Battlefield 3 gamers, prepare to fire up more fun with the Back to Karkand expansion pack! Below is the launch trailer, featuring the classic Battlefield map Sharqi Peninsula, now powered-up by the Frostbite 2 engine. If you purchased the Battlefield 3: Limited Edition, you can download Back to Karkand at no extra charge. Back to Karkand is also available for $14.99 (PS3, PC) or 1200 Microsoft Points for the Xbox 360. For more details on Battlefield 3, visit the official website at www.battlefield.com.
Tony’s Pizza and Electronic Arts are serving up some samplings of sweet rides and slices in the Need for Speed World “Ready to Ride” promotion. Ready to Ride promo codes come packed in specially marked boxes of Tony’s Pizza, where a free five-day virtual car rental can be redeemed for use in the online racing game Need for Speed World as well as a $5 off discount code for use on EA’s online store (EAStore.com).
To get you started up, Tony’s Pizza and GamingBits are offering up a prize pack.
To enter to win three free Tony’s Pizza redemption coupons, a light-up wireless and portable PC mouse, $5 off code from EAStore.com, and a Need For Speed World virtual car rental, share this post via Twitter or Facebook.
Important contest notes: This contest is open to residents of North America. One random winner will be selected from tweets and facebook shares made between October 5, 2011 and October 7, 2011. Entrants must be following @GamingBits on Twitter to be notified of win on October 8, 2011.
Tony’s Pizza and EA’s Ready to Ride promotion runs until December 31, 2011. For more details (and maybe riding off in a BMW Z4 grand prize!), visit www.tonysneedforspeedgiveaway.com for more sweepstakes details. This giveaway was sponsored by Tony’s Pizza.
Electronic Arts today announced the Star Wars: The Old Republic Collector’s Edition. For the hardcore fans of Star Wars, this collector’s edition of the upcoming PC/Mac MMO game from BioWare and LucasArts will pack many extras at a $149.99 MSRP.
The Star Wars: The Old Republic Collector’s Edition includes:
- Darth Malgus Statue from Gentle Giant
- The journal of Jedi Master Gnost Dural from Chronicle Books
- The Music of The Old Republic soundtrack
- A security key and a map of the in-game Star Wars galaxy.
Virtual items include:
- A Flare Gun
- Training Droid
- Personal HoloDancer
- HoloCam
- STAP vehicle and access to the
- Collector’s Store (an in-game store with new in-game items exclusively for owners of the Collector’s Edition)
- 30 days of game time
Pre-order Star Wars: The Old Republic Collector’s Edition (PC/Mac) here from Amazon.com, which includes bonus “early game access and a color stone to change your weapon effect.”
Confirming rumors that have been buzzing online for a few weeks, Electronic Arts today announced the acquisition of PopCap Games. EA made the announcement today, stating the following in regards to the purchase:
“EA will pay approximately $650 million in cash and $100 million in shares of EA common stock to be issued to certain stockholders of PopCap. In addition, the PopCap sellers are entitled to additional variable cash consideration, contingent upon the achievement of certain non-GAAP earnings before interest and tax (“EBIT”) performance milestones through December 2013, EA’s third fiscal quarter end.”
“We picked EA because they have recast their culture around making great digital games,” said David Roberts, CEO of PopCap. “By working with EA, we’ll scale our games and services to deliver more social, mobile, casual fun to an even bigger, global audience.”
PopCap Games is known for its popular casual game titles like Plants vs. Zombies, Bejeweled, and Zuma. For more details on the acquisition, see EA’s press release here.
The Burnout racing series returns with a completely new perspective on the racing and destruction mayhem. EA has announced Burnout Crash, coming from Burnout developer Criterion Games. Burnout Crash will be a downloadable PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE Arcade game, estimated for release this fall. As the name suggests, Burnout Crash focuses on the fun Crash Mode seen in previous Burnout games. The first few screenshots show how Criterion Games have presented this Burnout game in an all-new top-down view. Players must try to create the biggest car wrecks possible with destructive combos. Burnout Crash even incorporates the Autolog feature seen in other EA racing games, allowing players to compete against each other for the most destructive outcomes.
“Burnout CRASH! is a crazy mix of pinball and game shows,” said Richard Franke, Creative Director, Burnout CRASH! “We’ve evolved the core gameplay which everyone loved about Crash Mode, and expanded the whole experience using music, style and Autolog to create what we feel is the most mindless fun you can have on any gaming platform.”
The XBLA release of Burnout Crash will be Kinect enabled, which allows “two teams use gestural controls to play on one television in a party battle,” according to EA’s press release. Sounds like Burnout Crash will make for fun times online or at home with friends. Keep a lookout for more details from Criterion Games (criteriongames.com).
