Guildford, UK. — Electronic Arts announced on August 29, 2012, that for the first time ever in a professional league simulation sports video game, EA Sports NHL 13 has added female athletes as playable characters.

Former Team USA superstar Angela Ruggiero will join former Team Canada great Hayley Wickenheiser, both four-time Olympic Ice Hockey medalists, as playable legends in NHL 13. NHL Hall of Famers Doug Gilmour, Jari Kurri, and NHL legend Dominik Hasek will also be added to the roster of legends which includes the likes of Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

The NHL 13 demo is available for download now via Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. Promising the biggest year on year innovation to the franchise on this console generation, NHL 13 will be available on September 11, 2012 in North America and September 14, 2012 in Europe.

The addition of women’s hockey legends as playable characters within the EA Sports NHL franchise is the continuation of a commitment that the development team made to create greater representation for women’s hockey beginning with NHL 12.

“With the release of NHL 12 we added generic female characters in our Be a Pro mode based on a request from a 14-yr old female fan who emailed our staff because she felt underrepresented as a hockey videogame fan,” saidDean Richards, General Manager, NHL, EA Sports .“This year we are very excited to continue our effort of creating a more representative experience for female hockey fans by adding two of the greatest female athletes to ever play the game in Wickenheiser and Ruggiero to NHL 13.”

“The EA Sports NHL franchise took a big step last year by including female characters to create a more inclusive experience for female hockey fans,” said Hayley Wickenheiser. “I’m excited to be a part of NHL 13 and hope that the addition of women’s hockey legends will encourage greater participation in hockey from young women everywhere.”

Legends Integration in NHL 13

Legends in NHL 13 will be integrated across several modes:

• Be A Legend – gamers will experience the glory of playing their entire Be A Pro career as a legend as they attempt to shatter the most impressive records in hockey, achieve legendary milestones and complete legends tasks.
• Legends teams – Play as the legends team, Team Ruggiero or Team Wickenheiser, which are comprised of legends and current NHL greats in head-to-head play – within Play Now, Online and Battle for the Cup modes. Players on Team Ruggiero and Team Wickenheiser were selected by each athlete, respectively.
• Hockey Ultimate Team & Be a GM –Gamers will have the ability to add legends to any team roster in Be a GM mode, or collect ultra-rare legends cards and use them within their Hockey Ultimate Team experience.

Headlined by all - new True Performance Skating, and supported by an innovative new A.I. system dubbed EA Sports Hockey I.Q., NHL 13 will deliver a revamped gameplay experience that accurately captures the speed, creativity and strategy of NHL hockey.

In addition, NHL 13 will also deliver new experiences that connect hockey fans to their friends and the real world of hockey with the all-new GM Connected and NHL Moments Live modes.

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Guildford, U.K. –– Electronic Arts Inc. announced today that EA SPORTS has developed a new feature for FIFA 13 called EA SPORTS soccer Club Match Day that will drive the deepest and most meaningful connection yet between a videogame and the real world of sport ever achieved. FIFA 13 and the soccer season will be completely connected for the world’s top leagues. EA SPORTS soccer Club Match Day will drive real-world news ripped from the headlines around the world into FIFA 13. Real-world drama such as injuries, suspensions, team form, and media gossip will be reflected through in-game commentary and play out in-game.

“This is a huge technological innovation that will make every match feel like a seamless extension of the headlines ripped from the soccer pages around the world,” said David Rutter, Executive Producer of FIFA 13. “There is nothing bigger in the world of sports than match day. It brings together the emotions, passion and drama of the world’s sport for players, pundits, managers and fans alike. We are going to capture that experience and bring it to life in-game.”

Through EA SPORTS soccer Club Match Day, fans will be following the heartbeat of soccer and their favourite club. Real-world fixtures and upcoming clashes of their favourite club in the top leagues will enable them to play right along with the beats of the season. Player form—displayed in detail within the team management screens—will change frequently, so players in form, or players struggling to keep form, will see their stats change throughout the season based on their real-world performances. Plus, Games of the Week will highlight the top global matchups for fans to enjoy.

EA SPORTS soccer Club Match Day will be available for the PlayStation3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system, and PC, and will be included in a FIFA 13 demo for all three platforms that will launch around the world on September 11.

EA SPORTS also revealed on August 16th that it has expanded its most popular and addictive online mode, now called Seasons, to include 2v2 co-op ranked online play where friends can battle together in ten game seasons to win promotion in league divisions. Division Titles have been added to every division, and a new Trophy Cabinet enables champions to showcase their silverware.  Players can perfect their line-up and tactics across multiple Seasons matches, save the squads, and use them for every match. Plus, new match-making options enable fans to fine tune their Seasons experience.

The popular Seasons format has also been developed for FIFA Ultimate Team, bringing ranked online play with seasons, promotions, and relegation to the mode for the first time. In FIFA Ultimate Team fans can earn, buy, trade and bid for coveted players to build a team of the world’s best soccer stars. Fans can create and manage multiple squads and take them into competition in online and single-player tournaments. It’s now easier than ever to play Ultimate Team with a re-designed navigation system and the Icebreaker Flow, enabling inexperienced players to choose a team captain, such as Messi, Karim Benzema, Jakub Błaszczykowski or Claudio Marchisio, to begin a guided Ultimate Team journey.

Winner of the prestigious E3 Game Critics award for “Best Sports Game”, FIFA 13 captures the unpredictability of real-world soccer, ensuring no two matches are ever the same. The game features breakthrough gameplay innovations such as FIFA 13 First Touch Control and the Player Impact Engine that create a true battle for possession across the entire pitch and, features like Complete Dribbling and Attacking Intelligence that deliver freedom and creativity in attack. FIFA 13 is soccer’s Social Network, where fans connect, compete and share with millions of others around the world. A FIFA 13 trailer, screenshots and fact sheet are available at http://info.ea.com.

FIFA 13 will be available in stores on September 25 in North America and September 28 in the rest of the world for the PlayStation3 computer entertainment system with PlayStation Move support, Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system with Kinect, PlayStation Vita handheld entertainment system, Wii, PC, PlayStation2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo 3DS, and PSP (PlayStation Portable) system and later this year on Nintendo WiiU. The game will also be available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and later this year on Android. The game has not yet been rated.

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Dispite the not so impressive lineup from EA’s shooters and other respective genres, probably the biggest event from the Press Conference was their sports games. It was clear that EA Sports has put a lot of time and effort into their sports games to really leave a mark this year at E3.

First, EA announced Madden 13. Powered by the Infinity Engine, Madden 13 shoots for the most realistic physics engine to date. Madden 13 also introduces Connected Career, which combines various career modes from past games and integrates them into an expansive social network career campaign. In Connected Career, the player chooses between a variety of players, from the current roster to popular legends, and works to level them up by completing various tasks to earn experience (XP). Players also have the option to retire their player if they feel they want to change their position, where players will still retain their XP and status.

Players can also manage their team via PC, tablet, or iPad, and can keep up to date on events, status updates, or high scores through the direct twitter feed built into the game. Madden 13 really seems to bring a new life into the sports genre. Also for the Madden series, EA announced Madden Social, a free-to-play Madden game for facebook and various mobile devices. Madden Social is set to launch in the fall.

EA Sports also announced their next game in the FIFA franchise with FIFA 13. The FIFA series promises a new, more in-depth feel to the world of soccer (football outside the US) by incorporating the moves and reflexes of Lionel Messi, one of the world’s greatest soccer players. By incorporating Messi’s playing style, FIFA 13 promises to be one of the most realistic soccer games to date. As for returning fans, those who have FIFA 12 data retain their XP and recieve bonus supplies upon installing FIFA 13. FIFA 13 offers a connection to FIFA games on iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.

EA announced that EA Sports and the UFC will be coming together to release future UFC games through EA Sports, a big break for the UFC in the gaming industry. The future looks bright for the UFC for breaking away from THQ (Toy Headquarters) and joining up with one of the biggest sports game developers of all time.

This year is going to be a hard act for EA to follow, because EA has recently been announced as the worst company in the United States next to previous winners such as AIG and BP. More details about EA’s worst company award can be found here. This year does seem to be the year for EA Sports. With so much involvement in the social aspect of their sports games, and the recent acquisition of the UFC franchise, this year’s lineup of EA Sports games may finally be more than just a glorified DLC expansion of the sports genre.

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At EA’s Press Conference from E3 2012 on Tuesday June 5^th, they announced several games, mostly involving their sports department, EA Sports. EA offered three first-person shooters, a third-person shooter, a Sim game, a massive multiplayer online (MMO) expansion, a racing game, and four sports titles. Part one will cover from EA’s first-person shooters to their racing game.

The first-person shooters that EA announced were Battlefield 3 Premium, Medal of Honor Warfighter, and Crysis 3. Battlefield 3 Premium is a special network system that incorporates early access to future downloadable content (DLC) along with special customization for characters and dog tags. It also includes new weapons and vehicles. Four new DLC game maps will be available, including Close Quarters (a special infantry-only map), Armor Kill (A special vehicle focus map, which is one of the largest game maps to date), Aftermath (A game map that takes place at a city struck by an earthquake), and End Game (which introduces motorcycle combat vehicles). Battlefield 3 Premium is currently out for $49.99, along with the Close Quarters DLC.

The next first-person shooter EA announced was Medal of Honor Warfighter. After the failure of the reboot, simply known as Medal of Honor, this is another attempt by EA’s to revive the Medal of Honor series. However, the only selling points EA expressed for this series revival were the game’s use of the Frostbite engine, and, according to the promo video, the ability to choose which side you want to be on. Will this truly be the revival of the classic series or will it fade off like its previous title?

The last first-person shooter that EA announced was Crysis 3. Using its self-titled “Crysis Engine”, Crysis 3 seems to be a fresh light into the futuristic first-person shooter. Complete with beautiful details and cinematics, Crysis 3 brings intense first person action to this futuristic sandbox shooter.

The third-person shooter EA announced was Dead Space 3. Dead Space 3 seemed to take the survival horror out of third-person survival horror. With amazing action and beautiful direction, Dead Space 3 at first appeared to be a nice continuation of the Dead Space series. Yet this game completely ignores the basis of the Dead Space series. There was a lack in the survival horror aspect as well as the space aspect. With the press conference putting a heavy focus on the drop-in/drop-out multiplayer aspect, will Dead Space 3 be another Resident Evil 5, or will Dead Space break the boundaries between survival horror and action shooter?

EA also announced a return of the Sim builder series with SimCity. SimCity worked to push the limits of what the series was known for, and with the use of the Blast Box Innovation Engine, SimCity hopes to revolutionize the city building genre and bring the series back from its continuous slump. Some features of the New Sim City include trading with neighboring cities, global market trading, city specialization (which will influence the look of the city), as well as many multiplayer features including a shared city, trading with online neighboring cities, and controlling different cities in an open online region. Many of these features were not detailed during the EA Press Conference, but more details will can be found here.

Bioware, owned by EA, also came up to the stage to announce new expansions to their MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. Bioware announced that there will be new Player versus Player (PvP) warzone maps, ranked PvP character transfers, new available companions, a new playable species, and a new planet to explore. Bioware also announced that there will be a higher level cap, new challenges including a nightmare difficulty, and lastly, starting in July, Old Republic will be free to play up to level 15. Bioware promises to keep Old Republic fresh and up to date for their hardcore fans.

In the field of racing games, EA announced the new addition to the Need for Speed (NFS) series with Need for Speed Most Wanted. With the accepted reboot of Hot Pursuit and the failures that were Shift 2 and The Run, the Need for Speed series hopes to make another comeback with a reboot of Most Wanted. NFS hopes to continue with the more than acceptable success of Hot Pursuit by bringing back the autolog system and making it even more integrated than before, so that there would be a more in-depth competition between fellow online players as they compete to become the most wanted in this open world driving adventure.

The overall presentation of EA’s new games was a bit lackluster this year. But with a few highly anticipated games like Dead Space 3 and Crysis 3, EA hopes to bring its title out of the slump it had gotten itself into. Part 2 will continue with EA Sports’ game releases.

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‘NFL Blitz’ was a popular Midway Arcade series, now owned by EA, which was known for taking its own spin on football. The ‘NFL Blitz’ series was never a “true” adaptation of the sport; NFL simulators were meant for EA Sports’ ‘Madden’ and 2K’s ‘NFL Football 2K’ series while Blitz just stuck with the arcade formula and gave something the lighter sports fans could easily enjoy, chaos on the field and “late hits.”

The Blitz games allowed you to enter cheat codes prior to the game starting, which let you change the look of the field, ball, players, and some gameplay codes that can make things a little easier or harder for you. If you want to know more about Blitz’s history, click here.

On January 3, EA Sports released ‘NFL Blitz’ as a PSN and XBOX Live download. Before this, the last Blitz game to be released was ‘Blitz: The League 2’ in 2008. The League games took the most of the arcade elements out of the Blitz series and went for a more realistic style and brought Blitz into a new hyper violent sports game by including real, and sometimes nasty injuries.

It was because of this that the NFL license dropped from the Blitz games and the series took a downward spiral. Though still entertaining, they were no longer the Blitz series that everyone remembered. That is, until EA picked up the rights and returned Blitz to its former glory.

The Gameplay

For those of you new to the Blitz franchise, be ready for illegal moves, unrealistic plays, crazy teams, and the arcade classic invisible walls. In order to understand how and why these work, you have to know the two rules of Blitz:

Rule #1: There are no rules on the field. Any means for you to take out the ball carrier are allowed, including pass interference. If you are in threat of getting tackled, spin yourself to act as a shield or just knock down your opponents like bowling pins (sound effects included). You may also use your turbo meter to assist against your opponents. Though the meter runs out fast and slowly recharges, if you play your cards right, your team might burst into flames (literally) so you don’t have to worry about your turbo running out.

Rule #2: There are no out of bounds or offsides. There are invisible walls that keep you in the playing field and on your side of the field, until the play has started. This keeps the action simple and heated as well as helps give your character, in defensive position, a running start towards the QB as he runs in place on the line of scrimmage until the ball is hiked.

Worried about the two minute clock since you cannot run out of bounds? At the end of every play the clock stops. It’s just part of the rules of Blitz.

With EA’s revival of the Blitz series, they have returned Blitz to its bright colors, arcade controls, as well as the wacky character skins such as, Ninjas, Robots, Hotdogs, and many more including Zombies (Yes, they do the ‘Thriller’). Some of the new features brought into the series are:

• Blitz Gauntlet, which is where you face three sets of three teams in order to battle the bosses to unlock them as playable skins.
• Blitz Battles, where you go head to head with people online or even join up with a friend to battle others in two on two team battle.
• Elite League, where you build your own personalized team using your favorite players as well as banners and logos from your favorite teams to make your own personalized Blitz team.
• Online Coop, where you join up with an online friend to battle other online teams.
• The Blitz Store, where you use Blitz Bucks (earned through online play) to purchase logos and players for your custom team, gallery images, Fantasy Character skins, or cheat codes (All cheat codes can be used without having to purchase them, except for the fantasy characters).

EA’s ‘NFL Blitz’ is a true revival of the Blitz series and a fantastic game with solid gameplay for both sports and arcade fans. The only complaint I had with the game is that they did not allow late hits at the end of the plays. Besides that EA did a great job with reviving the Blitz series and the game itself does not disappoint.

Score: 4/5

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Announced in 2010 at the Spike Video Game Awards, the SSX games have been long awaited by snowboarding fans around the world. Known for their arcade style over-the-top tricks, the SSX series has always been about making the biggest, craziest, most impossible tricks on a snowboard. For 2012, the same can be said for the newest title, now simply dubbed SSX.

Originally titled SSX Deadly Descents, the title was shortened to SSX after fans commented on the serious nature of the initial teaser trailers. So far, other gameplay elements announced include the use of helicopters to facilitate tricks and drop offs into the mountain. Wing suits have also been introduced to help players navigate longer stretches of mountains, some of which treacherously are not covered by snow after a sheer cliff face jump.

Bigger and badder than ever before, EA announced that NASA topographical satellite data was included and also features GPS features and other high tech equipment for in game use. Reports on the game thus far show that the game will not be entirely open world since it will feature a set number of large expansive maps. It is said that developer EA Canada has planned for each map to still be large and not even close to linear and so far trailer footage proves this to be true.

Trailer footage so far has also shown the game featuring Deadly Descents, a set of environmental challenges that each player will face as they traverse the maps of the game. The element of Tree Obstacle, Ice, Low Visibility White-Outs, Lack of oxygen, Rocks, Avalanches, Lamp Light Total Darkness and a Temperature Gauge all serve the limit the players visibility, mobility or vitality.

Elements that plan to make a return to this game is the recurring characters. Fans will be happy to know that Mackenzie “Mac” Fraser and Kaori Nishidake as well as a host of others will be returning. Also returning is the famed soundtrack for which Run D.M.C’s “It’s Tricky” makes a comeback, headlining the music within the game.

With the last game having released solely for the Wii in 2007, titled SSX Blur, the SSX franchise is due to make a splash on current generation consoles. Prior to the 2007 release the first 2 games, SSX the original and its sequel SSX Tricky were for Playstation 2, Gamecube and Xbox. SSX3 and its Sequel SSX Tour were likewise released on the same console’s and yet 2007 saw the Wii exclusive release of SSX Blur, definitely left fans scratching their heads.

Publisher EA Sports and in-house developers EA Canada slate the game to release on February 28th of 2012 for PS3 and Xbox360. The EA Store itself, offers the game for pre-order under its store name ‘Origin’ with Elise’s Elite Snowboard with a character attribute boost. Gamestop currently has the best pre-order available for since it will come out with Bonus Character Eddie Wachowski himself, his Level 6 Elite Snowboard and a character attribute boost.

Amazon pre-order’s sadly don’t appear to include a character from the pre-order, but does include Mac’s level 6 Elite Snowboard and a character boost. Likewise, Bestbuy customers get the character boost  and Zoe’s Elite Level 6 with the pre-order. Wal-Mart is also jumping on the pre-order wagon, offering Kaori’s Elite Snowboard  with a character attribute boost.

The countdown continues as SSX once again tries to write itself into the history books for snowboard video game excellence. Trailers and interviews so far have shown the game to be an excellent and noteworthy addition to the SSX series. Hopefully on release day, fans will agree after having their own go. It has been a long time since a forward thinking, hard charging snowboarding game has hit consoles and it’s honestly about time.

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This February, Bud Light – the official beer sponsor of the NFL – is taking up residence in downtown Indianapolis for Super Bowl XLVI with the return of the Bud Light Hotel.

Beginning Thursday, Feb. 2, Bud Light will transform a 180-room downtown Indianapolis hotel (105 S. Meridian Street) into the premier destination for Super Bowl week entertainment. In addition to hosting exclusive parties from EA SPORTS and Playboy, the Bud Light Hotel will host a special concert featuring 50 Cent, Lil Jon and Bud Light-sponsored artist Pitbull the night before the Super Bowl and a special afternoon concert featuring the Barenaked Ladies before the game. The full Bud Light Hotel line-up of events includes:

• Thursday, Feb. 2 – EA SPORTS Madden Bowl XVIII (invitation only)
• Friday, Feb. 3 – The Playboy Party (invitation only)
• Saturday, Feb. 4 – 50 Cent, Lil Jon and Pitbull (doors open at 8 p.m.)
• Sunday, Feb. 5 – Barenaked Ladies (doors open at 2 p.m.)

Tickets for the Saturday and Sunday concerts are available throughout the Indianapolis metropolitan area, and more information can be found at www.BudLightHotel.com. Bud Light has also partnered with Yahoo! as the exclusive live broadcast partner of the Saturday night concert, ensuring fans across the country will be able to enjoy the Bud Light Hotel experience the night before Super Bowl XLVI.

The concert will be broadcast live on omg! from Yahoo!, the No.1 celebrity news site reaching more than 31 million fans per month at http://omg.yahoo.com/super-bowl-party-central and available on Yahoo! Screen (http://Screen.Yahoo.com), Yahoo!’s newly launched video destination.

“Bud Light Hotel has steadily become the epicenter of the entertainment during Super Bowl week, and we don’t know of any place in Indy where people can find a better, more diverse line-up of good times,” said Mike Sundet, senior director, Bud Light. ”And through our partnership with Yahoo!, we’ll liven up the Saturday night of music fans everywhere with the concert event of Super Bowl week.”

“The Bud Light Hotel concert has already become a signature Super Bowl week event that fans look forward to and now can experience this incredible line-up on Yahoo!,” said Ken Fuchs, VP, Yahoo! Media Network. “We are thrilled to be bringing this fantastic event exclusively to our 80 million music and sports fans around the country.”

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