EA Canada's upcoming Wii and PSP installment in the Medal of Honor series has gone gold, EA announced today. Medal of Honor Heroes 2 will ship to stores for both platforms on November 13th, a week later than anticipated. Designed from the ground up for each platform, Heroes 2 features unprecedented 32-player multiplayer on both Wii and PSP. The Wii version has support for the Zapper peripheral, and includes a separate on-rails shooter mode to highlight this feature. The screens below are captured from the Wii version of the game.

EA has confirmed that it is shutting down EA Chicago effective immediately as part of the reorganization plan caused by the company's loss of $195 million last quarter. The studio employs roughly 150 people at that location, many of which will be reassigned to other teams across the country. Members of EA Chicago were responsible for the Fight Night series, as well as the Def Jam fighting franchise, the most recent entry of which is Def Jam: Icon fpor PS3 and Xbox 360. The studio was also known to be working on an untitled fighting game featuring Marvel Comic characters, which was planned for release in 2008.

Closing EA Chicago is the toughest decision I've made in my career - one that in no way reflects on the talent and dedication of the people who work there.

said Frank Gibeau, President of EA Games.

This year's most-anticipated PC game Crysis will hit stores worldwide on Tuesday November 13 23:00:00 CST 2007, but you can secure your own copy right away. From now on you can pre-order Crysis from the EA store for $49.95. EA also announced today that you'll get the opportunity to play the single player demo on October 26th. Please visit the Crysis EA Store page for more information.

Need for Speed ProStreet demo can now be found on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The 655MB download is available in all Xbox Live territories and includes Grip Racing and Speed Challenge modes, as well as the BMW M3 E92 and Nissan GT-R Proto cars. The full version of Need for Speed ProStreet will be available on November 14th for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS and PSP. You can also pre-order now the full Xbox 360 game for $59.99 by clicking here.

When a gamer is shopping for the proper device to game upon, they get a huge headache. There are no less than four different choices (PC, Xbox360, PS3, Wii), and all of them have their individual set of games at different price points that perform differently. Electronic Arts is getting very tired of coding it's games four times over, and wants there to be one open platform to ease the headaches of both consumer and developer. Unfortunately for EA and gamers, console manufacturers would not get very much profit if they all just surrendered their proprietary stuff and made one big happy open-source console. Analysts predict that if game consoles do fade out in the near future, they will be replaced by terminal servers, so that users can simply plug in with a set-top box.

Electronic Arts Inc. today announced an agreement with Elevation Partners to acquire VG Holding Corp. - the owner of both BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios. This acquisition gives EA a strong competitive position in key genres in interactive entertainment: action, adventure and role-playing games. The two studios have been recognized for creating some of the highest-quality games in the industry.

Electronic Arts has announced the acquisition of Super Computer International. SCI, based in Atlanta, Georgia, is a provider of gaming client applications and software tools for the PC. EA will purchase SCI's technology assets and the SCI development team will join EA's Online Technology Group. Jesper Jensen, SCI's CEO, will continue to lead the team, reporting to Nanea Reeves, EA Vice President and COO for Online. "SCI's development expertise is uniquely suited to our online technology needs," said Reeves. "The team's technical leadership and creative approach is a great fit, and we're thrilled to have them join EA." SCI is the creator of PlayLinc, an online game browsing and messaging platform that includes social networking tools such as IM and VoIP, buddy tracking, player invitations, and team management.

Electronic Arts announced today that Need for Speed ProStreet, the latest version of the blockbuster franchise, will hit stores in North America on October 31 and across Europe on November 1, 2007. In Need for Speed ProStreet, you have to build the ultimate battle machine, take it to multi-disciplinary showdowns and pit your skills and reputation against the world's best street racers. Need for Speed ProStreet will be available for Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, and Nintendo Wii as well as the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo DS, PC and mobile. More information can be found here.

Gamers in the United States will see the upcoming action RPG 'Hellgate: London' in stores on Halloween. While the holiday release is appropriate considering the hack-n-slash content, Flagship Studio's CEO Bill Roper says the date has more to do with delivering the highest quality game and allowing enough time for beta testing. October 31st puts the game's release about a week prior to the Crysis launch. UK gamers will have to wait until November 2nd for the release of Hellgate:London. You can watch the HD trailer from E3 here

Fans of the reality based game 'The Sims 2' will be happy to learn that Electronic Arts will be releasing an expansion in September. Titled 'Bon Voyage,' players can send their Sims off to 3 vacation destination which include a tropical island, the Far East and rustic mountaintops. Whether its building sand castles or learning Tai Chi in the Zen garden, EA says there will be plenty of things for your Sims to do.

NEW YORK - July 25, 2007 - Massive Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. and a leading network for video game advertising, and Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) today announced the incorporation of five premier titles from EA. All the titles will be live in the Massive Network this year. The EA titles joining the Massive Network include the year's most anticipated new releases and perennial best-sellers in their respective categories:
•"Madden NFL 08" (Xbox 360 and PC)
•"NASCAR 08" (Xbox 360)
•"NHL 08" (Xbox 360)
•"Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 08" (Xbox 360 and PC)
•"SKATE" (Xbox 360)

Electronic Art's Wing Commander Arena will be available for purchase on Wednesday, July 25th via Microsoft's Live Arcade. The 3D remake of the space combat game will cost 800 Microsoft Points, or $10, and will feature 16 player online play, ship customization, 8 multiplayer maps and 4 styles of play. This is EA's second title to come to the XBOX Live Arcade.

Electronic Arts new Chief Executive, John Riccitiello, who started in April, worries that his company as well as others in the video game industry lack innovation. He says they need to push more aggressively to attract the casual gamer and change the routine of selling $50 - $60 discs that take 40 hours to play that few ever finish. We're boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play," Mr. Riccitiello said in an interview. He adds that there are exceptions like "Guitar Hero" and "World of Warcraft" but for the most part the industry has been rinse and repeat. Mr. Riccitiello's comments come as the industry prepares for this year's E3 Conference.

Does your kid-sister cry when you beat her at Madden? Does your mom ground you when you obliterate her at FIFA? Well that all could change thanks to EA's new "Family Play," a program designed to simplify controls for popular sports games on the Nintendo Wii. Players can choose their own style that suits their skill level in Madden 08, FIFA 08 and NBA LIVE 08. So one player can chose advanced mode and take control of all aspects of the game while another can choose simple mode using just the wii remote for basic functions.

The official Crysis website is now live, offering screenshots, trailers, wallpapers and info about this first person shooter game for PC in the works at Crytek. Crysis is powered by CryENGINE 2 which features dynamic day/night cycle, fully interactive enviroments, sunrays and diffuse transmission, real time soft shadows, soft particles, interactive/destructrible enviroments, volumetric clouds, and advanced shader technology. Crysis will be released by Electronic Arts later this year. Check the new website at www.ea.com/crysis/index.jsp or join the brand new official Crysis forums here.

Computer Game Publisher Electronic Arts announced a couple of days ago that they will bring six games to the Intel-based Macintosh platform starting in July. At this year's Worldwide Developers Conference, EA co-founder Bing Gordon told the audience that "Need for Speed: Carbon" ; "Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars" ; "Battlefield 2142" ; "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" ; "Madden NFL '08" and "Tiger Woods PGA Tour '08" will all make their way to Mac.

Electronic Arts is shifting to another series of Need for Speed called ProStreet. The game is being developed by EA Black Box in Vancouver, B.C., and is slated to ship this fall. Need for Speed ProStreet boasts impeccable precision and impressively detailed photo-realistic graphics, effectively transporting you to the center of street racing again. It pushes the "Autosculpt" technology to a new level, allowing full car damage, custom performance improvements as well as personalizing the car's appearance. The game also features improved AI system and new online mode. Need for Speed ProStreet will be available for Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, PLAYSTATION3 computer entertainment system, and Wii as well as the PlayStation2, Nintendo DS, PSP (PlayStation Portable), PC and mobile. More information can be found here.

Burnout Paradise is the title of the next installment in EA's destructive racing series, which will mark its PlayStation 3 debut. Burnout Paradise will come to the Xbox 360 and PS3 "this winter," which typically means a December or January release.

"We have been working towards Burnout Paradise for quite some time," said game's executive producer, Pete Hawley. He continued: "Next generation consoles have opened up a raft of new gameplay opportunities and the Criterion team has leapt at the chance to innovate."

A group of Electronic Arts Canada executives have formed their own video game company focused on creating and porting games to the Nintendo Wii and DS. Jet Black Games will focus on creating Nintendo friendly versions of games and is partnering up with Flashman Studios to create content. Electronic Arts has been a bit slow with the Wii and only has six games for the console. Jet Black executives did not specify any initial games or release dates.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 28, 2007 - Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that it has renewed the license to launch additional games within the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien's epic literary fiction, The Lord of the Rings , through 2008. EA has developed games based on New Line Cinema's Academy Award winning theatrical productions of The Lord of the Rings since 2001. To date, the New Line Cinema feature film trilogy has grossed more than $3 billion worldwide. By moving ahead with this popular license, and the development of an all-new title scheduled for release in 2008, EA will continue to give gamers the most engaging experiences in the realm of Middle-earth.

Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars for the PC has officially gone gold and will be on stores shelves Nationwide March 28. Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars will also be available in the coming months for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system. Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars has a US MSRP of $49.99. A special, numbered collector's edition will be available simultaneously and has a US MSRP of $59.99. For more information about the game or if you want to download the playable demo, please visit the official site here.

EA's games have been of all sorts - the good, the bad, the ugly - in the past. Almost always, however, the soundtrack was something that stood out. Taking advantage of this, EA Games has decided launch EA Trax, a service through which customers can purchase game soundtracks online. The soundtracks can be purchased through iTunes, additionally, some of the game scores can be purchased directly from EA. Also, some tunes are available as ringtones.

You can visit the official EA Trax website here.

EA Japan is no more. This certainly doesn't mean a lack of EA games in Japan, however. These games will simply be distributed or developed through EA's various partners. This will change the schedule of development for any games to be released in Japan.