If I say Electronic Arts, then you should probably think about more than half of the large gaming studios and companies around the world, because large producers, once independent, such as BioWare, Maxis and Pandemic, are also now owned by the gaming giant from Redmond City, California. These being said, I guess you can imagine how long is the list of games scheduled for release during this summer...



...but if your imagination is not in good shape as we speak, let me help you! Below, you can check the list of games expected to arrive in the next 3 months, with the platforms and shipping dates just confirmed by Electronic Arts.

Battlefield: Bad Company

- Platforms – Xbox 360 and PS3
- Ship Date – June 23, 2008

Burnout Paradise

- Platforms – PC, Xbox 360 and PS3
- Download Date – June 2008

Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath

- Platforms – Xbox 360
- Ship Date – June 2008

Mass Effect

- Platforms – PC
- Ship Date – May 28, 2008

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

- Platforms – PS3, Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 2
- Ship Date – August 31, 2008 (North America); September 5, 2008 (UK/Europe)

Rock Band

- Platforms – Wii
- Ship Date – June 22, 2008

Spore Creature Creator

- Platforms – PC, Macintosh
- Ship Date – June 17, 2008

At last, only a few days after the summer's end, Spore is expected to arrive on the PC, Macintosh, Nintendo DS and mobile phones. To be more precise, this is going to happen on the 7th of September, if everything works well.

These being said, I got a few questions for you... Which one of the above is your favorite? Do you think that any of these titles has chances to become best game of 2008, or at least best one in its category? Obviously, any other thoughts you'd like to share with us are welcomed, so feel free to drop us your comments below!

It happens in October. It was announced less than a day ago. It brings together gamers, those that produced some of the greatest games in the history, and let's not forget about the hot chicks that will surely be around. Oh, yeah, and I hope this year we'll also get to see Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain, the thrash metal band formed by Blizzard employees. Whoops! Did I just say "Blizzard?" Well, this is it - ladies and gentlemen, BlizzCon 2008 has just been announced!

<-250x250 Square - left->The semi-regular convention held by Blizzard Entertainment in 2005 and 2007 so far is scheduled to take place between the 10th and 11th of October, at the Anaheim Convention Center. For those that want to celebrate with the guys and girls from Blizzard, as well as other fellow gamers, the price is $100, but tickets are not yet for sale. Anyway, you should be able to start picking them up in the next few weeks, that's for sure.

What to expect from BlizzCon 2008? Well, I am sure some interesting announcements related to Starcraft 2, maybe even an exclusive preview for those there, some World of Warcraft update...and the regular stuff: contests, contests, and let's not forget about the Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain show!

Are you up for it? :)

Since the dawn of time, mankind fought against something. First, it was a fight for survival, in a world where dinosaurs ruled the earth, water and sky, but as nature was slowly being brought down to its knees, man started to fight against himself. Empires started to appear and the crumble, alliances were forged and then vanished into the wind, people died without knowing what they were fighting for...and this still goes on as we speak.

Anyway, I don't want to get into a discussion about today's empires and wars - it's enough to wage a virtual war, because there won't be a single victim, except for those ours spent in front of our computers, playing Imperial Ages, the game I want to tell you about today!I know Imperial Ages may sound like something new to you, because it doesn't have years of existence left behind, but you shouldn't be afraid of the system requirements - this is not Age of Conan or Crysis, this is simply a browser-based game, so all you need is a computer connected to the Internet, capable of running a Web browser(unfortunately, you won't be able to play Imperial Ages in Links or another text browser...).

If you want to play the game, first step to take is to visit the Imperial Ages site, and create an account. Multiple accounts are not allowed, but I guess one should be enough. If you feel like having multiple personalities, you could always play some MMORPG game and create an entire gang of characters...as long as you have enough time to play with all of them! Anyway, back to our (future) empire now...

Once you are inside your account, you get to see your village. Around it, you have resources that need to be harvested - gold to the North, iron to the West, stone to the East, and wood, to the South. Each of these areas can be improved to increase production, and various buildings can be built with the same purpose(Deep Shaft and Gold Purifier in North, Iron Lore to the West, Stone Cutter in the East, and a Sawmill in the Southern region).All construction is made in real time, and so you may end up waking up in the middle of the night, just to click for a new building upgrade, but the idea is that, contrary to what happens with MMORPGs, you don't have to spend countless hours inside Imperial Ages.

Inside your village, the new building types available are the Warehouse, the Camping Ground, Consulate, Treasury, Castle and Fortress, and once you have built them, you can upgrade each of them. For example, you need a level 1 Consulate to join alliances, and a level 2 one to create your own alliance. Once you have created an alliance, the maximum number of members will be limited by the level of your Consulate, and you'll need to bring it up to level 5 to have up to 25 members in your alliance.

Oh, no, I forgot something! Anyway, if you created your account already, I am sure you noticed it - there are 4 nations available - Papal State, Hanseatic League, Mongols and Valachia, which can train and use 120 types of military units, but I won't say more.

From my point of view, things look good, and if you have a few free minutes to spare each day to build an empire, look no further - Imperial Ages is exactly what you were looking for!

I love racing games. Sometimes, if you can't get perfect realism, awesome graphics could do the trick, as long as you don't feel like driving a brick on ice while playing, as it happened - at least for me - with the latest installment in the Need for Speed series. Leaving NFS aside, today we're going to find out about another product from Electronic Arts, Burnout Paradise.

Currently available only for the consoles, it seems Burnout Paradise will be available for PC users too, in the future. The good part is that, according to Electronic Arts and Criterion Games, the game is being rebuilt for PC, and that should mean more than just simply ported from the consoles. Well...

...as long as it comes with new features, sounds like a serious rebuilding process to me! Just hear this - the upcoming PC version is expected to offer "expanded multiplayer, enhanced online features, and community driven content."

For now, this is all, but you can find out more about the game at the Criterion Games site.

If buying M-rated games wasn't that hard until now, it seems that restrictions are getting stronger with each day, because a recent study of the Federal Trade Comission has shown that only 20 percent of the 13-16 years mistery shoppers sent to buy M-rated games managed to do so, down from 42 percent back in 2006!

<-250x250 Square - left->Wait, there's even more! This study started in 2000, and back then, the undercover shoppers sent to specialty retailers, discount stores and electronics stores which were aged below 16 managed to buy M-rated games in a stunning proportion - 82 percent!

ESRB president Patricia Vance said "Video game retailers have clearly stepped up their efforts to enforce their store policies, and they deserve recognition for these outstanding results. We commend and applaud retailers for their strong support of the ESRB ratings, and will continue working with them to help ensure that these levels of compliance are sustained if not further increased."

If you're still below the legal age for "consuming" M-rated games, then I think you should get some older friends, they could really get in handy...