Brütal Legend map pack in Nov.

Electronic Arts and Double Fine Productions announced plans to release new downloadable content for Brütal Legend in Nov. Tears of the Hextadon , a new double map pack, will be available on Xbox LIVE on November 3rd for 400 MS Points and on PlayStation Network on November 5th, where the two-map pack will be downloadable for free until November 19th, then costing $4.99 after November 19th.

The Brütal Legend Tears of the Hextadon map pack expands the Brütal Legend Stage Battle multiplayer experience with two new multiplayer maps. In the first map, Circle of Tears, vile waters have carved a rough-hewn circular battlefield into a forsaken land that players must circumvent to destroy their opponent. In the second map, Death’s Fjord, players find themselves on an icy mountain pass with a dense cluster of fans that lie below, waiting to be harvested by those brave enough to capture them without cover from enemy attack. All players who download the new map pack will receive a free axe, the Blade of Ormagöden.

Look for the maps in early Nov.

EA signs deal with Claire’s for Charm Girls Club games

Electronic Arts has entered into what it calls “an extensive advertising and promotional campaign” with tween retailer Claire’s for the company’s tween themed CHARM GIRLS CLUB game series. Included in the deal is in-game branding like banners and product placement and in-game product placement. Claire’s will apparently have a store in the game’s mall where players will be able to play mini-games, and buy Claire’s branded charms.

EA will also promote Claire’s on the video game’s Web site, for whatever that is worth. As you can tell from this post I am extremly excited about this.

EA @ gamescom

Electronic Arts revealed the games that it plans to show at gamescom, Europe’s biggest consumer and trade fair for video games. Visitors will have a chance to play EA’s new properties coming out this year. EA will also host a press briefing at the Palladium, Schanzenstraße 36, Gebäude 197, 51063 Cologne. A live stream of the press conference will be available at ea.com/gamescom.

On August 19, will open its booth (Hall 6 / A-71, C-70) to the media and on August 19 until the end of the show on the 23, EA will showcase a variety of games Hall 6.1 including Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Brütal Legend, Dante’s Inferno, Dead Space: Extraction, Dragon Age: Origins, FIGHT NIGHT Round 4, FIFA 10, FIFA Manager 10, GI JOE The Rise of the Cobra, HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT 2, LITTLEST PET SHOP Beach Friends, LITTLEST PET SHOP City Friends, LITTLEST PET SHOP Country Friends, Mass Effect 2, MySims Agents, NBA Live 10, Need For Speed Nitro, Need For Speed Shift, NHL 10, SimAnimals Africa, The Sims 3, Spore Hero, Spore Hero Arena, and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10.

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EA reports smaller than expected loss

Electronic Arts today released financial results for the first quarter that ended on June 30 of this year. While the news is grim, there is somewhat of a silver lining for one of the world’s largest game publishers. First and foremost, changes in accounting rules for deferred revenue impacted sales for the quarter coupled with a seasonal slump in the industry during the three month period.

EA reported a loss of $234 million, or 72 cents per share, before adjustments in the April to June period, compared with a loss of $95 million, or 30 cents per share, in the same quarter a year earlier. During the quarter, the company recorded a net revenue deferral of $172 million related to online-enabled packaged goods games and digital content as compared with a net benefit of $195 million in the first quarter of the prior year.

Revenue for the quarter also fell 20 percent to $644 million from $804 million a year ago. Excluding restructuring charges and various adjustments, EA lost 2 cents per share in the latest quarter. The good news is that EA managed to beat “the street,” who expected the company to post a loss of around 13 cents a share.

Some other good news: adjusted revenue for the first quarter clocked in at $816 million, up an impressive 34 percent from last year - way above the $729.5 million range that analysts had predicted.

Highlights for the first quarter included doubling sales of Wii games thanks to EA Sports Active (which sold over 1.8 million copies), 3.7 million copies of The Sims 3, $50 million of non-GAAP revenue in the quarter from EA Mobile (up 14 percent), and EA Digital non-GAAP revenue of $124 million (up 38 percent year-over-year).

Looking ahead the company expects better days in the second quarter. Madden NFL 10, which will be available on August 14 for various platforms, should give EA a large boost in sales numbers. EA also plans to sell virtual items in The Sims 3, as well as subscription-based online games - though that particular space, save Ultima Online, hasn’t been a successful sector for EA over the years.

EA expects GAAP net revenue to be between $3.7 and $3.85 billion; non-GAAP net revenue of approximately $4.3 billion; a GAAP diluted loss per share between $0.85 and $1.35; and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of approximately $1.00.

EA: Schappert out, Pleasants in again

Electronic Arts announced that John Schappert has been appointed Chief Operating Officer, responsible for Worldwide Publishing, the Online Platform Group, EA Interactive, Central Development Services and other divisions of the company. Schappert, who joined the industry in 1991 as a software engineer on several EA titles and went on to lead many of the company’s biggest franchises, left EA in 2007 to become Corporate Vice President of the Microsoft Interactive Entertainment Business with responsibility for Microsoft Game Studios and Xbox LIVE. He is scheduled to return to EA on July 14.

 John Pleasants, who has been in this role, will be leaving the company.  Details on why Schappert has left Microsoft and returned to the EA family and why Pleasants is leaving were not disclosed.

Sony Under Pressure to Cut PS3 Price

Okay, okay … so we know that the console wars will never end, and as long as there are video games, there will be people staunchly defending their console of choice. Still, in business, the bottom line is all about the numbers, and Sony is starting to feel the heat as its numbers continue to drop … at least as far as video game publishers are concerned. In an article on Bloomberg, Sony is being pressured to cut the price of the PlayStation 3 in an effort to build the consoles install base with consumers. The former leader of the console market has been hit hard with its current generation of hardware, with the PS3 consistently placing a solid third in sales behind the Wii and Xbox 360. Making matters worse, U.S. sales of the PS3 have steadily declined for three months straight.

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Take-Two Hit with $50M Q1 Losses

It looks like the 2009 fiscal year is getting off to a rough start for Take-Two. Addressing investors this week, the company posted its first quarter numbers and revealed that it has taken a loss of $50 million, up from the $38 million loss posted during the same period last year. Ironically, the company’s actual revenue was up for the quarter, up roughly 7 percent from $240.4 million last year to $256.8 million for this most recent quarter. The loss for the quarter in spite of higher revenue was blamed on the higher than expected costs related to “unusual legal matters” related mainly to the attempted takeover by Electronic Arts, business reorganization, marketing, and R&D costs.

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