CVG's last top secret EA rumors from E3 2012, so you may judge their previous EA sources for yourself:
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Microsoft to reveal EA partnership at Next Xbox event
Update:
Update 2:
More EA news: Next-gen consoles ‘eight to ten times’ more powerful, games to cost $69, says EA.
CVG said:AIN'T NO PARTY LIKE A NINTENDO THIRD PARTY
Did you know Satoru Iwata's E3 press conferences are rehearsed against old tapes of David Copperfield magic shows? Oh well look again. One minute he's on stage reminiscing about HAL Laboratories and with a sudden puff of smoke he's holding a future console in his hands. One moment he's talking about market demographics and pie charts, the next he's materialising John Riccitiello and his silver hair down from a magnificent thread of light.
Never underestimate Iwata's capacity for legerdemain. This year he has something big under his sleeve in the form of major third-party publisher support. Ubisoft and EA will be biggest cheerleaders, we hear, and if Activision isn't doing a Skyanders Wii U game we can only presume it has become bored of money. Valve, though, is the big question. One CVG writer is convinced the PC kingpin has struck a deal, due in part to Nintendo's new digital distribution manifesto. Others say that's a trick too far.
Source: http://m.computerandvideogames.com/350147/e3-2012-the-wicked-whispers-and-secret-rumours/cvg said:BURNOUT IN HOT PURSUIT
It's been too long since EA graced a stage with a new game from its UK racing studio, Criterion, but we hear that the Guildford maestros are set to make a long overdue return in LA.
What's the game? That's a bit of a thorny issue. We had heard for months that it was going to be a new Burnout title, but then suddenly retailer GAME slipped word that a new Need For Speed Hot Pursuit title would be released by the end of the year.
[Note: It was Most Wanted since this was E3 2012.]
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Microsoft to reveal EA partnership at Next Xbox event
As the industry prepares for a highly anticipated Microsoft press conference in which it will showcase a new console for the first time in eight years, publisher Electronic Arts is preparing to step on stage to announce a key exclusivity agreement.
Peter Moore, a former Xbox executive, is now second-in-command at EA CVG has learned that EA has secured a partnership with the Xbox firm, according to accounts from two sources who wished to remain anonymous. However, neither person was certain of what EA will show, nor what the terms of the exclusivity partnership will be.
Due to the necessities of multiplatform development and publishing, it is likely that such a partnership will not extend beyond exclusive downloadable content, or staggered release dates. An outright exclusive EA game on the Next Xbox would be unlikely, and certainly a major coup for Microsoft if such a deal were to be secured.
Last Wednesday, rival publisher Activision announced a key partnership with Sony which will result in - among other business obligations - exclusive add-on content for the PS4 edition of Destiny.
While other major publishers, from Ubisoft to Square Enix to Capcom, also spoke at Sony's PS4 showcase, EA did not participate.
Both industry sources had different speculation on what the EA partnership would be. One claimed it might be Battlefield 4, while the other suspected that Respawn Entertainment will make a surprise appearance. Neither person works for EA or Microsoft, and so could not confirm the terms of the deal.
However, EA's chief financial officer hinted at such a deal on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference, CFO Blake Jorgensen was asked why Electronic Arts did not appear at the PlayStation 4 press conference.
"It was more about timing of our own slate as well as trying to maintain a good balance of power with all the parties out there and choosing when to unveil certain pieces of software," he replied.
Jorgensen added: "I'd say, between now and E3, you are going to see a lot of stuff, and we are going to chose with our marketing teams when to announce."
But he clarified that EA was clearly going to support the PlayStation 4 platform.
"At the end of the day we are very excited about Sony's platform. We feel there's a huge opportunity there. The technical power on the platform is going to allow us to do a substantial amount of things that have never been done before.
"I have seen the new Battlefield, and it is just stunning. It is just amazing what the imagination of the game developers [at DICE] are allowed to do with that much power."
It has become a growing expectation in the industry that Microsoft will announce its next-generation Xbox platform at a special one-off event in late April.
Update:
Update 2:
More EA news: Next-gen consoles ‘eight to ten times’ more powerful, games to cost $69, says EA.
PS4 and the next Xbox are 8 to 10 times the power of the current generation consoles and games are expected to cost around $69, EA executives Rajat Taneja and Blake Jorgensen have said.
Speaking at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, Jorgensen also explained why EA wasn’t part of last week’s PlayStation Meeting. EA’s global chief technology officer and executive vice president Rajat Taneja described PS4 and the next Xbox’s tech as a “gigantic leap for our industry”.
“I won’t go into the nitty-gritty of every component, but if you look at it in an aggregate basis, the new consoles are between 8 and 10 times the power of the current generation,” he said.
“The architecture of the consoles is based on standard PC components and technologies. So our own investments in our back end engine like Frostbite, our libraries, our tools will very smoothly run on this and make it easier for us to innovate to the new console technologies themselves. What used to take months in the past will now take days to do.”
Next-gen software pricing was also discussed at the event, with Jorgensen anticipating a price rise with the launch of the new consoles.
“I think, typically, at the start of a cycle, you’ve seen the pricing raise, say, to $69 for a core piece of software,” he said. “And then over the life of those, that’s drifted down to introduction price, typically now around $59. We haven’t yet set pricing on our gen 4s, but you probably see a similar trend to that during the start of the next cycle.”
Jorgensen was also asked why EA wasn’t part of PlayStation Meeting last week. “I think it’s more about timing of our own slate, as well as trying to maintain a good balance of power with all the parties out there and choosing when to unveil certain pieces of software,” he explained. “I’d say between now and E3, you’re going to see a lot of stuff from us and we just choose, on our marketing cadence, as to when to start to announce stuff.”