Items tagged with Electronic Arts
The devastating security breach publisher Electronic Arts disclosed earlier this month may have been worse than initially thought. Not in terms of the scope of how much data was stolen (which is a lot), but in regards to EA possibly having prior knowledge that its systems were at risk, and allegedly choosing not to take appropriate measures that could have prevented the breach. Let's back up for a moment. A couple of weeks ago, hackers began bragging on private hacking forums that they infiltrated EA's servers and swiped a massive amount of data—around 780GB of source code, proprietary frameworks, software development kits, and engine tools. The stolen data was made available for sale....
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Anticipation is running high for the next major installment in the Battlefield franchise. As we wait for today's official reveal, more information has leaked out, seemingly confirming the game that has often been referred to as Battlefield 6 will indeed be branded Battlefield 2042, based on the upcoming title's time frame and setting. How much ends up being a surprise at this point remains to be seen. The reveal is scheduled for 10:00 am ET (7:00 am PT) today, in which developer DICE and publisher Electronic Arts will provide concrete details on what promises to deliver a "jaw-dropping experience for you to enjoy." Working towards that goal, DICE has assembled its largest team ever to construct...
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We imagine this is the time of the year that Amazon really bolsters its Prime membership numbers, with people signing up in anticipation of its annual Prime Day event. To that end, Amazon Prime Day 2021 is right around the corner (it takes place June 21-22). Ahead the event, however, Amazon is serving up another treat for Prime members—a free copy of Battlefield 4 for PC. Claiming your copy is rather easy. Just head over to Amazon's Battlefield 4 promotion page, click the Claim Now button, and then grab (copy) the key and redeem it on your Origin account. You will be prompted to sign into your Amazon Prime account when you attempt to do this, if you are not already. And if you are not a...
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We have to wait a few more weeks before Electronics Arts unveils its next Battlefield installment, presumably called Battlefield 6 (or just Battlefield), as the publisher recently confirmed it will hold a reveal event in June. In the meantime, supposed screenshots keep leaking out, potentially providing us some juicy details of what to expect when the game arrives. One of the screenshots appears to show a robot dog. This is line with a previous leak suggesting Battlefield 6 will feature a controllable robot combat dog, with a setting in the near future. That leak came from Discord user Tom Henderson, who likened the dog to the Boston Dynamics BigDog, a legacy robot that served as a pack mule....
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More than four years after it came out, Titanfall 2 maintains an 'Overwhelmingly Positive' rating on Steam, both in all-time reviews and in recent evaluations (it arrived on Steam a little more recently, though, in June 2020). Did you miss out on the game when it released in 2016? Well, now is your chance to jump in at no cost—it is free to play right now, and will stay that way throughout the weekend. The free-to-play period has already begun and lasts until May 3rd at 10:00 am PT (1:00 pm ET). Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but why focus on a game that came out around four and a half years ago? It's a fun game, for one—see our Titanfall 2 review. There has been a big spike...
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If you were eager to slide into the driver's seat of the Need for Speed franchise's latest installment, then we've got some bad news for you. Electronic Arts' chief studios officer, Laura Miele, explains that the next Need for Speed game has been delayed by roughly a year. EA had tasked Criterion Games studio with developing the next Need for Speed game, but employees were reassigned to help finish Battlefield 6, which will launch this fall. "[Battlefield] is shaping up great, the team has been working incredibly hard, they pushed hard last year, and yes, we have been working from home," said Miele in an interview with Polygon. The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on us all. Even...
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Who doesn't like getting something for nothing? Sure, some things are so terrible that you might have a hard time even giving them away, but Star Wars Battlefront II: Celebration Edition is genuinely good these days, and also free right now at the Epic Games Store. The only problem is, so many people flocked to claim their copy that Electronic Arts is having a hard time accommodating them all. Star Wars Battlefront II features both single-player and multi-player gameplay. Those who want to partake in the single-player campaign can hop right in and play the game without issue. However, the multi-player action has been overwhelming EA's servers, apparently, causing players to report seeing server...
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Take-Two Interactive nearly acquired Codemasters in a deal worth approximately $994 million. In fact, the publisher thought it was a foregone conclusion, having announced in November that it had reached an agreement with the developer of Dirt 5 and other racing sims. But then Electronic Arts swooped in at the final hour with a better offer, announcing today it has reached an agreement to buy Codemasters for an implied enterprise value of $1.2 billion. Cue the State Farm commercial with the elder fisherman dangling a dollar and taunting, "Ooh you almost had it, you gotta be quicker than that." "Electronic Arts and Codemasters have a shared ambition to lead the video game racing category. The Board...
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We already know how Take-Two and Sony feel about prices increases for next-generation games for Xbox Series S/X and PlayStation 5 consoles, but one major publisher that has been relatively silent is Electronic Arts. Any talk of raising the price of games from $60 to $70 is sure to rile up gamers, so EA was perhaps wise to stay out of the discussion until the dust cleared. However, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen finally decided to wade into the fray during the company's earnings call this week. And given his comments, it appears that EA is receptive to raising prices if the industry starts trending that way. "We've always said games are getting more expensive. The experience is getting deeper....
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Electronic Arts seems to have learned something over the weekend—people do not like to be bombarded with ads, particularly in the middle of a video game they paid $60 to play. Seems like that lesson would fall into the 'common sense' category. Not for EA, apparently, which reversed course after immense blow back on the web. Everything about the execution on this one stinks of greed. To start with, according Reddit user Ydino, who uploaded a video of the in-game ads in EA Sports UFC 4, the publisher added them "a month after [the game's] release so it wasn't talked about in reviews." While we can't say for sure, that would suggest a calculated decision on EA's part, to avoid negative press...
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I have a running joke when watching football games, where any time someone's helmet comes flying off as a result of a hard hit, I feign shock at their entire head separating from their body (yes, my family is tired of the running gag). Nobody actually loses their noggin in the NFL, but you might come across a headless player in Madden NFL 21, along with a whole bunch of other glitches. To be clear, I have not actually played Madden NFL 21. However, a glance around the web reveals a plethora of annoying and sometimes hilarious glitches. Like misspelled names, quirky physics, and a cut scene with an invisible football coach (as a result of a rendering glitch) talking to one of his players about...
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No, your PC's water cooling loop did not spring a leak (we hope not, anyway), it is just sweating in the face of a rumored Crysis remake potentially being in the works. While nothing is certain (yet), the official Twitter account for Crysis posted a cryptic tweet hinting that something is afoot. Could it be a remaster with real-time ray tracing, perhaps? The tweet simply states in all caps, "RECEIVING DATA," with no other information, pictures, links, or videos attached. It is the first tweet to come from the official account since December 13, 2016, so it has been dormant for nearly three and a half years. At this point, it seems like only something big would awaken the account from its slumber....
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For the past 16 years, Electronics Arts has been simulating the Super Bowl using the artificial intelligence (AI) engine in its Madden NFL video game series, and as you might imagine, the results are not perfect. Madden NFL does have a winning record, though, and the latest release, Madden NFL 20, will look to add another win to its resume by simulating Super Bowl LIV. Sadly, this year's Super Bowl does not feature Bill Belichick (greatest coach ever), Tom Brady (greatest quarterback ever), and the New England Patriots (greatest NFL team ever). I say all that as a slightly (heavily) biased displaced New England native. Fortunately, however, the match up between the San Francisco 49ers, led by...
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Electronic Arts’ Battlefield V has been rife with controversy ever since it launched, but a new uproar is brewing, and it has to do with the Linux community. But you may ask, what the heck does Battlefield V have to do with Linux, as it is a Windows-only game? Well, therein lays the controversy. Some Linux gamers are so adamant about playing Battlefield V on their systems that they are using WINE in conjunction with DXVK to run the game in an emulated mode. DXVC in essence enhances WINE to further improve DirectX performance and compatibility. But this same trickery used to run Battlefield V on Linux systems has run afoul with Electronic Arts’ anti-cheat protocols enabled...
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If you have been on the fence about giving Origin Access a whirl, Electronics Arts has an offer that might be tempting enough to pull you in, at least for a month. From now until December 16, new subscribers can sign up and pay $0.99 for the first month, after which the price reverts back to its normal $4.99/month fee. EA is hoping to lure users over to its subscription for the holidays. Maybe you will have some downtime from work, and if that is the case, getting cozy with over 200 games for a buck is not a bad proposition, especially if you live a part of the world where it's cold and snowy outside. This latest offer applies to the Basic tier, which gets you access 243 games, early access to...
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Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, nor are we with any fancy Photoshop manipulation. The image you see above is a real listing on Steam for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which is notable because Electronics Arts is the publisher. As has been speculated recently, EA confirmed it is making a comeback to Steam, ending a long hiatus in favor of its own Origin digital distribution platform. "This is the start of an exciting partnership with Valve that will see us innovating for PC players around the world," said Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts. "Through our subscription, great games and more, we’re excited to bring players in the Steam and Origin communities together with access...
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Enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) wherever possible is generally recommended—it helps keeps the hackers at bay, even if your password has been compromised. Better security is a reward in and of itself. Electronic Arts is taking things a step further, though, by gifting a free month of Origin Access who lock down their EA accounts with 2FA. The publisher calls this "Login Verification," but it's the same as any typical 2FA scenario—when you log into your account, EA will send a unique code to your preferred email address, or via text message to your mobile device. You can also opt to receive an automated phone call. Whatever the case might be, that additional step is required...
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The next event in Apex Legends is the Voidwalker themed, and will happen September 3rd through the 17th. The event will center on Wraith's past, and it will bring with it lots of content, including a new town takeover, a limited-time mode, challenges, and more. Voidwalker will also have a limited-time mode called Armed and Dangerous. The Armed and Dangerous limited-time mode limits available weapons to snipers and shotguns and loot is harder to come by. EA is asking Apex Legends players to keep a lookout for in-game surveys and to give feedback. It says the plan is to roll out more of these modes in the future. The Wraith Town Takeover starts with Syndicate construction crews uncovering part...
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Amazon Prime Day is right around the corner, and while the usual assortment of discounts and bargains will be in full swing, Twitch Prime is planning to gift subscribers exclusive in-game Apex Legends content. This will include a unique Legend skin and weapon skin, along with three more exclusive Apex Legends skins throughout July and August. So far this year, Twitch Prime has gifted free games and in-game content worth over $2,000. Ethan Evans, executive vice president of Twitch Prime, told GamesBeat that he hopes to "eclipse last year's total" of more than $3,000 before 2019 comes to a close. "Our goal has always been to be the best deal in gaming. Being a subscriber should be a no brainer...
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Another day, another report on vulnerabilities in the software that many of us use on a daily basis. This time around, researchers from Check Point and CyberInt rallied together to detail a number of exploits that they discovered in the Origin client used to deliver games to consumers. Origin is an Electronic Arts property. What makes the latest Origin exploit rather dangerous is the fact that it does not require intervention from the user with respect to handing over their logins or passcode information. In this case, the exploit allows an attacker to steal tokens associated with oAuth Single Sign-On (SSO) and TRUST routines in place with the EA Games user login process. As a result, Check...
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Confession time: I'm an avid watcher of Judge Judy. I think she's rad, and her style of mediating disputes definitely falls into the 'firm but fair' category. One of her favorite sayings is, "Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining." That's also the title of her book, incidentally, and I'm reminded of it when watching Electronics Arts' Vice President of Legal, Kerry Hopkins, explain that loot boxes are actually just "surprise mechanics." According to Hopkins, Loot boxes (excuse me, surprise mechanics) are "quite ethical" too, akin to Hatchimals, the popular toy that delights kids with a plush toy hatching from a plastic egg. Or if you prefer, substitute Kinder Egg or LOL Surprise, which...
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Apex Legends seemingly came out of nowhere and took the gaming scene by storm, further underscoring how insanely popular the battle royale genre is right now. Even though there was some strategic planning to generate excitement around Apex Legends when it first came out—publisher Electronic Arts paid some notable streamers to play the game at the outset—developer Respawn Entertainment says the launch still exceeded its expectations. Continued success also means a full commitment of time and resources, and so plans to hash out another Titanfall game have now taken a backseat. "Regarding other games in development at Respawn, it is important to understand that there are entirely separate...
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