The Fastest-Selling Game in EA History Propelled by Great Reception from Critics and Player Word-of-Mouth
SYDNEY, Australia . – November 1, 2011 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that based on internal estimates, Battlefield 3™ has sold through five million units in the first week globally, making it the fastest-selling game in EA’s history. The outstanding retail performance is driven by critic’s reviews averaging above 85 on console and above 90 on PC.* Word-of-mouth from gamers is also driving sales – Battlefield 3 now has more than 2.5M “likes” on Facebook®. Following the tradition of all games in this storied franchise; Battlefield 3 includes a superior multi-player experience. Consumers have logged-on in unprecedented numbers to team up and join the battle. Server stability was solid in the first weekend, delivering EA’s highest-ever usage rates. While some players experienced intermittent outages of online services due to high volume, internal estimates show that servers and service uptime stabilized to roughly 98.9% throughout the weekend, ensuring that players were connected and enjoying the game. With a commitment to support the game as a software service, EA is listening to consumer feedback and is making daily updates and improvements to ensure an optimal online experience for all.

Q. There is a huge variety of songs included in ABBA You Can Dance. How were these selected?

We’ve included the band’s most famous tracks, such as Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen and Take A Chance On Me, as well as lesser-known jewels from ABBA’s rich repertoire.

We decided to show the variety of their universe through diverse tunes, their aesthetics in-game and the different moods they set. For example, I’m A Marionette conveys a dramatic yet playful atmosphere, As Good As New is pure energy, and If It Wasn’t For the Nights is full of funk.

Q. How was the choreography in the game developed? Who creates these for the game?

We worked with professional dance choreographers in charge of creating the best moves while keeping with the map concepts, the ABBA style and the mood of the songs. It has been a fully cooperative effort between them and our level designers, with the latter taking care of the immediate fun and accessibility of the choreography.

For ballads and slower tunes, which aren’t necessarily easy to build choreography-wise, we came up with surprising concepts that convey unexpected yet strong and playful dance styles. This is certainly the case for The Winner Takes It All and its classical-inspired dancing style, which is brand new for a dancing game and emphasizes the song’s dramatic tone.

Q. What studios are behind the development of ABBA You Can Dance?

The teams working on ABBA You Can Dance have expertise from The Experience and Just Dance franchises. This means that not only do they know how to satisfy the fans and pay tribute to artists, but they also have the technical knowledge for creating a great dancing game! They are experienced in pleasing the fans and bringing out the best vibes for everyone to enjoy dancing together.

It’s a wonderful example of cooperation between different studios at Ubisoft: the teams from Paris, Bucharest, Montpellier and Pune have worked hand-in-hand to bring fans this visually stunning title that will take fans on stage and dancing the night away.

Q. To what extent did the original ABBA settings inspire the elements found in the game?

To create the game, the core team fully immersed themselves in the varied and rich world of ABBA, taking inspiration from live footage and TV shows, original music videos, anecdotes, and backstage pictures of the band.

During the course of making the game, we have heard, seen and read pretty much everything about ABBA!

We also tried to convey modernity and freshness through our backgrounds and costumes, by looking at new trends in video and light projection, stage design, etc. For instance, the Lay All Your Love On Me background artwork is a representation of the iconic pyramid and mountains from the Polar Music logo (ABBA’s label), which was used as the cover album and stage decor of their Wembley 1979 tour, and is also representative of the iconic mountain ranges of Sweden.

Q. How were the costumes created?

We worked with costume designers, who reproduced ABBA’s costumes as closely as possible using based on original photos and our instruction. Depending on the complexity of the fabrics and richness of details, each set of costumes took approximately one week to create.

The maps featuring original costumes are:

–        Waterloo

–        Knowing Me Knowing You

–        Lay All Your Love On Me

–        Fernando

–        SOS

–        Mamma Mia

For the other costumes, we looked at current fashion styles in order to bring a fresh feel while staying true to ABBA’s spirit.

Q. Any cool little surprises?

Well they are called surprises for a reason, but here’s a little clue – be ready to dance along to some funky moves!

Q. What kind of moves will I find in ABBA You Can Dance?

We’re proud to offer a game that will truly satisfy any kind of dancer! We conveyed the rich spirit of ABBA through our selection of dance moves, making ABBA You Can Dance a must have dancing game. Our choreography takes inspiration from pop of course, but you will also find moves inspired from rock’n’roll, funk, jazz and even classical dancing!

Q. Will there be any DLC?

No. ABBA You Can Dance offers the full experience from the moment you start playing.

Q. What is the release date?

ABBA You Can Dance is coming to all major retailers this November. Get it and share the laughs and good times with friends and family throughout the holiday season’s gatherings.

KEY NUMBERS

• The Just Dance franchise is the World’s #1 Selling Dance Game Brand
• ABBA is the 2^nd highest selling band in history with 378 million albums sold!

Check out this awesome video celebrating the upcoming release of Turtle Beach’s exclusively licensed, limited edition Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3 Ear Force headsets, developed in conjunction with Activision. Watch it on Turtle Beach Australia’s YouTube channel below!

The highly anticipated evolution of the BlackBerry Bold series now available in store and via Telstra’s online shop

Sydney, Australia, 31 October 2011 – Research in Motion (RIM) and Telstra today announced the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 is now available on Australia’s largest and fastest national mobile network.

“We’ve received great feedback that consumers and business customers alike are very impressed by the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and we are excited to offer the device to Telstra customers. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 features some innovative enhancements, entertainment features and apps which combine with trusted BlackBerry security and best-in-class email to create the perfect smartphone for work and play,” said Adele Beachley, Managing Director Australia, RIM.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is built on a new performance-driven platform featuring a 1.2 GHz processor, Liquid Graphics™ touch screen, and support for high speed HSPA+ wide area wireless networks, and can also support up to 720p HD video recording and playback. It features premium materials, a lustrous exterior with a brushed stainless steel frame and a high-gloss glass-weave backplate. It is also the thinnest BlackBerry smartphones yet, at only 10.5mm, and retains the market leading keyboard.

Tim Webber, Director, Telstra Mobile said the original BlackBerry Bold was a favourite among Telstra customers and Telstra expected the next generation Bold to be popular.

“The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 is thinner, faster and more powerful than before and we expect it to be incredibly popular with our customers. The new Bold brings together a full keyboard for fast email composition with a touch screen for easy web browsing. It has everything customers need to get connected with their email, favourite apps, office calendar and the mobile internet on the go. Battery life continues to be outstanding and teamed with the Telstra Mobile Network customers can access more than twice the geographic coverage of the next largest 3G network in Australia,” Mr Webber said.

The device supports RIM’s latest operating system, BlackBerry 7 OS, which is designed to power the new performance-driven BlackBerry Bold platform. It provides an easier and faster user experience with improved browsing, voice-activated searches, the ability to manage personal content separately from corporate content, as well as additional personal and productivity apps out of the box.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 comes loaded with BlackBerry® Messenger 6 (BBM 6) which provides support for ‘BBM connected’ apps to integrate the popular functionality of the BBM service and offers users the ability to interact with their friends from within the apps themselves. For example, with a BBM connected game app, users can invite their BBM friends to join them in a game and chat with one another in the middle of the game – without ever leaving the game app, all in real time.

Pricing
The BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone is available on a range of consumer Freedom® Connect plans including, from 1 November, for $0 upfront on the $99 Freedom Connect Plan for 24 months (min cost over 24 months is $2,376). The plan includes $1,200 worth of calls and MMS plus unlimited text messaging to standard Australian numbers and 2.5GB of data for use in Australia. It also includes a BlackBerry Individual Service (BIS) that provides an unlimited number of BlackBerry emails and unlimited internet browsing in Australia through the BlackBerry browser.

Telstra Business customers can purchase the BlackBerry Bold 9900 on a range of Business Maximiser plans including for $0 upfront on the $129 Business Maximiser Unlimited plan (min cost over 24 months $3,096). This plan includes unlimited calls, SMS, MMS & Messagebank® within Australia and includes 3GB of data for use in Australia. Plus, the plan comes with a Blackberry BIS service that provides an unlimited number of BlackBerry emails and unlimited internet browsing in Australia through the BlackBerry browser.

For more information about the BlackBerry Bold 9900, the new BlackBerry 7 OS and BBM 6, visit au.blackberry.com.

Wargame: European Escalation, the spectacular real-time strategy game by Eugen Systems, today unveiled 5 new explosive screenshots.

The players will discover on these images NATO forces defending at all cost their installations at Ramstein Air Base, in West Germany, which is under heavy assault from the Warsaw pact. These new screenshots are the opportunity to see once more the level of detail offered by Wargame, never-before-seen in a real-time strategy game of this scale. Lighting, modelling, visual and sound effects, but also the size of the battlefields and number of units… all this creates a grand visual showcase! Battles in Wargame: European Escalation are as impressive as there are profoundly tactical.

We also want to officially announce today that the game will eventually release in 2012. It has indeed been decided by mutual agreement between Focus and Eugen Systems, to delay the release of the game by a few months to ensure Wargame: European Escalation offers the best possible experience both in single player and in multiplayer. The game is now planned for release first quarter 2012; the final release date will be disclosed in the coming weeks.

It’s time to go Back to Karkand this December with the first expansion pack to DICE’s award-winning Battlefield 3.

Utilising the power of Frostbite 2, the Back to Karkand Expansion Pack, remasters four of the greatest Battlefield maps in the franchise; Strike at Karkand, Wake Island, Gulf of Oman and Sharqi Peninsula with enhanced levels of destruction. In addition, this expansion pack includes five new dog tags, five new achievements/trophies, three new vehicles (DPV, BTR-90, F-35B STOVL jet fighter), 10 iconic Battlefield weapons and a new persistence system where players complete assignments to earn their rewards.