GAMES

[UPDATE 2] Uncharted 2 tops Game Developers Choice Awards with five trophies; PlayStation Move debuts; write-ups of Meier, Pardo, Molyneux, Pitchford, Muzyka, Sakamoto, Yamaoka, Toriyama, and Schafer talks also on tap; full run-down of event and new Deus Ex trailer inside.

SAN FRANCISCO–The 2010 Game Developers Conference began today with the Independent Games Summit kickoff, a session on “guerrilla” development, and a (very) brief talk by Caleb Arseneaux from Scribblenauts developer 5TH Cell.

[UPDATE] Wednesday morning, the main conference began with a series of presentations, including talks by BioWare cofounder and CEO Dr. Ray Muzyka, Bungie creative director Joseph Staten, and Electronic Arts COO John Schappert. The event then shifted into high gear when Sony Computer Entertainment unveiled the PlayStation Move motion controller.

As can be seen in GameSpot’s liveblog of the event, the LED-based controller system will launch in a variety of retail configurations, including a starter kit which includes the PlayStation Eye camera, one Move remote, and one game. That title will likely be Sports Champions, the Wii Sports-like compilation which includes table tennis, archery, and a gladiatorial contest. Also shown were was the Move Party! minigame compilation, a street-brawling/boxing game called Motion Fighters, and SOCOM 4, which will be playable with the thumbstick-enabled Move Subcontroller.

[UPDATE 2] Thursday saw presentations by Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka, Metroid cocreator Yoshio Sakamoto, Naughty Dog’s Richard Lemarchand, Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux, and Blizzard Entertainment’s Rob Pardo. Besides the arrival of the latest NPD report, there was also a special live GDC edition of Today on the Spot.

That evening, GameSpot exclusively streamed the Game Developers Choice Awards, hosted by Deus Ex and Thief creator Warren Spector, who is currently at work on Epic Mickey at Disney Interactive Studios. Uncharted 2 was the big winner at the ceremony, taking home a record five awards including Game of the Year. id Software’s John Carmack took home the Lifetime Achievement Award for more than 20 years of work on the Doom and Quake series, and
Valve Software’s Gabe Newell received the Pioneer Award for his work on the Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, Portal, and Left 4 Dead series. The ceremony was accompanied by the Independent Game Festival winners, and both ceremonies can be viewed below.

Friday morning coverage begins at 10:30 a.m. PST, with GameSpot’s live blog of GDC keynote speaker Sid Meier, founder of Firaxis games and creator of the iconic Civilization strategy series. Also scheduled are write-ups of presentations by Gearbox Software’s Randy Pitchford and Final Fantasy XIII writer Motomu Toriyama, as well as sessions covering Batman: Arkham Asylum, disabled gaming, and Xbox Live achievement data.

GameSpot will also be covering a panel that will see Pardo, Muzyka, and other industry heavyweights discuss how online connectivity will become more central to games in the future. That afternoon will also see another live edition of TOTS at 4 p.m.

GDC 2010 wraps up on Saturday with sessions focusing on Mass Effect 2, Shadow Complex, and Assassin’s Creed II. Ubisoft Montreal’s narrative director Richard Rouse will give a talk on evoking serious emotions, while Double Fine CEO Tim Schafer will host a panel discussing (what else?) comedy.

For more on these events and all the latest screenshots, videos, previews, interviews, and breaking news, keep your browser set to GameSpot’s ongoing 2010 Game Developers Conference coverage.

GAMESPOT’S GDC 2010 COVERAGE – SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

TUESDAY, MARCH 9

Scheduled Sessions:

–”From Big Studio to Small Indie: Guerrilla Tactics From Hello Games ” – Sean Murray (Managing Director, Hello Games)

–”Indies and Publishers: Fixing a System That Never Worked” – Ron Carmel (Cofounder, 2D Boy)

–”5TH Cell: From Mobile to Handheld & Beyond” – Caleb Arseneaux (Producer, 5TH Cell)

–IGF KEYNOTE ADDRESS: “Increasing Our Reach: Designing to Grab and Retain Players” – Randy Smith (Owner and Game Designer, Tiger Style)

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10

4 p.m. PST: PlayStation Move motion-controller unveild at Sony Press Conference, will cost under $100. SOCOM 4 to support system.

Scheduled Sessions:

–”Building a Blockbuster Franchise” — Joseph Staten (Creative Director, Bungie), Ray Muzyka (CEO and General Manager, BioWare Corp.)

–Indie Gamemaker Rant! – Various speakers

–Mythbusting Fireside Chat – John Schappert (Chief Operating Officer, Electronic Arts)

–”The Relentless March Toward Free…and What It Means to the Games Industry” – Kristian Segerstrale (Vice President and General Manager, Playfish)

THURSDAY, MARCH 11

4 p.m. PST: Today on the Spot Live: Special GDC Edition

6:30 p.m. PST: Independent Game Festival Awards

~7 p.m. PST: Game Developers Choice Awards, hosted by Warren Spector

Scheduled Sessions:
–“Achievements Considered Harmful?” – Chris Hecker (definition six, inc.)

–“Among Friends – An Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Post-Mortem” – Richard Lemarchand (Game Designer, Naughty Dog)

–“As Long as the Audio Is Fun, the Game Will Be Too” – Akira Yamaoka (Grasshopper Manufacture Studio)

–“Building an Open-World Game Without Hiring an Army” – Nate Fox (Game Director, Sucker Punch Productions {Infamous})

–“Creating a Unique Visual Direction: The Successes and Failures of Creating a Near-Future Cyberpunk Setting With a Renaissance Twist in Deus Ex 3″ – Jonathan Jacques-Belletete (Art Director, Eidos Montreal)

–”Epic Games/Unreal Engine 3 Media Briefing” – ark Rein, vice president of Epic Games; Alan Willard, senior technical artist and designer, Epic Games; Mary Beth Haggerty, Autodesk (makers of Maya); Dave Jones, creative director, Realtime Worlds.

–“From Metroid to Tomodachi Collection to WarioWare: Different Approaches for Different Audiences” – Yoshio Sakamoto (Group Manager/Software Planning and Development department, Nintendo)

–“Making a Standard (and Trying to Stick to it!): Blizzard Design Philosophies” – Rob Pardo (VP, game design, Blizzard Entertainment)

–”Peering Into the Black Box of Player Behavior: The Player Experience Panel at Microsoft Game Studios” – Bruce Phillips (User Researcher, Microsoft)

–“The Complex Challenges of Intuitive Design” – Peter Molyneux (Head of Studio, Lionhead Studios), Josh Atkins (Studio Design Director, Microsoft Games Studio)

FRIDAY, MARCH 12

10:30 a.m. PST: GDC KEYNOTE ADDRESS: “The Psychology of Game Design (Everything You Know Is Wrong)” Sid Meier (Director of Creative Development, Firaxis Games)

4 p.m. PST: Today on the Spot LIVE: Special GDC Edition

Scheduled Sessions:
–”Accessibility Arcade: Bringing AAA Game Titles to the Disabled Through Controller Hacks” – Michelle Hinn (Chairperson, IGDA Game Accessibility Special Interest Group), Tara Tefertiller (VP game industry relations, Right to Fun Foundation)

–”Borderlands and the 11th Hour Art Style Change. Or: Kids, Don’t Try This at Home! ” – Brian Martel (Cofounder & Chief Creative Officer, Gearbox Software), Randy Pitchford (President and CEO, Gearbox Software)

–”The Crystal Mythos and Final Fantasy XIII” – Motomu Toriyama (Scenario Writer for Final Fantasy XIII, Square Enix)

–”The Art Direction of Batman: Arkham Asylum: Rebooting a Super Hero Video Game IP” – David Hego (Art Director, Rocksteady)

–”The Connected Future of Games” – Min Kim (Vice President, Nexon America Inc.), Ray Muzyka (CEO and General Manager, BioWare Corp.), Rob Pardo (VP, game design, Blizzard Entertainment), Brian Reynolds (Chief Designer, Zynga), Jason Holtman (Director of Business Development, Valve)

–”Double Header Analysis: Xbox Live Achievement Data and Intellectual Property Trends in Video Games” – Geoffrey Zatkin (President & COO, Electronic Entertainment Design and Research), Jesse Divnich (Vice President of Analyst Services, EEDAR)

–”The Game Design Challenge 2010: Real-World Permadeath” – Eric Zimmerman (Independent), Heather Kelley (Founder and Game Designer, Kokoromi), Erin Robinson (Independent Game developer, Wadjet Eye Games), Jenova Chen (Cofounder, thatgamecompany), Kim Swift (Project Lead/game designer, Airtight Games)

–”Console Wars Revisited: Are We Breaking the Mold or Reliving History?” – Don Daglow (President & CEO, Don Daglow Interactive Entertainment)

SATURDAY, MARCH 13
–”Designing Assassin’s Creed 2″ – Patrick Plourde (Lead game designer, Ubisoft)

–”Designing Shadow Complex” – Donald Mustard (Creative Director, Chair Entertainment Group)

–”Five Ways a Video Game Can Make You Cry” – Richard Rouse III (Narrative Director, Ubisoft Montreal)

–”Make ‘Em Laugh: Comedy in Games” – Tim Schafer (CEO, Doublefine), Rhianna Pratchett (Freelance scriptwriter and narrative designer, Independent), Sean Vanaman (Writer & designer, Telltale Games), John Teti (Games writer, The A.V. Club)

–”Rock Band Network: Postmortem” – Matthew Nordhaus (Senior producer: design, Harmonix Music Systems), Caleb Epps (Senior sound designer, Harmonix Music Systems)

–”Where Did My Inventory Go? Refining Gameplay in Mass Effect 2)” – Christina Norman (Lead gameplay designer, BioWare

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Thursday’s Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony and Wednesday’s suspected motion-controller unveiling top coverage of San Francisco event; write-ups of Meier, Pardo, Molyneux, Pitchford, Muzyka, Sakamoto, Yamaoka, Toriyama, and Schafer talks also on tap; full schedule inside.

SAN FRANCISCO–The 2010 Game Developers Conference began today with the Independent Games Summit kickoff, a session on “guerilla” development, and a (very) brief talk by Caleb Arseneaux from Scribblenauts developer 5TH Cell. Tomorrow morning, the main conference will start with a series of presentations, including talks by BioWare co-founder and CEO Dr. Ray Muzyka, Bungie creative director Joseph Staten, and Electronic Arts COO John Schappert.

The event will shift into high gear at 4 p.m. PST Wednesday, when Sony Computer Entertainment will hold a press conference. Though no details are yet public, the company is expected to use the event to show off the PlayStation 3’s motion-control system, widely believed to be called the “PlayStation Arc.” GameSpot will be on hand with both live video streaming and liveblog coverage, accessible from the main GameSpot GDC page.

Thursday will see full coverage of presentations by Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka, Metroid co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto, Naughty Dog’s Richard Lemarchand, Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux, and Blizzard Entertainment’s Rob Pardo. Besides the arrival of the latest NPD report, there will also be a special live GDC edition of Today on the Spot, broadcast from the nearby GameSpot Studios at 4 p.m. PST.

That evening, GameSpot will exclusively stream the Game Developers Choice Awards, hosted by Deus Ex and Thief creator Warren Spector, who is currently at work on Epic Mickey at Disney Interactive Studios. Uncharted 2 will be the most-nominated game at the ceremony, which will also see id Software’s John Carmack take home the Lifetime Achievement Award for over 20 years of work on the Doom and Quake series.

Valve Software’s Gabe Newell will receive the 2010 Pioneer Award for his work on the Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, Portal, and Left 4 Dead series. The ceremony begins at 6:30 p.m. with the Independent Game Festival winners, followed by the main awards show approximately a half-hour later.

Friday morning coverage begins at 10:30 a.m. PST, with GameSpot’s liveblog of GDC keynote speaker Sid Meier, founder of Firaxis games and creator of the iconic Civilization strategy series. Also scheduled are write-ups of presentations by Gearbox Software’s Randy Pitchford and Final Fantasy XIII writer Motomu Toriyama, as well as sessions covering Batman: Arkham Asylum, disabled gaming, and Xbox Live achievement data.

GameSpot will also be covering a panel which will see Pardo, Muzyka, and other industry heavyweights discuss how online connectivity will become more central to games in the future. That afternoon will also see another live edition of TOTS at 4 p.m.

GDC 2010 wraps up on Saturday with sessions focusing on Mass Effect 2, Shadow Complex, and Assassin’s Creed II. Ubisoft Montreal’s narrative director Richard Rouse will give a talk on evoking serious emotions, while Double Fine CEO Tim Schafer will host a panel discussing (what else?) comedy.

For more on these events and all the latest screenshots, videos, previews, interviews, and breaking news, keep your browser set to GameSpot’s ongoing 2010 Game Developers Conference coverage.

GAMESPOT’S GDC 2010 COVERAGE – SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

TUESDAY, MARCH 9

Scheduled Sessions:

–”From Big Studio to Small Indie: Guerrilla Tactics from Hello Games ” – Sean Murray (managing director, Hello Games)

–”Indies and Publishers: Fixing a System That Never Worked” – Ron Carmel (Co-founder, 2D Boy)

–”5TH Cell: From Mobile to Handheld & Beyond” – Caleb Arseneaux (Producer, 5th Cell)

–IGF KEYNOTE: “Increasing Our Reach: Designing To Grab and Retain Players” – Randy Smith (owner and game designer, Tiger Style)

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10

4 p.m. PST: SONY GDC 2010 PRESS CONFERENCE, speakers and subject TBA. – Streaming LIVE w/ text liveblog accompaniment.

Scheduled Sessions:

–”Building a Blockbuster Franchise” — Joseph Staten (Creative Director, Bungie), Ray Muzyka (CEO and General Manager, BioWare Corp.)

–Indie Gamemaker Rant! – Various speakers

–Mythbusting Fireside Chat – John Schappert (Chief operating officer, Electronic Arts)

–”The Relentless March Towards Free…and What it Means to the Games Industry” – Kristian Segerstrale (vice president and general manager, Playfish)

THURSDAY, MARCH 10

4 p.m. PST: Today on the Spot LIVE: Special GDC Edition

6:30 p.m. PST: Independent Game Festival Awards – Streaming LIVE!

~7 p.m. PST: Game Developers Choice Awards, hosted by Warren Spector – Streaming LIVE!

Scheduled Sessions:
–”Achievements Considered Harmful?” – Chris Hecker (definition six, inc.)

–”Among Friends – An Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Post-Mortem” – Richard Lemarchand (game designer, Naughty Dog)

–”As Long as the Audio is Fun, the Game Will Be Too” – Akira Yamaoka (Grasshopper Manufacture Studio)

–”Building an Open-World Game Without Hiring an Army” – Nate Fox (game director, Sucker Punch Productions {Infamous})

–”Creating a Unique Visual Direction: The Successes and Failures of Creating a Near-Future Cyberpunk Setting with a Renaissance Twist in Deus Ex 3 ” – Jonathan Jacques-Belletete (Art director, Eidos Montreal)

–”Epic Games/Unreal Engine 3 Media Briefing” – Speaker TBA

–”From Metroid to Tomodachi Collection to WarioWare: Different Approaches for Different Audiences” – Yoshio Sakamoto (Group manager/software planning and development department, Nintendo)

–”Making a Standard (and Trying to Stick to it!): Blizzard Design Philosophies” – Rob Pardo (VP, game design, Blizzard Entertainment)

–”Peering into the Black Box of Player Behavior: The Player Experience Panel at Microsoft Game Studios” – Bruce Phillips (User researcher, Microsoft)

–”The Complex Challenges of Intuitive Design” – Peter Molyneux (Head of studio, Lionhead Studios), Josh Atkins (studio design director, Microsoft Games Studio)

–”What Happened Here? Environmental Storytelling”- Harvey Smith (Game director, Arkane Studios), Matthias Worch (Senior level designer, Visceral Games)

FRIDAY, MARCH 12

10:10 a.m. PST: GDC KEYNOTE: “The Psychology of Game Design (Everything You Know Is Wrong)” Sid Meier (Director of creative development, Firaxis Games)

4 p.m. PST: Today on the Spot LIVE: Special GDC Edition

Scheduled Sessions:
–”Accessibility Arcade: Bringing AAA Game Titles to the Disabled Through Controller Hacks” – Michelle Hinn (Chairperson, IGDA Game Accessibility Special Interest Group), Tara Tefertiller (VP game industry relations, Right to Fun Foundation)

–”Borderlands and the 11th Hour Art Style Change. Or: Kids, Don’t Try this at Home! ” – Brian Martel (Co-Founder & chief creative officer, Gearbox Software), Randy Pitchford (President and CEO, Gearbox Software)

–”The Crystal Mythos and Final Fantasy XIII” – Motomu Toriyama (Scenario writer for Final Fantasy XIII, Square Enix)

–”The Art Direction of Batman: Arkham Asylum: Rebooting a Super Hero Video Game IP” – David Hego (Art director, Rocksteady)

–”The Connected Future of Games” – Min Kim (Vice president, Nexon America Inc.), Ray Muzyka (CEO and general manager, BioWare Corp.), Rob Pardo (VP, game design, blizzard entertainment), Brian Reynolds (Chief designer, Zynga), Jason Holtman (Director of business development, Valve)

–”Double Header Analysis: Xbox Live Achievement Data and Intellectual Property Trends in Video Games” – Geoffrey Zatkin (President & COO, Electronic Entertainment Design and Research), Jesse Divnich (Vice President of Analyst Services, EEDAR)

–”The Game Design Challenge 2010: Real-World Permadeath” – Eric Zimmerman (Independent), Heather Kelley (Founder and game designer, Kokoromi), Erin Robinson (Independent Game developer, Wadjet Eye Games), Jenova Chen (Co-founder, thatgamecompany), Kim Swift (Project lead/game designer, Airtight Games)

–”Console Wars Revisited: Are We Breaking the Mold or Reliving History?” – Don Daglow (President & CEO, Don Daglow Interactive Entertainment)

SATURDAY, MARCH 13
–”Designing Assassin’s Creed 2″ – Patrick Plourde (Lead game designer, Ubisoft)

–”Designing Shadow Complex” – Donald Mustard (Creative director, Chair Entertainment Group)

–”Five Ways a Video Game Can Make You Cry” – Richard Rouse III (Narrative director, Ubisoft Montreal)

–”Make ‘Em Laugh: Comedy in Games” – Tim Schafer (CEO, Doublefine), Rhianna Pratchett (Freelance scriptwriter and narrative designer, Independent), Sean Vanaman (Writer & designer, Telltale Games), John Teti (Games writer, The A.V. Club)

–”Rock Band Network: Postmortem” – Matthew Nordhaus (Senior producer: design, Harmonix Music Systems), Caleb Epps (Senior sound designer, Harmonix Music Systems)

–”Where Did My Inventory Go? Refining Gameplay in Mass Effect 2)” – Christina Norman (Lead gameplay designer, Bioware

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Electronic Arts has allegedly purchased Australia-based IronMonkey Studios, best known for developing several successful iPhone titles for the mega-publisher. If true, the purchase continues EA’s path of “restructuring,” as it strongly acknowledges the casual, online and mobile market.

Aussie website Tsumea broke the acquisition story using “very reliable sources,” noting that “details are very slim at the moment.” Our own attempts in getting EA to acknowledge the purchase are being answered by the sounds of silence. We’ll be sure to update as soon as EA decides to say anything — although, if it’s in Simlish, we’ll likely need a translator.

[Via Develop]

Rumor: EA buys developer IronMonkey Studios originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Developer BioWare has a busy 2011 ahead of them, with a new Dragon Age title, Star Wars: The Old Republic and, according to EA execs “something far-reaching coming from Mass Effect” in early 2011.

Electronic Arts COO John Schappert added that “something far-reaching” from the Mass Effect franchise to the list of upcoming titles due in the fourth quarter of the company’s 2011 fiscal year. That means something Mass Effect related arriving between January 1 and March 31 of next calendar year.

Could BioWare have Mass Effect 3 wrapped up by then? The developer’s project manager Casey Hudson noted that they “definitely want to make ‘Mass Effect 3′ a fairly short turnaround.” And, well, that would be fairly short.

BioWare could also have much more planned for owners of the recently released Mass Effect 2 or maybe even something for PlayStation 3 owners hungry for some Mass Effect. Whatever Mass Effect “something” EA has penciled in for next year, it won’t be the end for the franchise.

Let me tell you something. It’s rough being one of the few Joystiq editors that isn’t currently knee-deep in the space-faring magic of Mass Effect 2. The constant insults, the pointing and laughing, the threats on my life; it gets old really fast. And now Electronic Arts has to announce that Mass Effect 2 has already shipped two million units worldwide in its first week. The press release also notes that the game has earned more than 40 perfect review scores. And, of course, the Joystiq review drips with effusive, well-earned praise. I get it, okay? I need to play it, and I will, just as soon as soon as I finish the first Mass Effect.

Oh, gotta go. Looks like Justin is putting another stink bomb in my lunch box.

Mass Effect 2 amasses two million units shipped originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s Xbox 360-exclusive karaoke rhythm game brings 40 new on-dics tracks from Spice Girls, KISS, Village People, more; January DLC detailed.

Microsoft’s big push into the casual market will come later this year with the launch of its camera-based motion-sensing add-on currently known as Project Natal. However, that isn’t the only motion-sensing product the publisher has aimed at the casual market. Today, Microsoft announced that its motion-sensing mic-equipped karaoke franchise Lips will expand in North America on March 2 with the launch of Party Classics. The game will land in Europe beginning February 26.

As with previous installments in the franchise, Party Classics integrates with a wireless, motion-sensing microphone that syncs up with the various songs in the game to create unique light displays. Notably, Party Classics introduces the ability to use third-party USB microphones, such as those that come with Activision’s and Electronic Arts’ respective Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises.

Party Classics features 40 on-disc songs. Artists slated to appear in the game include the Spice Girls, KISS, Village People, Tiffany, Gloria Gaynor, The B-52s, and Chumbawumba. The game also supports Avatars and Avatar rewards, as well as the customary set of achievements and other features.

Microsoft also today announced the lineup of Lips’ weekly downloadable content for January. Included in the lineup are tunes from Death Cab for Cutie, The Miracles, Fleetwood Mac, The Cardigans, and more. Tracks run for MSP 160 ($2) a piece, with The Miracles and The Cardigans song packs available for MSP 440 ($5.50) a piece. January’s full lineup of DLC can be found below.

January 1:
Club Nouveau – “Lean on Me”
David Guetta feat. Cozi – “Baby When the Light”
Kanye West feat. Chris Martin – “Homecoming”

January 8:
The Miracles – “Love Machine (Part 1)”
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – “I Second That Emotion”
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – “The Tracks of My Tears”
The Miracles Song Pack – Includes “I Second That Emotion,” “Love Machine (Part 1),” “The Tracks of My Tears”

January 15:
Anita Ward – “Ring My Bell”
Death Cab for Cutie – “Soul Meets Body”
Wilson Pickett – “Mustang Sally”

January 22:
Fleetwood Mac – “Little Lies”
Robbie Williams – “Tripping”
Vanessa Carlton – “Ordinary Day”

January 29:
The Cardigans – “Carnival”
The Cardigans – “My Favorite Game”
The Cardigans Song Pack – Includes “Carnival,” “Erase/Rewind,” “My Favorite Game”
Crystal Waters – “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)”

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$40 expansion to BioWare’s critically acclaimed RPG will increase level cap and add new party members, spells, abilities, areas, and storyline.

Canadian developer BioWare was roundly criticized for not providing much additional content for its 2007 sci-fi role-playing game Mass Effect. That criticism certainly can’t be leveled at the Electronic Arts subsidiary’s dark fantasy RPG Dragon Age: Origins, GameSpot’s 2009 PC Game of the Year. Also available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the title saw its first downloadable expansion pack launch alongside the game itself in November. A second DLC add-on, Return to Ostagar, will be available later today.

Just over four months after Dragon Age’s debut, the game will also be getting its first full-fledged expansion, Dragon Age: Origins ’ Awakening. Available on March 16 worldwide for the PC, 360, and PS3, the major add-on will feature an all-new storyline that focuses on the rebuilding of the Grey Wardens after the bloody events of the original game’s campaign. It will allow players to import their Dragon Age characters or start over as an all-new new Grey Warden from the empire of Orlais. It will also delve deeper into the backstory of the Darkspawn and their ongoing objectives.

In addition to a new storyline, Awakening will also raise the level cap for Dragon Age: Origins. It will also add new foes, with BioWare mentioning such creatures as the Inferno Golem, Spectral Dragon, and a hyperintelligent sub-race of Darkspawn. It will be set in the all-new realm of Amaranthine, and will also add new spells, abilities, and five all-new party members which players can enlist.

Dragon Age: Origins ’ Awakening will cost $40 in the US and require the original Dragon Age to play. (No UK or EU price was given.) It is rated M for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board in North America and 18+ by PEGI in Europe. The expansion’s official Web site has more details on the game.

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The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that Electronic Arts is looking to create a development center in Atlanta, Georgia, that could potentially employ 300 people. An EA spokesperson confirmed to the paper that Georgia, Louisiana and Florida are all being considered, as the company tries to cut California operation costs. The publisher gave no indication on when a decision would be made.

The information is in-line with rumors that Joystiq has been hearing about more EA changes on the horizon. When we contacted the company about specific studio closures and relocation, an EA spokesperson told us, “We have nothing more to add to this story.”

EA has ‘nothing more to add’ to Atlanta studio rumors originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Back when we knew the sequel to the original Army of Two as simply “Army of Two: TFD,” we solicited suggestions on what that abbreviated secondary title meant. “Total Fistbump Destruction,” suggested lapsed Kotaku commenter strawberrycream. We really liked that.

Enough to use it in one of our many previews on Army of Two: The 40th Day and bother EA producers about it at press events.

Apparently, someone else at Electronic Arts liked it, as one of the game’s Xbox Live Achievements—and presumably one PlayStation Trophy—has been named, yes, “Total FistBump Destruction,” netting the player 10 Gamerscore for finishing the game “as best friends.” Nice.

There’s also a “Total FistBump Deflation” achievement, scored by finishing the game with “a fractured friendship.” You can check out the full list at Xbox360Achievements.org or—if you find yourself muttering under your breath “How is this news?”—read our newest Army of Two hands-on preview right here.

Achievements: Army of Two: The 40th Day [X360A - thanks, Ryan!]

“Sponsors like Gillette and Electronic Arts are going to drop Tiger Woods regardless of what they are saying now,” writes a Forbes national editor. But who would that leave to carry on EA’s golf franchise? Nobody, basically.

“Forget about any golfers picking up the sponsorship slack,” says Michael K. Ozanian. “According to E Poll Market Research, aside from Tiger, they generate no buzz with consumers.”

He’s talking about all products, not just video games, but if Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk can’t sell shaving cream, they probably can’t push a $60 title either. Tiger Woods has been the lead endorser of EA Sports PGA Tour series since 1998 – only John Madden has a longer association on the title of a sports video game. EA axing Tiger is a far different thing than AT&T or Accenture (although Nike and Gatorade have comparable product lines in play here too.)

This is all speculation of course. EA Sports’ latest guidance is this stand-by-your-man news release. It’s got a major release coming up with Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online, a free-to-play browser-based product that’s been in a closed beta already, with another coming up soon. And as said above, if Woods is so toxic that he can’t rep a game, EA Sports would have no reasonable fallback. Of course this scandal is a disaster for Woods as a business; it’s not a party for his corporate partners either.

Tiger’s Troubles: The Winners [Forbes]