Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today that NFL Head Coach (working title) will be available in stores in spring 2006, under the EA SPORTS brand. NFL Head Coach is in development in Orlando, Fla. by EA Tiburon, makers of other NFL properties including Madden NFL Football and NFL STREET. The new exclusive deal with the NFL has allowed EA to build this franchise and work with all coaches in the NFL Coaches Club. "NFL Head Coach, the third pillar in our NFL portfolio, was developed to satiate all those Monday morning quarterbacks and fantasy football fanatics," said Dale Jackson, Executive … Continue reading NFL Head Coach Game Announced →

President of the Entertainment Software Association Douglas Lowenstein says the ESA will fight the new law in California banning the sale of violent video games to minors. "Today the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco seeking to strike down California's new ban on the sale of certain video games to minors. We believe this bill will meet the same fate as virtually identical statutes that federal courts have routinely struck down in recent years," he said in a written statement. "It is not up to … Continue reading ESA To Fight California Game Sales Ban →

Humongous, Inc. (formerly Humongous Entertainment) announced today that a core management team that will focus on evolving the brands in order to meet the interests, trends, and play patterns of today's generation of kids. Humongous, a pioneer in interactive video games for children, was recently acquired by Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext – ISIN: FR-0000052573), the largest video games publisher in Europe, and parent company to Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR). Leading the management team, Humongous announces the hiring of Alyssa Padia and Lauren Schechtman as co-presidents. With extensive backgrounds in youth entertainment, Padia and Schechtman will initially focus on the Backyard … Continue reading Humongous Changes Focus →

The Zombie invasion has begun! Aspyr Media and Wideload Games today announced that the Xbox version of Stubbs the Zombie will begin shipping to retailers nationwide next week. In this third-person action game, players take on the role of the rebel himself – Stubbs, a wisecracking Zombie who takes on an ultra-modern city of the future using nothing but his own carcass and the weapons of his possessed enemies. The game's tongue-in-cheek humor, innovative combat, strong storyline and co-op gameplay option keep Stubbs the Zombie's gameplay completely unpredictable. Using the Halo engine, the game, which is rated M for Mature, … Continue reading Stubbs The Zombie Ships →

Get into the holiday spirit with The Sims 2 Holiday Edition! Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced The Sims 2 Holiday Edition, a special-edition holiday-themed version of the world's best-selling PC game of 2004, The Sims 2. Look for The Sims 2 Holiday Edition, rated "T" for Teen by the ESRB, to hit store shelves across North America on November 17-just in time for holiday shopping! Available for a limited time only and listed at the same manufacturers suggested retail price as the original version, The Sims 2 Holiday Edition contains the original game, The Sims 2, in its entirety, … Continue reading Sims Gearing Up For Holidays →

Today Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, announces it will publish Paradise, the latest masterpiece from Benoît Sokal for PC, throughout North America. Best known for the award-winning Syberia, Sokal gave new life to the adventure genre, with the critically acclaimed Syberia and Amerzone selling well over half a million copies each. The agreement with White Birds Productions marks the second time that Ubisoft will bring one of Sokal's immersive gaming experiences to players in North America. A ‘point and click' adventure for casual gamers, Paradise has everything gamers have come to expect from Sokal's creations – … Continue reading Ubisoft To Publish Paradise →

Competitive America's Army game players rejoice! The U.S. Army today announced that America’s Army: Special Forces (Direct Action), which has been designed with the competitive gamer in mind, is available tomorrow for download at www.americasarmy.com. Direct Action tests players' mettle in two new missions — SF Extraction and SF Dockside — and gives gamers a fast-paced challenge in the new Shoot House training mission. The America's Army game team is keeping the action unique and unpredictable with the game's signature combination of random spawns with random and dynamic objectives, together with carryable objectives, random extraction points and random NPCs. Playing … Continue reading America's Army Expansion Released →

Serial video game pirate Dashiell Ponce de Leon was recently sentenced to three years and ten months in federal prison, two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay over $1.154 million in restitution for criminal copyright infringement by the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) applauded the stiff penalties, which followed the settlement of a civil action against Ponce de Leon for similar intellectual property theft in 2001. "We are grateful for the work of U.S. law enforcement and prosecutors in bringing this defendant to justice," said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the … Continue reading Ponce de Leon Gets Prison Time →

Konami Digital Entertainment – America announces the official U.S. ship date of Castlevania: Curse of Darkness for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox as Tuesday, November 1, 2005. The newest installment in the legendary Castlevania series delivers an entirely new storyline and main character – Hector, a Devil Forgemaster who had once refined his skills under Dracula. Fueled by revenge for the murder of his girlfriend, Hector sets off to confront the evil forces of the night. Armed with the powerful skill of Devil Forgery, he must find his way back to the ruins of Dracula's castle and uncover an intricate … Continue reading Castlevania Gets Ship Date →

Today Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, announced that it has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with MTO Co., Ltd. to distribute Dogz, the first puppy simulation game to be available exclusively for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. Ubisoft will distribute Dogz worldwide, with the exception of Japan, in November of this year. Dogz is a pet simulation game that lets owners name, train and play with a realistic puppy. Players create and control a main character and choose one of 49 different dogs from 18 different breeds. As characters in the game, owners can take their puppies … Continue reading Ubisoft To Walk The Dogz →