August 14th, y’all.

That’s when you can get your sweaty hands on the latest installment in the Madden franchise.

The game will be available for just about every console known to man: 360, PS2, PS3, Wii, and PSP. It’s also rated E for everyone so you no worries when your kids are beating on your shoulders asking you to stop playing the game. Not like that’s ever happened to you.

Right?

Images|EA

I love good ads and EA is known for them.

This ad, Tiger Woods 09 - Walk on Water, was done by EA in response to a video that Levinator25 posted a while back of the “Jesus shot”. Dude took that video all the way to the bank when EA paid him.

This is what I like to see. A game company that takes a rather embarrassing glitch video, pays the creator of the video and then turns it around and makes a cool ad out of the whole deal.

Bravo, EA

This is me NOT going to E3 this year. *waves hand*

I’m not going because the conference hits on the same weekend as my mom’s family reunion and you don’t want to see my mom’s reaction if I were to tell her that I wasn’t bringing her grandkids to see her because I’m going to be drooling over video games. My mom doesn’t do technology and I highly doubt she would “get” why I would rather go to E3 than spend a weekend reminiscing about mistakes I made 20 years ago.

Oh. My. Digression.

THE POINT is that I’ve found a video from GameSpot where their people talk about which games they’re really looking forward to seeing.

Lots of games are mentioned and there is some gameplay footage woven in to give you a taste of what’s to come.

Dragon Age looks so freakin’ sweet and I’ve been waiting on Borderlands for what seems like YEARS so I’m hoping to see some awesomeness concerning them. Also, I’m sure EA will be showing some stuff on Sims 3 and you know I’m always eager to hear about any of the Sims games.

Fun, fun stuff is coming.

I was one of those people who didn’t read the Harry Potter books until after they had all come out and I’ve read them all twice. One thing I haven’t done though is play one of the games.

I can only assume that they don’t suck since the games keep getting made. Then again, maybe the game makers are just trying to cash in while they can? Regardless, a new game is being released in late June and looks pretty cool.

From the release:

• Compete as Gryffindor^TM for the Hogwarts^TM Quidditch^TM Cup: Take on Hufflepuff^TM, Ravenclaw^TM and Slytherin^TM in the most exciting wizarding sport.
• Perfect your Quidditch^TM skills: Can you dodge a Bludger or catch the Snitch?
• Take part in thrilling wizard duels.  Battle against Death Eaters in Hogwarts^TM, Inferi in the Horcrux cave and much more.
• Join the Gryffindor^TM Duelling Club.  Perfect your duelling skills before you take on the other houses. Will you become the Duelling Club champion?
• Create magical potions with Professor Slughorn - using the Half-Blood Prince’s Potions book.
• Explore Hogwarts^TM at night: Take on night-time missions while the castle sleeps.
• Stuck? Call on Nearly Headless Nick^TM for clues and tips to help you complete your challenges.
• Relive the action of the movie…from the Hogwarts^TM Express to the dramatic revelation of the Half-Blood Prince.
• See more of the wizarding world: Explore new magical places like The Burrow, and the Horcrux cave.
• Uncover the truth: Travel with Dumbledore to piece together Voldermort’s past, and sneak around Hogwarts^TM to discover Malfoy’s secrets.

The game is set to release on PC, PS2, PS3 and 360

Images|EA

I’m impressed with EA (Electronics Arts) Singapore as the company has done a great job in marketing The Sims 3 using the massively popular social networking site - Facebook.

First of all, EA Singapore uses Facebook advertisements to promote the pre-ordering and the launch party of The Sims 3 on 2nd June 2009. When you are at the The Sims 3 Pre-Order & Launch Party landing page, you can’t miss the details of the launch party which you need to RSVP to the event on Facebook.

What’s special about the launch party is that you can get hold of an exclusive The Sims™ 3 T-shirt (for the first 600 game redemption) and get to meet other Sims fans. Of course, you can add the Sims strangers you encounter at the event on Facebook.

Greetings to all Sims fans! Join us this coming June at ILUMA for The Sims 3 Launch Party! Make friends and share your Sims memories. Bid farewell to the old Sims and usher in the all new Sims 3.

All you have to do is to PRE-ORDER The Sims™ 3 Collector’s Edition, and bring your pre-order card to the launch party to redeem the game. Exclusive pre-order bonuses abound!

And that’s not all! The FIRST 600 game redemptions will receive an exclusive The Sims™ 3 T-shirt PLUS a few extra surprises!

The Sims™ 3 Collector’s Edition includes:
• The Sims™ 3 game
• Exclusive 2GB Plumbob USB Flash Drive and Carabiner
• Exclusive European Sports Car download
• New The Sims 3 theme music
• Prima Tips & Hints Guide
• US$10 of Sims points for The Sims™ 3 Store

All pre-orders will come with special Bonus Download Codes for:
• An Exclusive Vintage Sports Car to drive your Sims around the neighbourhood.
• A FREE The Sims 2 Expansion Pack of your choice (Digital Download Version) from our online EA Store!

Using Facebook, EA Singapore managed to market and promote The Sims 3 effectively and unite Sims and EA fans online and offline. Kudos to the team behind this Sims 3 marketing campaign.

Image: EA Singapore

France’s Bruce Grannec, 22, beat more than 530 000 online gamers from 52 different countries in EA Sports FIFA 09 of PlayStation 3 to be crowned the champion of FIFA Interactive World Cup 2009 Grand Final which was held at Barcelona, Spain, last weekend.

The online soccer champion walked away with a brand new Kia Soul, US$20 000 and and invitation to FIFA World Player Gala 2010.

After seven months of qualification with over 500,000 players having competed in the online qualification and with 19 live qualifier events having been held at locations around the globe, including New Zealand, South Africa, Denmark, Brazil and India, the Grand Final marked the end of the fifth and most successful FIFA Interactive World Cup to date.

Via: World Cup 2010 FAN!
Image: YTN

The new screens for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince look so much like the movies that it’s a bit scary.

This multi-platform game is sure to be a cash cow for EA since just about everything that Harry Potter touches seems to turn to gold. Think of him as a Hogwarts attending King Midas.

Now, while I’ve read all of the books and seen all of the movies, I’ve never played one of the games. Maybe now’s the time to give it a try?

And the screens:

Images|EA

Be careful with that new EA sports game you just bought for yourself and your Xbox 360. With the NFL football season starting, Madden ‘07 is going to be the big popular title and will be available August 22nd I believe.

Did you know that when you keep clicking on “I Agree” when signing up for EA Games, you’re giving EA the right to setup an account for you on their system, which then entitles them to collect personal information about you from Microsoft’s database?

Forever Geek has the scoop via Slashdot via Gamers with Jobs site.

Directly from EA’s Privacy Policy: (my emphasis added in bold)

If you sign up to play EA games through Microsoft’s Xbox Live Service, Microsoft will provide your Xbox Live user account information to EA so that we can establish an EA Online account for you. You need an EA Online account to play EA’s Xbox Live titles. By signing up to play EA’s Xbox Live titles, you agree that Microsoft can transfer your user account information to EA.

Information collected will vary depending upon the activity and may include your name, e-mail address, phone number, mobile number, home address, birth date and credit card information. In addition, we may collect demographic information such as gender, zip code, information about your computer, hardware, software, platform, media, Internet IP address and connection, information about online activity such as feature usage, game play statistics and scores, user rankings and click paths and other data that you may provide in surveys or online profiles, for instance. We may combine demographic information with personal information. Prize winners may also be required to provide Social Security or Social Identification Number for tax purposes.

We do not require personal information to obtain access to any of our sites; however, you will not be able to access areas that require registration.

Whatever the purpose may be, we will only collect information to the extent reasonably necessary to fulfill your requests and our legitimate business objectives.

Now I’m sure I could read anyone’s privacy policy and find similar things, but it just seems odd to me that they don’t “require” you to give them any information because they can just get it on their own right? And they won’t use any of your personally identifiable information unless it’s just reasonably necessary to pursue their own business needs. Wouldn’t that include pretty much anything I could say it would include?