EA announced today that free trial access to their MMO Warhammer Online will be available to gamers on an unlimited basis. Jeff Hickman, the game’s executive producer, states:

“With the introduction of the endless free trial and streaming client, we are making it easier than ever for a new player to join the WAR,”

“… we are giving players an unlimited amount of time to explore the early parts of the game at their own pace. We are confident that players new and old will find all the enhancements we’ve made to WAR over the past year worthy of their time and commitment.”

Of course, the trial does not grant access to the game’s top-tier content, but considering all the enhancements they claim to have made, it will probably allow for enough quests and grinding to keep you occupied and unbathed long enough to ensure total and absolute seclusion from society.

Electronic Arts has announced the release date for this year’s entry in the Madden franchise, Madden NFL 10. The game will release on August 14, 2009, and of course football fans will gather that day to play each other online and curse each other out like there’s no tomorrow.

Electronic Arts has said the game will feature “online innovation that will connect Madden fans together like never before” and “an immersive broadcast presentation that captures the suspense and emotion of the NFL.”

The cover athlete will be revealed in a presentation on Friday, April 24th.

Source

A press release received today from EA announces that Spore has sold 1 million copies and the amount of creatures uploaded has hit 25 million. Those are pretty impressive numbers considering the game shipped just three weeks ago on September 7th.

I have yet to play the game and would be interested in hearing the thoughts of our readers. If you have played the full version of the game, please let me know what you think of it in the comment section below.

Full press release available after the jump.

SPORE BEGINS WITH A BIG BANG!

ONE MILLION GAMES SOLD AND 25 MILLION CREATIONS UPLOADED

Emeryville, CA – September 24, 2008 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that Spore™ has sold through more than one million copies at retail worldwide on the PC, Mac® and Nintendo DS™, since shipping worldwide on September 7th. Spore, developed by EA’s Maxis™ Studio, is also available on mobile phones including the iPhone™. To date, gamers have used the creativity tools in Spore to populate the universe with more than 25 million creatures, vehicles and buildings available to view in the Sporepedia™ at www.spore.com/sporepedia.

Spore has been well received by game critics – with a Metacritic index of: 85.

“Spore is a hit,” said Frank Gibeau, president of the EA Games Label. “Will Wright’s latest delivers an incredibly diverse game that appeals to casual gamers and the core alike. We’re off to a great start moving into the holiday season and believe Spore will deliver a platform of creativity for gamers of all stripes for years to come.”

“We’re humbled by how quickly the community has taken to the creativity tools in Spore,” said Lucy Bradshaw, vice president of Maxis and Spore’s executive producer. “It’s amazing to see the sheer imagination represented in the hundreds of thousands of creatures, vehicles and buildings that have been uploaded around the clock since launch.”

Spore – rated E10+ — gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe filled with creations made by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even spaceships.

To download a free trial of the Spore™ Creature Creator, please visit www.spore.com. For screen shots or more information about Spore, please visit our press web site at http://info.ea.com

EA has announced today that their upcoming sci-fi/survival horror game Dead Space is launching a week earlier than planned. The 360 and PS3 versions were originally set for an October 31st launch, but will instead be dropping on the 21st in North America and on the 24th in Europe. The PC version will still be coming out on Halloween.

EA says they just finished earlier than expected, which is a great sign that the game is ready to scare the shit out of us!

Check out the E3 2008 video below for a quick peak at the game:

Source: gamepro.com

Harmonix doesn’t want you to hate them because their Rock Band controllers have a bad habit of breaking. In fact, they’re practically bribing their customers for forgiveness by offering them a free game.

The company is currently experiencing some difficulties with their Rock Band guitar controllers. Specifically, they’re breaking. And replacement guitars are slow to reach their intended destinations. So many gamers wait patiently (what else can they do?) for their new guitars that Harmonix saw fit to offer an apology for the delays.

In an email sent to those who have requested replacement guitars, Harmonix has apologized for the delay and offered a free EA game to customers.

Part of their email reads:

By the time you receive this, your replacement guitar should be on its way to you. However, the Rock Band team is committed to providing a world-class customer experience and we do not believe we have met this commitment in connection with your request. As a token of our appreciation for your patience and understanding, we will be offering you a FREE EA game. Details will follow shortly.

It’s a small consolation to gamers who have shelled out big bucks for busted gear, but hey, who doesn’t like free?

A brand new video directly from the developers of Battlefield: Bad Company.

Each component of the Frostbite engine is designed to offer a very immersive experience through physics of the gameplay, the sound, and of course of the destruction! Have at the new video of the upcoming 2008 release after the jump.

Electronic Arts and Crytek announced today that the much anticipated title Crysis will be hitting retail stores in North America and Europe on November 16, 2007 exclusively for the PC.

Crytek’s CEO and President, Cevat Yerli, was quoted saying that he believes the game will be “worth the wait”. Well, we sure hope so. Another thing worth noting here is that the game has yet to be rated by the ESRB or the PEGI. Stay tuned.