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EA's earnings call is scheduled to be on its way any moment now. The company's put out its planned slate for fiscal year 2011 - some interesting reading in their planned 4th quarter (i.e about a year+ from now) - here's a few releases we selectively pruned:

Q4
Dead Space 2
Dragon Age Title TBA
Shooter from Epic TBA
New Sims Title TBA
Spore Title TBA

Q3 isn't a snooze either - that's when Crysis 2 is expected to drop. It would be nice to know more about this Epic shooter, though - like Crysis 2 it's slated for consoles and PC.

There's every reason why EA are all about the future right now - as the present is kind of unpleasant. According to its figures, the company lost million the last quarter.

The gift that is ratings boards never ceases to keep giving. The US-based ESRB, doubtless jealous of the attention our own Classification Board receives - has a synopsis of Battlefield Bad Company 2's single player element. Included is the revelation that the game's campaign mode will commence in the dreaded WWII era:

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It should come as no surprise that THQ's selected Brock Lesnar to be its cover athlete on UFC 2010 Undisputed. The man-mountain pummelled Frank Mir to a bloody pulp in their meeting last tear, and currently holds the UFC crown.

Regional differences aside, this is what it will look like:

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It seems piracy is almost old news nowadays - YouTube punters posting videogame spoilers are the real new villains.

BioShock 2 is the latest victim - a punter's posted the ending of the game online, which in a title like BioShock 2 is a considerably inconsiderable move with the potential to give sales a hit.

Apparently 2K's legal team has been busy issuing takedown notices, and moreover creative director Jordan Thomas told press punters who had seen the footage probably wouldn't be able to make much sense out of it, as it's lacking in context.

Even so, you wouldn't want to be busted putting that up - especially ahead of release. Might lead to all kinds of uncomfortable questions. If Activision can get Modern Warfare 2 pirates locked up with rapists and murderers, we're pretty sure 2K can at least bankrupt someone who damages their IPs ahead of launch.

Yelling at your units is something any RTS player is occasionally guilty of, but it looks like you won't be doing it in EndWar 2. Work on a sequel to the voice-controlled RTS was underway, but original lead (and proud Aussie) Michael de Plater has confirmed to overseas media the project has "on the backburner"

The first EndWar had some potential (cmon, it did), but never really fulfilled the expectations Ubisoft had of it. Its global war setting had the makings of a long running, theatre-specific series - but perhaps Ubi have moved from voice to touch control in their RTS tastes, with R.U.S.E the new hotness.

Evolution can be a cruel mistress. While Sony still continues to sell PS2 consoles at a fair clip, Microsoft is loading the shells into the shotgun and getting ready to put old faithful - the original Xbox Live - out of its misery.

Microsoft spokesman Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb updated his website to drop the news. The bolding is us, not them:

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While Game Informer's Battlefield Bad Company 2 review (you know, the one finished before the game was) still makes the rounds, another tidbit from an upcoming issue has been catching people's eyes: a profile on Rockstar/Team Bondi's LA Noire.

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Something that slipped through the cracks yesterday: THQ's CEO Brian Farrell has promised the Warhammer 40K MMO will be aired for the first time at this year's E3 show. Farrell made the comments during THQ's quarterly investor call:

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At the bottom of a crater carved by construction equipment lies M-Com Bravo. On top of it lies the body of some foolish European - he ran in a little too quickly and didn't check to see if anyone was watching. Left of the objective, hugging the fence surrounding the construction site, is me - the person watching. I stand up to scope out the situation - checking to see if he had any mates, essentially. It looks like he was alone but reinforcements are on the way. A tank rumbles down the hill, three men surrounding it. They're too far off for me to know what they are, but not so far off that I can't throw some bullets their way.

I line one up as he saunters down the hill. He must think he's safe behind the tank because he's making things very easy on me. I let loose three short sprays and he drops. His teammates duck behind the tank and start firing back. I duck behind the fence and reload when the fence splinters and flies away. I spray in the direction of my attackers, not really aiming as I scramble backwards behind what fence is left. As I run backwards my cover continues to disintegrate under what I've now determined is tank machine gun fire. My fears are confirmed when a tank shell explodes on the last piece of cover I have.



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Imagine a world where Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were the last Sonic games you played. A world where legions of Sonic fans didn't have the abhorrent choice between either accepting Sonic for what it had become (straight-jackets and dribble cups crazy) or remembering wistfully about what it used to be.

You're stuck in this world, but you can now pretend that the last 15 years of Sonic games never happened with Sonic 4: Episode 1! From the press release,

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I offers sublime 2D gameplay through beautifully rendered HD environments. Fans will be able to speed through each level with the classic Spin Dash move, and destroy enemies using the Homing Attack. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I sees the return of the much-loved special stages and takes players through a variety of different Zones, all inspired by the Mega Drive era. Each level from Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I is separately selectable from the main menu, making it easy for players to replay their favorite sections as they wish. Long time fans will not be disappointed as they rejoin the action and face all new intense boss battles against everyone’s favourite villain – the ever devious and evil – Dr. Eggman!

Dr. Eggman? It's Dr. Robotnik, heathens! To calm down watch the trailer for the game in our videos library and tell us below - could we see a return to form for the world's fastest blue hedgehog? The game is coming to Xbox Live, PSN and WiiWare in Winter (our winter) this year.