Tagged News: electronic arts

Electronic Arts has officially completed the purchase of Bioware and Pandemic, which includes a slew of new titles in development, including an MMO out of BioWare's Austin offices.

Details after the click.

Electronic Arts (EA) has purchased "VG Holding Corp", the company that owns both BioWare and Pandemic. The two companies will now join the EA family in some capacity, pending regulatory approval. The deal is expected to close by January 2008.

The press release specifically mentions both the Austin, TX office and the fact that the MMO it is working on is involved, but beyond that, and what relationship BioWare Austin could have with EA Mythic are unknown.

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Today we have a special treat directly from Electronic Arts, an exclusive developer journal focused on the new player experience in Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn. This 2007 coat of paint for the classic MMO that started the whole craze has been a while in coming and as they wind down towards its launch, they're focusing on nuts and bolts like the new player experience. Producer Aaron Cohen explains:

Want to start an argument with MMORPG designers? Bring up new player tutorials.

You'll find some folks feel passionately that these are large complex games that need a lot of teaching. They argue that if you shove players into the world with no preparation, they'll get lost, get frustrated and quit before they see all the great stuff you've spent the last one to five years building. How are they supposed to know to click there and pick up that and swing a sword like this unless you tell them?

Read more after the click.

Microsoft has gotten a little revenge on Electronic Arts for stealing Peter Moore. They have hired an EA executive as their corporate vice president of Live. He'll work on the Xbox Live service.

Microsoft Corp. has hired another Electronic Arts Inc. executive in an effort to help support a surprisingly successful part of the Xbox group.

John Schappert, who was executive vice president at EA, will fill a new position at Microsoft as corporate vice president of Live, software and services in the Microsoft Interactive Entertainment Business. He'll oversee activities related to Xbox Live, the service that lets subscribers play games against each other online and buy content such as TV shows and arcade games.

Read more here.

The BBC has a report on a speech given by Electronic Arts Chief Technical Officer Glenn Entis during the recent Siggraph conference. The article focuses on Entis' belief that games need to look and feel more realistic moving forward.

More than good looks are needed to make a great video game, according to Glenn Entis, chief technical officer at games giant Electronic Arts.

Mr Entis told the Siggraph conference that games makers had to use much more than graphics to make their creations believable, engaging and fun.

Game worlds must not just look lifelike, he said, they must also react in a realistic manner too.

Read more here.

Peter Moore, the public face of Xbox and Games For Windows, has moved his family back to the Bay Area and taken a job as President of EA Sports. The new Electronic Arts CEO had reorganized the company into four distinct units and Moore becomes the final President to be hired.

Microsoft's video game division is taking a one-two punch. Earlier this month came news that the software giant was taking a charge of more than $1 billion to pay for costs related to extending the Xbox 360 warranty to three years.

Now Peter Moore, the company's Xbox standard-bearer for the last four years is resigning to join EA Sports as its president. Replacing Moore at Microsoft as senior vice president of interactive entertainment business (Xbox and Games for Windows) is Don Mattrick, who was once EA's president of its worldwide studios. "Peter really helped us build a great business," said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division. "We're excited about having him as a partner and as someone we'll continue to work closely with over time. ... I can't think of a better person to step into Peter's job than Don."

Read more here.

E3 is a big show and there are not a huge numbers of MMORPGs on hand, so we decided to stray from time to time and look at some of the other big games that everyone is waiting for. At Eletronic Arts, we saw quite a few titles and in this article we preview three of the highlights: Rock Band, Madden 08's Family Play and The Simpsons game.

And while I didn't dare go near them in a crowded room, vocals also look well done. Of those I heard, clearly you needn't be a good singer to get some OK scores. Invariably, the singer always had the highest percentages in every band I saw and let's just say none of them will be on MTV any time soon. The vocals should add comedy to parties, even if I won't go near them.

An EA rep also told us some welcome news that while nothing has been done or decided, Harmonix hopes to find a way to make the game compatible with the Guitar Hero II guitars. He made clear that there were no promises, but sounded hopeful that something could be worked out. I'll likely grab the new ones for the new toys, but at a certain point, my living room cannot be transformed into a video game recording studio and with Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero III and Rock Band, that's real possibility.

Click below to read on.

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello gave an interview where he noted that the game industry, including his own mega corporation, need to be more innovative if they hope to keep a captive audience.

"We're boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play," Mr. Riccitiello said in an interview.

The blunt comments by the 47-year-old Mr. Riccitiello -- a former top executive at EA who returned to the company after a stint in private equity -- are likely to cause a stir at the annual E3 games conference this week in Los Angeles. Many of his criticisms have been articulated by analysts and others, but rarely have they been made so publicly by the head of major videogame company. They are a departure for EA management, which in the past has played down its challenges.

Read more on the Wall Street Journal.

EA has rethought the way they organize their game development in an effort to save money and react more quickly. Now, the company is organized into four seperate divisions: sports, casual, The Sims and new games. For hardcore gamers, that means only one division is likely to be working on anything original at all and that division is highlighted as responsible for Command & Conquer, Battlefield and one would assume all the movie franchises. Likely not a banner a day for innovation.

No word on what this means for their online games, such as EA Mythic's Warhammer Online.

Electronic Arts Inc. said it will reorganize the world's biggest video game publisher into four units, in an efficiency drive by its new chief executive.

Under the plan by CEO John Riccitiello, announced on Friday. EA will consist of units that focus on sports, casual games, its "Sims" virtual dollhouse franchise, and other games.

EA said the changes, which will not involve job losses, should help it save money at a time when the cost of developing a top-tier game can run up to $20 million.

The full story is on Yahoo! News.

EA Mythic has released a new trailer for the upcoming Kingdom Reborn. This free expansion fully moves the game into the realm of 3D graphics, but hopes to maintain its traditional view. It also includes a brand new interface and hopes to lay the groundwork for future expansions of this ten-year-old game.

Click the link below to check it out.