EA won't poo-poo on PopCap, CEO Riccitiello promises

Phew--EA had us worried for a second. (But keep on your toes.) After announcing that it bought casual and social games icon PopCap for a cool $650 million and some change, gamers and the press alike worried how this would affect the Seattle-based independent developer. But according to EA CEO John Riccitiello, there's no need to worry--PopCap will be treated as a "if it's not broke" situation, according to Shacknews.

For anyone who is concerned that EA will suck the creative energy out of PopCap like one of its plant-eating zombies, don't worry, but some changes will be made. "Some of their most important designers and creators and producers are stuck to perpetually working on language localization, individual handset adaptations, individual carrier adaptations," Riccitiello said during an investors call. "It's a lot of work... It's very unproductive work for great designers." This looks to be one of wrongs EA looks to right with the acquisition.

Regardless of whether you believe Riccitiello, one thing is for sure: EA means serious business when it comes to mobile and social gaming. However, whether PopCap will be enough for the company to compete with the likes of Zynga is, of course, up in the air. And considering the companies' collective players on Facebook combined just surpasses a single Zynga game, Empires & Allies, the duo certainly has lots of work to do.

EA Mobile Labor Day Sale: Grab some social / casual games on the cheap

This Labor Day weekend, Electronic Arts (specifically EA Mobile) is looking to help you cure any boredom you might be facing by offering a slew of iPhone / iPad games on deep, deep discounts - as in, up to 80% off.

If you're familiar with these sales (let's face it, EA Mobile throws one when anything resembling a holiday comes around), you'll recognize a lot of the games being offered. Depending on your platform, you can pick up tons of iPhone / iPod Touch games for 99 cents each, while even more iPad games are available for $1.99. Here's the full list, so get ready!

iPhone / iPod Touch - $0.99 each

    Battlefield: Bad Company 2
    Dead Space
    Dragon's Lair II
    FIFA 10
    FIFA 11
    Fight Night Champions
    NBA Jam
    NCAA Football
    Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
    Shift 2 Unleashed
    Need for Speed Undercover
    Real Racing
    Risk
    Scrabble
    The Sims 3
    The Sims 3 Ambitions
    The Sims 3 World Adventure
    Tetris
    Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12
    Transformers: Dark of the Moon


iPad - $1.99 each

    Battlefield Bad Company 2
    Battleship
    Command & Conquer Red Alert
    Clue: Secrets & Spies
    Coconut Dodge
    Dead Space
    Draw Jump
    FIFA 11
    Flight Control
    The Game of Life
    Max and the Magic Marker
    Mirror's Edge
    Monopoly
    Monopoly Here & Now: World Edition
    NBA Jam
    Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
    Shift 2 Unleashed
    Pictureka!
    Real Racing
    Reckless Racing
    Risk
    Scrabble
    SimCity Deluxe
    Snood
    Tetris
    Tiget Woods PGA Tour 12
    Transformers: Dark of the Moon
    Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
    Yahtzee


Now would be a great time to remind you that Scrabble (if you don't have it already) can now be played across platforms, including with friends on Facebook. That is, if you have Scrabble on iPhone and your friend plays the game on Facebook, you can play a game with each other, which is a cool little technology.

If EA Mobile adds more games on either platform to this sale, we'll make sure to let you know, but for now, let's go shopping!

Which of these iPhone/iPad games do you plan on buying this Labor Day weekend?

The Sims Social maker EA wants you ... to make it lots of ad money

And unfortunately, it doesn't sound like you'll have much of a choice. EA, co-creator of Playfish's The Sims Social on Facebook (and arch nemesis to Zynga at this point), has announced EA Legend.

This is the company's new platform to provide marketers and advertisers with "campaign and audience insights across mobile, social, online and console games reaching over 300 million people worldwide," a release reads.

In other words, you're more valuable to EA than you might already know. The publisher wants to use the information you provide them inadvertently through gameplay to rope in ad and marketing deals not just through its Facebook games but all of its games. More specifically, EA said it can provide advertisers with (prepare for buzzword overload):

    Key cross-platform campaign performance indicators such as impressions, clicks, unduplicated reach, demographic profiles, social media buzz, and ROI metrics.

    Segmented audience insights based on demographic, psychographic, and social data.

    Ability to drill down into the factors that impact campaign effectiveness including audience engagement, audience segmentation and type of creative all measured over time.

EA Legend
What's that again--psychographic data? This may all sound like something out of "1984," but it's nothing new. If you think other game creators don't do this type of stuff, then here's your wake-up call. We won't know exactly what information about us EA will provide to advertisers through Legend until it makes advertisers see green at this year's Advertising Week event in New York City on Oct. 4. And if EA keeps using words like psychographic, we may never know.

[Via All Facebook]

What do you think about this new EA Legend program? Do you think it's something worth worrying about, or is this just business as usual? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment

The Sims Social celebrates fans with a week of free stuff

Free stuff? Yes, please, I'll take some of that! With almost 61 million players (and climbing), the folks at EA / Playfish have a lot to be thankful for when it comes to the Sims Social on Facebook. As a way to thank their ever-growing player base for their support (even when the game suffered from some nagging loading and gameplay issues), the developers have launched a week long celebration involving free stuff that will be given away, apparently on a daily basis.

To start, we're given a gift of Social Points - a whopping 400 Social Points at that. Since your other methods of earning Social Points normally come in small increments (of 10 or less per action) when visiting friends, this really is a substantial prize. Remember, these Social Points work as a form of third currency in the game, and can be used to purchase exclusive decorations or other home items that aren't available through any other method or currency.

We've also been told that we'll be able to increase our land size in the future, although that wasn't exactly announced in as many words. To be specific, we're asked if we "need more space to build your dream home" and that with that question comes a secret that the developers just couldn't hold in anymore. We're even asked "If you could expand your land, what is the first room you'd build on it?"

Put two and two together here, and you're left with the answer that land size will soon be increasing, although no particular release date was announced (unfortunately). If you're like me, your home has already filled most nooks and crannies of land in our admittedly small square, and is surrounded by outdoor goodies to boot. Being able to increase the size of our house plot is a huge deal, and we'll make sure to let you know when that feature / ability launches as soon as it does.

In the meantime, keep checking back with the game's Facebook fan page for additional links / announcements of free prizes, and click right here to claim your free 400 Social Points.

What sorts of prizes are you hoping to receive in this week-long event of free stuff? What will you purchase with your 400 free Social Points? Sound off in the comments.