ea posts

Left 4 Dead 2 sells over 2.9 million copies in retail stores

by John Callaham Feb 9th 2010 @ 11:00AM

Last December, Valve announced that their zombie co-op shooter Left 4 Dead 2 had sold over 2 million copies in retail stores in the game's first two weeks of release. This week, Electronic Arts, which distributed the game in retail stores, announced during their conference call to investors that the game has sold over 2.9 million copies worldwide for both the PC and Xbox 360 ports.

Naturally both these numbers do not include the number of PC copies of the game that have been sold directly via Valve's Steam client. Valve has kept those numbers completely secret but its likely that if added to the retail sales it would increase the total unit sales to well over 3 million copies.

Gallery: Left 4 Dead 2 Screenshots

Filed under: FPS, Multiplayer, Left 4 Dead Series

Has EA canceled Dead Space 2 for PC?

by John Callaham Feb 9th 2010 @ 9:00AM

In 2008 Electronic Arts released the first Dead Space game for the PC and we liked it. We liked it a lot. So we were happy to learn that the sequel, Dead Space 2, was also coming to the PC. However it looks like things may have changed. As part of EA's newly revealed schedule of upcoming games for their next fiscal year they announced that Dead Space 2 would be released in the first quarter of 2011 . . . but did not list the PC as one of its platforms.

Blue's News reports they heard back from an EA spokesperson who told them, "As of right now a PC sku is not in the plan". That's all they got out of the publisher so we have contacted EA for a more detailed explanation. We are hoping the PC port has just been pushed back rather than canceled.

Gallery: Dead Space 2 Screenshots

Filed under: Action

New Sims and Spore games planned for the PC in 2011

by John Callaham Feb 8th 2010 @ 10:00PM

It's not a shock to learn that the best selling PC retail game of 2009 will be getting some follow up releases in the next year. As part of Electronic Arts' financial results today, their schedule of games for their next fiscal year shows some kind of new Sims game due for release in the first quarter of 2011 for the PC. From the placement on the schedule this may be some kind of new Sims game rather than just an expansion pack for 2009's The Sims 3.

Also due for release at the same time is a new Spore game from the publisher. EA hasn't been as generous about expanding 2008's alien evolution sim for the PC as they have with their Sims titles. The last expansion pack for the game was released last summer.

Filed under: Simulation

What does a "far reaching" plan for Mass Effect 2 mean?

by John Callaham Feb 8th 2010 @ 9:30PM

During Electronic Arts' financial conference call with analysts, EA execs mentioned something in passing; they had "far reaching" plans for their just released sci-fi RPG Mass Effect 2 in their fiscal fourth quarter of 2011 (January-March 2011). While this may mean some kind of downloadable content for the game, the suggestion seems to be something more is in the works?

Is it a big expansion pack? Is it a full-fledged sequel to BioWare' acclaimed game (although that seems unlikely)? At the moment, EA is not saying what that "far reaching" statement means. An EA spokesperson would not comment to our sister site Joystiq on the matter, saying only, "Both Dragon Age and Mass Effect are referenced in the FY11 SKU plan." Hmmmm.....

Gallery: Mass Effect 2 Screenshots

Filed under: RPG, Mass Effect Series

Some Mass Effect 2 save games might not work in Mass Effect 3

by John Callaham Feb 8th 2010 @ 8:00PM

BioWare's cool way that they incorporate save games from the original Mass Effect into the new Mass Effect 2 will continue when BioWare comes out with Mass Effect 3 in two year's time. But Game Informer points out that not all Mass Effect 2 save games will work with the third game in the sci-fi RPG trilogy.

The reason? If the main character Shepard gets killed at the end of Mass Effect 2, well, that's a problem. BioWare's Casey Hudson states, "If you have a dead Shepard at the end of Mass Effect 2, that saved game won't import into Mass Effect 3. You can play Mass Effect 3 if you died in Mass Effect 2 of course, but you'll have to create a new Shepard." That means Shepard is supposed to appear in all three games so players should not be cavalier about using him in Mass Effect 2.

Gallery: Mass Effect 2 Screenshots

Filed under: RPG, Mass Effect Series

Free Mass Effect 2 armor and weapon coming Tuesday

by John Callaham Feb 8th 2010 @ 6:30PM

BioWare promised last week that some free downloads would be coming for Mass Effect 2 players and today they revealed that a new armor and a new weapon will be made available via the game's Cerberus Network sometime on Tuesday. The first item, the Cerberus assault armor, increase health, sheilds and heavy weapon ammo by 10 percent for the player character that uses it.

The new weapon that will be included in the update is the M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun which uses armor-piercing rounds and has a longer range than normal shotguns. If you use it be aware that this weapon "violates several intergalactic weapons treaties." Which of course makes us want this even more.

Gallery: Mass Effect 2 Screenshots

Filed under: Downloads, RPG, Mass Effect Series

Next Medal of Honor game now due in third quarter 2010

by John Callaham Feb 8th 2010 @ 6:00PM

It looks like Electronic Arts is going back to war a bit faster than anticipated. During their financial press release today, the publisher announced that their next Medal of Honor game is now currently scheduled to be released in their second 2011 fiscal quarter, which means a third quarter 2010 calendar release (between July and September).

The game's earlier release is perhaps a way for EA to get the game out before Activision releases their next Call of Duty game which, while not officially announced is expected to be released in the fall quarter of 2010. As we have reported before, the new Medal of Honor game is set in modern day Afghanistan and will feature a single player campaign made by EA's Los Angeles studios and multiplayer modes made by Digital Illusions.

Filed under: FPS, Multiplayer

EA cuts losses in latest financial results but still below expectations

by John Callaham Feb 8th 2010 @ 5:50PM

Electronic Arts has cut its losses for its last fiscal quarter but the final numbers were still below expectations from financial analysts. Today EA announced that revenues from their third fiscal quarter 2010 (which ended December 31, 2009) came in at $1.243 billion. This compares to revenues of $1.654 billion for the same period a year ago.

EA still suffered a net loss of $82 million for the past quarter but that's still a lot better than the loss of $641 million for the same period a year ago. EA had already warned investors that their quarter results would be below their previous predictions due in part to lower than expected holiday game sales.

Filed under: Biz

Epic-People Can Fly game due in first quarter 2011

by John Callaham Feb 8th 2010 @ 5:30PM

In the summer of 2008, Electronic Arts announced they would be publishing a new action game from developer Epic Games and their subsidiary People Can Fly (creators of the original Painkiller). Little has been revealed about the game since that announcement. Today, however, EA has confirmed a first quarter 2011 time frame for the game's release.

That falls inside EA's fourth quarter 2011 fiscal time schedule. Interestingly EA's press release states that the game will be a co-publishing deal but there's no word yet on what the other publisher will be. Last December, People Can Fly registered the name "Bulletstorm" but there's no word if that title is the one that will be used for this game.

Filed under: FPS

Three upcoming Need For Speed PC games in a year? [Update]

by John Callaham Feb 8th 2010 @ 5:00PM

For a short while it looks like Electronic Arts might abandon, or at least put on hold, their Need For Speed racing franchise after the poor critical notices and sales of 2008's Need For Speed Undercover. But the series got a lift thank to the release of Need For Speed Shift last year. Now as part of EA's financial press release today, they apparently have plans to release three Need For Speed games for the PC platform in their fiscal 2011 year.

Due out in the first fiscal quarter (April-June 2010) is the previously announced free-to-play game Need For Speed World Online. Two more games in the series will be released in the fall 2010 calendar quarter as well as the first quarter of the calendar year of 2011. It's very possible that one of those games will be developed by Criterion Games which has already been revealed as making a new Need For Speed game.

Update: During their financial conference call EA execs did confim that the Criterion-developed Need For Speed game would be released in the fourth quarter.

Filed under: Driving

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