EA Sports GameShow Hands-On

Quick, what is former NFL great Joe Greene's nickname? Maurice "Rocket" Richard was the first NHL player to score how many goals in a single season? What year did the Chicago Bulls beat the Portland Trail Blazers to take home the NBA Championship? If you answered "Mean," "50," and "1992" to these questions, you're probably the kind of person who will enjoy EA Sports GameShow. Announced earlier this year at EA's summer press event, GameShow is an upcoming free PC-based sports quiz game that plays a bit like the trivia games you'd see at a sports bar.

Unlike those pun-heavy trivia games at your local watering hole, however, GameShow features trivia matchups that are hosted by real-life DJs. In the case of the session we played during a recent EA Sports press event, they were a pair of radio hosts who smoothly kept the banter going between questions for the entire session. In fact, thanks to EA Sports, Orlando, Florida, (home of EA's Tiburon studios, where GameShow is run) might have more employed radio personalities than any other city of its size. The company will be running eight hours of original GameShow programming on the weekdays and 12 hours live on weekends, with the "off air" time being taken up with repeats.

During that air time, players will be competing on a variety of sports trivia sessions that run the gamut from a series of questions about a player's nickname to sport-specific sessions for NASCAR, the NFL, Major League Baseball, and more. You'll have a few seconds to answer each multiple-choice question, and the quicker you answer, the more points you'll earn for a correct answer. Earning points will give you the ability to purchase new accessories for your onscreen avatar or buy power-ups that can help you in a game session. Typical power-ups include point multipliers for correct answers, such as one that will eliminate two incorrect answers for you. There's also a "chicken" power-up that will reverse the timing of your answer…the longer you take to answer, the more points you'll earn for a correct answer. One other neat feature is the ability to wager points before a round begins. If you announce how many questions you'll get correct, you'll put your points on the line for potential big bonuses once the session is complete.

Point leaders at the end of the round will be announced by region (the host might even give you a call and talk to you live on the air if you're kicking trivia tail), and your results can be compared against other players in your area or against players who share your favorite football teams, provided you're up for sharing that information with EA. And, hey, why not relax by enjoying the multitude of EA Sports commercials that stream over the embedded video player in between rounds? What, that doesn't sound like fun to you? Yeah, it doesn't sound fun to us either. Still, it's a free game, so what do you want?

EA Sports GameShow is currently in closed beta but will be opening up as a free download for your PC later this year.