Last week EA's quarterly earnings were announced -- it wasn't a good quarter for EA. Following the earnings report, EA stated there would be some layoffs and studio closures. Now this week, EA Chicago, a studio best known for Fight Night, has become a victim of the studio closure bug. In the wake of the closing, many are wondering where EA Chicago's developed and in-development titles will end up. Since Fight Night is a sports game most assume it will either go to the Vancouver or Orlando studios where most of EA's sports titles are made. Fueling this assumption is the popular Kotaku blog where a news story was posted, which still has to be considered rumor until 100% confirmed publicly by EA corporate. Either way Kotaku spoke with an "inside source" who states the Fight Night franchise will move to the EA Vancouver studio and be developed there. When DSM contacted our sources within EA, they neither confirmed nor denied the rumor, they simply hadn't heard one way or the other.

Anyway, there's more than just the Fight Night rumor mill to talk about this week. So also covered this week in the roundup are March Madness 08, College Hoops 2K8, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008, FIFA Soccer 08, and NBA Live 08.

NBA Live 08 and FIFA Soccer 08 both received the much talked about 5-on-5 multiplayer update this week. Now in FIFA 08 10 different players on 10 different consoles can play Be A Pro Online with the CPU controlling the other 11 players on the pitch; in Live 08 every player on the court can now be controlled by a different user on a different console, eliminating the CPU completely. This new mode will not replace the old way of playing, but rather it gives gamers more options.

Two notes about the update:

1. The Online Team Play option for NBA Live 08 will not be available for download on the Playstation 3 until later this month.

2. According to an EA representative from a Gamespot news story: if a dropped connection occurs every user will have to restart the match/game.

Sticking with the EA theme, March Madness 08 also made it into the news this week. EA sent out the ratings for the best players at each position, and IGN took the ratings and posted the top 5 players from each position. The ratings are below:

Point Guards

1. Drew Neitzel, Senior, Michigan State (83)
2. Jamont Gordan, Junior, Mississippi State (83)
3. Mario Chalmers, Junior, Kansas (82)
4. Ramel Bradley, Senior, Kentucky (81)
5. D.J. Augustin, Sophomore, Texas (81)

Shooting Guards

1. O.J. Mayo, Freshman, USC, 83


2. Derrick Low, Senior, Washington State, 83


3. Stephen Curry, Sophomore, Davidson, 82


4. Jessie Sapp, Junior, Georgetown, 82


5. Antonio Anderson, Junior, Memphis, 82

Small Forwards

1. Chris Douglas-Roberts, Junior, Memphis, 84


2. Chase Budinger, Sophomore, Arizona, 83


3. Brandon Rush, Junior, Kansas, 83


4. Eric Gordon, Freshman, Indiana, 82


5. Terrence Williams, Junior, Louisville, 81

Power Forwards

1. Michael Beasley, Freshman, Kansas State, 83


2. Patrick Patterson, Freshman, Kentucky, 82


3. Robert Dozier, Junior, Memphis, 82


4. Jon Brockman, Junior, Washington, 82


5. Brook Lopez, Sophomore, Stanford, 81

I don't have too many bones to pick with those top 5 players, but in my opinion O.J. Mayo shouldn't be the top rated SG -- glad to see Derrick Low got his respect though. Also I heart Drew Neitzel, and I just wanted to let you all know that.

This week I saw a College Hoops 2K8 commercial on TV, which must mean the November 20 ship date is inching closer and closer. Game Trailers actually posted the commercial I witnessed on television, featuring a pre-broken down Greg Oden and pre-NBA bench warmer Mike Conley. The other TV-spot was also posted by Game Trailers right here. In terms of reading content, Operation Sports posted an interview they conducted with the Project Manager of College Hoops 2K8, Zach Timmerman.

One positive note from the interview is below:

Operation Sports:  Is the player-match up issue from NBA 2K8 corrected in CH 2K8?

 

Zach Timmerman:  We do not have this issue as we know it.

Kudos 2K. Now where's that NBA 2K8 patch?

Oh yea there's also this thing called a demo that allows gamers to play a game before release. Ever heard of this thing called a demo? Well if you have, then you might also know that there's a College Hoops 2K8 demo up on the PlayStation Network...and is oddly enough not on the XBOX Live Marketplace. So it appears PS3 owners have received something before XBOX 360 owners, shockingly enough. The demo is one 3-minute half and allows gamers to play with the North Carolina Tar Heels or Ohio State Buckeyes. 

Another game on the horizon is THQ's WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 -- the game ships November 13. At this point the new preview content is dried up, but if the final week of waiting is killing you, then here are two video interviews via IGN and Game Trailers, and an interview posted at the site Xboxic that features Bryan Williams, Creative Manager at THQ.

That's it for this week of the roundup, but as always come back next week for more news intake.