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Annual college hoops game, rhythm series, and Windows version of outer-space horror game all missing from Electronic Arts' 2011 release calendar; company mum on status.



Earlier today, Electronic Arts revealed its 2011 fiscal year calendar as part of its quarterly earnings report. Besides assigning launch windows to high-profile releases like Crysis 2 (Q4 2010) and announcing APB's delay to the April-June quarter, the schedule also unveiled new titles, such as a new Dragon Age title.

EA may have benched the NCAA Basketball series.




EA's FY2011 calendar was also notable for what it did not list. Missing from the schedule was EA Sports' annual NCAA Basketball series, which saw its last installment receive decent-to-middling reviews in November. EA Sports reps had not responded to request for clarification about its status as of press time.

NCAA Basketball's absence from EA's detailed schedule raises the possibility that EA Sports may not release a college basketball game for the first time since NCAA March Madness 2004 arrived in late 2003. The franchise's suspension--or outright cancelation--would come just over two years after 2K Sports permanently benched its rival College Hoops series.

MTV Games might be publishing Green Day: Rock Band solo.




Another title missing from EA's FY2011 schedule were any Rock Band games, including Green Day: Rock Band, announced in December via a trailer at the VGAs. Though EA has distributed all prior Rock Band games since the franchise launched in 2007 under its EA Partners program, its logo was conspicuously absent from the trailer. Also missing were the monikers of the game's co-publisher, MTV Games, and its developer, Harmonix.

When contacted by GameSpot about the omission, Harmonix reps deferred to spokespersons for parent company MTV, which politely declined immediate comment. Inquiries sent to reps for the EA Partners program had not been returned as of press time.

Dead Space 2 for PC is lost in space.




Finally, EA's schedule shook up assumptions about the forthcoming sci-fi horror sequel, Dead Space 2. Though it slated the game to arrive in Q1 2011 for consoles and, for the first time, handhelds, the calendar did not list the PC version.

Dead Space 2 PC's omission comes just a month and a half after it was officially announced for Windows, as well as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. However, since figures from the NPD Group show the original Dead Space sold under 40,000 copies on the PC domestically, a summary cancellation of a follow-up would not be completely surprising.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"NCAA Basketball, Rock Band, Dead Space 2 PC missing from EA schedule" was posted by Tor Thorsen on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:09:09 -0800


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