Electronic Arts today announced that EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 will hit Wii on June 16, and confirmed that the two will the first Wii games out of EA that support the upcoming MotionPlus controller add-on.

Nintendo unveiled the accessory last summer, promising that it would improve the accuracy of the Wii Remote's motion-sensing capabilities to an almost 1:1 scale. At last official word, the add-on was to be bundled with Wii Sports Resort this spring.

When played in conjunction with the MotionPlus accessory, Tiger Woods is said to "allow golf fans to experience a near-perfect 1:1 swing." Meanwhile, Electronic Arts vowed that Grand Slam Tennis is "the deepest tennis experience ever for the Wii," and noted that both Grand Slam and Tiger Woods 10 would eventually hit other platforms.

Those versions of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 for other platforms will ship in June, the company added, while stressing that Grand Slam Tennis is "available first for the Wii."

EA Canada is working on a new tennis game franchise, Electronic Arts has announced.

The as-of-yet untitled game will first see release on the Wii some time during 2009, with other console platforms following later. The game will be the first EA Sports title to use Nintendo's new MotionPlus accessory for increased controller accuracy.

The game will feature top players from past and present, as well as "innovative ways to play", "letting you control the ball and work the court like you never have before in a tennis videogame."

Said EA Sports president Peter Moore, "Our new tennis franchise, coming first to the Wii, will put fans right into the action and provide the excitement, tension and drama that true champions feel in legendary matches ... Read more

During an investor conference call today, EA Sports president Peter Moore offered new details on the studio's attempts to reinvigorate its PC sports title offerings.

"We are retooling these titles [on the PC] to take advantage of the online connectivity in a bigger and more meaningful way," Moore said today, noting that EA's usual sports offerings--Madden, NCAA Football, NBA Live, etc.--will reappear on PC in 2009.

He also said the company is toying with subscription programs to reward players, but offered no further details on either subjects.

EA Sports had previously announced that several EA Sports franchises would not appear on PC this year, citing "serious business challenges" and a... Read more

EA Sports president Peter Moore took the stage at EA's E3 press briefing today to show "how we're evolving" to reach current and new customers.

Former NBA star Bill Walton appeared to help Moore demonstrate NBA Live 09 with two other EA representatives. After Walton's long, long diatribe about sports and NBA ended--"That was completely different than what we did in rehearsal," said Moore--the four showed off the game's Dynamic DNA feature.

NBA Live 09 uses daily statistic updates during the season to bring more realistic player performance to the title.

Referred to as Dynamic DNA, the feature breaks down into three categories: player tendencies, team DNA to show how team interactions differ, and daily roster updates to reflect the latest trades. The data itself hails directly from the NBA.

Moore also detailed the All-Play label for its Wii sports games during its press conference at E3. The label will cover five of its major sports franchises on the Wii, with the goal of making the games more approachable for casual players.

Tiger Woods was demonstrated first. In All-Play mode, wind, club selection and other complicated systems are simply taken out of play, presenting more of a challenge for players who leave it off. A direct putting line was available for the user in All-Play, while it is removed outside of the mode.

Electronic Arts producer David McCarthy revealed that the company plans to integrate bundled peripherals into select EA Sports titles, Gamasutra reports.

Discussing the EA Sports brand's move to the Wii and other new platforms, McCarthy said that the studio arm would incorporate peripherals in a fashion similar to Harmonix's Rock Band.

"I think you'll see games using that Rock Band peripheral strategy from EA Sports, even within the next 12 months," McCarthy stated at a Paris GDC lecture.

Though McCarthy would not directly specify what sort of peripherals EA Sports may be planning, he added that "[y]ou have to be careful with it, because Rock... Read more

EA Sports president Peter Moore confirmed today that Madden NFL 09 will not be released on the PC, citing challenges in bringing sports titles to the platform.

The PC was conspicuously absent in the announcement of Madden 09, which is being brought to virtually every other platform on the market. Writing on his official blog, Moore said that the company was aware that the decision to not develop the latest Madden for the PC would not be a popular one.

"The PC presents some very serious business challenges to us in the sports category, particularly because so many of you all are playing your favorite sports games on the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii," Moore wrote. "We are committed to shipping a limited number of our games on the PC this year, but we've also had to cut a few of our games from the platform."

"We do have ideas for how to revitalize the PC for sports games and the types of games that are best suited to the platform," he added. "And we'll continue to explore those."

Madden NFL 09 is due for release on August 12. A collector's edition, which includes NFL Head Coach 09, will also be released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on the same day.

In his second day on the job, new EA Sports head Peter Moore was in a light-hearted mood as he spoke to the press at an EA event. Throughout the proceedings today, Moore poked fun at both himself and his tenure as the head of Microsoft's entertainment division, before revealing a new sports trivia-based online game for the PC.

As Moore demonstrated the face-sculpting feature in EA's Tiger Woods PGA Tour--using a character modeled on a photograph of himself (left)--the man who was once the public face of the Xbox 360 mocked his classic effigy.

"I hate that picture," Moore told the audience. "I've got a shit-eating grin that annoys even me."

Moving on, Moore confirmed that the NHL, NBA, and FIFA franchises will all be coming to the PlayStation 3 this year. "All making their... Read more

Update: An SEC filing from Electronic Arts today revealed Peter Moore's salary at his upcoming position to be $550,000 per year, with a potential annual bonus of $412,500. And the kicker: a one-time signing bonus of $1.5 million. Other perks include $330,000 for relocation, a stock option of 350,000 shares, and 50,000 restricted shares.

Original story: Electronic Arts and Microsoft have announced that outspoken Microsoft VP Peter Moore (pictured left) will leave his position at the Redmond-based Xbox manufacturer to take a post as president of EA Sports. Moore will relocate to EA's Redwood Shores headquarters as a result of the move, and will begin his new job in September.

Replacing Moore at Microsoft will be Don Mattrick (pictured right), a longtime EA executive who has for the past six months been serving as an external advisor to Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, where Moore served as corporate VP. Mattrick will take his position at Microsoft on July 30.

Moore headed up the Xbox and Games for Windows businesses... Read more

Nintendo today announced the next iteration of its popular Mario Kart racing series. Mario Kart Wii will ship in North America in the first quarter of 2008, and will feature online support over the free Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection network. The game will come packaged with steering wheel hardware.

Nintendo also announced that the EA Sports titles Madden NFL 08 and FIFA 08 will feature online play on Wii when they ship this fall. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime pointed to features such as FIFA 08's online interactive leagues, and exclusive mini-games utilizing Mii avatars.

Additionally, Nintendo confirmed that the Wii version of Neversoft's Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock will feature online play.

Wii Ware, Nintendo's nascent download service for original, non-Virtual Console games on Wii, will launch next year, according to Fils-Aime.

Troy Wolverton of TheStreet.com has written an article describing the uphill battle faced by companies like Take-Two when trying to gain ground in the EA-dominated sports market. Sports comprise more than 19% of video game sales, and EA sports titles make up 62% of that. When Take-Two and Sega teamed up to put out the ESPN 2K line, they forced EA to cut prices, and succeeded in taking momentum away from the larger company's sports domination. However, EA simply followed up by securing exclusivity with the NFL, the NCAA, the AFL, and even ESPN. Take-Two has managed to secure the exclusive rights to make third-party Major League Baseball games, but analyst Michael Goodman believes that baseball games do not sell well enough to build a brand like football can.

"I don't believe baseball, hockey or basketball are popular enough to build a brand around," says Goodman. "They have a fan base, but I don't believe they're big enough to build an entire corporate identity." The loss of the ESPN brand represents a further challenge for Take-Two, forcing the company to essentially begin brand-building from scratch. That's in contrast to EA, which just put out the 16th version of its Madden. ...Take-Two also faces a well-financed competitor. EA is rumored to have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to get the exclusive on the NFL game. And if the company feels under threat in the other sports areas, it may well decide to throw money at them as well.

Everyone knows that EA is the world's biggest video game publisher and that their sports label is a key brand, but it is nonetheless unnerving to see a publisher able to effectively negate its competition simply by virtue of having enough money to ensure its competition can't even make a certain category of games.