EA Games has announced that it’s shutting down game servers for a lot of sports games, in particular, 20 of them. And some of them are quite new, like Madden 09, which has been out less than a year and a half. Great way to force gamers to upgrade to the latest versions, EA. The full list of games that will have no online multiplayer after February 2:
* UEFA Champions League 07 – PC and Xbox 360
* Facebreaker – Xbox 360 and PS3
* Fantasy Football 09 – Xbox 360 and PS3
* FIFA 07 – PSP, PS2, PC
* Fight Night Round 3 – PS2
* Madden 08 – Wii
* Madden 08 – PC
* Madden 09 – Xbox 1
* Madden 09 – Wii and PSP
* March Madness 07 – Xbox 60
* NBA Live 07 – PSP, Xbox 360
* NBA Live 08 – PS2, PSP, Wii
* NBA Live 09 – Wii (Europe only)
* NBA Street (2007) – PS3 and Xbox 360
* NCAA Football 08 – PS2
* NCAA Football 09 – PS2
* NASCAR 08 – PS2
* NASCAR 09 – PS2
* NASCAR 09 – PS3 and Xbox 360 (Europe Only)
* NFL Tour – PS3 and Xbox 360
* NHL 07 – PSP and Xbox 360
* NHL 08 – PC
* Tiger Woods 07 – PC
* Madden 09 – Xbox 360 and PS3
* Madden 07 – Xbox 360
More news continues to flow out of the Game Developers Conference currently going on in San Fransico, and it only continues to get better.
For you iPhone lovers out there, EA has recently announced their plans to bring the Madden, Fifa, SSX, and NHL franchises to the handheld device.
And, according to Pocketgamer, when asked if the game’s controls will translate over to the iPhone’s touch interface properly, EA’s Travis Boatman responded with “We’re taking those challenges head on”.
A San Francisco federal court has ordered the National Football League Players Association to pay retired NFL players $28.1 million following a legal dispute over royalties, including unpaid licensing profits from the Madden videogame series.
The court had earlier passed a $7.1 million judgment in favor of the players last November. This new lawsuit, filed on behalf of 2, 062 former NFL players, adds $21 million in damages to the total sum.
The retired players were part of the games’ recreations of classic NFL teams. It was argued by the NFLPA that the retired players were not covered under its deal with EA.
Those rednecks are at it again! When Michael’s son bought a copy of Madden NFL 09 using his Christmas money, the kid got – uh – less than he bargained for. Instead of getting the game disc and the accompanying manual, he found a blank disc labeled “Redneck Shit”.
No, he didn’t buy an used copy, though, as the game packaging sported all of the usual security stickers. However, Michael found that scotch tape was used to reseal the game’s shrinkwrap, leading him to speculate that someone else bought the game and returned it – without disc – to the local Walmart.
They are expected to “Redneck Shit” for a genuine copy of the game today. To Michael and his son: Godspeed.
Following word of layoffs at Black Box, Gamasutra reports that over 200 people have been affected by the massive job cuts at the Skate series developer.
The site points out that the studio’s 350-strong workforce has essentially been halved by the move. It was previously reported that EA would close the studio and move its staff to nearby office to work on associated franchises.
Meanwhile, in more bad news, The Orlando Sentinel reports that Madden developer EA Tiburon recently laid off an undisclosed number of employees.
EA has been implementing its cost-cutting strategy as of late, noting that it will reduce its workforce by 10%.
If you’re thinking of putting down bets on this year’s upcoming Super Bowl you might want to ponder taking EA’s recent prediction into consideration.
EA updated both the Steeler’s and Cardinal’s stats to the most rated listings, and then ran a game. The outcome was 28-24 with the Steelers on top.
To give you a little background on EA’s customary simulation; they have been running it since 2004 using the latest version of Madden NFL and, to date, they have correctly predicted the winner of 4 out of 5 times.
In fact, the only error they had was of last year’s Giant’s victory which was a major upset to just about everyone.
Read (Kotaku)
EA is currently implementing its cost-cutting plan, which will see the company shed 10% of its global workforce due to the deepening recession. The latest victims of the plan are Madden developer Tiburon and Skate 2 developer Black Box, according to recent reports.
Kotaku reports that while EA has said that it will close Black Box, the studio’s teams and “associated game franchises” are being moved to a nearby office, with the site noting that all of Black Box’s staff won’t be able to make the jump.
Meanwhile, Gamasutra reports that “multiple staffers” have been let go at Tiburon, though no additional details were offered.
The megapublisher is said to cut more jobs in its lineup of studios, with Mythic Entertainment and Pandemic Brisbane rumored to also be affected.
In recognition of October being breast cancer month, Electronic Arts is releasing a limited edition of Madden ’09. Proceeds from the game will go to the Deanna Favre(Brett Favre’s wife) HOPE Foundation. Senior product manager, Anthony Stevenson, commented on the decision of EA to make Madden Pink.
“EA is honored to team up with Deanna Favre and Target in the fight against breast cancer. Almost everyone has been affected by this disease in some way, so we’re eager to give our passionate fans an opportunity to participate in finding a cure.”
Madden Pink can be purchased solely from Target, who will likewise donate the proceeds. Madden pink will only be available for the duration of October.
