For months, rumors have gone out that developer Pandemic and publisher Electronic Arts were working on an open world action game based on The Dark Knight, the latest in the Batman films that turned out to be not just a critical hit but a much bigger box office smash than first expected. So what happened to the game? The Associated Press claims via an unnamed source that such a game was in development but the article doesn't seem to know why it wasn't released; it does have several possible reasons, including missed deadline and poor quality (EA and the movie's studio Warner Bros. declined to comment).If such a game existed it missed a huge opportunity, according to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter. He claims that if a Dark Knight had been released at the same time as the film it would have sold as much as 4 million copies and grossed $100 million. Of course, Batman fans still have three upcoming games that will feature the character; the family themed action game Lego Batman, the Midway console fighting game Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe and the Sony Online MMO DC Universe Online....

We've known that Electronic Arts has been working on a sequel to their 2007 released crime action game based on the Godfather films for some time but today the publisher finally admitted to it via an official press release. They also confirmed that The Godfather II will have the PC platform among its versions and it's due out fairly soon; February 2009 in fact.Developed once again by EA's Redwood Shores division, the official press release confirms that The Godfather II will have open world gameplay like the first title but will also have elements of strategy as well. "Using the Don's View, players will be able to build, defend and expand their crime rings, while keeping an eye on the movements and plans of the rival families."The game will also open up the locations as players operate in the 1960's in not just New York City but also Cuba and Miami. According to a Variety story, all of the movie's actors (with the exception of Al Pacino) have allowed their likenesses to be used in the game and Robert Duvall will record new dialog as well....

Video Gaming 247 recently caught up with Mythic Entertainment's Paul Barnett, creative director for the upcoming Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning MMO. The main topic of discussion was Barnett's current job duty, which he described as "Endless optimism through daily disappointment." The current reason to remain optimistic through disappointment: needing to downsize the possible careers in WAR from 250 to 20.Barnett's focus is to keep the WAR project on track. "It's about getting the concepts and condensing them into soundbites [sic]," he said. Rather than let concepts spin grow too ambitious and spin wildly out of control, Barnett keeps things manageable in order to keep his employees focused.A perfect example: WAR career possibilities. "We went down a terrible path where we had too many careers," said Barnett. We have 250-odd at one point and we boiled it right back down to 20."Whether 250 careers or 20, any number is good enough for players eagerly anticipating the launch of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, which will be available on September 18....

Warhammer fans rejoyed when the word came down that Electronic Arts and Mythic Entertainment had finally settled on a September 18 launch date for the long awaited fantasy MMO Warhammer Online. Now Mythic's founder Mark Jacobs is talking more about their preparations for the launch and their plans leading up to Sept. 18.In a message board post on the fan site Warhammer Vault, Jacobs states that people who pre-ordered the Collector's Edition of the game will gain access to a special "Preview Weekend" in addition to playing in the beta test before the game's actual launch. According to Jacobs, "Once the CE buyers have had their chance to register and download the client, we will allow our Closed Beta testers into the PW as well." Collector's Edition pre-orders will also gain access to the closed beta next week and will get an extra day into the Head Start period just before the beta before the regular edition owners. The NDA for the closed beta will be lifted next week so expect lots of hands-on previews to hit the Internet tubes when that happens. Jacobs said there is still no word yet on when the open beta will begin, saying, "As the history of MMOs has shown, a bad OB can hurt both the long-term and the short-term the success of a game just as surely as a great OB can help the game succeed and we need to make sure that we are ready for OB on the day it begins."...

You probably have at least one of their books in your home; the "For Dummies" brand of non-fiction books is a massive hit with over 200 million books in print covering over 1,300 topics. Now Electronic Arts has announced that it will begin releasing PC games under the For Dummies brand that are designed with the casual gamer in mind.In fact the first For Dummies game from EA, Poker for Dummies should be available for download right now via their Pogo.com web site. Other games coming via download will include Solitaire For Dummies in September, Brain Training For Dummies in October, Sudoku For Dummies in November. In addition, retail stores will have Poker For Dummies and Brain Training For Dummies ship to stores in October. More For Dummies games are also due out in 2009....

Most people might consider Spore, Maxis and EA's upcoming evolutionary simulator, a bit too ambitious for handheld consoles such as the Nintendo DS, let alone mobile phones. Beginning at the bottom of the evolutionary food chain, evolving into new shapes and sizes, starting a civilization and exploring the depths of space are actions that will no doubt require precise control and careful execution in many stages, something not often offered by the cell phone keypads.Rather than overstep the capabilities of even the most powerful mobile phones by directly porting the game, EA Mobile has crafted Spore Origins, a custom version of Will Wright's anticipated simulator for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPod and regular mobile phones. During this year's QuakeCon, I had a chance to take the iPhone and traditional cell phone versions for a spin -- literally, in the iPhone's case. ...

The speculation can finally end for players waiting to play the long awaited fantasy MMO Warhammer Online. The game's publisher Electronic Arts has now confirmed via a press release that the Mythic Entertainment developed title will officially launch in about six week on Sept. 18.Along with the launch date comes the game's prices for monthly play beyond buying the game in stores. Per month the game will cost $14.99 with a 3-month subscription costing $41.97 and a 6-month subscription costing $77.94. EA plans to have 30 day and 60 day pre-paid cards for the game in retail stores as well. You can still pre-order the game which gets you into the open beta along with being able to play the final game a few days before its official launch. Pre-orders also get some unique in-game items and the Universal Fighting System Battle Deck collectible card game....

Electronic Arts has sometimes used known models and actresses as leading ladies for their Need For Speed driving game series. Brooke Burke voiced a role for Need For Speed Underground 2, Josie Marin played a role in Need For Speed Most Wanted and Emmanuelle Vaugier had a similar role in Need For Speed Carbon. Today the company confirmed via an email invite to an upcoming press event that actress Maggie Q will have a role in the newest installment Need For Speed Undercover.Born in Hawaii, Maggie Q first became a well known actor in Asia before starring in US films like Mission Impossible III, Balls of Fury, Live Free or Die Hard and most recently Deception. There's no word yet on what role she will be playing in the new Need for Speed game which is expected to be released this fall....

In a recent interview with Gamasutra, Valve Software VP Doug Lombardi revealed that if talks of acquisition came about from industry giants such as Electronic Arts, he would be "happy to have that conversation."Since the merger between Activision and Vivendi Games that resulted in Activision Blizzard, arguably the industry's greatest force in terms of publishing, the gaming world is one that is beginning to revolve around mergers and acquisitions. Electronic Arts, once the undisputed juggernaut of the publishing world, would certainly consider themselves blessed if they were to acquire Valve. In fact, given the relationship between Valve and EA, who will be publishing Left 4 Dead when it releases this November, such talks seem likely.Describing the relationship between Valve and Electronic Arts as "really good," Lombardi praised EA for their understanding of Steam, perhaps Valve's greatest contribution to PC gaming. "EA was very progressive about saying, 'We understand who you guys are. We understand what Steam is. We don't want Steam to go away,'" said Lombardi....

Electronic Arts' live action cast for their upcoming RTS game Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 just gained another team member. UK actress Gemma Atkinson has been announced by EA as playing the role of Lt. Eva McKenna, a communication officer on the Allied side of the game. Atkinson calls herself a gamer in a press release announcing her role in Red Alert 3, saying that she wanted to broaden her acting skills by appearing in the title.The 23-year old actress is already promoting the event in her native country. If you happen to be in the area she will be attending the M-Festival gaming event at Stoneleigh Park in Warwichshire on Saturday where she will meet fans and sign posters featuring her C&C: Red Alert 3 character. The game itself is still scheduled for release this fall....

Digital Illusions' upcoming first person action game Mirror's Edge is generated a lot of buzz and much of that was created when journalists got to see a level of the near-future themed game at E3. The demo was filmed and shown on the Internet to show off the title's use of running and jumping to scale the game's buildings.That trailer was used as the basis for a homebrew created level by the designer known only as "EvilWeevil" as a level for Valve's classic 2007 action-puzzle game Portal. While the level (shown on the 1Up.com site as a video) is not exactly complete it does show that even trailers of games can inspire third party level designers to re-create what they have seen in other games....

Remember late last month when we reported that Digital Illusions was planning to give out more beta keys for their upcoming free-to-play shooter Battlefield Heroes and that they were going to do it by given them out to the first 20 people who commented on a news item? Well that plan apparently caused a ton of folks to start checking out the web site constantly looking for a news post.The end result? The site got swamped and blew out the server. A new note on the site (which doesn't count as one of those that people can get a beta key from) states, "We'll be doing some maintenance over the next day or two; we want to make sure that the site can handle all you Battlfield (sic) Heroes enthusiasts." Stay tuned . . ....

It's sort of a fact of life that the gaming business has a huge flood of licensed games that nobody ever really plays seriously. Most gamers live with it. EA, however, is stamping their foot down on this cultural phenomenon of bad licensed games. In a recent interview with MTV Multiplayer, it was revealed that EA is moving away from licenses and more to intellectual properties. Here's what their always vocal CEO John Riccitello had to say: "I don't actually believe EA is in the business of exploiting other people's licenses with bad quality games. We've been there. Most of our competitors are there or have been there. That's not what we do. We're not really after that market. Now Metacritic isn't always the best quality measure for some licensed games, but I know a good game when I see it. My team and our developers know a good game when we see it."If true, this bodes well for EA. They have never had the best of licensed games. For the full interview, as well as more thoughts on EA in general, head on over to MTV Multiplayer....

PC elitists, I implore you to never again complain about playing an RTS with a controller. We've heard the arguments countless times: yes, clicking a unit and zipping your fingers across keyboard shortcuts is faster than the wonky button mapping that always seems to require a bit of arcane joystick waggling while simultaneously holding two buttons (one of which may or may not be Select or Back) and pressing three others.Yes, it's cumbersome; even the most die-hard console gamer can admit that. But until you've experienced an RTS on a mobile phone, I will remain as impervious to your complaints as StarCraft 64 is accessible to human beings with less than eight fingers per hand.After glimpsing a commercial for a EA Mobile's Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars at this year's QuakeCon, my curiosity and disbelief were competing with the laughter surging up from my gut. An RTS? On a mobile phone? Being a devotee of cramped hands and eyestrain, I simply had to give it a try. ...

As preparations are made for the fall 2008 launch of the long awaited Warhammer Online MMO, developer Mythic Entertainment has recently launched a new web site called. Road-to-WAR.com. This site is being designed to get players involved in the game's battle between the two in-game Realms, Order and Destruction.The web site uses Google Maps to chart which players will join which Realm in the game as well as which race they intend to play in Warhammer Online. Each day you log into the site you get 50 pieces of gold and you get even more if you recruit friends to join your Realm.Each week you fight in "battles". In the end, the winning Realm will get a "Never Ending Bowl of Custard and a special in-game title" when Warhammer Online launches....