Los Angeles, CA – June 4, 2009 – The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) today closed the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 Expo) and announced that the 2010 E3 Expo will take place from June 15-17, 2010, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Over the course of the 2009 E3 Expo, more than 41,000 attendees from 78 countries viewed hundreds of new products and developments from 216 exhibitors.

The 2009 E3 Expo was designed to better meet the needs of exhibitors and attendees by focusing on value, while maintaining the excitement and energy that fuels the $22 billion U.S. marketplace for computer and video game entertainment.

“We are pleased that this year’s E3 Expo was so successful for our members and exhibitors in terms of sales, business development and profile-building,” said Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of the ESA, the trade association that represents U.S. computer and video game publishers and owns the E3 Expo. “E3 Expo is truly the world stage and spotlight that the interactive entertainment industry has earned as a leader in entertainment. We are looking forward to building on this great momentum for 2010.”

"The E3 Expo has returned as the premiere annual destination for the global games industry," said Graham Hopper, executive vice president and general manager, Disney Interactive Studios. "The excitement the show generates and the ability for us to showcase our portfolio to a worldwide media, retail and consumer audience is an important business driver."

“The ESA has put on a great show for the game industry," said Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello. "E3 2009 reflected the vitality, innovation and global presence of a rapidly growing industry. I'm already looking forward to next year's event."

 “Xbox 360 was pleased to be a part of a rejuvenated E3 this year and to see the interactive entertainment industry really shine and reach new audiences,” said Don Mattrick, senior vice president, Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. “We look forward to being at E3 next year and continuing to redefine the future of home entertainment.”

“This year’s E3 exceeded expectations and SouthPeak Games was proud to be a part of it,” commented Richard Iggo, vice president for marketing at SouthPeak Interactive Corporation. “For us, E3 is about building our brand, showcasing titles, and making the business connections necessary to deliver high-quality entertainment and we were able to accomplish all of that. This is once again the industry’s launchpad for computer and video game news.”

About E3 Expo^TM
E3 Expo is the world's premiere trade show for computer and video games and related products. The show is owned by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the U.S. association dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of the companies, publishing interactive games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet. For more information, please visit www.E3expo.com or www.theesa.com.

About the ESA
The Entertainment Software Association is the U.S. association dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies publishing interactive games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet. The ESA offers services to interactive entertainment software publishers including a global anti-piracy program, owning the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 Expo), business and consumer research, federal and state government relations, First Amendment and intellectual property protection efforts. For more information, please visit www.theESA.com.

About IDG World Expo
IDG World Expo (www.idgworldexpo.com) is a leading producer of tradeshows and events for professionals and consumers seeking world-class education, strategic business relationships, and access to industry-leading products and services. IDG World Expo's portfolio of conferences and events includes Macworld®, Electronic Entertainment Expo® (E3 Expo®), Next Generation Data Center™ (NGDC™), OpenSource World™ and CloudWorld™. IDG World Expo is a business unit of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research and event company.

Our new podcast episode is up! Enjoy

http://uoem.com/sims/downloads/showentry.php?e=209

EMERYVILLE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Spore™ franchise is going to college! Maxis™, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) studio, announced today that lead designer, Stone Librande, will be embarking on a lecture series that will reach some of the nation’s top game design college programs including Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Southern California and Carnegie Mellon University. Aspiring game designers, engineers and artists will have the chance to hear Librande speak about “Designing Playfully” and learn more about the career opportunities inside the creative, global videogame industry. Students will also be among the first to get their hands on Spore™ Galactic Adventures, the highly-anticipated expansion pack to the platinum hit Spore.

Maxis’ “College Invasion Tour” hit Georgia Institute of Technology on April 10, and will head to University of Southern California on April 16 and Carnegie Mellon University on May 1.

During the tour, Librande will guide students through the intuitive Adventure Creator in Spore Galactic Adventures while inspiring and teaching them how to make game concepts come to life. This easy-to-use tool gives students the ability to prototype design concepts and experiment with new ideas.

“Maxis and EA are huge proponents of college game design programs and nurturing rising talent,” said Lucy Bradshaw, VP and General Manager at Maxis. “The robust creative capabilities of the Adventure Creator in Spore Galactic Adventures, empowers future game developers with a different way to experiment with game design. I can’t wait to see what the students create.”

In FY09, EA welcomed 250 interns to studios in the USA, Canada, UK, Sweden, Germany. Last year alone, the company hired approximately 80 new graduates, fresh out of college.

“The games industry continues to grow with the rise of online gaming, casual gaming and the exciting challenges of new markets,” said Cindy Nicola, VP, Global Talent Acquisition. “EA is passionate about attracting and hiring the brightest graduates as they are our next generation of leaders. Our university partnerships and the talent they produce are key components of our overall talent strategy and we are deeply committed to continuing to hire interns and new graduates across EA.”

Librande is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Laboratory and California Institute of Arts Film/Video School. He has worked in a wide variety of technical and creative fields, and has been employed as an art director, video producer, software engineer, freelance illustrator and, for one long summer, a tractor driver on a farm in Oregon. He has also taught a game design course at Cogswell College in Sunnyvale, CA.

About Spore

Spore, available for PC and Mac®, gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe filled with creations made by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even spaceships. Spore Creatures, available on Nintendo DS™, takes players on a quest to save their species and the entire Galaxy. Meet, befriend or fight other creatures in a number of unique Touch Screen-based activities. Spore Galactic Adventures, available June 23, is a highly-customizable expansion pack for Spore, adding a tremendous amount of variety and fun to the Space game. Players can beam down to planets for the first time ever, play Maxis-created Adventures and easily create customized missions. Spore Hero, exclusive to the Wii™ and available in fall 2009, catapults players into the role of a fully-customized hero creature fighting to save its planet. 

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) announced today that EA is making an equity investment in Stupid Fun Club, Will Wright's new adventure. Stupid Fun Club is an entertainment think tank developing new Intellectual Properties to be deployed across multiple fronts including video games, movies, television, the internet, and toys. Will Wright is leaving EA to run Stupid Fun Club.

EA and Will each own equal percentages of Stupid Fun Club and are the principal shareholders. In addition, EA has the right to develop game concepts that spring from Stupid Fun Club projects. Will Wright is represented by Creative Artists Agency.

“The entertainment industry is moving rapidly into an era of revolutionary change,” said Will Wright. “Stupid Fun Club will explore new possibilities that are emerging from this sublime chaos and create new forms of entertainment on a variety of platforms. In my twelve years at EA, I’ve had the pleasure to work alongside some of the brightest and most talented game developers in the industry and I look forward to working with them again in the near future.”

“We believe in Will’s vision for Stupid Fun Club and we’re looking forward to partnering with Will and his team long into the future,” said John Riccitiello, EA’s Chief Executive Officer. “Will is a great designer and he’s been part of a great legacy of globally recognized game franchises like The Sims, SimCity and Spore. The teams that have been leading those franchises in recent years have a lot of exciting content coming.”

“Will has been an inspiration to our teams, and it’s been rewarding for us to bring his ideas to life,” said Lucy Bradshaw, VP and General Manager at Maxis. “In addition to legendary games, Will’s legacy at EA will be the many talented people who worked with him and will now continue to contribute their own vision to the art of game development.”

Will Wright created Maxis with Jeff Braun in 1989, which was acquired by EA in 1997. Will is the visionary designer of blockbuster game concepts like Spore™, The Sims™ and SimCity™. Lucy Bradshaw, VP and General Manager at Maxis™, will continue to run Maxis and the Spore franchise. Lucy’s team is working on the upcoming expansion pack, Spore Galactic Adventures, as well as other game concepts including Spore Hero,Spore Hero Arena and Spore Creature Keeper. Rod Humble is head of the EA™ Play Label and his team will launch The Sims 3 in June of this year.

For those of you know Sims and Spore Developer, the legendary, Dr. Vu, it is his birthday today (March 28)! :-)

Happy Birthday Dr. Vu! I hope you got a new evil ray gun! :-D

We want to congratulate our Senior Moderator Shana and her husband Brandon on their brand new baby girl! So please join me in welcoming baby Aydia Rae and her two very special, warm, and loving parents!

P.S. Aydia, if you're reading this years from now, you have two very special parents.

Congratulations Shana and Brandon!! 

Celebrating a birthday today is Apple Founder and CEO Steve Jobs, who turns 54 today. Happy Birthday Steve :-)

We always seem to be banging our heads and fighting Hotmail, MSN and Live on this matter. In any case, if you have an email account utilizes the Microsoft Hotmail, MSN.com, or Live servers, you will be experiencing an outage from us as they've mysteriously are blocking all our emails again, and we can't get them to cooperate and provide the necessary data to rectify the issue.

We'll keep you posted, but in the meanwhile, this affects our entire network.

Well more sales figures to bore you. :-). Just kidding, but WoW is still on the top of the charts...as well as Sims 2 Double Deluxe and Spore. Hmm...

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
3. Spore
4. World Of Warcraft Battle Chest
5. Fallout 3
6. World Of Warcraft
7. Left 4 Dead
8. Call Of Duty: World At War
9. The Sims 2 Apartment Life
10. The Sims 2 Deluxe

EA and Activision Blizzard has dominated the top ten PC Games chart once again, according to NPD.

• 01. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
• 02. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack
• 03. Spore
• 04. The Sims 2 Apartment Life Expansion Pack
• 05. Fallout 3
• 06. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest
• 07. World Of Warcraft
• 08. Left 4 Dead
• 09. Civilization IV
• 10. Call Of Duty: World At War

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has revealed an initial set of exhibitors for the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 Expo), the industry group's annual video game trade show

Organizers are now expanding the list of companies allowed to exhibit this year, welcoming both ESA and non-ESA members, and inviting companies involved in console, PC, online, and mobile publishing and developing. Qualified business partners, video game hardware companies, and peripheral manufacturers can exhibit as well.

This year's expanded show will also feature a much more lax admittance policy, allowing more media, retail associates, and bloggers to attend. E3 2009 will also feature a much larger showfloor and expanded publisher presence.

The full list of current exhibitors follows:

"The 2009 E3 Expo will be the preeminent North American computer and video game event," said ESA CEO Michael Gallagher. "With robust exhibitor sales, high attendee interest, and strong commitments from multiple industry sectors, we are going to ensure the full excitement and energy of this industry is on display."

We decided to transition WorldSims and our entire Urban Online Entertainment network to a new database server earlier yesterday and we're pleased thus far with the results. Our initial tests indicate a signficant improvement performance wise on the forums and serving up dynamic content.

We're still in the process of trying to figure out which scripts we've missed so please let us know if you encounter any problems regarding the serving and delivering of content during your viewing.

Happy Birthday to Maxis Founder, SimCity Creator, The Sims Franchise Founder, Spore-pollinator Will Wright :-)

Happy New Year Everyone!

We're really excited here at WorldSims and Urban Online Entertainment for what's ahead. First up...a new look for our great forums. I want to take a moment to thank the following people for helping make the new layout possible. Without their help in graphics, coding, and donating their time over the Christmas break so we can have a brand new layout in time for the new year! Their names (in no particular order).

• Judhudson
• Sinecure
• Scferg

Finally, I want to introduce MileyCyrus (aka Djizzle) and Dsu to the community. We're glad to introduce them to our community as they will be taking up projects among our Urban Team. So please welcome them :)

That's it for now..

P.S. we've launched our new WorldSims website. Have a look. http://worldsims.org/home

Market research company NPD Group has released its list of best-selling PC games for the week of December 14 – 20, 2008, which saw World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and Spore continue their sales dominance. While this week's top-10 list is eerily similar to the week prior, there were some noticeable changes. Valve's Left 4 Dead was able to move up a notch, whereas EA's Call of Duty: World at War and Bethesda Softworks' Fallout 3 slightly dropped down the list. 

1. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack
2. Spore
3. Left 4 Dead
4. The Sims 2 Deluxe
5. Call of Duty: World at War
6. Fallout 3
7. The Sims 2 Apartment Life Expansion Pack
8. Bejewled Twist
9. World of Warcraft Battle Chest
10. The Sims 2 Mansion & Garden Stuff Expansion Pack 

And we're still testing...and testing...and testing...and testing :)

Here's the latest NPD reports the Top 10 PC games sold during the November 16-22nd. Note. Online Sales not Included.

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King / Blizzard / $40 
2. Left 4 Dead / Valve / $46 
3. Call Of Duty: World At War / Treyarch / $50 
4. The Sims 2 Mansion & Garden Stuff / EA Maxis / $18 
5. EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey / Sony Online Ent. / $50 
6. Spore / EA Maxis / $49 
7. Fallout 3 / Bethesda / $50 
8. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe / EA Maxis / $20 
9. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Collectors Ed / Blizzard / $69 
10. The Sims 2 Apartment Life / EA Maxis / $20