"Let's look at the stats:
* 1,000 employees without jobs (bout 10% of EA's global workforce)
* $120 mil in company savings
* Restructuring charges of $55 - 65 mil
EA has yet to name the other eight studios it will be shutting down, but it did announce that it will be relocating some employees and franchises to offices in Burnaby, British Columbia."
Inspired by SomethingAwful, users on NeoGAF made a thread quite a while ago photoshopping video covers using anagrams of the video game titles. Recently the thread got bumped. Go to source for some choice titles or click alternate source to browse through some of the classic images if you have never seen them before (highly recommended).
With so many problems with SKATE, it seems that Black Box have decided to take a different approach on the game. Namely, by making the Playstation 3 version of the game the lead version, so that they aren't in the line of fire as they were with Skate which was considered to have a lower gameplay value for the PS3 version due to it having been the port.
"#24: skate
#23: Heavenly Sword
#22: MLB 08: The Show
#21: Battlefield: Bad Company
#20: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2
#19: Rock Band
#18: Burnout Paradise
#17: Ninja Gaiden Sigma
#16: PixelJunk Monsters
#15: Everyday Shooter
#14: Gran Turismo 5: Prologue
#13: Warhawk
#12: Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online
#11: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Game of the Year Edition
#10: Super Stardust HD
#9: Assassin's Creed
#8: Resistance: Fall of Man
#7: MotorStorm
#6: The Orange Box
..."
The article, written by EndSights.com's Aram Kuredjian, argues that gamers are unduly and unfairly attacking EA because of their sports franchises, pointing out the great games they have published in recent years like Rock Band, Orange Box, and upcoming games like Spore, Sims 3, and Dragon Age: Origins.
"In a presentation to industry analysts today, EA Games president Frank Gibeau revealed that the two series would "see extension" in the publisher's fiscal year 2009, which runs from this April through March of 2009. Gibeau didn't specify whether the extensions would come in the form of proper sequels, side products (such as Burnout Legends and Burnout Dominator), or some other form.
In contrast to Burnout, Skate is a relatively new property. The series debuted last September as part of EA..."
"Pro skateboarder Tony Hawk has pretty much had it all his own way for years in the skateboarding videogame genre - that was until Electronic Arts sprung a surprise with Skate for the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 last year. Its analog control-focused trickery gave Tony a kick up the arse for once but its biggest draw (the controls) meant it wasnt suited to either the Nintendo Wii or Nintendo DS default input. Now, however, EA has announced Skate It, a Wii and DS spin-off..."
Last year, EA released the highly successful Skate for the PS3 and 360. However, the game was noticeably missing from Nintendo consoles. Today, EA announced that they will be bringing the game over to the Wii & DS, in spinoff form. The game, titled Skate It, will utilize the Wii remote and touch screen, and will also support the Wii Balance Board that will ship with Wii Fit in two weeks.
"The winners of the 2nd annual ELANS Awards have been announced and with five awards, this years big winner is BioWare. Their sci-fi RPG Mass Effect walked away with the Game of the Year, Best Art Direction, Best Game Design, Best Writing for a Game Production, and Best Character (Commander Shepard) awards."
EA has commented on the titles listed in the attached image, stating that the list "addresses future and past titles. KOTOR, Black, Boogie, Skate and some other titles on the slide speak to past portfolio releases and the pedigree of the studio but do not specifically address future sequels"
Games like Burnout and Skate have been revealed to be receiving sequels though, so not all hope is lost.
Full quote and more info at the source.
"Electronic Arts' open-world racing game Burnout Paradise still has that new-car smell, and the broken bones of Skate have barely had time to knit, but the publisher is already looking ahead to the next installments in those franchises.
In a presentation to industry analysts today, EA Games president Frank Gibeau revealed that the two series would "see extension" in the publisher's fiscal year 2009, which runs from this April through March of 2009. Gibeau didn't specify whether the extensio..."
"Take a liberal dollop of shameless sexism and pop it in a blender with half a pound of evil media marketing genius and one whole tasteless videogame award show. Place in the YouTube oven for maximum heat and, when attention has risen, sprinkle in 6 naked models, a few gallons of body paint, some high-profile videogames looking for cheap exposure and what appears to be a male Madden fan in drag."
The two consoles of the year go head to head again, being compared by the consoles output and graphical power. Which of the two consoles will be victorious? They take a look at these games on both consoles.
The September NPD numbers were released today, and many thanks to sonycowboy at NeoGAF and the NPD for reporting and the actual numbers.
The September NPD tracking period is a five-week period: September 2 - October 6. With the software sales, I will also put the release date of each title, so you have a frame of reference.
Without further ado:
Hardware Sales:
PlayStation 2 215K
PlayStation 3 119.4K
PlayStation Portable 284.5K
Xbox 360 527.8K
Wii 501K
Nintendo DS 495.8K
Game Bo...
Electronic Arts have announced that SKATE will hitting the shop stores by September 12th for the United States and September 14th in Europe for the Xbox 360. As for the Playstation 3 version, that will hit American stores on September 24th and Europe on the 5th October.
A Demo will be available on the Xbox 360 on August 15th.
Massive Inc.'s online video game advertising network was purchased by Microsoft last year, and now the console giant intends to leverage this in-game ad muscle in upcoming sports titles from Electronic Arts. Both EA and Microsoft announce that five EA Sports titlesfor the Xbox 360 and PC platforms (Nascar 08, NHL 08, Skate, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 and of course Madden NFL 08) will tap into Massive's dynamic in-game advertising.
In EA's new "Skate" Game, experience the closest thing to skateboarding without actually putting your feet on a board. With innovative controls that take advantage of the dual analog sticks, the power of next gen hardware, and the ability to sculpt tricks that define your own style, skate delivers an authentic boarding mecca like no other, as San Vanelona challenges you to explore, find, and own the best spots.
"Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and its sequels have always been known to have impressive soundtracks full of licensed songs. Naturally, Electronic Arts looks to outmaneuver the Activision series with music in its upcoming rival skateboarding title, SKATE."
skate is said to give us what Tony Hawk has lacked. A True skating experience. No longer will we be skating in the city streets where there are ramps all over the place. It will be up to you, the skater to find the perfect spots for your jumps and tricks. Using a new control set up in a world as big as any Grand Theft Auto City, Skate sure looks to be something great.
(click on the full article link to read a lot more about the game)
Like I said in the screenshot article, the graphics look sharp and smooth. By watching this trailer, I think that the gameplay sure is looking great as well. This looks like a fresh approach to skating games, and I hope it can really challenge the Tony Hawks games when it comes out. Sadly, the Tony Hawks series has started to decline in quality which is why I'm quite excited about this new skating game! Thoughts and opinions?
Screenshots for this newly announced skate game. The screens are looking pretty sharp and smooth, sure nice on the eyes. It will be interesting to see if this game can live up to the very popular Tony Hawks series. As a fan of the Tony Hawks series myself, I'll be keeping a close eye on this game for updates. Any other fans of the Tony Hawks series that are looking forward to this? General thoughts about the game?
"Every once in a while, a game comes along that redefines how gamers will look at its genre from that point on. In the same way that Fight Night reinvented boxing games, EA hopes to do the same to the skateboarding genre with skate. Featuring physics and gesture-based dual-analog control, the game aims to put gamers into the shoes of an actual skater and put the focus back on individual tricks rather than massive, unrealistic lines.
We had a chance to fire off a number of our most pressing ..."
![Box shot of Skate [Europe]](http://i.neoseeker.com/boxshots/R2FtZXMvWGJveF8zNjAvU3BvcnRzL1gtdHJlbWVfU3BvcnRz/skate_frontcover_small_NEliKoB9pXoHVsO.jpg)