The Hasbro / EA partnership is fully realised today with the launch of Littlest Pet Shop Online, an immersive online world filled with animals desperately struggling to keep from being crushed under the weight of their own massive skulls. The game is all about decorating, customisation, and of course, mini-games, offering fun for “girls” whether they opt to play for free or buy a subscription for $US6.95 a month.

I’d give you my impressions, but all I get when I try to log in is the hourglass seen above, with an adorable little cat that keeps waving at me until I return to the login prompt. I am hoping that’s not the full game. Perhaps it’s server queues. Perhaps it’s because I am a filthy, stinking boy.

“EA is at an exciting milestone, diving into the realm of virtual worlds for girls with the launch of LITTLEST PET SHOP ONLINE,” said Chip Lange, General Manager of EA’s Hasbro Division. “LITTLEST PET SHOP ONLINE is an incredible game and community destination, as well as an environment that parents know they can trust. We’re delighted to offer LITTLEST PET SHOP fans a new and exciting way to connect online with friends through their favourite pets.”

Littlest Pet Shop fans of both genders can also purchase LPSO Pets at participating retailers. LPSO Pets are plushies with sewn-in codes for 30-day premium memberships to the game and special in-game rewards. Maybe one of the rewards includes getting past this hourglass.

Or maybe I’ll stick around. I still haven’t decided. The point is now I have a great many more bags to carry around, and will need to borrow a great deal more money from my brother at the end of the month for rent.

Still, it’s a triumph of the human spirit. Cue the Final Fantasy victory music while I pixel-dance.

NERF 2 is being developed partially in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the NERF brand, and perhaps mostly due to the amazing sales of the first game. Set for a fall release, the new game comes with a new blaster – the NERF Switch Shot EX-3. New to the weapon is a NERF decoder scope, which reveals hidden elements when the screen is viewed through its ruby-red lens. The game itself is your basic rail shooter with NERF elements, including the ability to configure your in-game blaster with “millions” of upgrade combinations, as well as enhanced co-op play.

Poke fun at it if you’d like, but if I were twelve-years-old this is exactly the sort of junk I’d go crazy for. A video game plus a cat terrorising device? Sold. Looks for NERF 2 to hit store shelves this fall.

Corny early 80s public service announcements will be rearing their kitschy head in the modern GI Joe video game, but not the ones you really want to see.

Speaking with some of the development team earlier this week they said that the already have four public service announcements built into the game which can be unlocked by players. They’re the serious ones from Hasbro.

But they also love the silly PSAs that have appeared on the Internet over the years.

They like they so much they’ve actually recorded some voice over work for both Body Massage and Pork Chop Sandwich. They haven’t, though, received permission from Hasbro to include them in the game.

Yeah, I wouldn’t be waiting around for that phone call.

Because there apparently aren’t enough trivia video games out there, Electronic Arts just released one based on Trivial Pursuit for all major gaming consoles.

That means the board game is now on the Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. The PS2 version will sell for US$30 and the rest will sell for $40. This is the latest title born of the deal cut between EA and Hasbro.

“TRIVIAL PURSUIT brings Hasbro’s classic trivia board game to life with a fresh, innovative style coupled with a diverse assortment of classic categories and new questions that will appeal to every kind of trivia buff in the family,” said Chip Lange, General Manager of EA’s Hasbro Division. “We’re also introducing new ways to play that will keep everyone engaged, competitive and on the edge of their seat. Players will need to bring their wealth of knowledge to the game, as well as a detailed understanding of what their opponents may or may not know in order to run the board to victory.”

The game features three game modes:

Classic, which mimics traditional board game play.
Clear the Board, a single-player experience that challenges players to race against the clock to earn multipliers for the highest possible score.
Facts & Friends, a highly social multiplayer mode of play where scoring is based on team responses and guessing the opposing team’s ability to answer their trivia question correctly.

The game’s profile feature will also allow gamers to track and analyse their performance statistics and compare their strengths and weaknesses to their opponents. A ticker will also scroll across the bottom of the screen through-out game play to let players know how they compare to the competition.

“The TRIVIAL PURSUIT brand is celebrating 25 years of testing the knowledge of multiple generations based on the millions of families who have played the game over the years,” said Mark Blecher, General Manager of Digital Media and Gaming at Hasbro. “EA’s re-imagination of the time-honored classic for the digital consumer is nothing less than over-the-top fun that’s expected to be a big hit with scores of long-time as well as new TRIVIAL PURSUIT fans.”

Electronic Arts’ take on toy-turned-cartoon-turned-movie, G.I. Joe, will be unveiled during next week’s Toy Fair in New York.

“As Hasbro and Paramount Pictures reignite the G.I. Joe property this year with an all-new toy line and film, EA is excited to play a major role in bringing this icon of pop culture history to a new generation of enthusiasts through interactive gaming,” said Chip Lange, General Manager and Vice President of EA Hasbro. “G.I. JOE offers exceptionally rich storylines and a cast of characters that lends itself incredibly well to creating an over-the-top action adventure video game that will thrill gamers as well as G.I. Joe fans.”

The game will release this summer to coincide with the theatrical release of G.I. JOE; The Rise of Cobra live-action movie on Aug. 7. G.I. Joe will feature a storyline that picks up where the movie leaves off and includes a dozen G.I. Joe characters. It will also include a single-screen co-op mode.

According to the game’s website you can:

* Assemble an elite JOE team and call in reinforcements when the mission gets down and dirty.
* Choose from 12 of your favourite JOEs, each with a unique set of skills and weapons.
* Gear up with the latest in high-tech gadgets.
* Jump into, steal or hijack powerful G.I. JOE or COBRA vehicles, then fire away!

EA is developing G.I. Joe for the Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Playstation Portable, DS, Xbox 360 and Wii. No word on a PC version or iPhone mini-game collection… yet.

OK, which 12 characters should be playable in the upcoming game, besides Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.

G.I. Joe Game Site

EA continues to capitalise on its lucrative agreement with Hasbro, with Littlest Pet Shop Spring for the DS bringing even more adorable big-headed animals that boys aren’t allowed to play with to Nintendo’s handheld.

Utilizing the cute and extremely collectible nature of the Littlest Pet Shop Brand, EA allows “girls” to add to their collection with the next seasonal installment, Littlest Pet Shop Spring, following up on the three other versions released last year, Winter, Jungle, and Garden. The new installment comes with six new pets, new playsets, four new mini-games, and 20 new accessories.

“The response to our LITTLEST PET SHOP video games has been overwhelmingly positive and shown that girls want quality games, too,” said Chip Lange, Vice President and General Manager of EA Hasbro. “The team has been barraged with fan mail and girls are already clamoring for the next version so they can keep expanding their LITTLEST PET SHOP digital collection. “

Okay! I get it! Littlest Pet Shop is not for me! *runs off crying into the living room, scooping tiny plastic animals into a trash bag*

EA TO LAUNCH LITTLEST PET SHOP SPRING BEFORE DAFFODILS BLOOM

Latest Nintendo DS Game for Girls Set to Expand Critically-Acclaimed LITTLEST PET SHOP Digital Collection
Guildford, UK, January 5, 2009 — Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that spring fever has arrived early with work underway to launch LITTLEST PET SHOP Spring for the Nintendo DS™ in March 2009. Targeting 6-10 year old girls, the game will be the sixth offering in the LITTLEST PET SHOP interactive gaming lineup following the highly successful Wii™, PC and three Nintendo DS (Winter, Garden, Jungle) releases in 2008.

Inspired by the Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS) blockbuster toy line, LITTLEST PET SHOP Spring for the Nintendo DS will feature a festive and colorful spring environment for girls to explore alongside their favourite sidekicks, including six new, exclusive pets. The fun also gets turned up with all-new playsets as well as four new mini-games for a total of 20 including those from previous Nintendo DS versions. Accessory choices will also expand allowing pets to step into spring in high style. With the addition of 20 new accessories, girls will be able to select from well over 100 hats, glasses, scarves and other fun items.

“The response to our LITTLEST PET SHOP video games has been overwhelmingly positive and shown that girls want quality games, too,” said Chip Lange, Vice President and General Manager of EA Hasbro. “The team has been barraged with fan mail and girls are already clamoring for the next version so they can keep expanding their LITTLEST PET SHOP digital collection. We think they’ll be really excited about the Spring theme and it is scheduled to land at retail just in time to hop into Easter baskets.”

“EA has done a tremendous job of taking one of the most popular toy brands among young girls and bringing it to life on digital platforms,” said Mark Blecher, General Manager of Digital Media and Gaming at Hasbro. “The performance of the first wave of LITTLEST PET SHOP games launched in 2008 was amazing and we don’t expect the momentum behind this property to slow down anytime soon.”

# # #

EA dropped a press release today to announce the overwhelming success of the family games resulting from their long-term agreement with Hasbro, with 2 million titles sold globally since launch.

Calling their Hasbro lineup “hot holiday must-haves”, EA applauds the performance of games like Littlest Pet Shop, Nerf N-Strike, Monopoly, and Hasbro Family Game Night for their performance.

“By innovating with these family brands and delivering a quality, fun game experience our EA Hasbro video games are something parents and friends can gift with pride this holiday season,” said Chip Lange, Vice President and General Manager EA Hasbro. “Our focus on creating audience-appropriate games has paid off with the consumers we wanted to reach and made EA Hasbro titles THE gift to give this holiday.”

This partnership was really a win-win for both companies. Partnering recognisable family-friendly Hasbro brands with video games created some of the most worry-free video game buys a parent could find on retail shelves. Hell, even I bought Littlest Pet Shop, which is “teeming with adorably cute pets that girls can collect.” *cries*

Family Gamers Choose EA Hasbro Games This Holiday
LITTLEST PET SHOP, NERF “N-STRIKE”, MONOPOLY and HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT Video Games Prove Hot Holiday “Must-Haves”

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—A video game for girls, a game and NERF blaster combo for boys and two video games for everyone in the family to play prove hot holiday sellers for Electronic Arts, Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS). The first wave of console and handheld titles under the EA and Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS) long-term agreement have combined to sell two million units globally since their respective fall launches, according to internal EA sell-thru data.

LITTLEST PET SHOP for the Wii™, Nintendo DS™, and PC reached store shelves in October and according to NPD aggregated DS skus were the #2 overall Nintendo DS title in the US for the month of November1 and the #1 Nintendo DS title in France in October.2 The game, inspired by the Hasbro blockbuster toy line, is teeming with adorably cute pets that girls can collect, take on adventures in four vibrant worlds, or play with via a myriad of mini-games.

NERF “N-Strike”, available on the Wii since October, was the #10 title according to NPD for the month of November. The game, inspired by the globally popular Hasbro franchise, features non-stop NERF-style pandemonium where players are faced with a series of challenging missions that put blasting strategies and skills to the ultimate test. NERF “N-Strike” also ships with a custom NERF SWITCH SHOT EX-3 blaster, the first ever 2-in-1 video game and toy peripheral bundle to hit the market.

HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT, available on the Wii and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, launched in November and was awarded a Toy Wishes 2008 All-Star Award. Featuring six games including: BATTLESHIP, YAHTZEE, BOGGLE, CONNECT FOUR, SORRY! and the all new, SORRY! Sliders. Both MONOPOLY which is available for the Wii, PlayStation2 and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment systems and HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT had strong launches and continue to build momentum through the holiday.

“By innovating with these family brands and delivering a quality, fun game experience our EA Hasbro video games are something parents and friends can gift with pride this holiday season,” said Chip Lange, Vice President and General Manager EA Hasbro. “Our focus on creating audience-appropriate games has paid off with the consumers we wanted to reach and made EA Hasbro titles THE gift to give this holiday.”

The lawsuit came about after Hasbro’s requests to Facebook to remove the Scrabble homage went unanswered back in January of this year. Days after the lawsuit hit, the creator’s of Scrabulous removed the game themselves, replacing it soon after with a retooled version in the form of Wordscraper, removing the game’s obvious Scrabble design influence.

While court documents didn’t specify a reason for Hasbro’s withdraw, it is most likely that the changes made did the trick. The massive popularity of their official Facebook Scrabble game probably helped. Now Facebook users can finally get back to worrying about more important things, like taking movie quizzes.

Hasbro drops suit over Scrabble-clone Scrabulous [Mobile News Network]

“We are thrilled to open a studio in Austin as there is such an enthusiastic and knowledgeable game development community,” said Andrew Pedersen, Pogo General Manager. “It’s great to be a part of that spirit and I feel privileged to be working with a team full of game makers who bring such tremendous talent and experience to the Pogo team.”

The Pogo Austin team will be sharing space with EA’s BioWare studio in Austin.

EA Opens New Studio in Austin, Texas for Pogo.com Game Development
PICTUREKA! MUSEUM MAYHEM First Retail Title in Development

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced the opening of a new studio, Pogo Austin, which features a dynamite tight-knit ensemble of passionate game developers who have come together to build exciting new games as part of the Pogo.com team. The Pogo Austin team will be joining EA’s Bioware studio in Austin.

The new studio will focus on creating family-friendly titles based on Hasbro properties. The initial team of 12 features a strong foundation of Austin natives who boast more than 108 years of collective game experience and have shipped titles at companies such as LucasArts, Aspyr Media, Acclaim, Amaze Entertainment, Human Code, Origin Systems and Family Time Interactive.

The first title to be released from Pogo Austin is PICTUREKA! MUSEUM MAYHEM. This quirky seek and find game is based on the Hasbro game PICTUREKA! which debuted in 2007 and launched globally in 2008. In the digital version, a player becomes the new curator for a museum and investigates some odd things that are afoot. Someone has been breaking in and re-arranging the exhibits. The frantic director needs the player to restore items to their proper location and catch the person responsible. The game is set to launch online in November at Pogo.com for $19.95 (US) and £11.95 (UK); it will be available at retail in early winter.

“We are thrilled to open a studio in Austin as there is such an enthusiastic and knowledgeable game development community,” said Andrew Pedersen, Pogo General Manager. “It’s great to be a part of that spirit and I feel privileged to be working with a team full of game makers who bring such tremendous talent and experience to the Pogo team.”

“PICTUREKA! MUSEUM MAYHEM has incredibly broad appeal. The game is fun for the entire family, whether you’re six or 106. It brings everyone together and puts kids and adults on equal ground for laugh out-loud moments. We wanted to create an online PICTUREKA! experience that would be equally outrageous for players of all ages,” said Sean Clark, Pogo Austin Studio Director. “Many members of the Austin team have families and it’s exciting to be able to make a game that they can play and share with their children.”

Pogo Austin is the newest addition to the Pogo studio family. There are also studio locations in Redwood City, CA and Shanghai, China. Pogo studios are actively recruiting for: Feature Engineers, Game Engineers and a QA Lead. For any inquiries please visit http://jobs.ea.com.

For more information and to experience some of the best online games on the Internet, visit www.pogo.com.