Electronic Arts officially announced earlier today that the cover of FIFA Soccer 08 is to feature teen soccer star Jozy Altidore of the New York Red Bulls (Major League Soccer), one of only five teen athletes to grace the covers of an EA-branded game. Altidore is also the second youngest in that shortlist at 17 years old, topped by Freddy Adu who was the cover athlete for FIFA Soccer 06 when he was 16 years old.

Also joining the cover athlete lineup will be 22 year old Guillermo Ochoa of the Mexican Primera Division, who will feature side-by-side with FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldinho for the North American versions of FIFA Soccer 08 (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PSP, DS, mobiles).

Expect to see these athletes in the covers of their respective versions by October 2007, when the EA SPORTS soccer title developed by EA Canada will be launching on multiple game platforms. The game has yet to be rated by the ESRB as of press time.

Electronic Arts has hailed two-time FIFA World Player of the Year, Ronaldinho, as the frontliner for their global lineup of of superstar athletes to be feature on the front packs of FIFA 08.

Apart from Ronaldinho, the FIFA 08 boxarts will be graced by Werder Bremen's Miroslav Klose for the packaging in Germany, Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos for Spain, Andreas Ivanschitz for Austria, and Tranquillo Barnetta for Switzerland. As for the France covers, Ronaldinho will be joined in by Florent Malouda and Frank Ribery. There is still no word as to who will be the players tapped to join Ronaldinho for the U.K. covers, but EA reassures that they will be releasing the list next month.

But that's not all the announcement EA had to make. They also revealed that the aforementioned players are also taking part in a state-of-the-art body motion capture in Barcelona, Spain today in order for their game versions to be a little bit more life-like.

Says Matt Bilbey, EA Sports' International Director,

Ronaldinho and all the FIFA 08 cover stars bring a passion for the sport that is raw and true. Their expert skills, commitment to success and passion for football inspire our development team and help us make FIFA 08 the most natural-feeling football videogame in the world.

FIFA 08 is scheduled to kick off to multiple platforms (Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP, PC and mobile) this coming Autumn.

European boxing fanatics can now get their fix of the most intense boxing action right on their mobile phones. Electronic Arts today announced that Fight Night Round 3 is now available for mobile phones all across Europe.

Featuring ten of the most famous and notorious boxers of all time, the gameplay in the mobile version of Fight Night Round 3 has been especially adapted for mobile and features a high-risk, high-reward punch system where gamers will put down their opponent or go down for the count.

Some great graphics also buck up this game, and players can fight in up to five different fighting venues as well as get the opportunity to create and design their own boxer to use in the ring.

"The Fight Night franchise has been hugely successful for EA Sports and we're delighted to offer the very same passion and drama to mobile gamers across Europe," said Javier Ferreira, VP European Publishing, EA Mobile.

  

Electronic Arts, one of the world's top game developers, has been making efforts to take advantage of the opportunities that the mobile gaming platform brings. EA Mobile has recently expressed its desire to connect mobile players in a sort of mobile gaming community.

We found out in an IGN news that EA Mobile has just announced the debut of EA Sports Link on Cingular. EA Sports Link is a mobile site dedicated to sports fans wanting news, stats, and sports-related site contents such as wallpapers and ringtones. There will also be links on the site to other EA Mobile Sports offerings sites, such as Tiger Woods PGA Tour and NASCAR 07.

EA's ultimate aim is to create a sports community where fans can interact with each other both inside and outside EA Mobile's sports games. Says Michael Marchetti, EA Mobile's VP and Chief Operating Officer,

We believe that the mobile phone is a perfect platform on which to build sports-themed services and provide content for the ever-growing community of EA Sports fans.

Indeed, the GDC 2007 Mobile Talk's last words hold true: social oriented content is the future of mobile.

  

The game EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 3 has received much acclaim for its engaging gameplay. Now, mobile users can enjoy the game on the move with the recent announcement by Electronic Arts that it will be available for download come April 2007. Despite the limitations of mobile phones, they have added a slew of features that surprised even us.

• Impact Punches are available, which can change the course of a fight, for better (if you hit) or for worse (leaves you open to attack)
• Some of the best boxers in history, including Bernard Hopkins and Oscar De La Hoya, will be in the game.
• Outside of the ring, gamers can establish rivalries through pre-fight events 
  
• 3D Graphics and environments (on select handsets).
• Play as ten different Boxers.
• Mix up your attacks or your opponent will make you pay - opponent AI quickly learns your moves.
• Pummel opponents with jabs, punches, hooks, haymakers, special moves, combos, counters, or knock them down with a devastating power shot.
• Customizable body, hair, color, gloves, shorts, and shoes.
• Develop character strength, stamina, and speed in the training modes.
• Up to five different arenas will be available.
• Network: Post scores and stats online.
• Earn Tournament Belts and awards for most knockdowns, KO, and perfect fights; Results posted online

While most would applaud this effort by EA Sports, we are still waiting for its full release before we pass judgment on the game. All of these features are really good but it makes us wonder about the Total Punch Control system that has earned this series much acclaim. Will this game be a knockout even without it? Check out the screenshots and see if it's for you.

  
 

Check the full article for more screenshots
.

Need for Speed: Carbon is an insane racing game. Far from endowing it with a limited playability, Electronic Arts now teams up with O2 in the UK to bring NFS: Carbon in every UK gamer's mobile phone. Fact is, we don't have to ask everyone around if they think this is going to be a hot game for the mobile phone.

If you can wait until December, your Mondays won't be blue anymore. Call 2112 from your O2 mobile and you get more free downloads from EA: The Sims 2, Tetris and FIFA 06. They are, of course, payable via Pay Monthly and Pay & Go customers as soon as the free period is over.

What's more, you can choose between 2D and 3D and it's pretty easy to download. If you own an 02 account on your mobile phone, you just connect to 02 Active, select the Games Arcade section, and you get billed for the game that costs around £5 (US$ 10). O2's i-mode service also lets you check out other Game Arcade titles that are, thank heavens, updated weekly.

Nokia has announced a deal with entertainment industry giant EA to bring an assortment of popular EA and EA Sports video game brands to next-generation Nokia devices. Through the Nokia Content Discoverer, an easy software delivery system for phone owners, both companies plan to deliver high-quality mobile games to millions of Nokia customers.

The first wave of games under this deal is scheduled for a launch at the end of the year, and will bring users titles like Tetris, Tetris Mania, The Sims 2, Doom, FIFA 06, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 06 and FIFA Street 2. In the first half of 2007, the mobile gaming offensive is then expected to continue, with more franchises seeing their conversion to a mobile title.

About the deal, Jaakko Kaidesoja, director of the Games & Multimedia departments at Nokia commented: “Nokia and EA have a common vision regarding the opportunities in mobile games and how to turn them into a reality. When you combine Nokia’s leadership in hardware, usability and software platforms with EA’s brands and quality thresholds, the results will speak for themselves.”

By bringing in a major console publisher, Nokia hopes to raise the quality bar for mobile games even further, making their devices more attractive as entertainment platforms.

It was really sad that this amazing game had to take a backseat to the World Cup. But you'll be a bit glad to know that the game's developer, EA Sports, is continuing the project, and they're bent on making both players and football enthusiasts enjoy this game.

Madden NFL 07 will still have the same interesting feature as the previous game - the "Create a Superstar" mode. Creating your own NFL superstar and playing as that character all throughout the game will be possible.

Scheduled for an August release, EA Sports has released new screenshots of Madden NFL 07 for mobile phones. Check them out.