Tag Archives: EA games

Unreal Engine To Get Competition for iPad From EA Games

Real Racing 3 2When Epic Games launched the Unreal Engine development kit for iOS, the world was floored at the advanced graphics capabilities. The software is used in such games as the Infinity Blade series, Dungeon Defender, and Unmechanical. Although EA Games has used the Unreal Engine in some of its titles, one of the company’s software development departments just announced the creation of a mobile engine called Frostbite Go that is expected to perform on the same playing field as Unreal Engine.

According to AppleInsider, Frostbite Go is currently in development by EA development team DICE. The new project plans to give EA game developers tools that will allow them to take Frostbite mobile.

From the company’s website:

“One of our most exciting current projects is called Frostbite Go, a mobile division empowering EA game developers with Frostbite’s proven excellent workflows and features to bring true Frostbite experiences to all major mobile platforms.”

The console and PC version of Frostbite has been used in such games as the Battlefield series, Need for Speed, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect. Frostbite Go is expected to push EA games further into the mobile gaming spotlight.

EA Games recently announced that it had plans to make most, if not all, of its future mobile games Freemium titles. So far, the company has not backed down from that statement. Real Racing 3 launched in the App Store on March 4 and quickly made Apple’s Editor’s Choice list. The game is free to download, but features a plethora of in-app purchases. In fact, EA Games’ top eight bestselling iPad games are all freemium titles.

If EA launches freemium titles that feature Frostbite Go, the company will be poised to take over as the biggest grossing game company in the App Store.

» Related posts: Baidu to be Added as a Search Engine Option on iPad and iPhone in China Wooga Abandons Developing Mobile Games on Facebook in Favor of iOS Apps Angry Birds Developer Rovio Plans to Publish iOS Games from other Developers

Real Racing 3 Hits App Store, Free To Download but will Cost a Fortune

RR3

EA Games has finally launched the much-anticipated Real Racing 3 for iPad. It is better looking than its two predecessors and, at a download price of free, is potentially the most expensive game in the trilogy.

Real Racing revolutionized mobile gaming by being the first game in its class graphically. Not only was it beautiful to look at, it was also fun to play. The follow up, Real Racing 2, was just as fun and had even more improved graphics. Now that the new iPad has a Retina display screen and a processor that is at least twice as fast as the third-generation model, the game developers at EA have maxed out the tablets performance.

The game is a whopping 3GB in size; so make sure you have a lot of free space on your device. It is better to download it to your computer first and then sync it with the iPad from iTunes since downloads actually require a significantly larger amount of free space than the file itself.

According to Touch Arcade, the game is excellent and the graphics are “console quality.” The controls are customizable for tilt-based gaming, on screen buttons, or a little bit of both.

There is a multiplayer mode where players can compete against friends through Facebook using the ghost driver style of competition. Ghost driver competition is when one player drives a track and another player, at a later time, drives the same track against the recorded, or ghost, version of the first player.

The game is time-based, so you’ll be waiting between races to be able to play. This is where the money-sucking part of the game comes in. Players can either wait around for oil changes, tune-ups and performance upgrades, or spend real money to speed up time and race again.

RR3_

It’s not a surprise that EA Games has chosen to make Real Racing 3 a Freemium game. The company’s CFO, Blake Jorgensen told conference attendees last week [Via: GameInformer] at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference that EA Games plans to integrate “microtransactions” into all of its upcoming titles.

“We’re building into all of our games the ability to pay for things along the way, either to get to a higher level to buy a new character, to buy a truck, a gun, whatever it might be, and consumers are enjoying and embracing that way of the business,” Jorgensen said.

It may seem to some that EA Games is ruining the gaming community by nickel and diming them at every turn. However, the numbers don’t lie and the company has been extremely successful at turning a profit on those willing to spend the money in-game as long as it means downloading it for free.

Real Racing 3 is free to download and available now in the App Store.

» Related posts: CSR Racing Makes Speed A Virtual Reality For You – iPad App Review Take on Your Friends in Mini Motor Racing HD – iPad Game Review Must Have Racing Games for Car Enthusiasts

Holy Macaroni! EA Game Slashes Prices of Games up to 90 Percent Off

EA Games

Electronic Arts mobile division always has the best sales on games in the iOS App Store and this holiday season is no different. Today, the company announced that more than 55 of its most popular titles are dropping to only $0.99. That is as much as 90 percent off of some titles.

This sale is nothing to sneeze at. EA Games has drastically reduced the price of such games as Need for Speed Most Wanted, normally priced at $6.99, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for iPad, regularly $9.99.

EA Games likes to launch these big sales so that their end-of-year download numbers look good. If you are a very patient person, you could postpone buying most of their expensive games until the holiday season. You’ll probably be able to save hundreds of dollars on the download price alone.

Check out EA Games in the App Store for a list of all games on sale. Below is a list of some of our favorites that have dropped to $0.99 for the holidays:

Dead Space for iPad (normally $9.99)

Mass Effect Infiltrator  (normally $4.99)

Mirror’s Edge for iPad (normally $9.99)

Risk: The Official Game for iPad (normally $6.99)

Tetris for iPad (normally $2.99)

Transformers: Dark of the Moon HD (normally $4.99)

Basically, you can get their entire selection of sale games. Not too bad if you ask me.

[Via: AppleInsider]

» Related posts: Telltale Games Gets Into The Holiday Spirit, Makes The Walking Dead Ep. 1 Free Barnes & Noble Slashes Price of Nook, Will iPad mini Compete With Super-Low Prices? Epic Games: Apple Poised to Compete Directly with Game Consoles with New iPad

EA to Release Epic Ultima RPG for iPad – Computer Geeks Rejoice!


Electronic Arts and BioWare recently announced at this year’s San Diego Comic Con that the classic role-playing game (RPG) Ultima is about to get a revival. Finally, the old-school computer gamers can relive their awkward teenage years of sitting in a dark room, drinking Mountain Dew and saving Britannia from the forces of evil.

Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar (guh, quick, someone come up with an acronym for this game, the title is way to long) will be released later this year to both the iPad and desktop computers. It will be fully integrated, cross-platform playable so gamers can play at home or on the go with the same account.

“With Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar, we’re excited to give gamers the opportunity to play a high quality game with their friends anytime, anywhere, on both iPad and PC.”

Although the game is not yet ready for mass production, fans of the game can sign up for a closed beta test at UltimaForever.com. Potential testers (and those who will want to eventually purchase the game) must have an Origin account. It is easy to sign up. Origin is EA Games and BioWare’s version of PayPal. It is basically how you purchase your game for download. If you don’t already have an Origin account, sign up at their website. You’ll have to be ready to create a couple of security questions and have your credit card on hand for future purchases.

According to IGN News, the new release is rumored to follow a similar storyline as Ultima IV, but will look and play like Diablo 3. The beta test will allow you to play as either a fighter or a mage so you can try out your combat and spell-casting skills. Although this game is scheduled to be a “freemium” game, BioWare is promising that you won’t have to buy items in order to continue playing. In-app purchases will be for aesthetic items and things to help you get through the game faster.

It is interesting to see that major game development companies are starting to move top-tiered games to the iPad. More and more, it is becoming clear that Apple’s tablet is a viable gaming unit. “There’s a fundamental shift underway in how gamers play and pay for games, and Electronic Arts is a leader in providing new business models and new ways to consume content,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, General Manager of EA’s BioWare Label and Co-Founder of BioWare. “With Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar, we’re excited to give gamers the opportunity to play a high quality game with their friends anytime, anywhere, on both iPad and PC.”

For more information on the status of the future release of UFQA, you can follow them on Twitter or Like the game on Facebook.

No related posts.

Grand Theft Auto 3, Burnout Crash, new PopCap title coming to iOS

This week not only brought iOS 5 to us, but it also brought a number of solid releases on the App Store (including the great Scribblenauts Remix). We're far from done, however: A few different big gaming companies have announced some really high profile iOS releases still coming later on this year. First up, Rockstar Games is going to be releasing (the now 10-year-old classic) Grand Theft Auto 3 on iOS for the game's anniversary. GTA3 was the first title in the series to make the jump to 3D, and it's a landmark title in the open world crime genre that's been copied over and over since then. The game will be compatible with the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2, and it'll be playable this weekend at the New York Comic Con.

EA Games has also announced that the XBLA and PSN title Burnout Crash is coming to the iPad, iPad 2, and iPhone 4 later on this year. Burnout Crash is an arcade-style title that turns the popular Burnout racing series in a more puzzle-style game, where you try to crash as many cars as possible from a top-down perspective. The game didn't do great on the other downloadable platforms, but maybe touch controls will help it out.

And finally, PopCap, makers of the terrific Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled titles, among others, have announced that they're releasing a brand new iOS game called Popcorn Dragon. The player controls a dragon that can breathe fire on corn to pop it, and then can eat that corn to grow longer, kind of like the old game Snake. The screens on that one look... interesting -- we'll have to wait and see how it turns out. Then again, PopCap always seems to know what it's doing. All three of these are due out on iOS later on this year.

Grand Theft Auto 3, Burnout Crash, new PopCap title coming to iOS originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source

Burnout Crash! Colliding Soon with an iPad near you


EA Games has just announced the upcoming release of its top-down crash-em-up game Burnout Crash! for iOS devices. The popular game, already available for Xbox Live and Playstation Network is scheduled to be released sometime this holiday season.

If you have never played the game, the goal in Burnout Crash! is to cause as much mayhem as possible in a city intersection by creating explosions, causing multi-car pile-ups and raining down as much destruction as possible to the unsuspecting motorists in your path.

The iPad and iPhone/iPod touch version will be just as destructive. From EA Games’ website:

Use intuitive taps and swipes to steer vehicles, trigger explosions, and rack up ridiculous scores across three game modes, 18 traffic junctions, and six unique locations. In addition to a rocking 80s soundtrack featuring Vanilla Ice and Gloria Estefan, you can look forward to Autolog support to connect, compare, and compete with friends and rivals.

There is no information at this time as to how much the iOS game will cost or the official release date, but keep your eye out. This game is sure to be a big hit (pun intended).

Burnout Crash (Xbox)

Madden NFL 12 for iPad is Here – iPad App Review

It is an exceedingly difficult task to replicate the experience of spectating or participating in a live sporting event, but Electronic Arts (EA) has taken their rightful place as the clear leader in not only sports games but the entire iPad gaming market.

The journey that EA has taken developing the Madden franchise across multiple consoles has been a long one, but their venture into the creation of iPad versions has just begun. Madden NFL 12 is the gaming giant’s latest venture into the rapidly expanding iPad market.

Madden NFL 12 for the iPad boasts several noticeable upgrades from Madden NFL 11 such as graphics improvements and surprisingly accurate stadium environments. The styling of the game has also shifted to a graffiti scheme which seems more like EA’s style.

There are varying game modes, which will satisfy anyone from the casual gamer to the seasoned team manager. One particularly notable option is to “relive” the previous (2010/2011) seasons’ playoffs by playing as either the Green Bay Packers or New Orleans Saints.

Controls are almost self explanatory with a standard joystick on the left and 2 or more options on the right (depending on the situation). One omnipresent button is the slow-time button which will allow players to select from a different set of more complicated moves once activated.

As the actual football goes, the offensive playbooks are fairly limited to passing plays. Defensively, there are enough choices to put up a good fight at every difficulty. Kicking is intuitive with a touch style flick, one of the few smooth controls in the game.

There do however, seem to be a few bumps in this step to EA’s complete iPad supremacy. Although no one should expect to be able to compare the performance of any iPad game with a console version, there are certain expectations regarding quality, and with this particular venture EA seems to have fallen short.

What I liked: Updated rosters, playbooks, and stadiums give the insider feel to the game that anyone would expect from a game with an NFL label on it.  The ability to play music stored on the iPad during gameplay is also a nice feature.

What I didn’t like: Freezes, crashes, lag, and poor frame rate are not issues normally associated with EA games, but Madden NFL 12 is plagued by them. Tackling is non-existent, there may as well be no running plays in the playbook, and the graphics are less than impressive.

To buy or not to buy: If you are a fan of the Madden franchise or looking for a football game, hold off on buying this one and save your money for a console version instead. Hopefully as time goes on EA will iron out the kinks.

App Name: Madden NFL 12 Version Reviewed: 1.0.2 Category: Games Developer: Electronic Arts Inc. Price: $9.99 Score:

EA Acquiring PopCap Games Creates Mobile Gaming Dynamic Duo

PopcapIt was announced this week that gaming giant, Electronic Arts, has acquired PopCap games in a deal rumored to be worth over $1.3 billion when you tally the cash, stocks and performance based payouts. This move is considered to be very symbiotic: EA gets to add a considerable number of digital device ready games to their arsenal and PopCap gains the power and reach of a first class game distributor.

We’ve all played a PopCap game. In fact, it’s likely safe to say that we’ve all experienced an addiction to a PopCap game. Maybe even several. With titles under their belt like Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies and Zuma, PopCap has established themselves as leaders of the casual gaming experience for your iOS device, Android device, PC and favorite social networking site.

This merger likely has a few smaller development houses (not to mention independent developers) concerned. With an existing catalog to draw from and evolve along with the combined clout of these two companies, it may become very difficult to compete let alone get noticed.

Reports of the sale have been sparse on details regarding what will happen next. It hasn’t been announced whether existing PopCap games will be rebranded or how things may change, both on the surface and with regards to content.

Though the deal is subject to all of the standard regulatory approvals and closing conditions, it is expected to take effect in August 2011.

Electronic Arts enjoys being a global leader in gaming entertainment. Having been responsible for blockbuster titles such as The Sims, Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer and Need for Speed, their game franchises have been adopted by over 100 million registered players worldwide.

PopCap has made their mark with fun, easy to learn and easy to play games that are enjoyed by people of all ages and attention spans. They proudly boast that their premiere title, Bejeweled, has sold over 50 million copies.

EA Readies New iOS Versions of Battlefield, FIFA, Madden While Activision Ponders

When the first generation iPad hit the streets over a year ago several video game companies took notice immediately. The iPad opened up a new business segment to some of the big game titles. But, when Apple launched the iPad 2 this year it cemented the strategy for some of the big heavyweight video game producers.

Electronic Arts (EA) has been focused on iOS ever since. This week, the company made clear they will further focus on bringing its major console franchises to the iPad and iPhone. However, Activision seems to be taking a different approach.

EA Interactive released a new promotional video that clearly demonstrates the company’s commitment to Apple’s iOS. The video shows upcoming editions of racing game Need For Speed, soccer’s exciting FIFA, and the always popular Madden.

Most of us in the gaming community are well aware of the wild success Activision has experienced with its Call of Duty series. EA plans to combat Activision in the late fall with its upcoming release of Battlefield 3, which has been touted as EA’s answer to the Call of Duty series. The iOS version of Battlefield is briefly shown running on the iPad on the video below.

EA is clearly committed on taking full advantage of Apple’s mobile operating system and all iOS devices. It is clear that EA will take full advantage of iOS 5′s AirPlay Mirroring for the iPad 2. Sure, iOS 5 doesn’t bring native support for apps/games on the Apple TV, but its AirPlay Mirroring capabilities allows gamers to display exactly what is on their iPad to an external display. EA certainly wants to provide flexibility to its gaming community.

On the other hand, Activision has resisted a complete move towards mobile gaming. In a recent NY Times interview, Activision’s CEO Eric Hirshberg, explained “There are 400,000 apps in the iTunes app store,” Mr. Hirshberg said. “I don’t want to be number 400,001.” Mr. Hirshberg is clearly talking about the app discoverability issue some developers have faced with the huge growth around the App Store. It is hard to blame Activision for this statement. After all, the company made over $650 million in just five days (earlier this year) from the sale of its latest title, Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Let me be clear. Activision has introduced some games on mobile platforms, and will probably focus certain titles towards the mobile community. However, it seems the company is focusing the big heavyweight titles to gaming consoles, including Microsoft XBox and Sony PlayStation, which according to Mr. Hirshberg “offer the best possible experience for gamers with higher-quality graphics and processing power.”

To this end, I guess we will have to wait a while before we see a mobile version of Call of Duty for the iPad. Activision recognizes the strong appeal and acceptance of the iPad 2 and iOS, but it seems that EA is more determined on exploring the mobile market and will continue to be very active around Apple’s products.

NBA Jam for iPad Available Now


Just in time for the NBA playoffs, EA has released an extremely popular and classic arcade game. That’s correct, NBA Jam joined the iPad frenzy today.

The original NBA Jam is a basketball arcade game developed by Midway in 1993, which set the mark for a whole new genre of sports games back in the 1990s. Now, that same action-packed game-play joins the iPad.

NBA Jam has been a blast to play on the iPhone. But, on the larger iPad display it will be even better to play. In case you’re not familiar with NBA Jam, the key feature has always been the exaggerated nature of the game-play. NBA players play way above the normal level, jumping many times above their own height, throwing down slam dunks that definitely defy the laws of physics. The game is pure action. There are no fouls, normal violations or free throws.

Get ready for the full action, amazing graphics, the over-the-top, high-flying, 2-on-2 arcade basketball action just like you should remember it from the classic arcade game days. EA has also added local multi-player support, so that you can go head-to-head against your friends on iPhone/iPod touch or iPad via local WiFi and Bluetooth.

I can honestly say that NBA Jam was great on the iPhone, but with the iPad larger screen it becomes a must download. If you’re not sure about getting the game, you can always download the recently released lite (free) version and give it a try.

NBA Jam for the iPad is available now for $9.99.

» Related posts: