And if John Riccitiello has say in the matter Mercenaries 10 will be coming to the next-next-next gen platform of your choosing. Responding on today's earnings conference call to a question if some EA's recent releases would be "sequelable," Riccitiello unsurprisingly said "Yes." Mercenaries 2: World in Flames has sold 1.9 million copies for the company, making the third entry — and probably even the tenth — a bottom line no-brainer. At least EA's mercs have job security...

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We still don't know the fate of Double Fine Productions' Brütal Legend. After being abandoned by publisher Sierra when Activision Blizzard joined forces, it has languished, in limbo, while a new deal can be finalised. Rumours that MTV Games would publish were squashed, but a persistent rumour that EA would pick up the game hasn't magically transformed into fact.

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Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, EA boss John Riccitiello has said that EA's attempts to buy Grand Theft Auto owners Take-Two weren't driven by greed. They were driven by charity, Riccitiello saying the buyout talks were intended "to help that company get through what has been an uneven profit experience". Heart-warming stuff. As for the reason behind the deal, he's up-front, saying "time was of the essence, because we wanted to impact holiday 2008 sales of Grand Theft Auto IV". And now that they can't? All's fine. They're already over it, Riccitiello now describing the attempt as a "waste of ink". It's like the seven steps to overcoming disappointment, all played out in one interview.

Electronic Arts/Take-Two: We Were Just Trying to Help [WSJ]

For a while there, the whole SecuROM thing overshadowed the actual release of Spore. Which when you consider how high-profile a release Spore was is kind of a big deal. As a result, your thoughts on DRM are clear. But what about EA's thoughts? Well, according to EA boss John Riccitiello, the number of people who even noticed it, let alone cared about it, was minuscule.

We implemented a form of DRM and it's something that 99.8 percent of users wouldn't notice. But for the other .2 percent, it became an issue and a number of them launched a cabal online to protest against it.

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Steven Spielberg's name sells movies, it probably sells games too. That explains why his name appeared so prominently on the cover of Boom Blox, but what about less mainstream A-listers?

Stephen Totilo of MTV Multiplayer sat down with EA CEO John Riccitiello to talk about crediting on the front of game boxes. Why, he asks, aren't top talent like Will Wright featured on the cover of their creations?

In music it's typically a writer and a band of four. With films it's a couple of lead talent, actors and actresses, a director and maybe a cinematographer. With games it's typically 30, 50 100 people that make these things and they're all integral to the process. So I'm absolutely in favour of bringing forward the teams. But the team dynamic in creation of our product is quite different than other forms of entertainment.
...
I've always been of the belief you should give credit where credit's due. And I think in times past major publishers would say "This is an Electronic Arts game" or 'This is name-the-
other-publisher.' It's from them and it's all about them. And the truth is, it never was. It's really about the teams that create this stuff and we're big believers in that. And I'm personally all about that. Again I don't think there are any creator in the industry that would say it's them individually making that happen.

The short answer, Riccitiello doesn't ever see Wright's name appearing on a box. Then he goes on to explain why Spielberg's name did appear there, back-peddling all the way.

EA: Why Will Wright's Name Shouldn't Be On A Game's Box (Or: How To Give Proper Credit) [MTV]

Electronic Arts has gotten some flack in the past for being guilty of publishing licenced games that range from not bad to barely adequate to Catwoman. Efforts based on James Bond, Superman, Lord of the Rings, and Def Jam have seen solid sales and, in some cases, equal derision. But it's 2008 line-up is packed with original IP. Stuff like Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Facebreaker, Left 4 Dead, Crysis, and Spore dominated its E3 line up.

The very frank John Riccitiello, CEO of EA, tells MTV Multiplayer "I think we take a step back every time we take a licence and exploit it with a crappy game". He adds "That's not what we're about", noting that whatever changing perceptions gamers may have of the company aren't part of a conscious decision to change its image.

Whether that change is working — or responsible for the quarter-smile on Riccitiello's official bio photo — remains to be seen.

EA Vows To Not Make 'Crappy' Licenced Games, Pushes Original Content [MTV Multiplayer]

The Wii-mote is getting an add-on peripheral which should help make the remote better. Good, says EA CEO John Riccitiello. Because the regular Wii-mote hasn't exactly been as exact as Electronic Arts hoped. Here's what Riccitiello has to say:

The Wii MotionPlus is going to be good. If I had to pick one thing we suffered from, it was imprecise control on the Wii. That meant certain genres were never going to perform as well on the Wii. There are a couple of franchises in our booth. Go look at Dead Space and imagine playing that game with a wand and a Nunchuk. If they improve the precision, then you could have a good experience.

Let's just hope Nintendo is able to get every Wii owner on board so we can actually see developers make the most out of it.

E3 perspective: An interview with John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts [Venture Beat via CVG]

Speaking with VentureBeat, EA boss John Riccitiello was asked what he thought of each of the big three's E3 keynotes. Despite dodging the initial question, he goes on to talk so much about staying neutral that he does a 180 of sorts and gives a handy guide on how EA view each of the three home consoles strengths:

There are three strong players in the sector. They have all got their respective demographics and geographies. Blu-ray on the PS trumps DVD on the Xbox 360. Xbox Live trumps the PlayStation Network. The wand controller trumps the traditional controller. They've all got their rock, paper, scissors competition going.

Give John Riccitiello a Blu-Ray-playing 360 with a Wii Remote and he'll be a pig in spit. The rest of the interview's also worth a read, if only to see him say "I don't think the investors give a shit about our quality".

E3 perspective: An interview with John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts [VentureBeat] [Pic]

We had a hard time finding anyone overly excited about this week's E3 Media and Business Summit. From lackluster media briefings from the Big Three to a booth babe count that numbered in the single digits, it was hard to find much in the way of raw thrills. Even the highly paid executives hated it!

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that EA CEO John Riccitiello said "I hate E3 like this", hinting that a return to spectacle or the complete abandonment of the show were two viable options.

Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft North America is quoted as likening the event to a "pipe-fitters show in the basement". He may have just been referring to the Imagine, Petz and Ener-G portions of his own company's press conference, though.

Event may try to recapture luster [SF Gate]

Dragon Age, the winner of multiple "Best of E3 2004" awards will indeed be shipping in the first quarter of 2009, according to Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello. BioWare's role-playing game was loosely dated by the EA boss at the William Blair & Company Growth Stock Conference yesterday, backing up the previously hinted at release window.

Riccitiello also pegged Pandemic's World War II action game Saboteur for a pre-April 1 release, according to a report from GameSpot, missing its planned 2008 release. That's a huge blow to fans of shooting Nazis, but we hear that the Nazi shooting still needs more polish. You can't rush this stuff, folks.

Saboteur, Dragon Age slated for Q1 '09 [GameSpot]