Can you say, "Too much information?" For fans of the long awaited MMO Warhammer Online that phrase doesn't register and today the NDA for talking about the closed beta test for the Mythic Entertainment developed game finally came to an end. That means anyone who participated in the closed beta can chat about their experiences to their heart's content.Our sister site Massively has a ton of hands-on info on the game ready to check out. Look for info on Destruction tanks, ranged DPS classes for Order, and the Elves of the game. Indeed, look for a ton of info on the game at Massively in the weeks leading to the game's September 18 launch. Big Download will also have our own hands-on preview of the game as well in the near future....

Given the turn-based nature inherent in collectible card games, one might logically presume that a strategy game intent on incorporating CCG mechanics would fall into the turn-based subcategory of the genre. Surprisingly, EA Phenomic's Battleforge sprinkles CCG flavoring into real-time strategy batter, the result of which proved to be a tasty treat I sampled at the recent Electronic Arts Summer Showcase press event. ...

The Godfather II teaser trailer reveals what the next game look like. The art and narration stay true to the classic 1970's movie's style. Ultimately, the goal will be to think and act like a mobsters in the true Godfather tradition. Being a Don requires a lot more smarts than being an average thug, but all that power and prestige generally brings a shortened lifespan with it.Download the Godfather II HD Teaser Trailer (79 MB)...

If you been waiting to try out Mythic Entertainment's long awaited MMO Warhammer Online you shouldn't have to wait for much longer. A new press release from the game's publisher Electronic Arts has announced that the open beta for the game will begin on September 7, 11 days before the official retail launch of the game on September 18.Basically anyone who has participated in the current closed beta and anyone who pre-ordered Warhammer Online will be able to play in the free open beta test. EA and Mythic are predicting that hundreds of thousands of people will be playing in the open beta which should give them an idea if their game is destined to be a huge hit or not. In the meantime you can check out some pre-NDA preview of some of the game's content at our sister site Massively....

Electronic Arts has been extending its $25.74 per share offer to buy Take Two Interactive for several months now but today that offer will finally expire. EA issued a press release today announcing that the current deadline for the offer, which was scheduled to expire late today, will be allowed to expire.However, that isn't the end of the EA-Take Two saga as EA CEO John Riccitiello and Take Two Executive Chairman Strauss Zelnick spoke on the phone on Friday, according to EA's press release. After that the two companies chatted over the weekend with the result being that EA will allow Take Two "to provide a management presentation to EA containing non-public information."In letters between Riccitiello and Zelnick, it was revealed that EA no longer feels they could intergrate Take Two into their company before the holiday season (where over 50 percent of games are sold). So while the current takeover bid is winding down it's also clear that EA and Take Two could be making some kind of deal in the future....

When Bioware finally announced more details on their long awaited fantasy RPG Dragon Age: Origins they also announced that the game would come with a full toolset for folks who wanted to make their own levels and content for the game. Now the first newsletter for those future world builders has been released with more info on what the toolkit will have.The toolkit will allow folks to make their own full single player adventures with a script editor available to change creature AI and combat for making "detailed action sequences full of heart-pounding party-based tactical combat." If you happen to be going to Penny Arcade Expo at the end of the month you can attend a special presentation where Bioware team members will give a live demo showing off the features of the Dragon Age: Origins toolkit....

During a recent interview with Eurogamer, Spore executive producer Lucy Bradshaw discussed the game's Digital Rights Management (DRM) and how it will affect players eager to legally obtain Spore when it releases early next month.Bradshaw said that, sadly, copy protection "is a necessary part of our biz," but the development team has gone to great lengths to ensure that legal buyers will not be encumbered. Upon initial installation, Spore must be authenticated. The game can be installed on up to three computers total, and registration is required for access to online features.In terms of expansion packs, Bradshaw considers those to be inevitable. Spore was designed with expansions and DLC in mind, "so yes, we'll add to the experience," she said.The full transcript with Lucy Bradshaw is available on Eurogamer's site....

Electronic Arts has been keeping a lid on new info for Need For Speed Undercover, the next game in the long running racing game series. Today the publisher issued a press release with some info on the game including its planned release date; November 18 in North America and November 21 in Europe.As we previously reported, film actor Maggie Q will be featured in the game as she plays Federal Agent Chase Linh, "a seductive handler who recruits and guides players as they go undercover." Your player character is trying to infiltrate a crime syndicate and the game gets you inside their group by having you go on jobs and compete in races. According to the press release, Need For Speed Undercover "re-introduces break-neck cop chases, the world's hottest cars and spectacular highway battles."...

Electronic Arts has yet another third party publishing announcement to make today. EA revealed that they have the rights to publish a new title from Grasshopper Manufacture, the Japanese based developer best known in the US for their ultra-violent console titles like Killer 7 and more recently No More Heroes.This new game is described as an action-horror title and will indeed be released for the PC as well as console platforms. It should be interesting to see how this dev team, who have been so used to making console games only, will handle the making of a PC game as well. Regardless, no other info on the game, including a title and release date, has been announced....

There were rumors of a major new third party development deal for Electronic Arts and today those rumors proved true. The company just announced a deal to publish a new and original game from Epic Games. This new title will be be developed by People Can Fly which Epic purchased in 2007.Other than the fact that it will be an action game, details on the new title are being kept under wraps. People Can Fly's only major game before now is the 2004 released first person shooter Painkiller (they also released an expansion pack in 2005). People Can Fly also contributed to the PC port of Epic's first Gears of War game in 2007....

Folks have been waiting three and a half years for this announcement so now here it is: "Spore has gone gold!". Yes, the life simulation game from Sims creator Will Wright and his Maxis team at Electronic Arts is officially finished and is heading for disk duplication.The game, which will ship to stores on September 7 for the PC and Mac, will come in two flavors; the regular edition and the Spore Galactic Edition with lots of behind-the-scenes content and other content. If you pre-order either version of the game, EA will give those folks a $10 coupon for use at the Zazzle.com Spore store which gives folks a chance to put their custom Spore creature on things like t-shirts, mugs and more....

When Crysis Warhead was first announced we were promised that the next game in Crytek's shooter game series would run better on PCs. Well the EA online store (which is selling the game for just $24.95 at the moment) has now posted up the system requirements for the game. Can your PC run Crysis Wahead? Take a look. CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz (3.2 GHz for Vista), Intel Core 2.0 GHz (2.2 GHz for Vista), AMD Athlon 2800+ (3200+ for Vista) or better RAM: 1GB (1.5GB on Windows Vista) Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Radeon X800 Pro for Vista) or better VRAM: 256MB of Graphics Memory Storage: 15GB Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible ODD: DVD-ROM OS: Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Microsoft Vista DirectX: DX9.0c or DX10 ...

We know that Electronic Arts has high hopes for their upcoming release of Spore but can the life simulation game from creator Will Wright move into other forms of entertainment? A new Reuters story indicates that EA would love to license the Spore property for a movie or TV series.Speaking to Reuters during an Asian press junket for Spore, Wright was quoted as saying, "With Spore, we're looking way outside the game space, such as TV, movies, etc. We're basically planting the seeds to spread Spore out to a much wider group of people than would ever play a computer game." One wonders exactly what kind of movie or TV show could handle such a concept or if indeed any other entertainment medium could convey what Spore is like....

If you have been waiting for Crysis Warhead's release you won't have to wait too much longer. A new press release this morning announced that the stand alone first person shooter from Electronic Arts and Crytek will ship to stores on September 16 in the US. Europeans get the game a few days earlier on September 12. The regular price for the game is a cheap $29.99 but if you pre-order the game at the online EA store you can purchase it for just $24.99.There's also more info on the game's multiplayer modes which are being collected under the name Crysis Wars. In addition to Crysis' previous InstantAction and PowerStruggle modes the new TeamInstantAction has been added for Crysis Warhead's release. 21 maps, including six new maps for InstantAction/TeamInstantAction and one new PowerStruggle map, will be included in the game....

What exactly are "militant atheists?" Are they people who want to make sure everyone knows that their opinion there is no God or any other kind of divine being? We don't really have an opinion on this topic either way but these folks do apparently have an opinion on how religion is handled in the long awaited EA Maxis game Spore.In a chat with Eurogamer, Spore creator Will Wright stated that during development of the game they were afraid that certain religion groups would have issues with the game's handling of the subject, but he stated, " . . . what we had was a good, sizeable group of players that we might call militant atheists, and the rest of the players seemed very tolerant, including all of the religious players."Oddly enough Spore's basic premise is that alien spores seed planets so we don't really know what issues these "militant atheists" have for the game....