In a conference call Q&A after their earnings report, Electronic Arts executives waxed about recent successes and strategies with downloadable content.

EA CEO John Riccitiello shared the motivation behind their inclusion of paid DLC in all their titles this year. "We sort of initiated our approach here originally with NBA Live with Dynamic DNA almost a year-and-a-half ago. In every case, what we've seen is a very positive response from the consumer and in each case, particularly with Dragon Age, a strong pickup in revenue per user. By and large, they like the extra content and we think it's a strong positive move...we've got similar strong PDLC programs with all of our titles this year."

COO John Schappert embellished on the success of Dragon Age DLC. "We had downloadable content in addition to the pack-in content, if you will, available for purchase on day one. The first week, we did over a million dollars in sales on that title... Read more

Watching the credits to Mass Effect 2 all I could think about was the continuing struggle it seems to be for video games to nail an ending. It's one of the clearer examples of the hurdles designers face in uniting the narrative of a game with the playing of it. While an uneasy balance can often be struck during most of the game, climactic moments expose that fractured relationship between the two.

After the ongoing internal push-pull between the action and the narrative for dominance throughout the game, this particularly held true in Mass Effect 2. I appreciate the dilemma facing the team at the end. With so much invested in improving the combat for the sequel there had to be this tremendous sense of need for a big payoff. From there it must have been a very short road to the cliched ending sequence that resulted.

Giving in to that -- taking the easy way in a sense by falling back on formulaic design -- took the wind out of my sails at the worst possible point in the game. As the culmination of my investment in the game and its world this bizarre and hokey encounter felt out of place and left me unsatisfied. It didn't help matters that the execution of it came off as completely cheesy as well, but I chalk that up to being symptomatic of that sort of design.

In the end (hah!), Mass Effect 2 succeeds in spite of its ending. That speaks to the quality of its journey. With the tech now completely conquered maybe the final installment can bring things to a more satisfying conclusion.

In the meantime, Shacknews soldiers on with stories like these to help you pass the time:

• Check out some pre-alpha Natural Selection 2 love
• More Lego Star Wars coming
• Rise of the Triad on the way to iPhone
• NeoGAF volunteers making 'Dedubro' for realz
• Molyneux promises upsetting Fable 3 announcement
• EA sets release windows for a number of games
• Final Fantasy 13 will save Japanese game development

Prove your pastry prowess and create Dunkin's next donut

It's not gouging, Apple's just staying nimble with iPad pricing

Here's a disgusting but potentially effective anti-theft lunch bag

A slew of Ferraris are coming to Need for Speed SHIFT this month -- but for the next eight days exclusively to Xbox LIVE -- via a 'Ferrari Racing Series' downloadable content pack from publisher Electronic Arts. The new DLC packs in ten different Ferraris and eight new racing events containing forty-six challenges designed specifically for the new cars.

The new cars can be used in online races and the pack includes one hundred twenty-five new gamerpoints worth of achievements to be unlocked.

Here's a complete list of what's included:

Ten New Cars
• 1996 Ferrari F50 GT
• 2005 Ferrari F430 Spider
• 2005 Ferrari FXX
• 2005 Ferrari Superamerica... Read more

In anticipation of the European and North American releases of Final Fantasy 13 this March, producer Yoshinori Kitase and director Motomu Toriyama recently responded to fan-submitted questions about the RPG on PlayStation.Blog.Europe.

Toriyama and Kitase discussed topics such as the game's 50-60 hour length -- about ten hours of which they said are cinematics -- and the optional side-missions that can effectively double the play-time. The possibility of a CG movie adaptation along the lines of Advent Children was also mentioned.

In addition to the expected tidbits about the game itself, the team shared some expectations for the long-lived series. When asked about the current state of the Japanese game industry, the duo acknowledged that while some critics forecast its death, they're not so sure they see it the same way. "With this game [Final Fantasy 13], we are going to resurrect the whole thing," they claimed.

Early last month, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada raised doubts as to whether the company would continue to develop more games that would be considered traditional Final Fantasy titles... Read more

Taking a few stabs at competitor Madden NFL, developer NaturalMotion uses this developer diary to detail how its physics-driven PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 footballer Backbreaker differs from other games. For example, a lower camera view.

"You're not this kind of, god over the football field who can see everything," explains tester Mike O'Neill. Another example? The use of pink character outlines to highlight the procedural animations--though sadly, that particular aspect seems like the sort of development tool that won't be accessible to the end users come Spring 2010.

Please install Flash to view this Shackvideo

Shackvideo users can use the HD Stream.

Team Bondi's former PlayStation 3 exclusive L.A. Noire is "apparently coming in September," according to games journalist and GameTrailers TV host Geoff Keighley.

The release window reveal came in the form of a tweet Keighley made after reading the new issue of Game Informer, which features the old-fashioned game on its cover. "It definitely sounds interesting," he added.

While L.A. Noire was originally announced as a PlayStation 3 exclusive, an Xbox 360 edition of the long-coming project--originally due by September 2009--was recently confirmed, with Keighley noting that both versions are due at the same time.

Curious as to what mega-publisher Electronic Arts has up its sleeve for the next year?

Wonder no more, as the company today issued a breakdown of its major titles through March 2011, including release windows for Crysis 2, Dead Space 2, Medal of Honor, the new shooter coming out of Epic and People Can Fly, "something far-reaching from Mass Effect," another Dragon Age, a new Spore entry, and much much more.

Also, don't fret that BioWare's MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic isn't on the list. The company has previously stated that it is aiming for a Spring 2011 launch--a timeframe that conveniently extends a bit beyond the below list's end date of March 31, 2011.

Key EA Titles - Fiscal Year 2011
• Q1 FY2011 - April 1 through June 30, 2010
  • Skate 3 (Console)
  • Need for Speed World (PC)
  • 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (Console, Handheld)
  • Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 (Console, Handheld)
  
  
• Q2 FY2011 - July 1 through September 30, 2010
  • APB/All Points Bulletin (PC)
  • Medal of Honor Title TBA ... Read more

With Napoleon: Total War slated to arrive February 23, digital distribution outlet Steam has instituted a week-long sale that sees previous entries in Creative Assembly's PC historical strategy series marked down by 66%.

In addition, all of the downloadable content for Empire: Total War, including the new Elite Units of the East DLC and all-encompassing Downloadable Content Pack, are 10% off.

A breakdown of the available bundles and discounts can be found just below:

Total War Mega Pack - $20.39 (66% Off)
• Empire: Total War - $13.59 (66% Off)
• Medieval II: Total War Gold $10.17 (66% Off)
  • Medieval II: Total War - $6.70 (66% Off)
  • Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms Expansion... Read more

If you missed the new Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time trailer that aired during the Super Bowl last night, or just want to see it again, good news! We've got it below:

Starring perpetual time traveler Donnie Darko Jake Gyllenhaal, directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) and made with the input of series creator Jordan Mechner, the film hits theaters May 28--around the same time publisher Ubisoft plans to release the next game in the series, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands.

A downloadble demo of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing is now available to Xbox Live Gold members via the Xbox Live Marketplace.

The 1GB download packs two playable racers--Sonic plus Xbox 360-exclusive team Banjo and Kazooie--along with one track and, as expected, a variety of rival mascots.

Developed by SEGA Superstars Tennis developer and OutRun 2 porters Sumo Digital, the game hits North American retail in PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS form February 23, with the official site also listing a downloadble PC edition for that day.

As it continues to test the upcoming "Moonrise" add-on for Shattered Horizon (PC), developer Futuremark has issued screenshots of the zero-G shooter's new maps.

Of course, we still don't know exactly when the four new maps will be released--"the work is almost complete and we will have more details for you soon," said Futuremark--but we do know that they'll be free, with those that pre-ordered the game able to help test.

Lionhead Studios head Peter Molyneux has made another one of his famous bold claims, teasing that an upcoming revelation about Fable III will "really upset people."

The tease emerged as part of a Gamereactor International video, with Molyneux stating:

We're making a big announcement about Fable III in the next couple of weeks [at X10]...I hope I haven't spoiled some horrible PR surprise. Gulp. We'll be making some announcements about Fable III and there's some, wow, there's some very, very big things happening in Fable. Bigger than you think, and it's going to really upset people. I'm really scared when I go out and tell people what it is, they're going to get super pissed off. They really are. But it's the right thing to do, man. I'm sure it's the right thing.

A showcase of Microsoft's upcoming Xbox 360 efforts, X10 takes place this Thursday, February 11, in San Francsico. Molyneux has previously noted that "there's something fundamentally wrong with RPGs like Fable," and vowed that the 2010-due third entry in the action-RPG series would somehow "take that foundation stone and throw it away."

The man later revealed that Fable III would include a microtransaction store--selling, for example, an in-game sword at 1 euro--and also support the Xbox 360's upcoming motion-tracking add-on Project Natal, though to what extent is currently unknown.

A revamp of NES classic Blaster Master is the star of this week's batch of North American Wii and DSi downloadable releases, joined by a port of popular tower defense Field Runners and games with such fabulous names as Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom, Hubert The Teddy Bear Winter Games and Extreme Hangman.

DSiWare
• Oscar in Movieland - $8
• Link 'n' Launch - $5
• Fieldrunners - $5
• Sudoku 4Pockets - $5
• Extreme Hangman - $2

WiiWare
• Blaster Master Overdrive - $10
• Tomena Sanner - $5
• Bloons - $5
• Hubert The Teddy Bear Winter Games - $5
Wii Virtual Console
• Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom (NES) - $5

All titles will be available from 9am PST. Further details from Nintendo... Read more

Unpaid volunteer-staffed studio Grimoire Assembly Forge today announced the development of its top-down shooter "Dudebro™ - My Shit Is Fucked Up So I Got to Shoot/Slice You II: It's Straight-Up Dawg Time."

The absurdly named free shooter is tentatively slated to hit PC and Mac over the summer, with Jon St. John--best known as the voice of Duke Nukem--contributing his vocal talents.

Grimoire Assembly Forge itself "is predominantly comprised of members of NeoGAF, the preeminent video game industry discussion community," according to today's announcement, with the team sporting over 100 unpaid volunteers worldwide.

More details on the ridiculous title, straight from the developer, follow below:

"Dudebro™ II" follows the exploits of elite soldiers John Dudebro™ and his sidekick Habemus Chicken as they chase anyone who threatens the world's brodiocity - an arms dealer, a voodoo priest... Read more

An iPhone and iPod touch port of Apogee's mid-nineties shooter Rise of the Triad will "soon be available," Apogee Software LTD off-shoot Apogee Software LLC confirmed today.

Super Methane Brothers developer Mobilia Interactive is behind the port, which promises "a number of customizable control schemes" in addition to "four full game episodes" and the expected five playable characters.

Of course, given that Apple's upcoming iPad is compatible with all iPhone applications, owners of the tablet will also be able to play Rise of the Triad after its debut.

Previously, the various incarnations of Apogee had worked with MachineWorks Northwest to produce iPhone and iPod touch renditions of Duke Nukem 3D and Prey, with the latter brand now property of id and Bethesda owner ZeniMax.

Please install Flash to view this Shackvideo

Shackvideo users can use the HD Stream.

New Red Dead Redemption screenshots give a look at the many uses of the lasso in Rockstar San Diego's open-world wild western, from roping wild horses when you need a ride to hog-tieing hoodlums so you can safely cash in lucrative live bounties.

Red Dead Redemption arrives on April 27 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Rockstar San Diego recently faced accusations of working staff ridiculously hard, though a response from the developer was quite dismissive of the "opinions of a few anonymous posters."

Traveller's Tales and LucasArts today announced the latest fruit of their long-running plastic platonic relationship, the cartoon-inspired LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars.

Clone Wars features "fan-favourite characters" from Star Wars movies as well as the animated series, plus "brand new battle modes, giving players unique, head-to-head combat and an upgraded level builder" as well as abilities such as "Squad command, Lightsaber slicing, Lightsaber jumps, long distance Jedi attacks and Grapple Tie-Ups."

Players can also choose whether they will be a Jedi or Seperatist, for those who you really take a deep interest in the riveting political and economic intrigue behind it all.

LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is slated for release on PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP, Nintendo DS and Wii this fall.

Indie developer Unknown Worlds has released a little Natural Selection 2 pre-alpha gameplay footage, giving a look at the current state of its PC sci-fi RTS-FPS hybrid.

The pre-alpha footage--and do remember that it is pre-alpha--comes in celebration of being voted 'Indie Game of the Year' at modding and indie hub ModDB and follows a successful discount bundle promotion with Wolfire Games' rabbity 'Overgrowth.'

Last November, UW founder Charlie Cleveland told us that NS2 was tentatively slated for "early next year" though a date has still be to given. $20 pre-orders grant access to the editor and a spot in the beta, while a $40 'Special Edition' packs alpha access too.

Please install Flash to view this Shackvideo

Shackvideo users can use the HD Stream.

Missed the Team Liquid Starleague StarCraft competition games this weekend? Catch up with the downloadable VODs, there were some great games.

Are you a schoolteacher? Give your students the education they deserve with the aid of the fantastic initiative Squid4Kids.

Curious what EVE Online GoonSwarm Intelligence Agency head The Mittani has to say GoonSwarm's recent self-induced explosion? He did some words about that.

Why do girls wear makeup and perfume? Because they're ugly and smell bad.

The Super Bowl isn't the only big game this week, what with BioShock 2 and Dante's Inferno arriving alongside the likes of Scene It? Twilight DS and Percy Jackson.

Highlights

If you're looking for a particular system, skip to the PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii or Nintendo DS sections, or just read on through for the full breakdown... Read more