EA Pays Jim Brown $600,000 to Settle Madden Lawsuit

In 2008, former Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown filed a lawsuit alleging that EA used his likeness in their successful Madden franchise without his permission. That lawsuit is finally wrapping up, and Jim Brown is going to see a big payday as a result.

EA and Hagens Berman, the firm representing Brown, have finally reached a settlement. As part of the settlement, Jim Brown will take home $600,000, which ESPN says is a significant amount. As it turns out, your average Madden cover athlete allegedly only gets paid $500,000 for that gig.

The lawsuit came after EA asked to use Brown in Madden as part of a feature which would allow users to play with historical teams, including Brown’s team which won the title all the way back in 1964.

Brown alleged that EA created a character in the game that was similar to Brown in every aspect in order to get around the likeness issue. The goal for Brown seems to be to set a precedent rather than to seek compensation, as he said in a statement.

“I took a stand for all athletes and laid a framework for future plaintiffs with my great legal team,” Brown said in the statement. “Hopefully, this is a step forward in getting companies like Electronic Arts to recognize the value that athletes have in selling their products.”

Interestingly, Hagens Berman was also part of the team of lawyers that represented NCAA players in another likeness lawsuit that wrapped up earlier this year. It seems that 2016 has been a big year for likeness lawsuits in video games.

EA Pays Jim Brown $600,000 to Settle Madden Lawsuit

Criterion Games Extreme Sports Title Canceled, Developer to Pursue Star Wars License

Criterion Games, known for their Burnout franchise, was working on an extreme sports game that would allow for open world gameplay and a variety of extreme sports. The game was first shown at E3 2014 in the prototype phase with no title, and has since gone MIA.

Now, the game is back in the news, thanks to a comment from EA confirming that the game is no longer in development. A representative for EA told GameSpot earlier today that Criterion was no longer working on the game, and that the studio would shift their focus to the Star Wars franchise.

“While they’ve moved on from the previous project they’ve spoken about and aren’t pursuing it, they are continuing to build new ideas and experiment with new IP for EA, in addition to continuing to collaborate with other EA studios,” the representative said when speaking to GameSpot.

Criterion had previously worked on the speeder bikes in Star Wars Battlefront, and will also be contributing to the development of EA’s Star Wars Battlefront VR game.

If you’re looking to get your open world extreme sporting fix, no need to fret. While the development on Criterion’s untitled project has ceased, Ubisoft has stepped up to the plate with Steep, a game with a similar premise that was announced at E3 this year.

We’re mourning the loss of what could have been a great new IP, but we’re excited to see what Ubisoft can do with Steep. You can watch the trailer for the game released at E3 below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do5d4PAz4rA

Criterion Games Extreme Sports Title Canceled, Developer to Pursue Star Wars License

Everything We Saw at E3 2016

E3 is finally over, and there’s a lot to talk about. Okay, so it’s technically been over since Thursday evening, but we’ve finally had a chance to catch our breath and are ready to get back to our regular programming!

This might have been our second year attending the trade show, but we’re still learning about the whole process. So if you’ve noticed that we’ve been posting a bit less than usual, sorry about that! Two years in and we’re still nailing down the process for getting everything published from the event.

Still, we’ve got a lot of stuff coming for you, both on the website and on YouTube. We’ve actually been hard at working posting videos from EA Play this year, so if you’d like to see that content before it hits the website, I’d recommend heading over to our YouTube channel and subscribing.

That said, we’ve still got a lot coming, so expect to see more content from E3 on the website within the next week. For now, we’d like to break it down and talk about some of the things we saw at the convention center this year, as well as some of what we saw at EA Play!

EA’s press conference

Unfortunately, we sat this press conference out like everyone at home, but there were a surprising number of details revealed for Madden 17 and FIFA 17. For Madden, we got a new trailer, as well as details on EA’s plans to bring Madden eSports to a new level with $1 million in prizes.

FIFA 17 got much the same treatment, with the introduction of a story mode and an accompanying trailer showcasing Alex Hunter as the game’s protagonist.

Speaking of Madden eSports, EA also took the time to introduce the 8 players that would be competing for the title of Madden 16 Champion during EA Play.

Microsoft’s press conference

We did a few posts about what Microsoft revealed during their press conference, but there’s a lot that just didn’t make the cut. If there’s one thing to say about E3 as someone who just attended for their first year, it’s that it’s incredibly busy. There isn’t always time for everything.

Microsoft opened up their press conference by announcing that a new, sleeker version of the Xbox One would be available for purchase during this holiday season. As you’ve probably already heard, this information had already leaked prior to the press conference, but it still ended up being one of the biggest pieces of news.

Interestingly, Microsoft also announced their plans for a new piece of hardware called Project Scorpio. You’ve probably heard plenty about that as well, since it was also leaked well before the press conference. That will debut in time for the holiday season next year in 2017.

Meanwhile, on the games front, Microsoft unveiled Forza Horizon 3 with a beautiful new trailer. Further in the sports department, they revealed a new eSports platform, Arena on Xbox Live, which will feature EA and their FIFA franchise as a partner in addition to other games like Smite.

Sony’s press conference

There’s a reason why you didn’t see much news from us on the Sony front, they just didn’t have enough sports coverage. Sure, they had Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare — a game which we mentioned in our article talking about what core games we’d be excited to see this year — but ultimately, sports was pretty scarce at the Sony conference.

With that said, they did a hell of a job in the core games department, and we were all equally excited with what they showed. It’s clear, however, that they’re more focused on the core gaming crowd and not the sports one. As long as they do it well, that’s okay in my book. It’s not like we won’t see FIFA 17 make an appearance on the system.

One thing that I did find odd was the omission of Gran Turismo Sport, a longstanding franchise that has often served to demonstrate the technology of PlayStation systems. Does that mean they’re abandoning Gran Turismo as one of their flagship franchises? Probably not.

Perhaps one of the most impressive things was PlayStation VR. Sony isn’t playing around when it comes to virtual reality, they’re fully backing this new medium, and they had plenty to show for it this year.

EA Play

Something new to E3 this year was the addition of EA Play, which EA held in the neighboring LA Live at The Novo. It was interesting to see a publisher open up their doors to the public outside of E3, and after walking around the venue and seeing some of the lines, I imagine it paid off for EA and we’ll be seeing it again next year.

EA Play held an interesting mix of core games and sports games, but it seemed that EA Sports ultimately had a stronger presence. Madden, FIFA, and NHL all made an appearance, in addition to Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2. I didn’t get a chance to play Battlefield 1, but I did check out Titanfall 2 and NHL 17.

They performed about as you’d expect. The builds they had on display were pretty damn smooth, and from the games that I played, didn’t seem to have too many technical hiccups. It’s entirely possible that’s because EA Play is more forward facing, with the goal of attracting their fans, but either way, it was nice to check out the games.

You can check out our videos from the event on YouTube, including an interview with Madden 17 Creative Director Rex Dickson.

PES 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qgFj4roRRY

We had a chance to check out PES 2017 as well, so you can expect to see an article on that coming soon. The game itself is looking beautiful, but you can find out more about how it plays when we release our article next week.

Moto Racer 4

We scheduled a meeting with Microids, the developers behind the latest iteration of the Moto Racer franchise, and they gave us the rundown on what to expect with the game. Unfortunately we didn’t get hands-on with the game yet, but we got to take a look at how the game will look on the PS4 with virtual reality support.

We’ve got a full article on that coming soon, so you can expect to hear more next week.

Infinite Air

Mark McMorris has partnered with HB Studios to become the namesake of their new snowboarding title, Infinite Air, and I think it will make a lot of snowboarding fans happy. There are a lot of interesting things going on with this game, including a large emphasis on creativity and sandbox gameplay.

You can expect a full article on the game coming soon, including an interview with Mark McMorris and the producer of the game, Andrew Nguyen.

F1 2016

I had the chance to check out F1 2016 during E3, and there’s a lot to look forward to with the latest installment in Codemasters’ F1 franchise. Career mode will be getting a huge improvement, along with some additions to actually make practice worthwhile.

Crowds

E3 might be off limits to the public, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t packed. Every year the trade show seems to grow, and this year was no exception. This year’s show hit a record number of just over 70,000, according to the ESA. Interestingly, they’re also counting 20,000 who only made it to E3 Live, but since that’s an ESA sanctioned event, I guess it makes sense.

To give you an idea as to how packed it was at E3 2016, the wait to play Final Fantasy XV was 2-3 hours. Yeah, that’s a long time. It’s worth noting that not all lines were that long, however. Square Enix had one of the biggest lines outside of Nintendo and Sony from what I saw. The difference? The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Sony’s VR demos required people to jump through hoops in order to play. Square Enix let everyone line up.

Is there anything that you’re excited about from E3 that wasn’t on this list? Let us know in the comments or on social media, and be sure to stay tuned for more content from E3 2016!

Everything We Saw at E3 2016

Madden 17 E3 2016 Trailer Drops

EA dropped the latest reveal trailer for Madden NFL 17 during their E3 2016 press conference today.

While the trailer features in-game graphics it doesn’t really show off any specific new gameplay features. We got some hands on time with the game yesterday though so keep up with us for more news as the day goes on.

Madden 17 E3 2016 Trailer Drops

EA Play to Give Campaign Will Donate $1 Million to Charity During EA Play

Starting this weekend, EA will be hosting their own E3 event called EA Play. To celebrate the occasion, they’re giving $1 million to charity through their new Play to Give program. The program will make donations to the following charities:

Code.org

Code2040

HeForShe

National Center for Women & Information Technology

SpecialEffect

The goal of the contributions from EA is to give back to the community, and support a more inclusive environment in gaming, along with helping future creators. To commemorate the event, EA is offering up some in-game challenges to allow you to show your support.

Games with challenges include FIFA 16 and Madden 16, with Battlefield 4, Battlefield Hardline, Star Wars Battlefront, and Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes representing the core audience. Each challenge will offer special rewards for their respective games. You can find a list of the games and their rewards below, via the blog post from EA. More details on the challenges will be revealed soon.

Battlefield 4™ and Battlefield™ Hardline

Earn a Gold Battlepack by providing supplies to your teammates in need. As a community,Battlefield 4 players are challenged with getting a 45 million total re-supply score and Battlefield Hardline players are challenged with getting a 5 million re-supply score from June 12-17. By achieving either of those goals, contributing players will get rewarded with an extra Gold Battlepack via Battlelog.

Star Wars™ Battlefront™

Players who complete any multiplayer match from June 12-14 can participate in the 3X Score Event, earning triple score and credits.

Star Wars™ Galaxy of Heroes

Deploy a squad of some of the most powerful female characters in Star Wars™ against the droids.

FIFA 16

Participate in the Play to Give Cup in FIFA Ultimate Team during EA PLAY. Win the tournament and you will receive an untradeable Rare Mega Pack. Any future tournament wins in the Play to Give Cup will get you a Premium Coins Pack.

Madden NFL 16

Play Madden Ultimate Team in Madden NFL 16 from June 12-19 and complete a short objective list to receive 2,040 coins and a Pro Pack.

It seems like EA really wants to support the community. It’s great to see that they’re interested in making gaming more inclusive. Will you be participating in any of the challenges? Let us know in the comments.

EA Play to Give Campaign Will Donate $1 Million to Charity During EA Play

Madden 17 Details - Defensive Gaps and Run Fits

EA has released another post detailing the gameplay in Madden 17 today. This time they’re focusing on defensive gaps and run fits.

It seems like defensive AI is getting a “complete reboot”, for run defense and pass defense. For the first time in Madden history, however, the defense will have a defensive gap control system that should make running closer to the real sport.

According to the blog, the run fits system is installed the same way that defensive coordinators install their defenses in the NFL with alignment, assignment, and technique. Each defender should now have a specific job for each play.

You can get a much more in-depth look over at the Madden website, where they go through each and every change made to the game in order to bring it closer to real life. Check it out if you’re curious as to how these changes will affect the game.

Are you excited to see a better AI? Let us know in the comments and on social media, and be sure to stay tuned to SGO for the latest Madden 17 news.

Madden 17 Details - Defensive Gaps and Run Fits

Madden 17 Details - Ball Carrier Special Moves

EA is continuing to update the Madden website with tidbits on Madden 17, and with their latest gameplay blog post they’re talking about ball carrier special moves. Let’s get into it.

Since running the ball can be one of the most rewarding aspects of Madden gameplay, EA says they’ve set out to new creative controls for all levels of play. The first thing on their list is special moves.

Ball Carrier Special Moves

In Madden 17, every on-field player will perform special moves tailored to their playing style and ratings. Special moves will now be spread out across different player-types in the NFL. Bruising backs will have better trucks and stiff arms, while smaller backs have better jukes and spins. These animations will all be brand new, according to the blog.

Ball carriers will use different animations depending on their special-moves rating, which can range from elite to lumbering. Elite moves are the higher tier, available only to players with ratings to match. The example given is for athletes with a move rating in the 90’s.

For players with move ratings in the 70’s and 80’s, there will be alternate versions of the moves that aren’t as powerful, but can still be used effectively with good timing. The higher ranking the moves, the more effective and highlight-worthy they become.

Lumbering moves, which are by far the slowest and lowest impact carry very little reward. They’ll be used by players who come in at over 300 pounds without a ball carrier rating of 65. Fatigue will also have an effect on the moves, making moves less effective when the ball carrier is out of stamina. How much less effective? One rank.

An elite player with a rating in the 90’s will perform moves as if he’s rated in the 80’s, so you’ll want to manage your stamina usage accordingly.

Fakeout Interaction System

The fakeout system is also receiving an update to accompany the new special moves. If you time the special moves correctly, you should be able to feel the power of the new multi-player fakeout animations, which EA says can have almost a thousand possible outcomes.

The multi-player fakeout is a dynamic animation that includes multiple players all at once, based on their location. These can range from 2-6 player animations, depending on the type of move used, the ball carrier’s skill level, and the user’s skill.

To successfully fakeout defenders will require more than the perfect timing, however. To be successful, you’ll have to know your ball carrier and his best moves. Knowing where the defender you’re trying to evade is also crucial, thanks to the ideal zone of each move that will increase the chance of success.

The ball carrier will have more success eluding the defender when he’s directly in front of the runner, rather than from the side.

Ball Carrier Mechanics

Madden 17 will feature an array of new ball carrier mechanics to keep Madden players of varying skill levels engaged. Modifiers will allow for four unique tactics to customize the running game, all carrying their own risks and rewards in combination with the fakeout interactions.

You can find a detailed list of the new mechanics and their functions at the blog post, but there are standard moves, speed modifier, precision modifier, steerable modifier, and utility moves.

There will also be a number of new tools available to help users become better ball carriers, with recommended special moves, a projected path indicator, special move feedback text, and a ball carrier threat cone which will be specific to your settings.

As you can see, EA is making a number of improvements with Madden 17. Whether or not they’ll be enough is up to you. What do you think of these improvements? Let us know in the comments or on social media and be sure to keep your eyes on SGO for the latest Madden 17 news.

 

Madden 17 Details - Ball Carrier Special Moves

EA Offers Head Start on Madden Ultimate Team 17

If you’re big into Madden Ultimate Team, EA is offering everyone the opportunity to get a head start on Madden Ultimate Team 17 by allowing players to earn vouchers for the newest iteration of the franchise by playing Madden 16.

Starting today, you’ll be able to unlock vouchers for Madden Ultimate Team 17 by playing MUT16. To secure the vouchers, you can play MUT16 and earn MUT16 loyalty vouchers by playing solo challenges, Draft Champions Ranked, and Salary Cap Ranked. For every set of 10 loyalty vouches you collect, you’ll earn a MUT17 voucher.

You’ll only be able to unlock a total of 10 vouchers this way, but EA will also offer up MUT17 vouchers through other means such as major milestones for solo challenge wins, major milestones for set completions, or pro, all-pro, and legendary tier members of MUT Rewards.

For the first time in Ultimate Team history, players will have a number of year-over-year rewards to choose from using MUT17 vouchers. The rewards you’ll be able to unlock include the following:

• Contract Pack


• Silver Offense Pack and Silver Defense Pack


• Gold Offense Pack and Gold Defense Pack


• Elite Offense Pack and Elite Defense Pack


• Event Tickets


• Pro Pack


• All-Pro Pack


• Legends Pack

Rewards will be doled out when players try out Madden Ultimate Team 17 for the first time this fall. Players who have completed MUT Master, Road Master, or MUT Ultimate Master sets will receive exclusive rewards as well in the form of player items that have master chemistry in MUT17.

• MUT Master – 85 ovr. Odell Beckham, Jr.


• Road Master – 85 ovr. Tom Brady


• Ultimate Master – 87 ovr. Marcus Allen

Additionally, MUT17 players will also be rewarded with loyalty vouchers based on the number of Head to Head Seasons games played, Draft Champions Ranked games played, Salary Cap Ranked games played, solo challenges won, and sets completed in MUT16.

More sets and challenges will be added to MUT16 leading into August when Madden 17 launches, so you’ll have plenty of time to start working on earning vouchers to get a head start in MUT17.

Looks like it’s time to start working toward MUT17 vouchers! Will you be working on your head start for MUT17? Let us know in the comments or on social media.

EA Offers Head Start on Madden Ultimate Team 17

SportsCenter Reveals Madden 17 Cover Athlete

It’s that time of the year again, when EA Sports announces the cover athlete for Madden 17. This time they’re doing things a bit differently, and have opted to select the cover athlete themselves rather than submitting it to a vote for the fans to decide.

Earlier today we got a leak through the Xbox Store that suggested Rob Gronkowski would be gracing the cover this year, and it turns out that the Madden 17 cover athlete is indeed Rob Gronkowski.

GRONK. SPIKE.

Introducing the cover of #Madden17! pic.twitter.com/iCZUwIAuYO

— EA SPORTS Madden NFL (@EAMaddenNFL) May 12, 2016

Well, that’s anti-climactic. However, I’m sure that most football fans will agree that Gronkowski is a worth pick for the Madden 17 cover athlete, especially since it’s something he’s been a contender for several times over now. Most recently he lost out to Odell Beckham Jr., but now it appears that the cover spot is finally his.

Well, better late than never. I was personally rooting for Cam Newton after his hopes were dashed with his loss at the Superbowl earlier this year, but perhaps this is for the better. Sports games are known for the legend of their cover curses, after all. Just ask Conor Mcgregor and Ronda Rousey!

Either way, we’re excited to get our hands on Madden 17 when it launches, and we know you are too. What did you think of the Madden 17 cover athlete pick? Let us know in the comments below or on social media.

SportsCenter Reveals Madden 17 Cover Athlete

NBA LIVE Moves to 2017, Will Focus on Mobile

NBA LIVE has been struggling to achieve the level of success and recognition among basketball fans that 2K has with their NBA 2K franchise. As a result, it seems like EA is making some additional changes to the latest entry and moving it back a few months.

Rather than release NBA LIVE 17 within the typical window of the Fall season, they’re pushing it back into early 2017, as revealed in their quarterly results report published yesterday.

We’ll see whether or not that increase in development time makes for a better and more polished game next year, but for the time being, it looks like we won’t be seeing NBA Live 17 this year.

With this news in mind, Sean O’Brien who serves as Executive Producer on NBA LIVE took to the blog over at the NBA LIVE website to briefly discuss what this move will mean for the franchise.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to note is that while NBA LIVE is committed to supporting consoles, NBA LIVE 17 will apparently have a large emphasis on mobile. That’s not a bad decision, given the state of NBA LIVE right now. At least the game will continue to find a home on consoles, for those who enjoy it.

You can find the full post from Sean O’Brien below.

Hey LIVE fans:

I want to share some important updates on what’s next for NBA LIVE and give you an overview of where we’re going with the franchise over the course of this year.

It’s important that you know that we are committed to NBA LIVE in the console space.  While we won’t be shipping a product this Fall, we will be back on the courts with something new and exciting for you to experience in early 2017. 

Our focus this year is to deliver an amazing, high-quality basketball game to a global audience. The best way to do that is through the fastest growing, largest, and most accessible gaming platform…mobile.  As a team, we’re really excited about taking the franchise to new places with the worldwide release of our mobile game later this year.

More details to follow in the coming months!

Sean O’Brien 
Executive Producer, NBA LIVE

Do you think pushing the release of NBA LIVE 17 into early next year will allow for a better game? Let us know in the comments.

NBA LIVE Moves to 2017, Will Focus on Mobile

Need For Speed Update Adds SpeedLists and Prestige Mode

A new Need For Speed update dropped today and it’s a hefty one.

The two big ones are SpeedLists and Prestige Mode.

SpeedLists are a series of five pre-selected events that users race in against other human opponents. Users can access the lists from the main menu with four different styles; Quick Play, Speed, Style or Mixed.

Speedpoints are given to racers based on their finish. The winners with the most Speedpoints are shown in a winning cinematic.

Prestige Mode takes events from story mode and puts them in Hard Mode. The mode collects tougher versions of the Speed, Style, Build, Crew and Outlaw events.

Also added were Activities in the Drift or Speed events. These new events are collectible.

Finally, there are over 150 new Daily Challenges with decals to collect. These new decals were only available if a player had previously beaten all three daily challenges.

There were several smaller smaller updates which you can see below:

• Forced Induction and a new visual Engine are all now available on the Ford 1932 Hotrod


• New Community Campaigns for REP bonuses, $ bonuses and discounts – keep watching our Social Challenges for details on upcoming events


• 3 Brand new Achievements & Trophies. These ones are tough!


• Improved network warning messages for players with a poor connection


• New red zone on the rev counter to clearly see your rev limit


• Updated Drag Race Outro comparison screen


• Various Bug Fixes and Improvements


• Multiple stability fixes

What do you think about the update? Let us know in the comments.

Need For Speed Update Adds SpeedLists and Prestige Mode

Ultimate Team Turns $650 Million Profit for EA

In a grand twist that surprises nobody, EA has revealed that they’re making a lot of money from their titles as well as from Ultimate Team.

Chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen attended a Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference and revealed a couple figures of interest, including that sixty million PS4 and Xbox One consoles have been purchased at this point in time, 5 million more consoles than Jorgensen predicted would be sold by the end of 2015. About 36 million of those consoles are Playstation 4’s.

Jorgensen also said that extra content, which includes map packs, season passes and in-game purchases, earns $1.3 billion a year. Jorgen even spoke specifically about sports games throughout the conference, saying, “Half of that is roughly our Ultimate Team,” meaning $650 million. For those unfamiliar, Ultimate Team is EA’s fantasy mechanic that is part of their Madden, FIFA and NHL titles. It allows for gamers to purchase and trade or sell players in-game.

Expanding on Ultimate Team, Jorgensen said:

“I think for us, the mechanic of Ultimate team is a classic human nature mechanic. people like to collect things, they like to trade things, they like to compete, and they like to build great teams to compete and they’ll typically pay money to beat their friends. And so, if we can continue to leverage that mechanic across many products, it’s a way of deepening the engagement with the game and creating an opportunity for someone to have a very strong entertainment vehicle over a period of time.”

Jorgensen detailed different inner workings at EA such as the possibilities with their Disney and Star Wars franchises and their capability with sims and licensing. He also revealed that FIFA is the world’s largest sports game, that $300-$400 million accounts for subscription services and that their mobile business brings in over $650 million each year.

Ultimate Team Turns $650 Million Profit for EA

Need for Speed Gets Major Update, New Hot Rods

Tomorrow, Need for Speed will be getting a new update with a ton of features.

The big one is the introduction of manual transmission to the game, which has been a much requested feature.

Two new hot rods are coming with the update as well. The new 1932 Hot Rod comes with four unique bodykits; soft top, coupe, sedan and pickup. The second hot rod is the Aaron Beck “BeckKustoms F132”.

To coincide with the new cars, NFS is also getting Drag Racing as an event. There are five new Drag events; Neck to Neck, The Perfect Shifts, Drag the Town, Pedal to the Metal and Speed Tunnel. There weren’t many gameplay details released on the new mode but it sounds like it will be similar to how drag racing worked in previous Need for Speed titles.

The last two major updates are a bigger garage that adds storage for five more cars and improvement to the Wrap Editor. For the most part, the animations for placing decals have been improved to better showcase placement.

Finally, some minor tweaks included an improved Snapshot overview screen, 3 new trophies and achievements, more campaigns for rep/cash and discounts and game stability fixes.

Need for Speed Gets Major Update, New Hot Rods

Madden 16 to Join EA Access Lineup in February

EA really wants you to try EA Access, their digital gaming service which offers a plethora of games on demand for one low monthly fee, as well as allowing you to play EA games ahead of their release. It’s pretty cool when you take into consideration the low price of $4.99/mo.

Quite a few of EA’s sports games are already part of the vault and included as part of the subscription, including Madden 15, FIFA 15, NHL 15, NBA LIVE 15, UFC, Madden 25, and FIFA 14. Today, however, EA announced that they’d be adding Madden 16 to the vault on February 2nd ahead of the 50th Super Bowl. Not bad!

If you’ve been wanting to check out Madden 16 and other EA Sports titles as well as Battlefield, Titanfall, and — perhaps the most important — Peggle, it might be worth dropping $4.99 to check it out. Unfortunately, it’s still not available for the PS4, making this an Xbox only deal. Bummer!

Madden 16 to Join EA Access Lineup in February

EA Play is Replacing EA"s Major Presence at E3

For a while now, it’s been a trend for publishers to pull out of E3 in favor of their own shows. Now, EA is following suit. Rather than have their press conference at E3 this year, EA are planning their own event from June 12 to June 14. The event will take place in Los Angeles at Club Nokia and The Mermaid in London, but the best part? It won’t be closed off to media and industry like E3, it’ll be open to everyone. That’s nice of them!

The event is called EA Play, and if you want to attend, you can sign up for a mailing list on the website. Keep in mind, this doesn’t mean that EA isn’t having a press conference. They’re still going to hold one, it just won’t be at E3. They’re not bowing out of E3 entirely, as they will be taking private meetings, but they’ve given up their booth. Too bad! Hopefully they’ll return to E3 in a greater capacity at some point, EA are one of the biggest publishers out there, after all.

EA Play is Replacing EA"s Major Presence at E3

EA Sports UFC 2 Trailer Showcases KO Physics, Submissions, Grappling and Defense

The latest trailer for EA Sports UFC 2 is here, and this time they’re giving a better look at KO physics, submissions, grappling and defense. Check out the trailer above. For more information about the features, look below or check out the website.

Knockout Physics System – A revolutionary new physics-driven hit reaction and knockout system delivers more visceral, more rewarding, and more authentic KOs than ever before.

Next-Level Submissions – Surprise your opponent with a flying armbar from the clinch, or with a quick transition from a knee bar to a heel hook. The addition of standing submissions and submission chaining (sequences) takes UFC 2’s grappling game to the next level.

Dynamic Grappling – For the first time in any MMA game, experience the freedom of independent fighter control in every grappling situation. Simultaneous two-fighter interaction brings the ground game to life with greater responsiveness and variety.

Ultimate Defense – You can’t hurt what you can’t hit. Greater control over your fighter’s head movement lets you to slip and dodge incoming strikes with amazing fluidity. Add an improved blocking and parrying system to the mix and you have new tools to fend off your opponent’s most devastating attacks.

EA Sports UFC 2 will be available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One starting on March 15, 2016. Those who pre-order will receive access to two legendary fighters out of the gate, King of Bas Rutten and Kazushi Sakuraba.

Are you excited to play the game this March? Let us know in the comments.

EA Sports UFC 2 Trailer Showcases KO Physics, Submissions, Grappling and Defense

Peter Moore to Lead Competitive Gaming Division at EA

EA is looking to double down on competitive gaming, as the publishing giant has announced their latest venture, which is a brand new division of the company dedicated to competitive gaming led by the man himself Peter Moore. The goal of this new Competitive Gaming Divsion — or CGD, as it’s referred to in the latest blog post on EA’s website — is to “enable global eSports competitions” on some of their biggest titles, including FIFA, MaddenNFL, and non-sports games like Battlefield. 

The Competitive Gaming Division will focus on creating more competitive experiences for EA titles, and develop live events while also growing the competitive community. With eSports becoming a big business of their own, it’s a smart move on EA’s part, albeit a little behind. Still, it’s never too late to embrace a growing aspect of business, and it seems with this move that EA are fully committed to getting the most out of the competitive aspect of their games.

Joining Peter Moore on the new competitive gaming division is Todd Sitrin, who will take on the role of Senior Vice President and GM for the division. Over at IGN, Moore spoke about his new role at the company moving from COO to Executive Vice President and Chief Competition Officer, offering a bit of insight as to what’s in store for the future.

“We’re already very engaged with our development teams around the world to make sure our games have got modes that lend themselves very well to competitive gaming, built-in from the get-go. Not as something that’s put in as an add-on mode or a last-minute afterthought.”

Presumably that means we’ll see more game modes tailored to competitive gaming and eSports, though what that means for existing franchises is anyone’s guess. Moore did seem interested in the idea of creating titles from the ground up with eSports and competitive gaming in mind, however.

“I think there is a huge opportunity to build a game from the ground up that says, ‘this game is gonna have five modes, like capture the flag and tower defense.’ I don’t know, things that people love, we’ll figure all that out.”

Regardless of whether or not you think that eSports are comparable to sports as I wrote in my editorial on the subject published earlier today, they’re certainly taking the world by storm. What do you think of this move by EA? Are you looking forward to the future possibilities? Let us know in the comments.

Peter Moore to Lead Competitive Gaming Division at EA