When it comes to racing and driving games one of the top franchises is EA’s Need for Speed. The games have been around for years and EA has announced that the playable demo for the next installment of the franchise is set to hit the PS3 and the Xbox on October 1.

The playable demo for Need for Speed Shift will allow players to drive two circuits including Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and the tight city circuit of London River. The game will also offer five vehicles for players to sample with real-world physics.

The biggest game that EA sells has to be Madden NFL. The game is responsible for a huge chunk of the revenues that EA generates each year and it the most popular NFL football game going. EA Sports has the exclusive agreement to design and sell video games that are NFL based.

A U.S. district judge has denied the motion to dismiss a class-action suit against EA alleging unlawful and anticompetitive agreements in place with major football bodies. These exclusive agreements have stifled competition and allowed EA to up the price on its Madden NFL game by 70% according to the suit.

I am a big fan of Rock Band and the last track pack I bought was for some friends that like country music. The only downside to the Country Track Pack was that it was over very quickly. If country isn’t your thing, a new metal track pack is coming soon for Rock Band.

EA, Harmonix, and MTV Games have announced that a Metal Track Pack is coming on October 13 for Rock Band and Rock Band 2. The track pack offers 20 tracks and six of them are new to the platform. That means the majority of the songs are not new so you will want to be sure you don’t already own some of them before you buy. The pack will sell for $29.99.

The full track list is below:

Artist Song Title
—— ———-
1. All That Remains Two Week…

MMA is one f the fastest growing sports in the world and events like the UFC and Strikeforce are selling out some of the biggest arenas around the globe. With the raging popularity of the sport, it’s no surprise that video games are starting to come out for fans to enjoy.

Not too long ago the first UFC game debuted and now EA has announced the fighter roster for its EA Sports MMA game set to debut in 2010. The game will be available for both Xbox and PS3.

EA and Dice have been working together on the fantastic Battlefield franchise for a long time now. Most of the games in the franchise have been sold on discs in retail outlets. The first download-only title from the two firms was Battlefield 1943 released earlier this month.

EA and Dice have announced that the game has set sales records for download-only games and has sold over 600,000 copies on Xbox and PS3 since it debuted on July 8. The game set the record for fastest selling day one and first week download games.

I am a big fan of online multiplayer shooters. I have spent many an hour fragging happily with Battlefield games and the Call of Duty franchise. Both of those franchises have games that cost around $50 to buy, not cheap but at least there are no fees for online play.

EA has announced that its free to download and play Battlefield Heroes game has now attracted a million players to sign up. The game generates revenue for EA with in-game ads and when players buy in game credits to upgrade their character.

I have been playing the EA Command and Conquer franchise for years. My son and I played lots of C&C 3: Tiberium Wars together. The online battles were always my favorite and the fact that EA threw in cameos from actors I recognized into the cut scenes was cool.

EA LA has announced that Command & Conquer 4 is under development and set to ship in 2010. The new version of the game promises to introduce a multitude of innovations to the C&C game play fans have grown accustomed to. The new game will offer class-based game play, mobile bases, and persistent player progression.

Last Christmas my son really wanted the Nerf game for the Nintendo Wii from Santa. The game was a cool kid friendly shooter that also could be used with a special Nerf blaster that could hold a Wii remote and shoot real darts. The catch was that the game and the blaster were sold separately.

EA has announced the follow up to the game, which will ship this fall and will be called Nerf 2: N-Strike Elite. The game will ship with a special Nerf Switch Shot EX-3 blaster that features a special red decoder eyepiece that flips up.

I am a big fan of the Battlefield franchise and have played most of the games in the series. I really like games like this when they are set in modern times like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, but going old school is cool too.

EA and Dice have announced that the next iteration of the franchise is set to debut on the Xbox and PS3 on July 8 and 9th as a download only. The good news for fans of the franchise is that the game is cheap at $15 or 1200 MS points.

Sports games traditionally are not my favorite genre. I never bought a sports game for the Xbox 360, PS2, or PS3. I have bought a few sports games for the Wii though that are lots of fun to play thanks to the cool Wii controls.

EA’s Tiger Wood’s PGA Tour 10 is likely to be the best golfing game of the year on the Wii and EA announced that the game has now shipped to retailers around the country. The game is available with the Wii MotionPlus accessory or without it.

EA is one of the most popular and successful game publishers around. The company has several top game franchises including one of the best selling ever –The Sims. EA is getting set for E3 coming up at the beginning of June and is talking a bit about the games it will be highlighting at the show.

There are a number of games being show at E3 by EA, but one of the coolest is Army of Two: the 40th Day. The game will be available for Xbox 360, PS3, and PSP this winter. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is coming in Q1 2010 for Xbox, PS3, and PC platforms and offers serious destruction to gamers.

I am a big fan of Spore on the PC. My son likes the game very much as well proving that gamers of all generations find something to like with Spore. Aside from the PC, Spore was also offered on the Wii leaving Xbox and PS3 gamers in the cold.

EA has announced that a couple new Spore titles are coming to Nintendo platforms this fall. Spore Hero for the Wii and Spore Hero Arena will expand the Spore franchise. Spore Hero for the Wii is a story driven game that takes players on missions to save their planet. Along the way, players can find new parts and upgrade their characters.

When I first got my Wii I spent lots of time playing Wii Sports golf. I got good at the game and decided that I wanted a better challenge and picked up one of the Tiger Woods games, which was much more complicated, but lots of fun.

EA has announced that it is moving the launch date for the next Tiger Woods gamed called Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10. The launch date has been moved up by one week to June 8 for the golf game and the Grand Slam Tennis for Wii will be launched at the same time.

The EA and Will Wright video game Spore has been on the market for a while now and is one seriously cool video game. The game allows you to take your character from a single cell through evolution all the way to a space faring species trading with an entire galaxy.

EA says that since the game launched in September 2008 there have been about 100 million creations added to the Spore universe. Out of the 100 million creations in the universe, 31,017,761 are creatures, 19 times as many creatures as there are on Earth says EA.

I really like the EA Need for Speed franchise and I have played most every title in the franchise going back to when it first launched when I was a kid. I liked Need for Speed Pro Street, but I missed the police chase action. I was glad when Need for Speed Undercover went back to the franchises roots.

EA has announced that new content packs are now available for Undercover. Two packs are available with the Challenge Series pack being offered for free and adding 60 new events along with new game modes Highway Wars and Highway Checkpoint races and three new cars.