AMD is pleased to announce that Electronic Arts (EA) will support Mantle, AMD's groundbreaking graphics API, in three new games: Battlefield Hardline, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare. These join an extensive catalogue of more than 40 games that now support AMD's revolutionary graphics API. All three of these games are powered by DICE's cutting-edge engine, Frostbite 3.

The latest title from the Battlefield series, Battlefield Hardline follows Nick Mendoza's journey on a cross-country vendetta against once-trusted colleagues of the force.

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the arrival of its "Never Settle: Reloaded" game bundle, the sequel to last year's monumental "Never Settle" bundle. "Never Settle: Reloaded" delivers by bundling up to four of this year's most anticipated PC games -- "BioShock Infinite" by 2K Games and Irrational Games, "Crysis 3" by Electronic Arts, "DmC Devil May Cry" by Capcom and "Tomb Raider" by Square Enix -- with select AMD Radeon HD 7900 and HD 7800 Series graphics cards. The bundle highlights the continued commitment by AMD to ensure an incredible gaming experience on the world's top PC titles optimized for AMD Radeon graphics cards

"AMD knows gaming and in 2013 we plan to make a huge mark on the industry. Today we begin that journey by showing the world that the best PC game developers are AMD Gaming Evolved partners," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager of AMD Graphics. "The 'Never Settle: Reloaded' bundle clearly stands apart from anything else in the market. Gaming has always been, and will remain, the core of the AMD Graphics strategy and success. In 2013, we plan to forge greater inroads into the gaming industry and it begins with packaging this year's biggest games with the best graphics hardware from AMD." The "Never Settle: Reloaded" bundle offers the following games when purchased with select AMD Radeon HD 7900 and HD 7800 Series graphics cards:

Monster, the world leader in high-performance personal audio, is proud to announce it is entering the gaming accessories space with the breakthrough EA SPORTS MVP Carbon by Monster headphone. Jointly developed with EA SPORTS, a label of Electronic Arts Inc., a global leader in digital interactive entertainment, the new EA SPORTS MVP Carbon by Monster headphone (SRP: $269.95) is the first-ever collaboration between a game developer and a headphone manufacturer that offers an unprecedented level of immersive sonic gameplay - just the way the game developers intended. Follow Monster during CES at #MonsterCES and the EA headphones launch at #PlayLoud.

DICE, an Electronic Arts Inc. studio, today announced that Battlefield 3: Aftermath, the fourth digital expansion pack for Battlefield 3, is now available for all Battlefield 3 Premium members on the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system.

Battlefield 3: Aftermath provides a new brand of carnage to urban combat delivering four new maps in a vertical and horizontal setting, depicting a continuing struggle for supremacy and survival amongst Iran's post-earthquake devastation. G4TV even said, "DICE continues to play with Battlefield 3's multiplayer action in creative ways with its downloadable content releases. Aftermath is shaping up to be the most unique of the bunch by far."

BioWare, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc., and LucasArts announced today that the new, Free-to-Play option for the critically-acclaimed, massively multiplayer online game Star Wars: The Old Republic is now live. Players can experience the complete storylines of all eight, iconic Star Wars classes, all the way to level 50 for free. This new option complements the existing subscription offering, providing players with maximum flexibility in how they choose to experience Star Wars: The Old Republic.

"We want to give our players the freedom to enjoy Star Wars: The Old Republic when and how they want," said Matthew Bromberg, General Manager of BioWare Austin. "There has never been a better time to start playing with us."

Electronic Arts Inc. and developer Crytek GmbH, today announced that fans who pre-order Crysis 3 will receive a free digital download copy of the original Crysis game for Xbox 360, PS3 or PC*. Lauded by GameSpot as "One of the greatest shooters ever made" and universally hailed upon its release for breaking new ground with jaw-dropping visuals, industry leading technology and sandbox gameplay, Crysis thrusts players into the middle of a global conflict between the U.S. and North Korea over a mysterious artifact that turns out to be extraterrestrial in nature. In Crysis, players are outfitted with the series signature Nanosuit and an arsenal of fully customizable weapons that provide a wide array of options not only for the games story missions but also every single objective and individual encounter. In addition, those that pre-order Crysis 3 will receive the Crysis 3 Hunter Edition, giving fans a head start in multiplayer with immediate access to the powerful new Predator bow and the Hunter Nanosuit module and more**.

Make trouble for the cops, for your friends or just for fun! Electronic Arts Inc. and Criterion Games today announced that the latest entry in the critically-acclaimed Need for Speed franchise, Need for Speed Most Wanted, is now available at retail stores and on Origin.com in North America.

After shattering franchise records with a total of 43 award nominations and winning the prestigious Best Racing Game award at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), from the E3 Game Critics, Need for Speed Most Wanted is poised for global success. In Spain, Official PlayStation Magazine awarded Most Wanted with a 9.4/10 and called it, "the best online multiplayer experience ever." Game Informer, in North America, gave Most Wanted a 9/10 and described the action as an "exhilarating experience." Edge Magazine, in the UK, also awarded Most Wanted a 9/10 and credited the game for setting a "new standard in open world driving games."

EA has made a major push into PC digital distribution with Origin, and it seems to be paying off. Analysts have predicted that we're heading toward an all-digital age, and EA intends to speed up the process by actively moving toward that goal itself. "We'll continue to deliver games in whatever media formats make sense and as one ebbs and one starts to flow, we'll go in that direction," EA Games president Frank Gibeau said. "Ultimately Electronic Arts, at some point in the future - much like your question about streaming and cloud - we're going to be a 100% digital company, period. It's going to be there some day. It's inevitable." He also noted the problem that many in the industry have pointed out: our only measure of tracking sales numbers is through NPD, which tracks retail sales but has lagged behind on reporting digital numbers. Part of that is probably that the large digital marketplace Steam is reluctant to share its sales data, but it still creates a definite issue of incomplete data. "I think one of the problems with this industry right now is that people tend to look at it like they're looking at an elephant through a straw," he told GI.biz. "They only see a little parts of it and they're not looking at the total picture, right? Between Facebook, social, mobile, free to play on PC, Asia, consoles... it's a vibrant, growing, huge market. An occasional bad report from NPD, which measures a sliver of what's actually happening in gaming gives people an erroneous impression."

Nintendo revealed a massive lineup of first- and third-party video games for its upcoming Wii U home console today, including new games in the Super Mario Bros., Pikmin, Wii Fit, Batman: Arkham City, Scribblenauts, Assassin's Creed and Just Dance franchises. The Wii U console launches this holiday season and introduces the Wii U GamePad, a controller with a 6.2-inch touch screen that redefines how people interact with their games, their entertainment and one another. Video game publishers from around the world, including Ubisoft, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Electronic Arts, SEGA, THQ and NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. are demonstrating how their biggest franchises are being reimagined for Wii U.

The hunted becomes the hunter! Electronic Arts Inc. and award-winning developer Crytek GmbH, today announced Crysis 3, the premier sandbox shooter experience of 2013. Powered by Crytek's proprietary CryENGINE, Crysis 3 advances the state of the art with unparalleled visuals and dynamic shooter gameplay. Players take on the role of 'Prophet' as he returns to New York, only to discover that the city has been encased in a Nanodome created by the corrupt Cell Corporation. The New York City Liberty Dome is a veritable urban rainforest teeming with overgrown trees, dense swamplands and raging rivers. Within the Liberty Dome, seven distinct and treacherous environments become known as the Seven Wonders. This dangerous new world demands advanced weapons and tactics. Prophet will utilize a lethal composite bow, an enhanced Nanosuit and devastating alien tech to become the deadliest hunter on the planet.

"Crysis 3 is a thrilling mix of sandbox gameplay, advanced combat and hi-tech human and alien weaponry that shooter fans will love," said Cevat Yerli, Chief Executive Officer of Crytek. "Leveraging the latest CryENGINE technology, we're able to deliver seven unique themes that offer stunning and visually loaded gameplay experiences. We cannot wait until people get their hands on the game."

Phenomic, the Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) studio dedicated to developing best-in-class free-to-play games, today announced that Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances is now in open beta. The latest entry in EA's Play4Free portfolio of games, Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances is a massively multiplayer online (MMO), browser-based, free-to-play strategy game that delivers a whole new way for players to experience the Command & Conquer Tiberium universe. Players harvest valuable resources, foster strategic alliances and engage in relentless battles as they strive for world domination. With in-game news and status feeds, players get frequent updates, creating a completely interactive and dynamic gameplay experience that has gamers strategizing, reacting, and adapting on the spot. The Open Beta goes live today globally, here.

Electronic Arts (EA) Inc. announced today that SEGA will bring its most popular PC game titles to Origin, EA's direct-to-consumer gaming platform. SEGA's Total War Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai is now available for pre-order to PC gamers on Origin.

In addition to SEGA, other new publishers joining Origin today include Team 17 Software Limited, Rebellion, Kalypso Media Digital Ltd. and more, bringing the number of game publishers and developers on Origin to 35 partners. PC downloadable titles from each of these partners will be available on Origin in the coming months.

EA and game developer Danger Close have announced the latest installment of the Medal of Honor franchise will debut this October 23. With a rocking trailer and a few screens the game seems to be going a route similar to a style of the classic Call of Duty games which used various Special Forces operators from multiple countries. The synopsis over at Shacknews had this to say about the game, 'Remember when US Navy SEALs rescued hostages from Somali pirates? How many of you thought "that would be a great level in a game?" Apparently, the team at Danger Close also thought so.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter is the studio's second stab at the rebooted FPS franchise from EA. Whereas the previous game was all about the fight in Afghanistan, Warfighter promises a "global fight," one comprised of real-world events that happen all around the globe. At a Game Developers Conference event in San Francisco last night, Electronic Arts showed off a hands-off demonstration of Warfighter's new direction. The demo level took place in the Philippines, where you were in an assault against Abu Sayyaf in an effort to rescue hostages. This mission isn't inspired by fiction. It happened in real life. "Getting inside this kind of real world event is at the heart of Medal of Honor," executive producer Greg Goodrich told the audience.

The first blockbuster game of 2012 has arrived! Mass Effect 3 from BioWare, a Label of Electronic Arts Inc., is now available at retail stores in North America and will be launching in Europe on March 9. The highly anticipated game has been praised by critics for delivering, deep, interactive storytelling and adrenaline-pumping action on a huge scale. Mass Effect 3 has already received perfect scores from a wide variety of outlets around the world, including MSNBC, Game Informer, USA Today, G4 TV, Eurogamer (UK), The Guardian (UK), Official Xbox Magazine (UK), PlayStation Official Magazine (UK), Eurogamer (IT), Game Reactor (Sweden), Atomic Gamer (AUS) and more. Entertainment Weekly declared that "Mass Effect 3 isn't just one of the videogame events of the year. It's one of the pop-culture events of the year."

Apparently the war between the original creators of the Call of Duty franchise and Activision is going in front of a jury. The big "he said, the monolithic corporation said" video games kerfuffle of 2010, the fallout from Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vincent Zampella leaving Activision then signing up with Electronic Arts, is indeed going to trial. On Wednesday, a California Superior Court judge denied EA's motion for summary judgement on the complex lawsuit, as well as one from West and Zampella, meaning the big Call of Duty mess will go before a jury next year.

With more than 9.3 million registered users and partnerships now with 21 different publishers, Origin, the direct-to-consumer gaming platform from Electronic Arts (EA) Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) has quickly become one of the industry's leading online game services in just over two quarters since launch.

Origin announced today that seven more publishers have agreed to offer their games for purchase and download. Led by Remedy Entertainment who will bring Alan Wake to Origin, additional publishers include Focus Home Interactive, Iceberg Interactive, Strategy First, Macro Games, Selectsoft and Legendo Entertainment. These publishers join 14 previously announced Origin partners, including Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, THQ, Capcom, Trion Worlds and Robot Entertainment.

Origin is the fledgling online download account-based DRM service from Electronic Arts launched last June, that is home to Battlefield 3. To compete effectively against other similar services, the industry-leading Steam in particular, it must offer more content. To this end, Origin has added 11 publishers to its portfolio, reports CVG. These are Trion Worlds, Robot Entertainment, Freebird Games, Recoil Games, Autumn Games, 1C Company, inXile entertainment, Paradox Interactive, Core Learning Ltd, N3V Games and CD Projekt RED. That last one is interesting, because CD Projekt RED owns and runs www.gog.com, the website dedicated to selling DRM-free games.

In perhaps one of the more ironic legal moves to be seen recently, Sony's clause in its Terms of Service preventing PlayStation 3 owners from filing class action lawsuits has itself attracted a class action lawsuit! The lawsuit was filed in Northern California in November, by a man on behalf of PS3 owners who signed up for the PlayStation Network before September, when the ToS were updated and this anti-class action clause added.

The killer clause is buried deep into the contract and is very hard to spot, requiring the contract to be read all the way through with a fine toothcomb - if the reader can rise to the challenge of reading the complicated and dry legalese it's written in. Compounding the problem is that the agreement isn't even readily available online for anyone to study - it can only be viewed on the PS3 itself (so the console is already used before you can even see the agreement - hardly fair?) and appears near the bottom of the 21-page form. Previous agreements had been posted online for anyone to inspect. On top of that, the only way of opting out of it, is to mail a physical letter to Sony within 30 days of agreeing to the ToS - very inconvenient and likely to be forgotten by the average person. The main thrust of the lawsuit are allegations of unfair business practices, since PS3 owners are forced to choose between forfeiting their rights or access to the PSN. Note that since Sony introduced this clause, Electronic Arts and Microsoft have both introduced similar clauses, which doesn't put them in a very good light either and potentially at the receiving end of a lawsuit themselves.

If you're buying an Electronic Arts game, be prepared for the Online Pass that came with it to have already expired. This was the recent experience of a NeoGAF member who bought a brand new copy of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit from Amazon, only to find that he got an error message saying that the code was either incorrect or no longer valid. Gaming website Joystick picked up on this and asked an EA advisor about this situation. It turns out that it's EA's corporate policy to have some of these codes expire, but that no one should be faced with this, as a rule. However, if they are, then they can get a new one for free, by either downloading it or getting it from EA directly. Checking the EULA shows that at the moment, there is only one game with this restriction. It's only Dragon Age 2 (packaged) which has a time-limited an Online Pass code and that it expires on March 31, 2012:

Mirror's Edge received good reviews when it was released and has been quite popular with gamers who unsurprisingly, want a sequel. This is especially important in the case of Mirror's Edge, as this game is single player only, so it's not something a gamer can come back to time after time. However, a sequel has never really been on the cards for Electronic Arts, since it didn't sell as well as they had thought it should have and rejected a prototype ME2. Now, developer DICE have been busy with other projects such as upcoming blockbuster Battlefield 3, but good news could be on the horizon, since Electronic Arts are adamant that Mirror's Edge is an important brand for their portfolio. SPOnG recently interviewed Patrick Liu from DICE and asked him if he thought that the games market would be receptive to Mirror's Edge 2. He answered:

Yeah, definitely. I think it's something that people are ready to get into again. We see that there's a huge fan following, it's almost like a cult! And we know what strengths we had, and what weaknesses we had in that game. If we were to release a new game, we'd know what to improve and how to reach a broader audience. So I definitely think there's a market there.

Good news then for Mirror's Edge cult members, err, fans, keep holding your breath!

SteelSeries, the leading manufacturer of gaming peripherals today announced the availability of licensed headsets for Electronic Arts' first person shooter game, Medal of Honor. The SteelSeries 5Hv2 Headset Medal of Honor Edition for PC and the SteelSeries Spectrum 5xb Medal of Honor Edition for Xbox 360 headsets are the latest addition to the family of SteelSeries branded peripherals co-developed with Electronic Arts for Medal of Honor gamers. The headsets deliver premium quality sound and comfort along with SteelSeries' signature features including a retractable microphone system and the ability to dismantle into 3 pieces for safe travel.

"It was a pleasure to work with the EA team to optimize and create an amazing design for these new PC and Xbox 360 headsets," said Bruce Hawver, SteelSeries CEO. "Medal of Honor players will enjoy comfort and incredible sound reproduction, improving their precision and performance in game."

The CEO of Electronic Arts (EA), John Pleasants confirmed that the company will publish Battlefield 3, the newest addition to the Battlefield franchise, which is one of the most popular online team-based tactical-shooter games. Pleasants spoke with TechFragments, during a presentation at the William Blair Growth Stock Conference in Chicago. "I've had the luxury of looking at Battlefield 3 over at DICE in Sweden and was highly impressed by the way the team is working on that product. Of course, that's not in [this] fiscal year, but that is a product that is looking very good.", he said.

The source also shed some light on the game, which inherits its gameplay from Battlefield 2, and will be similar to it. The game will support up to 40 players per team, will feature 24 different vehicles, and 17 different weapons. Some kinds equipment need to be unlocked in order to use them, which serve as achievements in online play. From what EA says, the game will not make it this year, though it is likely that it will hit stores in the winter holiday season of 2010. A beta could serve as prelude to the launch, which may arrive by summer of 2010, according to the source.

Leading video game developer BioWare, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. today officially announced Mass Effect 2, the highly anticipated sequel to the multi award-winning 2007 hit, Mass Effect. The Mass Effect trilogy is a masterful science fiction adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life forms and mysterious uncharted planets. In this dark second chapter, Saren's evil army of Geth soldiers has just been defeated, and humans, who are still struggling to make their mark on the galactic stage, are now faced with an even greater peril…

"We're going to surpass the extraordinary gaming experience we brought our fans in Mass Effect by delivering intensified combat and expanded weapon options as well as increased depth of planet exploration, all while delivering a powerful, emotionally engaging story," said Dr. Ray Muzyka, General Manager and CEO, BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, EA. "Mass Effect 2 is shaping up to be an unforgettable RPG-shooter experience, taking players on a non-stop roller-coaster ride filled with stunning plot twists and no-holds-barred action."

Mass Effect 2 is coming to PC and the Xbox 360 video game system in Early 2010. To see the exclusive new Mass Effect 2 teaser trailer check out the website here: masseffect.com

Today at CES, AMD President and Chief Executive Officer Dirk Meyer and OTOY Chief Executive Officer Jules Urbach unveiled a plan to revolutionize the deployment, development and delivery of HD content through the "AMD Fusion Render Cloud", a massively-parallel supercomputer. The announcement took place during AMD's Industry Insider Series keynote at the Las Vegas Hilton Theater, where AMD was joined on stage by industry luminaries such as Lucasfilm, Dell, HP and Electronic Arts.

"AMD has a long track record in the supercomputing world. Seven out of 10 of the world's fastest machines, including the fastest two computers on the planet, are powered by AMD hardware," said Meyer. "Today, AMD is pleased to announce a new kind of supercomputer unlike any other ever built. It is being designed to break the one petaFLOPS barrier, and to process a million compute threads across more than 1,000 graphics processors. We anticipate it to be the fastest graphics supercomputer ever. And it will be powered by OTOY's software for a singular purpose: to make HD cloud computing a reality. We plan to have this system ready by the second half of 2009."

LucasArts and BioWare, a division of Electronic Arts Inc., today announced the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic, a story-driven massively multiplayer online PC game set in the timeframe of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic franchise. Star Wars: The Old Republic, being developed and published by BioWare and LucasArts, represents an innovative approach to interactive entertainment, featuring immersive storytelling, dynamic combat and intelligent companion characters.

In Star Wars: The Old Republic, players will explore an age thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader when war between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire divides the galaxy. Players can choose to play as Jedi, Sith, or a variety of other classic Star Wars roles, defining their personal story and determining their path down the light or dark side of the Force. Along the way, players will befriend courageous companions who will fight at their side or possibly betray them, based on the players' actions. Players can also choose to team up with friends to battle enemies and overcome incredible challenges using dynamic Star Wars combat.