electronic-arts posts

While the game's official web site has not posted this news year, Eurogamer is reporting that BioWare has revealed the latest player class for their long awaited MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. During a press event for the game, it was revealed that the Imperial Agent will be one of the eight player classed in the game.

The Imperial Agent, who obviously is with the Empire faction, sounds like the game's version of a super-spy as they have access to lots of high technology and do their work behind the scenes. The Imperial Agent joins the previously revealed classes of Jedi Knights, Smugglers and Troopers on the Republic side and the Sith Warriors and Bounty Hunters working for the Empire. Two more classes are unrevealed.

Warhammer Online has been live to the public for over a year now but developer Mythic Entertainment is still refining the fantasy MMO's marketing in terms of bringing new people to the game. Today they announced that they are dumping their 10 day free trial of the game in favor of an "endless" free trial.

What does this mean, exactly? Well instead of having the game not be playable any longer after 10 days without paying for it you can continue to play Warhammer Online in a limited fashioned for as long as you want with the new trial version. You can play a character with any of the careers and take that character up to level 10. You are also limited to some of the tier one locations in the game. It also has the newly launched New User Journey that gives new players more extensive tutorials on how to play the game. Finally the new free trial allows people to start playing after a certain amount is downloaded; the rest of the game's content is streamed in while you play.

You may remember a few days ago that folks were getting scammed into sending their personal info thanks to a fake Battlefield Bad Company 2 beta sign up dealie. Well today we have some official news about the beta test for the upcoming first person shooter.

First the bad news: Folks who have a PS3 will get first crack at the beta test for the Digital Illusions-developed game. The PS3 beta begins on November 19 via a code that folks can get when the pre-order the game from several retailers. The good news is that the PC version of the beta will be launched sometime in December and a full blown multiplayer demo will be released for all of the game's platforms in early 2010 ahead of the game's release on March 2.

It's not exactly a shock at this point but today BioWare and Electronic Arts announced plans to release a Collector's Edition of their upcoming sci-fi RPG sequel Mass Effect 2. Due out on January 26 alongside the standard edition the PC version will cost $59.99.

So what do you get for that extra $10? Well we do like the tin case packaging that you can see to the right. You also get an extra behind-the-scenes DVD, a 48 page art book and the first issue of Dark Horse's upcoming Mass Effect Redemption comic book. The Collector's Edition will also have some unique in-game weapons and armor to use. We just hope that stuff isn't as hard to redeem as the Dragon Age: Origins extra content is turning out to be.

While BioWare's just released RPG Dragon Age: Origins is getting great reviews on its own, the same cannot be said of how the game has handled its promised downloadable content. People who bought the game were promised three bits of DLC for the game's release; a new quest, a new character for your party and a new suit of armor. But the process of obtaining said downloads has proven frustrating for at least some owners of the game.

The main issue is that players have to have an account for BioWare's new social networking web site and a separate account for the game's publisher Electronic Arts. Many owners of the game have reported via various message boards that they have encountered issues getting their DLC download codes to work with these accounts with some even having issues signing in with the accounts themselves. A message board post on BioWare's social site has some unofficial workarounds and troubleshooting solutions for these issues. However it's pretty clear that BioWare and EA are making lots of people upset with the number of hoops they need to go through to get the downloadable content they paid for.

It looks like the trailer and web site that was launched late last weekend that looked like an official promo for the upcoming American McGee's Alice remake was not official after all. McGee's blog site has posted up word that the trailer " . . . does not represent any of the final art direction or story elements in Alice 2."

Even though the video is not an official promo for the game McGee admitted in a forum post on his site that the creator of the video, Troy Morgan is a friend of his. Morgan posted on his official site that the video was made as an ad pitch to McGee and the game's publisher Electronic Arts. McGee also admitted he helped in launching the ReturnofAlice.com web site where the video was previously hosted.

However he still states, " . . . *i* never said the thing was "official". i distinctly remember saying the word "unofficial" - which last time i checked means the opposite of official." He also admits that his efforts to highlight the efforts of a fan have caused him some problems with EA. He adds, . . . "i *wish* we could release actual official stuff. but we can't. because we live in communist controlled china - oh wait... not because of that. for another reason. i won't dare mention it. i might get in MORE trouble."

There's a lot of poor writing in games. Most of the storylines and dialog are simplistic at best. So it's always interesting to learn that an acclaimed author is being brought in to help in the writing process for games. That's exactly what's happening with UK-based sci-fi author Richard K. Morgan.

In a new post on his web site, the author of novels like Altered Carbon has revealed he has been working with Electronic Arts as a writing consultant for three unannounced upcoming games. It's not likely that he's writing for The Sims or Madden. Indeed he says all of the games he is working on are sci-fi based. He seems very happy with the relationship and in terms of writing for games he says, "The field is open, the potential huge and, in story terms, only just beginning to be properly tapped."

[Via Kotaku]

Electronic Arts is getting a few weeks ahead of the annual Black Friday sales push by holding their own in-house sale at their online EA store. From now until Saturday all in stock games are on sale for 20 percent off their normal price. This sale doesn't apparently include the most recent EA release Dragon Age: Origins.

More mid-week sales include GoGamer.com which has a number of PC games on sale until 3 am Eastern Time Saturday. Sales price cuts include F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin for $14.90, Borderlands for $36.90 and Overlord 2 for just $9.90. Finally Steam has taken 30 percent off the recent zombie shooter Nation Red.

We have seen games license music from others but soon you may hear game music tunes in other areas like movies and TV shows. Variety reports that Electronic Arts has signed a five year deal with Extreme Music to have them represent over 2,000 music cues from EA's game music library to other companies.

That means you could be hearing that classic theme from the Battlefield games in, say, an action movie trailer or TV show. EA's music includes work from renowned movie composers like Michael Giacchino (who created the terrific music for the Medal of Honor games) and Hans Zimmer.

Some of you may remember that BioWare hyped up all the downloadable content plans they had for the release of the original Mass Effect. However all we got after the game shipped was one downloadable mission and another release, over a year later, that added a combat arena. In other word, the hype didn't live up to the reality.

Now the hype has started again as Destructoid reports they have gotten a look at a quiz from Microsoft designed for retailers. According to their story, the quiz says that BioWare's upcoming sequel, Mass Effect 2, has plans for all sort of downloadable content after the sci-fi RPG is released in late January. The downloads are supposed to include small additions like weapons and characters all the way to new downloadable worlds and campaigns. Frankly we have heard this song and dance before. We will welcome anything we can get, of course, but in this case we will believe it when we download it.