EA tattoos Hoosiers with passion for games

College life isn't just about toga parties, cold pizza, and cram sessions anymore. As gaming has invaded the mainstream lifestyle, so too has it become a mainstay on college campuses across the country. Kids hovering around the 18- to 22-year-old age range--sans parents and curfews--are taking breaks from studying with sessions on their PCs and gaming consoles.

Game publisher and developer Electronic Arts has decided to rile up college students at Indiana University by searching for hardcore gamers who have turned their gaming hobbies into obsessive lifestyles.

On March 31, the company will be recording footage of students showing just how much they love games by participating in "crazy activities." The footage may be used in upcoming introductions to EA games, and it may even be picked up by ESPN. In previous years, gamers engaged in such gastronomical activities as eating worms and sticks of butter. The event will culminate in the tattooing of two lucky students who will have the EA logo tattooed on their bodies by local artist Joe "P-Nut" Nugent (at his Skinquake studios).

Chris Freiberg, a 20-year-old sophomore at IU, will be one of the students turning his body into a walking advertisement for the company. "I'm doing this because I love video games. Some may think it's a bad deal. But, hey, I'm getting six free awesome EA games out of it, and since I'm getting the tattoo on my back, it's not like it's going to be too visible or anything. I've discussed it with my girlfriend, and she's cool with it too."

For showing off his gaming library, which consists of nearly 50 Xbox games, 20 GameCube games, and 40 Game Boy Advance games, Chris will get...more games. EA will be giving him copies of NBA Street V3, Fight Night Round 2, NFL Street 2, Oddworld Stranger's Wrath, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, and the next edition of Madden Football.

Freiberg justifies his new body art with the simple logic of a young man obsessed with gaming. "I'm a college kid, y'know? I can't normally afford this many brand-new games."