[Update: 8:15p.m.] An EA representative has responded to our original story with the same comment it originally gave Joystiq (found in the body of this post), making no reference to the specific nature of our source's claims.

[Original Story] A source tells Shacknews that EA Canada and EA Black Box--both located in Vancouver, Canada--have been affected by EA's recently confirmed "seasonal roll-offs." The source claims that "as many as 100 employees" were let go earlier today. Read more »

The annual instalment of EA's FIFA football--"soccer," to some--series will once again be released in the traditional fall slot, the developer and publisher announced today.

EA claims that FIFA Soccer 11 "reinvents player authenticity" with a feature dubbed "Personality+," which uses "a database that evaluates and grades each player's skill-set over 36 attributes and 57 traits" collated by 1700 footie fans worldwide. Read more »

Just in time for the World Cup, Electronic Arts has announced that its free-to-play PC soccer game FIFA Online "is available to soccer fans everywhere around the world."

In actuality, the game quietly entered open beta--meaning anyone can register and then play--on May 26, but the company didn't issue a press release to that effect until today. Read more »

Pledging to "re-invent the basketball simulation videogame experience" with "an all-new technology base, a new control scheme and a real-time physics system," Electronic Arts today officially announced NBA ELITE 11, which is replacing the NBA Live series.

In the works at NBA Live series veteran studio EA Canada, NBA ELITE 11 is scheduled to hit PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in October. Today's announcement highlighted the new control scheme, which EA SPORTS president Peter More said "gives fans the control on the court that they have been begging for in a basketball game for years." Read more »

Developer and publisher Electronic Arts today announced NHL Slapshot, "their first ever NHL hockey title for the Wii" which apparently features a "revolutionary" hockey stick controller.

EA boasts that the controller, which has yet to be revealed, "allows players to shoot, pass and body check just like the pros."

Little is known of NHL Slapshot other than that players will be able to "play from the Pee Wee's to the Pros" and that Wayne Gretzky will be a playable character. The Great One will also appear on the box art, leading EA to spend far more time explaining his greatness than explaining what the game actually offers. Read more »

Following a Facebook tease from athletics game maker EA SPORTS that asked "What Is Elite," the company has confirmed that its annual basketball franchise "NBA Live" is to be rebranded "NBA Elite" with this year's entry.

"We knew it was time to leave the past behind," the company told Kotaku after pastapadre broke the news. "We have exciting and significant changes coming to our NBA game this year that will usher in the future of basketball video games. We look forward to releasing information on exactly how we'll be doing that over the next few months." Read more »

EA has announced that its free-to-play PC multiplayer football--"soccer," if you're wrong--game-cum-RPG FIFA Online is to begin rolling out worldwide this year, having previously been available only in certain Asian countries, starting with Europe in June.

On top of regular footie matches, FIFA Online boasts a league that "enables fans to manage and compete as their favorite soccer club." Unusually for a football game but quite typically for a free-to-play game birthed in Asia, FIFA Online lets you upgrade your players with items which can be purchased with in-game currency or microtransactions. Read more »

As the World Cup only occurs once every four years, Electronic Arts has announced that it will once again be celebrating the tournament with a dedicated FIFA video game.

Hitting North America on April 27 then Europe and Asia beginning April 30, FIFA World Cup South Africa will be available for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and PSP--providing footy fans with plenty of time to play out the possibilities before the tourney kicks off in June. Read more »

EA Sports has today announced NHL 10, the latest in its long-running hockey series.

To improve upon NHL 09--which Nick so lovingly praised--EA promises "more than 200 gameplay refinements," including a new precision passing mechanic, scoring from your knees and knocking pucks out the air, but the real treat is first-person fisticuffs. Read more »

Electronic Arts and EA Canada today announced their second hockey game of the season, a downloadable "no rules" take on the sport dubbed 3 on 3 NHL Arcade.

Whereas EA Canada's NHL 09, released in September, provided a more realistic simulation of the brutal on-ice antics, NHL Arcade is said to pack "fast paced action, crushing hits and loads of room to experiment." Oh, and there will be power-ups. Read more »