EA Reveals New Sims, Black Games

Comments suggest the company will not be cutting back on paid downloadable content anytime soon. Oh, and Crysis is delayed.

Hidden amongst the dull (unless you're an investor) numbers of its latest earnings report conference call, EA announced this week that it is working in new instalments in some of its biggest series - and it delayed a few eagerly awaited games too.

The Sims, the biggest franchise in games right now, is getting several follow-ons and extensions, according to a report on the conference call at GameSpot.

The PlayStation 3 is getting The Sims II: Holiday Edition later this year or early next, there's another Sims game for the Wii, and then there's also the big one - a full sequel, The Sims III, in the works. That one's still a way off and isn't expected until around 2009.

It wasn't all about The Sims, though. EA said that it is already working on a next-gen follow-up to Burnout developer Criterion's shooter Black, and there's also a new Lord of the Rings, another Harry Potter, and more Road Rash planned.

With a packed Christmas season ahead of it, EA also, perhaps not surprisingly, said that two of its hot games for this year have been delayed. Both Crysis and Army of Two will now be out only next year, sometime after the end of March.

One thing we can look forward to from EA is a lot more downloadable content. The company has taken heat over the past weeks for offering cheat codes for money on the Xbox Live Marketplace. But EA's Frank Gibeau said in a statement on Next Generation that money earned from digital downloads is up 40 per cent over last year.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo