ea-sports posts

Electronic Arts may not be too fond of PC versions of their retail sports games but there's one big exception:the world of soccer. The publisher continues to release PC ports of its FIFA-based games and today the company announced plans for FIFA Manager 11, the latest game in their sports management sim series.

Due for release sometime this fall, the new game is being made by the Germany-based developer Bright Future. This is the 10th annual installment of the series and EA Sports says it is "a leap forward in virtual football management" Among its many new features and improvements is an expanded version of its online mode which was first introduced in last year's version of the game.

Two years ago, EA Sports decided to no longer make the Madden NFL pro football games for the PC. Now comes word that the NFL is finally coming back to the PC platform but EA Sports has nothing to do with it. Rather it's Quick Hit Football, the browser-based game that launched last September, that's bringing the NFL to PC sports players.

While there's not yet a start date for the launch of the NFL on Quick Hit Football, players will be able manage and coach their favorite NFL team when support begins. Kotaku reports that the NFL license does not yet include the rights to the actual players on NFL team. Still its a huge day for football fans for the PC that have been waiting a long time to have some kind of official NFL experience.

Fans of The Sims 3 and Sex and the City may be amused by this parody trailer based on the Sex and the City 2 movie commercials. The latest expansion, The Sims 3 Ambitions, released recently and introduced a number of new professions, but somehow we doubt any of them include city socialite. As an added note, since this is The Sims, shouldn't this video be called Whoo-Hoo and the City?

Download The Sims 3 'Sex and the City 2' Parody Video (12 MB)
Check out all The Sims 3 downloads

After nearly a year of private and open beta testing, Electronic Arts had decided to officially launch Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online, their browser-based pro golf game. Obviously the launch is being timed to take atvantage of Tiger Woods' return to pro golf at the Masters tournament later this week.

While we assume there is no hidden Tiger Woods-Elin Woods fighting game in this title (although how cool would that be, huh?) the final product allows anyone to play for free on a limited amount of courses. For a subscription fee ($9.99 per month or a $59.99 yearly fee) you get access to more content and features. You can also purchase packages of points that will give players access to purchasing in-game items from the Pro Shop or rounds of golf.

EA Sports still hasn't been forgiven by many PC sports gamers for pretty much getting rid of their entire PC sports game lineup a couple of years ago. The publisher has been making a tiny effort to get back into PC gaming since then in the US with the browser-based Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online (now in beta) and the upcoming release of EA Sports FIFA Online.

Now Bloomberg reports that a version of Madden NFL Football might be heading to the PC . . .via Facebook. EA Sports Peter Moore is quoted as saying, "We have to make 'Madden' more accessible You'll see us on Facebook going forward." There's no word yet on when this might happen but we bet that the game will be designed around microtransactions like most successful Facebook games. Of course, we know PC sports gamers just want a port of the console Madden game but don't look for that to happen anytime soon, if ever.

EA Sports has been putting more of an emphasis on free-to-play PC games. They started with their Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online game and now UK players will soon get their chance at the genre with the upcoming launch of EA Sports FIFA Online. The soccer game will start closed beta testing on February 4.

The game is designed to give sports gamers a quick soccer game fix. The first closed beta test will let 20,000 people try out the game and more will be added before the European version launches its open beta in June. North American players will get their chance to try the game out sometime in the next 12 to 24 months.

While Electronic Arts has already stated their endorsment deals with pro golfer Tiger Woods would continue, EA Sports head Peter Moore apparently decided to reinforce that statement in light of other businesses dumping Woods in the last few weeks. Late on Monday Moore posted up word on his official blog site that the current PC browser-based game Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online would continue to use his name and likeness. The game itself, which has been in closed beta testing for several months, will launch an open beta phase later in January.

So why stick with Woods when others are leaving him? Moore states, "By his own admission, he's made some mistakes off the course. But regardless of what's happening in his personal life, and regardless of his decision to take a personal leave from the sport, Tiger Woods is still one of the greatest athletes in history." EA has been working with Woods since 1997 and Moore states, "We struck that partnership with the assumption that he would remain near or at the top of his sport for years to come."

Unless you have been living without TV, radio or internet access in, say, Tahiti for the past couple of weeks you know about pro golfer Tiger Woods' "situation". The embarrassing mess that Woods has had to deal with caused him late this week to announced that he won't be playing pro golf for an "indefinite" period of time.

Officially Electronic Arts, one of many companies that has an endorsement deal with Woods, is sticking by the golfer. This year EA Sports announced their plans to launch a PC browser-based game, Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online, that was supposed to be an example of EA Sports' new approach to PC games The game has gone through a number of closed beta tests for several months but at the moment EA has suspended the beta testing. An open beta is scheduled to launch sometime in January.

This is the playable demo for FIFA Manager 10.

"The demo of FIFA MANAGER 10 contains all the available game modes such as the 3D game, text mode, videotext and instant results. That means the players can try out, among other things the improved 3D match engine featuring your manager on the sideline and the new user interface with resolution up to 1920x1200."

Download FIFA Manager 10 Demo (897 MB)

People who used to watch VH1 back in the day before it was taken over by reality TV shows might remember a show called Pop-Up Video. In it, little bits of trivia and commentary would appear in bubbles as music videos played. It looks like the FIFA 10 team took the idea and ran with it when they put together this trailer, although all the popping can potentially get on your nerves. Want to see if messages in these talk bubbles are true? The FIFA 10 demo can be downloaded here.

Download HD FIFA 10 Pop-Up Trailer (123 MB)
Download FIFA 10 Demo (2.16 GB)
Check out all FIFA 10 downloads