The Wiire explores Nintendo's lack of showing at past Spike Video Game Awards ceremonies, and how the key to making an impact at it may be one of their most cherished franchises: Zelda.

Could Nintendo plan on unveiling their new Zelda title at the VGAs as one of the promised "exclusives" the ceremony will offer?

According to the article, Nintendo would improve their image by doing so, making this a strong possibility.
» Read More 

Speaking to VideoGamer.com at London's recent Shine Week, Harvey Elliott, head of EA Bright Light studio based in Guildford, revealed that while he feels Boom Blox has really captured the spirit of what the Wii is about, we shouldn't rule out the franchise making an appearance on other platforms.
» Read More 

TGS writes: "Blink-182 bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus recently tweeted about how much he's enjoying EA's latest Boom Blox Bash Party.

"Digging this Bash Party video game! Many thanks to the designer who brought it to the ticket on-sale yesterday"
» Read More 

There's been some criticism of "Boom Blox's" relatively weak sales performance compared to triple-A enthusiast titles like "Gears of War 2" and "Grand Theft Auto IV," but that is an apples to oranges comparison," said Billy Pidgeon, market research analyst at Game Changer Research. "Many games for the Wii have broad mass market potential and have a slower and longer sales curve than do enthusiast titles." As for Spielberg, he says he's learning more with every new game. The filmmaker actually once owned his own game studio. "The smartest and dumbest thing I ever did was to sell my company to EA," said Spielberg.
» Read More 

Gamasutra writes:

"Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet leads the nominees for the ninth annual Game Developers Choice Awards with seven nominations, organizers have revealed.

Number None's Braid follows closely with five nominations. Among the nominations for LittleBigPlanet is the coveted Game of the Year award.

Other nominees for that category include Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead, each of which received a total of four award nominations; Rockstar North's Grand Theft Auto IV, which earned a total of three nominations, and Lionhead Studios' Fable 2. Winners will be honored at an awards show taking place during the 2009 Game Developers Conference."
» Read More 

For the second year running, the Xbox 360 is the king of consoles. Barely edging out the impressive PS3, the swanky new dash and the amazing exclusives like Gears of War 2 and Fable 2 put Microsoft over the top. The Wii's casual focus didn't garner it any votes this year.
» Read More 

"The following cheat codes allow you to unlock all the props, toys and characters in Create Mode, as well as immediately open up every level in the game. These are the penultimate cheats."
» Read More 

SnagWire: EA has shut down its mysterious Blueprint Division though not the projects that were being worked on.

One of these 'projects' that will be allocated elsewhere is the previously unannounced Boom Blox 2.

Apparently, work is already underway on the sequel to the spring's innovative Wii puzzle game that received critical acclaim and generated decent revenue after being briefly considered a sales flop.
» Read More 

Following a not so impressive first month on retail shelves, EALA and Steven Spielberg's physics-driven puzzle action title Boom Blox has sold over 450,000 copies since launch, publisher Electronic Arts revealed today.
» Read More 

EA CEO John Riccitiello said that Spielberg's Boom Blox was a "hit title" and he'd love to see a sequel.
» Read More 

Destructoid writes: "According to gamesetwatch's Vox Populi column, Electronic Arts is looking for more employees to join the team that created Boom Blox. It is an interesting move considering how terrible the sales for Boom Blox were. Will the team be creating a new Boom Blox or will this be an entirely new project altogether? The job posting really does not specify either a new game or a sequel:

'Come join the team that created BOOM BLOX, here at Electronic Arts Los Angeles!...[We're] creating accessible, quick-to-the-fun games for all ages on the Nintendo Wii…Interest or experience with physics gameplay a plus!'

Despite the sales, Boom Blox was generally highly received by the media. It's basically the opposite of what Spielburg's Indiana Jones IV has accomplished. Regardless, it appears as if the Boom Blox team is specifically targeting a few new physics guys. That can only mean more blowing things up, knocking things over, and tossing objects around.

Personally, I would love to see the team foray into some different genre. A Boom Blox-team FPS would probably be an awesome experience. Can you imagine what floppy-bodies would look like with these guys behind it? What direction do you think the team should go?"
» Read More 

Responding to May videogame sales data, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello said that Boom Blox - the company's Wii game developed in collaboration with director Steven Spielberg - has met internal expectations.
» Read More 

Boom Blox is arguably one of the biggest third-party efforts that has hit the Wii this year. Critics have praised the title wholeheartedly, yet it looks like we have another Okami-esque situation on our hands. Despite positive review scores, Boom Blox only managed to move 60,000 copies in May.

"It's still really hard for new IP to breakthrough the noise in the market, and there has been a lot of noise so far this year. Between Super Smash Bros. Brawl, GTA IV, Wii Fit, Mario Kart and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 (to name a few), there have been some really high profile game releases. The game was really well reviewed so I'm suspecting the marketing just didn't break through the clutter to the extent that they were hoping for." - Anita Frazier, a NPD analyst
» Read More 

The Wii is the bestselling video game machine of the last year, so the companies that sell video game titles must love the Wii, right?

Not so much. Electronic Arts (ERTS), which released its earnings yesterday, breaks down how much of its Q4 revenue came from games for each of the major consoles:

Playstation 3 (SNE): 15%
Xbox 360 (MSFT): 14%
Wii: 7%
PlayStation 2: 5%

Those numbers aren't aberrations, either: With one exception, the Wii has been the least lucrative next-gen console for EA since its debut.

It's also not a surprise. Part of it is by design: Nintendo publishes almost all of the best-selling Wii games (Wii Play, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Wii Fit, Super Mario Galaxy, MarioKart Wii) itself -- its one of the things that distinguishes it from rivals Microsoft and Sony. Part of it is that third-party publishers like EA were caught off guard by the Wii's success a couple of years ago, and are still scrambling to create titles for the platform. And part of it is that many blockbuster games, like Halo 3 or GTA IV, don't have Wii versions, for varying reasons.

But EA isn't giving up on the WII: Earlier this month it released BoomBlox, which was designed with the help of Steven Spielberg. But we have a feeling it won't be Spielberg's most popular release this summer.
» Read More 

With one of the summer's most anticipated blockbusters - the return of Indiana Jones- due in theaters in less than three weeks, you'd expect producer Steven Spielberg to be all about movies right now.

But here he is, enthusiastically chatting up another subject dear to his heart: video games, in particular a cute puzzler called Boom Blox. It's Spielberg's first creation in a collaboration with Electronic Arts, and it's in stores today for Nintendo's Wii.
» Read More 

A bit of a slow down compared to last week's bonanza... Highlights this week include Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Game of the Year Edition (PS3) and Boom Blox (Nintendo Wii).

Check out the full list of new video game releases (USA) for the week of May 3, 2008 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Sony PS2, PSP, Nintendo DS, and PC!
» Read More 

Boom Blox, the upcoming casual game from EA and movie director Steven Spielberg, has the best physics of any game across any console, according to its senior producer.

Speaking to VideoGamer.com in an interview at EA's Casual gaming brand event in London yesterday, Amir Rahimi, senior producer on Boom Blox, added that once the Wii version of the game is finished "there's definitely the possibility of going to other consoles".
» Read More 

From the two days that MTV Multiplayer spent with Nintendo, here were their five key takeaways:

1. Rock Band on Wii proved extremely popular.
2. No first-party WiiWare titles on display.
3. Lost Winds was the media's WiiWare favorite.
4. The guys behind World of Goo aren't fans of Electronic Arts.
5. Boom Blox is way better than you think.
» Read More 

At the Nintendo Media Summit, Boom Blox senior producer Amir Rahimi confirmed that the final version of the game will lack the head-tracking mode.

An email statement noted, "Head-tracking was something we considered including as an Easter egg in BOOM BLOX however, we did not end up including it in the final version of the game. ..."
» Read More 

Steven Spielberg, aside from being one of the most successful movie directors on the planet, is definitely a serious games fan, and his involvement with EA's forthcoming Wii title Boom Blox has been far greater than a line for PR.

That's according to Amir Rahimi, senior producer on the Boom Blox project, who spoke to GamesIndustry.biz at a Nintendo media event in San Francisco.

"I was actually pretty surprised to find out how much of a gamer Steven Spielberg is," said Rahimi. "He - regularly, when we meet with him - makes references to games that a lot of us game developers haven't played or haven't played in years. But also recent games, like Crysis, he talks a lot about."
» Read More