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EA Sports pondering peripherals

EA Canada executive producer says publisher plans to implement alternate-input devices for upcoming Wii games; possible unveiling at E3.

The unequivocal success of Activision's Guitar Hero and MTV Games' Rock Band franchises has all but assured the near future of peripheral-based gaming from third-party publishers. However, the rhythm-game genre isn't the only locus where peripherals are on the rise. With the release of Wii Fit on Nintendo's console in May, third-party publishers have been flocking to the Balance Board in droves.

One such publisher is EA, which said last month that the upcoming Skate It--due out later this year for the Wii--will incorporate Nintendo's proprietary weight-sensing device. However, that won't be the extent of EA's use of peripherals in its sports games. Speaking at the Paris Game Developers Conference today, EA Sports executive producer David McCarthy said that an expanded use of peripherals is a distinct possibility.

"You will see EA Sports--even over the course of the next 12 months, I would think--use that peripheral strategy to some extent," said McCarthy, as reported from the event by Next-Gen. The EA Canada-based producer also expressed caution in wantonly incorporating peripherals into sports games. "I would say [you could] push this a little too far," mused McCarthy. "I think you want to do a peripheral if it really does enrich the experience of gameplay. And that it doesn't create a barrier to entry for your consumers."

Speaking to Next-Gen, McCarthy further clarified EA Sports' position on peripherals, saying that the developer is "prototyping stuff that really does allow us to play with the Wii Remote differently." McCarthy said that gamers may get their first peek at what EA Sports has in store during next month's E3 Media & Business Summit.

Given that the presentation was titled "A Family Affair: Adapting EA Sports to the Wii," McCarthy reportedly made no mention of extending its peripheral strategy to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

24 Comments

  • cooldude03

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 8:10 am GMT

    The Wii need something so that the Wii can get some real games. I want to be able to play games other than casual games and Nintendo first party games on my Wii. If it's not Casual or 1st party Nintendo the controls flat out suck. I know thats not going to be a popular view but I feel it's the brutaly honest truth. If it take EA to come up with a peripheral in order to get to have better controlled games than I'm behind EA 100%.

  • elvato87

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 3:53 pm GMT

    so were are we supposed to store all those things?. i don't want a peripheral for every game that i buy, let alone if it makes the game more expensive (unless it improves the game experience a lot or if it's something that the game must have, like the guitar for guitar hero)

  • grigjd3

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 11:32 am GMT

    The difference between EA making a peripheral and Nintendo making a peripheral is that EA will make an expensive junky device that isn't all that natural to use and then EA will sit around wondering why nobody buys it.

  • the-bat-child

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 9:41 am GMT

    YAY! More junk to clutter peoples living rooms.

  • Nintendo_Man

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 9:17 pm GMT

    How about creating better games first?

  • combatsoldier

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 7:16 pm GMT

    This better be good but we need more information to make an educated opinon.

  • Thorpe89

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 6:32 pm GMT

    I can see this working with other consoles too maybe.

  • Ranteal

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 5:17 pm GMT

    I hear the 1st game there going to make is called "San Francisco Adventures". Not really sure what kinda equipment it will come with.

  • combatsoldier

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 4:47 pm GMT

    Oh great, whats next.

  • -HCMF-

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 4:45 pm GMT

    how about a vacuume cleaning that sucks all the money out of my wallet and leaves me feeling riped off. Oh wait Madden coems out in a few months...

  • tonicmole

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 4:23 pm GMT

    This is one of things that makes since for about two games but will be used on all of them. Franchises will die! Good bye Tony Hawk for we knew thee well,

  • nick0091

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 2:57 pm GMT

    A controller for every game what a good idea. Wait a minute, this is what Arcades where all about!

  • gnbfd

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 2:42 pm GMT

    Why couldn't they think of this BEFORE the recession?

  • ocdog45

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 2:16 pm GMT

    100% stupid. i don't want to pretend to throw a football, or kick a ball, our shoot a ball. or a board to prettend to sakte. nothing surpasses the real thing.

  • nickythenewt21

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 1:59 pm GMT

    After the success of Guitar Hero and Wii Fit, I expected this one to come sooner...

  • ThickFreak

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 1:54 pm GMT

    Yay?

  • Agreb91

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 1:51 pm GMT

    Soon every game will have its own controller. It will cause a lot of problems.

  • NA3D

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 1:39 pm GMT

    EA it is called options, learn more about it. Play with the extra add ons or not. Kind of like PC, play with the joystick, play with a controller, play with mouse and keyboard.

    I would say more, but you guys will have to pay me a nice mill for me to let you in on any ideas that will actually make you a couple billion in the long run.

  • GoldenRamoth

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 1:30 pm GMT

    "They can make as many peripherals as they want for their sports titles, but it'll still never be as fun as going outside and playing the game for real."

    It all depends. If you live in an apartment and are trying to play football in NYC by yourself, might be a little hard. If you play with a bunch of morons half the time, might get real annoying. If you're the fat kid, could be really boring cause everyone's better than you.. It really all depends.

    At any rate, depends on the peripherals. They could be cool, they could be real lame. it's a 25/75 shot respectively.

  • KittenNipples

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 1:19 pm GMT

    JFC! EA stop trying to monopolize the industry!!!

  • ADJ209

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 1:15 pm GMT

    Make it affordable comapred to rockstar..

  • RaiKageRyu

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 1:00 pm GMT

    Please don't get carried away with peripherals.

  • mjc0961

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 12:57 pm GMT

    They can make as many peripherals as they want for their sports titles, but it'll still never be as fun as going outside and playing the game for real.

  • McGregor

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 12:46 pm GMT

    could be cool. EA will probably screw it up though.

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