$ims 3 for the iPhone $creens

EA Mobile have released some new screens from the upcoming SIMS3 for iPhone. The game was shown in detail at the iPhone SDK/OS3.0 event. It looked pretty good, and included micro transaction features of the the new SDK.

If you didn’t see this coming, let’s do the math. iPhone / iPod Touch sales : 37 million and counting.  Sims franchise units sold : 100 million.  App store apps sold/downloaded : 1 billion.  If that is not a money printing press, I don’t know what is.

[via iPhone Games Network]

Zero Punctuation: Spore

Here's the latest from Zero Punctuation!.  I know he blasts this game, but I think I'm still going to try it out.  If it provides even half as much fun as other Will Wright games, it'll be well worth it.  Plus, my sister had a great observation, has there been a review of a game he actually liked?  Regardless, I still love his rants.

You have to check this out

A religious nutter has launched an anti-Spore website to let Electronic Arts know that its "biggest attack on Christian values to date will not be tolerated."

Antispore.com condemns Spore's teaching of the very un-Christian theory of evolution, which it says is an attempt on the games industry's part to "invade our homes and poison the minds of our children."

It says: "Yesterday I found out about a new game called Spore when my son asked me to buy it for him. It looked innocent enough at first and has E for Everyone ESRB rating. But don't be mislead, apparently 'everyone' means everyone they want to teach evolution to.

"This entire game is propaganda aimed directly at our children to teach them evolution instead of creationism, or 'intelligent design' if you go for stupid PC terms.

"The object of the game is to evolve from a 'spore' into demon-like intelligent space creatures that violently take over the galaxy," continues the site.

The site goes on to attack EA and it's 8,500 employees, "not a single one with enough Jesus to stand up and say what they are doing is wrong," it says.

"I used to like Will Wright," continues Anti-Spore.com. "He created Sim City, a fantastic game that celebrated the earth that God created for us and allowed you to use all your God given abilities to make an ideal society. But if you ever felt like you had too much power, God would come in with a tornado or an earthquake and put you back in place.

"You would think that as a member of the Episcopal Church, a smart man like Will Wright would not be capable of creating Spore. However, we must be reminded that the Episcopal Church is the only church in america that ordains homosexuals on a regular basis.

"It makes sense that a perverted church would cause a man to make the creations he has in this game. It just may be that evolution is not the only thing to fear this game teaching your children.

"[EA's] billions in revenue and all the advertising in the world are no match for the power of God."



I got a good chuckle from this one.
[via CVG]

Farve Is Updated With Jets Uni For Madden ‘09

Being a Bears fan I have to say that I have absolutely no love for Brett Farve, considering how he tortured my team for the better part of 15 years. I wanted that known so as I write this post it’s not a mystery about how I feel about him. When I originally saw the new Madden ’09 cover that had Farve splashed across it, I kinda scratched my head only because usually EA goes after the “Hot” player. Not to say that Farve hasn’t had a hall of fame career, but it’s certainly on the tail end of it. So when the Brett Farve watch ’08 came to a conclusion last week, I was curious how EA was going to handle the “Farve’s a Jet” thing.

Do you recall all the games just to change the box art?

Well it looks like EA has come up with a good solution for those few who care about such things. WhoamItosay is reporting that Wal-Mart will have the new box art in stores by noon tomorrow, while Kotaku says that you can download the art and print it out yourself. So if you like, you can have your new Madden ’09 box art to look completely accurate. I myself couldn’t give a hot squirt of piss what jersey that selfish bastard has on. The only thing I hope he’s wearing this year is a 280 pound linebacker……. as a hat!!!

[Madden Jets Cover via Crunchgear]

How the major game publishers rate

A little over two weeks ago Kotaku's Luke Plunkett posted the following graph from a presentation that Electronic Arts made to analysts. It compares EA's Metacritic averages against those of several other publishers. Below are more complete graphs showing all publishers with 10 or more games in each calendar year.

Read the full article at Next Generation.

It's Civilization on a grander scale

From the mind of Will Wright, the creator of The Sims, comes SPORE™, an epic journey that takes you from the origin and evolution of life through the development of civilization and technology and eventually all the way into the deepest reaches of outer space.

Tide Pool Phase - Fight with other creatures and consume them to adjust the form and abilities of your creature. It's survival of the fittest at the most microscopic level.

Creature Phase - Venture onto land and help your creature learn and evolve with forays away from your nest. The only way to grow is by taking chances!

Tribal Phase - Instead of controlling an individual creature, you are now caring for an entire tribe. Give them tools and guide their interactions as you upgrade their state of existence.

Civilization Phase - Once your city is established, your creatures begin seeking out and interacting with other cultures. Make contact with an olive branch or a war cry. The goal for your creatures is to conquer the planet.

Space Phase - The time has come to move on to other worlds in your solar system. Make contact, colonize, or terraform, then venture further to find other solar systems. A 'mission' structure provides new goals in your quest for galactic dominance.

EA Says Nintendo Wii Is Only As Powerful As The Original Xbox: Doesn't slow sales

Usually it is the PS3 or Microsoft that is doing the 'doggin' of the Wii, now EA has joined in with their opinion. One of EA’s developers said that the Wii is only as powerful as the original Xbox. Check the quote.

It’s about as powerful as the original Xbox. The video hardware unfortunately is not as powerful…. Overall though it’s pretty much what the original Xbox was.

It’s clear that the developer wasn’t really 'baggin' on the Wii here, but rather just making a well-informed observation. But I'm sure that it will not be taken like that.

Read the article after the jump. [GameIndustry.biz]

EA Not Rushing To Release Wii Games

People are still rushing to stores to grab Nintendo’s hot new console, but that doesn’t mean EA feels the same about distributing games for it. EA recently decided that they will be more careful and selective in choosing games for the Wii.

According to EA, the money spent on translating games will instead be used in creating original titles for the system. Currently, one of the ‘original’ games EA plans to release for the Wii is a version of their TheSims game franchise, called MySims. The title will also be released for the Nintendo DS. Of course, the new Madden NFL 2008 will get its Wii treatment as well.

Read the article after the jump. [CVG]