EA has announced that it made a loss during its third quarter ended December 31, 2009 blaming a lack of launches and the decline in boxed product.

GAAP [Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ] net revenue for the quarter was $1.243 billion compared with $1.654 billion for the prior year. Non-GAAP net revenue for the quarter was $1.346 billion, down 23 per cent as compared with $1.742 billion for the prior year. GAAP net loss for the quarter was $82 million compared with a net loss of $641 million for the prior year.

EA says the decline is due to several factors, including “fewer titles this holiday quarter versus the 2008 holiday quarter, and a weak overall packaged goods sector in Europe.” The firm says sales were driven by the launches of Dragon Age: Origins, Left 4 Dead 2, and NBA Live, and catalog sales of FIFA 10, Madden NFL 10, and The Sims 3.

John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer, said, “EA is growing share in our packaged goods business and our digital businesses continue to grow rapidly. Mass Effect 2 is the first blockbuster of 2010 and we are looking forward to the launch of Dante’s Inferno and Battlefield Bad Company 2."  […]

Read the full article on Edge Online…

40 perfect scores. 2 million units. One pop culture phenomenon. BioWare, a division of EA, announced today that Mass Effect 2 has sold-in over two million units worldwide in its first week of release. Lauded for its intense shooter gameplay and deep, hand-crafted story, Mass Effect 2 has earned an average review score of 96- making it the second highest rated game of all time on the Xbox 360 platform. Mass Effect 2 has earned 40 perfect scores, amassed over 30 editor’s choice awards and has donned the covers of 45 magazines worldwide. On launch day, the term "Mass Effect" was in the top 10 trending topics on Twitter and most searched on Google News. MSNBC.com said, "Mass Effect will go down as one of the most influential video game series of all-time."

Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder, BioWare and Group General Manager of the RPG/MMO Group of EA said, "Mass Effect 2 is poised to be one of the biggest games of 2010. We could not be more proud of the game’s universal acclaim and early commercial success."

Mass Effect 2 launched this week hot on the heels of BioWare’s Dragon Age: Origins, the studio’s dark fantasy RPG which shipped in fall 2009. Dragon Age: Origins has earned an average review score of 91, making it the highest rated original intellectual property from EA in the last year. Mass Effect 2 follows in BioWare’s tradition of delivering excellence on every front: gameplay, story, character development and visuals. Mass Effect 2 is an epic shooter/RPG set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life and mysterious, uncharted planets. In Mass Effect 2, players step into the role of the heroic Commander Shepard, leading a crew of some of the most dangerous operatives from across the galaxy on a mission so challenging that it’s potentially suicidal. Featuring intense action, a rich storyline, space exploration and engaging character interaction, Mass Effect 2 delivers an unparalleled gaming experience. […]

Congratulations to the dev teams in Edmonton and Montreal!

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Here’s a review from GameTrailers, after the break:

The sequel to Mass Effect is finally here. Does it boldly go places where its predecessor dared not tread?

 

January 21st [3:00pm EST], join us here to watch an exclusive broadcast of Mass Effect 2! Watch as the producer of the game runs you through the latest content, then stay for a Q&A about the game!

Under 2 hours till Jesse Houston & Christina Norman do a live playthrough of new ME2 area on XFire.

Watch them live in a few hours on XFire.

From GameTrailers:

 

Shepard faces humanity’s greatest threat in the sequel to BioWare’s sci-fi shooter.

Video after the break:

From GameTrailers:

Commander Shephard must gain the trust of a rag-tag band of unlikely heroes in order to secure the fate of the galaxy in the sequel to the sci-fi shooter Mass Effect.

Here is the video, after the break:

Watch the HD version on GameTrailers.

The sequel will build on the triumphs of its predecessor while adding a new twist. All of those choices you made in the first game will shape the story in Mass Effect 2. For BioWare, a studio that has in large part built its role-playing reputation on the concept of forcing players to make difficult decisions, this creates a whole new way to think about what a trilogy of games really means. Casey Hudson, Project Director for Mass Effect 2, recently divulged some new details on how this will work, even offering a brief outline of the future leading in to Mass Effect 3.

[…]

The game will be much more personal for those that did play Mass Effect. Everything all of the way down to little side quests will be shaped by your actions in the first game. "If you were mean to a guy in a little side quest," said Hudson, "then he’ll show up in this one and something different will happen. It’s not better or worse, it’s just part of the ongoing story."

[…]

Yes, you read that correctly. Different plots, and different side quests, will become available or be blocked off depending on your actions in the first game. Hudson elaborated, "The quests are different and the things that happen in them are different, and that’s true of a lot of the plots. The things you have to do really only make sense if you made a certain choice previously or if certain characters are alive or dead."

During my chat with Casey Hudson, he spoke a lot about the love subplot that played out in Mass Effect 1 and will continue in the sequel. "People are worried that the love interest from the first game is not recruitable as a squad member in the second game. I think people put too much emphasis on whether importance to the story is equated to whether they are a squad member. In Mass Effect 2, it really is about preparing for a suicide mission. It’s true that people on your squad are most likely going to die in this final mission. It’s not all that hard to make your character survive, but you can die as a permanent death at the end. I think people will have trouble keeping everybody alive. That’s a lot trickier.

Read the whole interview at IGN.

BioWare today revealed the voice actors performing in Mass Effect 2 [being developed in Montreal], the second act of the award-winning science fiction trilogy. The game features Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor Martin Sheen ("The West Wing", "Apocalypse Now"), 2009 Emmy Award-winner Shohreh Aghdashloo ("House of Saddam"), comedic actor Seth Green ("Austin Powers"), "Chuck" stars Yvonne Strahovski and Adam Baldwin, Keith David ("Crash") and sci-fi favorites Michael Dorn (Worf on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"), Tricia Helfer ("Battlestar Galactica"), Michael Hogan ("Battlestar Galactica") and Carrie-Anne Moss ("The Matrix").

Esteemed actor Martin Sheen stars as the mysterious Illusive Man who commands Cerberus, a secretive paramilitary organization dedicated to protecting human interests in the galaxy. Yvonne Strahovski plays deadly Cerberus operative Miranda Lawson, who has been genetically engineered for superior mental and physical traits. Returning to the cast from the original Mass Effect is Seth Green as Joker and Keith David as Admiral David Anderson. And rounding out the vocal roster are Tricia Helfer as EDI, the voice of the new Normandy; Carrie-Anne Moss as Aria T’Loak, the crime lord who rules the planet Omega; Shohreh Aghdashloo as Admiral  Shala’Raan vas Tonbay; Michael Hogan as Captain Bailey; Adam Baldwin as Kal ‘Reegar; and Michael Dorn as Gatatog Uvenk.