felt that advertising during the Super Bowl is an excellent way to introduce this new IP to a massive cross-section of people who are likely already familiar with the dark and twisted “Divine Comedy.”

The expensive ad may work to EA’s benefit. Having a good showing during one of the most watched sporting events of the year (the estimated audience is around 100 million viewers) may get the attention of people who might now otherwise already know about the game. Besides, the Super Bowl is a huge draw for the much coveted 18-34 year old male demographic, exactly the kind of audience that will be interested in a game like this.

Dante’s Inferno will be in stores February 9th on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ($59.99) and February 23rd for the Sony PSP ($39.99). I played the demo available on Xbox Live and loved it. Give it a run through if you haven’t already. It’s got lots of boobs and blood…’nuff said.

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It’s official, EA has released a multiplayer demo for their upcoming release Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on the Xbox Live Marketplace. From today until February 25th (almost a full month!) you’ll be able to enjoy playing “Rush Mode” on the Port Valdez map. The download will hog about 1.4 GB of your memory but I’m sure every kilobyte will be worth it.

Playstation owners will have to wait it out until the demo is released on the Playstation Network on February 11th in North America and February 4th for our European counterparts.

How will Battlefield: Bad Company 2’s multiplayer stack up against Modern Warfare 2? Looks like we’ll get a glimpse today.

Add Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – Demo to your Xbox 360 download queue

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Earlier this week  word spread that EA Sports was working on a Wii version of the über successful basketball game NBA Jam from back in the day. If you were like me than your imagination went postal trying to conjure up what the new game will look like. Well you can give your brain a break and take a gander at the image posted above. It’s a capture given to Nintendo Power by EA Sports.

From the scan you can see that the game will still have the zany, over-the-top feel of the original. The player models will feature 3D bodies with 2D heads, which are pretty much photographed faces pasted onto the bodies.

Here’s more info from a reader on NeoGAF who read the actual article in Nintendo Power:

2 Modes, 1 is called Classic Campaign, plays pretty much identical to previous NBA Jams, 3v3, no rules other than shot clock and goal tending. The other is called Remix Tour, which is different, changing the core mechanics, rule tweaks, and camera tweaks etc. The devs didn’t want to go into detail on the Remix Tour mode yet.

Theres tons of new dunks, a new spin move that can evade the shove move.

The faces are actual photograph captures, each character has multiple faces, 3 faces while running the court, 2 dunk faces, and a positive and negative face. (Looks hilarious.
Basically its 3d bodies with 2d heads)

Option of motion controls or holding the Wiimote sideways. Didn’t see any mention of the Classic Controller

NP provided a checklist of what is in the game:

Fire
Shattering Backboard
Cheats
Flashing Shoes
Flashing ball
Big Head Mode
Legends
Playable Mascots
Secret Characters

No release date has been set yet.

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Pandemic Studio’s stylistic 1940’s spyfest makes the short list of games NOT to be delayed until 2010. In fact it’ll be around just in time to wreak havoc under your Christmas tree.

The Saboteur takes place in a Nazi occupied Paris. It’s up to you, the French resistance and other allies to fight and back take control of your city. It’s all set in a uniquely styled open world environment and is actually inspired by a true story.

The Saboteur will be out December 8 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. You’ll be able to experience the game first hand if you stop by EA’s booth this year’s Sand Diego Comic-Con.

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The only officially licensed NFL game you can buy has gone gold…can you believe it! Yes Madden NFL 10 pre-order numbers are quickly climbing, and as an act of good faith from EA Sports a demo is on the way.

Of course those of you who pre-ordered the game at GameStop are already privied to a special demo being released on July 23rd. A Super Bowl XLIII rematch between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. But now the rest of us will be able to demo the latest Madden a week later on July 30th.

That demo will feature a night time snowfest between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. I guess you can gather from those details who the home team will be.

EA has been bragging about the new Procedural Awareness mechanic and from I’ve heard so far it’s been making a positive impact on gameplay. Innovation has been long needed in the franchise and this new head tracking scheme will be a welcome addition. No more receptions and interceptions from players who aren’t even looking at the ball…

Madden NFL 10 will be hitting store shelves on August 14. Just in time for NFL fever!

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It’s been less then a month since Battlefield Heroes came out of beta and was officially released on June 25. And now comes news that EA’s free to play browser based game has passed the one million player mark. Not bad.

“The team is really proud to have hit one million registrations at this early stage. Creating a character and gameplay experience that is totally yours is what sets this game apart.” Said EA’s Ben Cousins.

Between Battlefield Heroes and Battlefield 1943 there sure has been a lot of Battlefield news. Battlefeld, Battlefield and Battlefield. Let’s see how many times I can say it in one posting.

Feel free to read my review for BH Heroes here. It’s actually a pretty great game and is well worth the free price tag.

I’ll see you on the cartoony war front!

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In less than a week over 43 million people found themselves on the wrong end of a gun while playing Battlefield 1943. The good news? At least getting butchered unlocked the new Coral Sea map along with the new Air Superiority mode. This new map and mode will give you carrier campers a serious hard-on.

The map itself consists of four carriers (two enemy and two friendly) and it’s dotted with small mountain top islands. Perfect for ducking and dodging from enemy planes. Which is great because you’ll need to. The sky will be dense with aircraft of friend and foe alike. Definitely a “target rich environment” right Goose!?

The fellas at EA were nice enough to let the whole world know who the 43 millionth kill was: James (jkasapi on XBL). For publicly embarrassing him EA will be giving him some Battlefield 1943 gear like sunglasses, a shirt and even custom Battlefield 1943 sneakers. Maybe an in-game bulletproof vest would have been a better choice?

Enjoy the new map and mode, channel your inner Maverick and start pelting those bogeys with bullets!

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Earlier today I got a tweet from their account officially announcing Command & Conquer 4. Unfortunately when I went back to check their Twitter account the update had already been deleted. I wasn’t sure I had actually seen what I thought i saw until Joytiq posted the screen grab below. Genius guys, just genius!

Hopefully someone in their PR office didn’t lose their job over this. Lesson learned kids, never pull the trigger until you’re sure you’re ready to shoot.

And stay in school.

SOURCE: Joystiq

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A quick look at the game and you might think that the cartoonish styling is a rip off of Team Fortress 2. But that’s not really accurate at all. It’s not a Team Fortress 2 clone by any means.

I won’t delve too much into the back story of the game because it’s a silly premise and it has no impact on the game whatsoever. You can head to the official website for all of the zany details if you are an information junkie.

First off, launching the game is a breeze. After a little downloading the first time you log-in there will be nothing standing between you and the game other than signing onto the website. No apps whatsoever. And when you do connect you can customize your character, pick a class, do a little outfitting and your off and running. If you want to keep the game free that is. EA also allows you to buy points towards upgraded weapons and more custom clothing, if you’re into that.

It takes very little time at all to find a server, and when you do there are very few issues to speak of for the most part. I’ve been playing it at least once a day since it’s release and have only been disconnected due to a connection problem only twice. Not bad. And once you are connected the games are moderated quite well. Idle players will be kicked as well as those who are doing things they shouldn’t be doing (i.e. possibly cheating).

The gameplay is stylish and fun. Nothing in this game is taken seriously. Which is a change for the Battlefield series. But that doesn’t mean the experience is any worse for it. The quick and easy sign on and server connection process makes this game extremely easy to just start up and play whenever you feel like it. And when you’re done, you’re done. Disconnecting is hassle free as well.

If you’re looking for headshot kills this probably isn’t the game for you. In fact the only way to kill enemies immediately is to run them over with a vehicle. Period. All other weapons take a few rounds to take your foes down. Which is great when they are shooting at you, not so great when you are shooting at them. And if you do find yourself looking down the business end of a machine gun it’s OK. Spawn times are quick. At the longest around six seconds and sometimes even half that.

Vehicles handle pretty well. From Jeeps, tanks and even planes. All have quick and responsive controls.

After a quick learning curve flying the planes with the mouse isn’t complicated at all. For some extra fire power two of your teammates can ever park their butts on the wings. And if you’re skilled enough you can even hit and kill enemies on strafing runs. I’ve done it a few times. Maverick is my hero, what do you expect?!

The tank is fun to take for a spin. Pretty peppy for it’s size, although it does lack some accuracy and fire power. But they are still extremely effective if used correctly.

Jeeps are also fast. Making them great for vehicle ambushes. Chasing foes and running them down when they least expect it. Other than that they are just a faster way to get from point A to point B.

Like other Battlefield titles the game is all about capturing flags on the map and holding them. The more flags you capture and keep, the quicker the other team loses. It makes for faced paced matches and can lead to great back and forth battles.

Now it’s time to get into the game’s few snags.

First, there is no in-game voice chat. Everything has to be typed. It would be nice to have an easier way to communicate with other players.

Second, the playing field isn’t always that level. I often found myself in fire fights with people who were the same rank as me, but had spent a ridiculous amount of money on weapon upgrades. Overall the servers do a great job at match-making and grouping players together by skill level, but from time to time you’ll come up against someone who way out classes you.

Finally, when it comes to match-making there is no way to set any preferences. If you’re into maps that don’t have vehicles too bad. You get what you get. Same rules apply to those who like to play the maps that are vehicle intensive. There’s just no way to set preferred maps. You can bookmark your favorite servers but that still doesn’t mean you’ll get what you’re looking for.

Other than those few negative points the overall experience is terrific. Remember this game is FREE. For a no cost game the above gripes aren’t all that bad. It’s quick to get started and fun to play. A very easy game to just jump in and jump out of.

Most fans of the Battlefield franchise will appreciate the game and I think EA will find that a lot of people who haven’t tried the franchise before will take this game for a spin. Some hardcore players might shy away from this game because of it’s silliness and arcade feel, but they’ll be missing out. Sucks for them.

Oh and just a word of caution: Watch out for the theme song. Listen to it too many times and you’ll find yourself whistling along!

OVERALL SCORE: 8/10

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“Fans deserve great games that use the new accessory, and now they’ll have two that deliver authentic sports motion as soon as the Wii MotionPlus hits stores.” 

Apparently there was some bad communication between Nintendo and EA Sports. Originaly these two games were supposed to be released in mid-June, when EA thought Wii MotionPlus would be shipping. Not so fast. After finding out that Nintendo had changed the release date of their newest accessory, EA had to scramble to follow.

You think Nintendo would have perfected motion control before the Wii was released. After all that was their biggest selling point. Jabronis.

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Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu and Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald were the players tapped for the honor. 

I’m actually looking forward to playing Madden 10. They have been touting some pretty significant changes to the gameplay throughout the development process. The last couple of Madden releases were stale and lacked the innovation the the franchise used to be known for.

Madden 10 will be out Friday, August 14 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2, PSP, and Wii.

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Get your leather jacket and other cliche’ rock attire ready!

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