Late Night Consoling

Following its financial earnings announcement today, Electronic Arts held a conference call in which several previously unannounced titles were revealed. While commenting on the strength of EA's upcoming lineup for its fiscal year beginning in April 2007, the company commented on new games in the Sims, Road Rash, and Black franchises.

"There is a Sims title that is being specifically developed for the Wii platform," said an EA executive, also noting that a game called The Sims 2: Holiday Edition is in the works for PlayStation 3 in either the 2006 or 2007 holiday season. "There is a Sims 3 in development, and it is likely to be a fiscal 09 title," said the exec; the game is likely in development for PC and consoles.

Somewhat unexpectedly, EA noted that a new game in EA's old school motorcycle combat franchise Road Rash is coming, stating simply, "There is a new Road Rash game." No further details were given. Criterion's first person shooter Black (PS2, Xbox) will also return, though it is unclear whether the game is a sequel or a revamp of the first title for next-gen systems. The executive called it "a next generation version of Black."

In less surprising news, it appears that the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Simpsons, and SimCity franchises will all be getting new entries during the company's upcoming fiscal year, which runs from April 2007 to March 2008.

As well as the delay of Crytek's Crysis (PC), the company also stated that EA Montreal's Army of Two (PS3, X360) has been delayed until the next fiscal year.

Highly ranked professional tennis player Rafa Nadal will be coming to Nintendo DS in the form of the aptly named Rafa Nadal Tennis, publisher Codemasters announced today. The game, developed by Virtual Toys, offers a choice of a touch screen interface or traditional d-pad controls, with which players can practice and raise their skill levels in abilities such as Serve, Forehand, Backhand, Smash and Speed. Career Mode allows gamers to play as Nadal himself or to create a character with various custom attributes, then play through 20 tournaments in 17 locations around the world. Local wireless multiplayer modes allow for singles and doubles multiplayer matches. Up to four players can participate with reduced options using the system's game share feature using a single game card. - Screenshots.

Virtual Toys' Rafa Nadal Tennis is set to ship for Nintendo DS in early 2007.

Brisbane, Australia-based independent developer Krome Studios today announced that it has acquired veteran Melbourne, Australia-based studio Melbourne House. Founded in 1980 as Beam Software, Melbourne House was acquired by Atari parent Infogrames in the late 1990s. Earlier this year, Atari announced its intention to sell many of its internal studios. Melbourne House will retain its location and become known as Krome Studios Melbourne, cementing Krome's status as the largest Australian video game developer.

Krome is responsible for the Ty the Tasmanian Tiger franchise, recently released The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning (PS2, Xbox, GCN, NDS, GBA), and is currently working on a Hellboy game adaptation for Konami, as well as other unannounced titles. Melbourne House's most recently released major title was Transformers (PS2); the company is currently preparing to ship the PlayStation 2 version of Eden Studios' Test Drive Unlimited for Atari.

Guitar Hero fans in the Los Angeles area are in luck. To promote the launch of Harmonix's upcoming sequel Guitar Hero II on PlayStation 2, former Jane's Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro will be signing Guitar Hero guitar controllers and games at a midnight release event. Navarro and representatives from publisher RedOctane will be present at the West Los Angeles Best Buy at 11301 W. Pico Blvd. from 10:30pm on Monday, November 6, until 12:30am on Tuesday, November 7. There will be Guitar Hero II kiosks set up for people to try out the game "with the help of on-site Best Buy 'blue shirt' gaming experts." At midnight, when Guitar Hero II officially goes on sale, Navarro will begin signing controllers and games.

In a separate announcement, RedOctane today announced a list of companies sponsoring Guitar Hero II. "The product placement within Guitar Hero II is designed to add an extra element of realism for gamers," said RedOctane head of publishing Dusty Welch. "Players are deeply immersed into the rock star culture, utilizing the authentic tools of musicians worldwide including an extensive array of amps, strings, pedals, cymbals, music stores and venues." Many of the sponsors are music equipment companies. The announced partners include BOSS Effectors, DW Drums, Eden Bass Amplication, EMG, Epiphone, Ernie Ball Strings, Gibson Guitar, Guitar Center, Hofner, Kramer, Krank, Line 6, Mesa Boogie, MusicMan Basses, Orange, Randall Amplifiers, Roland, Vans, VHT, and Zildjian.

Harmonix's Guitar Hero II ships for PlayStation 2 on November 7, 2006. An Xbox 360 version has also been announced.

Electronic Arts today released its financial results for its second fiscal quarter, which ended September 30, 2006. The company saw a 16% improvement in revenue year over year, up to $784 million from last years' $675. Strong performance of sports titles, including record sales of EA Tiburon's Madden NFL 07, was a key component in the sales increase. Software for PlayStation 2, a stalwart seller across all major markets, still comprised 35% of EA's business, compared to 21% from Microsoft's next generation Xbox 360.

In contrast, profits fell 57% to $22 million from last year's $51 million. EA cited factors related to stock option changes for the decreased profits, which still managed to beat analyst expectations.

Responding to the results, EA raised its financial projections for the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2007. The company now expects revenues of $2.95 billion to $3.13 billion, up from previous estimates of $2.8 billion to $3 billion.