Rumor - Red Alert 3 Expansion

Rumors have begun to circulate that EA's Los Angeles studio are busy developing an expansion to Red Alert 3 known as "Uprising".

However when EA were questioned about this development instead of shooting the rumor down like you would expect the to do they replied with the following,

"We will have more information in the New Year."

This tells me that they are at least in the thought process of development of this expansion or have even begun development and don't want to let the details slip to early.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 was released in October of this year for PC and Xbox 360.

More details as they surface.

Dragon Age:Origins New Trailer

A new trailer has been released by EA showcasing their title Dragon Age:Origins a release date is still yet TBC.

Need For Speed Still Kicking?

Yesterday I posted stating that the Need for Speed series would more than likely be coming to an end with the closing of EA's Black Box division due to finance issues.

However Joystick have received a tip from an undisclosed EA official stating what is actually happening over at EA.

He states that the Black Box division will more than likely close down however this doesn't mean the end of Need for Speed. He claims that NFS and the Skate franchise will both be moved to a larger studio called Burnaby.

He also mentioned that the next NFS title will be made using the Burnout engine and that the goal will be to produce 1 Need for Speed Title every year.

However this is still to be confirmed.

Brutal Legends Premiere Trailer

The first trailer of EA's Brutal legend was also revealed last night check it out and see what you think.

Disney Wants EA

EA were in the takeover news most of this year due to their many failed bids to acquire Take Two Interactive. Howveer there are now rumours spreading round in the Wall Street Journel saying that Disney would be prepared to make a bid for EA. The rumours began after a Disney spokesperson claimed that an attractive and strategic purchase would be better for the company rather than developing more in house games. Due to EA's stock being so low at the moment people instantly begin to reach the conclusion that EA would be the target.

But what would this mean for the games industry, could Disney truly understand the way main stream gaming worked to continue the success EA have had?

However this is just speculation and maybe something will come of it or maybe it will just fade away.

New Skate 2 Trailer

Skate 2 is set for a January release date and EA has just revealed a new trailer for the game. This trailer walks you through the new graphics creator feature in Skate 2. Enjoy

Need For Speed: Undercover Patch Soon..

EA's Black Box division who are in danger of getting axed, as was discussed in an earlier post, have announced they are working on a patch to fix any problems in the game, in an effort to boost sales. The patch details are yet to be announced but are based on feeback given on the official forums. EA made this statement on the subject,

“We wanted to let everyone know that the game team is currently hard at work developing a patch for Undercover for PS3, 360 and PC. We’ve spent a lot of time reviewing all the feedback from the community. Thank you! At this point we don’t have a confirmed release date or fix list but we thought it was important to let everyone know that a patch is in progress. As soon as we’ve got more news we’ll let everyone know.”

Stay tuned for more details..

Mirror's Edge & Dead Space Sequels

There is a strong possibility that we will be seeing sequels to both Mirror's Edge and Dead Space in the next coming years after EA spoke about them recently. Due to their rapid success in the charts EA are looking to push these IP's forward. The following was said by EA's John Riccitiello,

"We're very pleased with a lot of our new franchises this year. Spore... [looks like an] ongoing franchise, Dead Space looks like a long-term big winner for us... Warhammer will continue to perform very well."

"Mirror's Edge was very strongly reviewed - That one's going to go forward. We'll be looking at some issues around the design to make sure that strong IP is married with strong business."

So stay tuned for announcements by EA on these titles in the future.

Need For Speed Might Be Over?

Due to the failing economy many business are having to make cuts and sadly people will lose jobs. This is also true of games companies such as Midway being very close to administration. The next to be hit are the untouchables EA. As a result of the declining economy they have announced that they will be cutting back on expenditure, and news is spreading across the net that it will be EA's Black Box division that get the cut.

Sadly this is the division that makes the Need For Speed titles so if this goes down the titles go with it. Due to reports of falling sales in NFS: Undercover and it not even making the top 20 in the NPD sales for November, there is also information that all future NFS projects have been canceled. EA spokesman Colin Macrae had this to say,

“These are challenging times, they’re uncertain times for our industry and across the board…We continue to be firmly rooted in Vancouver.”

Vancouver is where EA's Black Box division is located.

Could i be the end stay tuned for updates...

IGN Game Scoop Podcast - Episode 102

IGN have just released episode 102 of their Game Scoop podcast. This contains a mixture of different consoles however if your a listener of this podcast then check it out, if not then have a listen it can't hurt to download it and try. I personally have not experience with this podcast but some of the relevent 360 info covered is.

- NPD sales and the economy
- Brutal Legend Published by EA
- INterview with Fallout 3 Director about DLC

Game Scoop Episode 102