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In the latest edition of Sessler’s Soap Box, Adam says goodbye to Pandemic Studios and shares his thoughts on the economic impact as it pertains to the gaming industry and EA’s new IP experiment. I’ll share my thoughts on the subject with you after you’ve had a chance to watch the video which happens to open with a nice shot of Sessler sporting a Mercenary Mohawk. Kudos to the G4 Photoshop expert. Read more…

The original standard release box art (shown above left) for BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 game revealed back in July has changed. The new art (shown above right) is what BioWare is calling the”final” box art for the highly anticipated sequel. Maybe the old one showed off a little more female crotch than EA felt parents would be comfortable with? Who knows.

I personally like the new cover choice. While there’s significantly less female anatomy to admire, the in your face close up shot makes you feel like your part of the team, and don’t we all want to be part of the team?

Check out the image below for a closer look at the new cover and make sure to let us know what you think of the new direction in our comments section. Read more…

The rumor which surfaced just over an hour ago regarding the possible shut down of Pandemic Studios has just been confirmed via an internal Electronic Arts memo snagged by Kotaku. It seems that the individuals EA deems as the Pandemic “core” team will be merged into the EA Los Angeles office, while the roughly 200 other employees will be left jobless. Read more…

According to sources who leaked the information to Kotaku, Pandemic Studios, creators of Full Spectrum Warrior, Star Wars: Battlefront, and most recently Mercenaries 2: World In Flames, will be have nearly their entire Los Angles base staff (roughly 200 employees) laid off today. The announcement is reportedly going to take place one hour from now at 11am PST.

Pandemic’s started in 1998 with a good deal of successful game releases and was eventually gobbled up by EA in 2007. A few under-performing sequels and one Dark Knight game that never saw the light seems to have sealed the studios fate. It is believed that a portion of the staff will merge into other various EA teams and their remaining collection of IP’s will be handed off to EA Montreal.

No official statement on the part of EA has been made yet, so file this under rumor for the time being. If true, it will likely go down as a very sad day for our own Jon Zungre, who openly shared his love for Pandemic explosions with the world.

EA, and developer Visceral Studios, issued a press release today announcing that a demo of Dante’s Inferno (a third-person action-adventure game set in the fiery chasm of Hell) will be available this December.

No specific date was given, but they do have a nice developer documentary series of videos highlighting the circles of hell within the game to hold you over. Definitely worth checking out if you haven’t seen them. Watch the video below and access the other segments through the interactive menu that pops up towards the end. Read more…

You might recall that many PC fans of Call of Duty (specifically Modern Warfare) got very upset when Infinity Ward announced that they were not going to support dedicated servers for Modern Warfare 2. As something that is a core part of the PC gaming experience, a petition was signed by many people requesting that the decision be reversed. Although Infinity Ward declined, DICE, the developers of the excellent Battlefield series, soon announced that their next game, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, would definitely have support for dedicated servers.

In thanks for this, a fan of PC gaming has sent the money he would have spent on Modern Warfare 2 to DICE and requested that the money be spent on the features he desires- because he couldn’t send them a cake, he decided this would do. I should mention that I think this is a great way to show your support for a developer, but I’d recommend that you don’t do this unless you’re rich or really, really like dedicated servers.

In the latest effort to secure more preorders, GameStop posted Battlefield: Bad Company 2 promotional copy on their site promising:

“free overnight shipping, plus access to the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Beta beginning November 19th, 11PM PST.”

GameStop later pulled the page down, surely after being contacted by EA, and BFBC2 developer DICE was quick to add the following via the Official BFBC2 Twitter: Read more…

Need for Speed: Shift is somewhat of a return to form for the NFS series. Unlike the last few games that had you open-world cruising the city while running from cops in your nitrous-infused, mostly illegal street racer, Shift is all about real racing on actual tracks and stuff. You know, the kind of racing that doesn’t involve any slutty girlfriends. Read more…

EA has announced a limited edition version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and outside of the box looking different, the limited edition will grant those who purchase it access to six “special gameplay” perks right from the start.

How much more will this run you? Not a cent! EA promises that the limited edition retail price will be the same as the standard edition. The catch is that supplies are apparently “limited” and both versions hit stores on the same date.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a 2010 release scheduled to hit stores in the United States on March 2nd and Europe on the 5th. And remember, cool guys don’t look at explosions. Full press release below. Read more…

It’s not often you get a demo that’s packed with content, but EA have announced that the PC demo for their attempt at a serious racing game has been released and can be downloaded here. The demo includes a lot (for a demo) of cars, and even an unlockable Zonda:

• BMW M3 (E46)
• 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10
• 2006 Lotus Elise 111R
• 2008 Nissan GT-R
• 2006 Pagani Zonda F (unlockable)

A PS3 and Xbox 360 demo is also coming early October, or of course you could just go out and buy the game, if you’re made of money.

In case you didn’t know, Rocktober is coming up soon. If nothing else, that means that you should be playing Brutal Legend in the very near future. Actually, you could play it tomorrow if you happen to win one of our 4 demo codes (and you have an Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, that is). All you have to do is register with a valid email address and leave a comment below (bonus points for making us laugh), or just email us some pictures of your girlfriend with awesome 80’s hair (editors@ripten.com).  Either way, we’re getting your email address and we will totally spam you.

You can also pre-order now at Gamestop for early access.  The demo will be available with all pre-orders, and the codes will be handed out on 9/17.  The demo will also be free to download for all Xbox Live Gold Members on 9/24 and Xbox Live Silver and PSN members on 10/1/09.

***UPDATE: Winners have been notified, and all codes have been sent out.  If you didn’t win, that’s because Jack Black doesn’t like you, and therefore we don’t like you either.  Sorry.

Hot off the heels of the well-received-but-largely-ignored Skate 2, EA has announced today that there will indeed be a sequel. In a stroke of genius and innovation, the title will officially be “Skate 3″. I’m in awe, I can tell you.

The game will add more of a social aspect, EA says. “Whether online or offline, players can now team up to build the ultimate skate crew in the definitive skateboarding co-op experience,” they say. There’s a new mode, too, “Where teammates can complete challenges together while advancing each other’s careers.” The game arrives on the PS3 and Xbox 360 in May 2010.

If you’re at all interested in attending a Need For Speed press event in Chicago tomorrow, let us know! Email editors@ripten.com, tell us why we should pick you, and we’ll chose 4 lucky readers to go (though you have to get to Chicago on your own).  Good luck!

EA Sports today revealed the cover athletes for the North American version of FIFA 10. The three cover athletes include Cuauhtémoc Blanco of the Chicago Fire, Sacha Kljestan of Chivas USA and Chelsea’s Frank Lampard. Okay, I’m familiar with Frank Lampard, but the two MLS players, not so much. But I bet your ass I’m not the only one left in the dark.

EA also revealed that the North American release date would indeed be October 20, a few weeks after the Euro release date of October 2. Hit the jump for a new video of FIFA 10. Read more…

In a short four weeks after its release, Battlefield Heroes has managed to get one million players, which isn’t surprising, considering the positive impressions of the game during the beta. EA & DICE’s stylistic Battlefield sequel is also free, which I can only assume helped to entice said one million players.

If you still haven’t signed up for the game, you should probably go do so now- maybe you can be a part of the second million. We got a chance to play the game during the beta, and even with its numerous delays, it was a lot of fun. The game’s multi-player only, so don’t count on a gripping story line or emotionally connected characters- but if you’re all about blowing stuff up and shooting foreigners, this is so the game for you.

DICE is currently performing maintenance on the soldier profiles in the recently released Battlefield 1943, so you may have noticed that your stats have been reset. Not to worry, my friends, as this is temporary. Read more…

Battlefield 1943 hit XBLA and PSN this past Wednesday with three maps – Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, and Wake Island. When the global kill count on one of the services reaches 43 million, a fourth map, Coral Sea, will be unlocked for that service. While 43 million is quite a bit of kills, it’s coming faster than you think. Read more…

For those of you who have played Fight Night Round 4, you probably noticed (and were surprised) that there wasn’t an option to change the control scheme and use the face buttons to play like in previous Fight Night games. Well EA is about to fix that with an update coming later this summer to add the face button control scheme for those who have been complaining about it, and don’t worry, it’s free. I just wonder why EA Sports didn’t just include the option in the first place. Weird.

Along with this update, a new DLC will be arriving before hand containing a new training gym, new gameplay sliders and new equipment to use on your boxer. The 360 version will also be receiving an alternate, Pizza-Hut sponsored version of Sugar Ray Leonard. And all of this DLC will be free too. Sweet, huh?

Source: Joystiq

Battlefield Heroes, EA’s new browser-based cartoony MMOFPS, has made the transition from closed beta to open beta. Read more…

Yesterday I reported that Left 4 Dead 2 seemed to be coming to PS3, as the console was listed on the game’s EA products page. Now, however, it looks like that was simply an error. The product page has been updated and now it only lists “Xbox 360, PC, PC Download.” Sorry to get your hopes up, Sony fans.