I was going to use a drill pun, but Atlus already took care of that. Hell, they took care of all the bone-related puns. Look:

“Until watching this new video, a lot of Trauma Team fans may have a slightly disjointed notion of what the Orthopedics mode is all about,” commented Aram Jabbari, Manager of Public Relations and Sales at Atlus. “Without a tool wheel to concern oneself with, nor a ticking clock to race against, Orthopedics is about patience and precision. Even if you think you’re up to the task, it’s advised that you bone up on what this video has to offer prior to the game’s new Might 18th release date.” A mob of outraged physicians raised their scalpels and charged the podium after hearing Jabbari’s puns, but the wily Atlus PR staff was able to marrowly escape.

Atlus continues their walkthrough series for upcoming Wii game Trauma Team with a look at Orthopedics. You’ll play as a doctor named Hank Freebird. Great name. He used to be in the army, and now he fixes skeletons. It’s par for the course for this series. It also fits well with the Japanese medical TV drama feel they’ve going on. Medical J-drama is way different from our medical drama. There’s no limping guys and McDreamys or any of that crap. Just crazy nonsense, lots of squirting blood, and impossible procedures that have you at the edge of your seat. I hope Trauma Team is like that when it comes out on its new date, May 18th.

source Destructoid

Popularity: 1% [?]

As if we needed any further proof that Sadness is complete and utter horsecrap, it has been discovered that the official site for the game has disappeared. The domain has collapsed and is now free for buy by anybody with money burning a hole through their pocket.

Popularity: 1% [?]

2K Sports has retained its place atop the basketball simulation throne, and it looks like they’ll stay there for a while. The publisher proclaimed in a press release today that it has sold more than two million copies of NBA 2K10 worldwide, a 60% year-over-year improvement for the same October-through-January time frame (2K10’s sales increase was likely helped by its Wii and PSP versions, which did not exist for NBA 2K9). These sales numbers are all the more impressive for having come amid what was, by most accounts, a strong effort from EA in NBA Live 10 (albeit one that sold even fewer units than NBA Live 09).

But perhaps the more startling story is the news that Mike Wang, who defected from NBA 2K developer Visual Concepts to become the lead gameplay designer on NBA Live, is returning to the Visual Concepts team after an 18-month stint at EA Canada. Wang was instrumental in the critical success of Live 10 from a gameplay standpoint, but now that he’s been welcomed back with open arms by 2K, he has some damning words for his former employer, according to ESPN:

But after being there and spending some time over at EA, it was clear that they do things a different way, and in a way it’s just inefficient and just not the place to be to make the ideal games. [...] With some of the creative decisions over at EA, it just made it difficult to stay there. They just want to make a different game than I had a vision for. [...] For me, it was interesting to be at EA, but it was just hard to get stuff done.

2K’s Senior Vice President of Sports Development, Greg Thomas, even goes so far as to speculate that EA may move away from trying to compete with NBA 2K in the basketball sim market:

… [N]ow they want to change things in a great way because they can’t afford to sell this many units through a three-year plan or a five-year plan. [...] I think EA is going through an identity crisis with their basketball sim.

For its part, EA announced Wang’s departure first, perhaps hoping to soften its impact. NBA Live lead producer Sean O’Brien, in a post on the series’ In the Paint blog, left Wang with thanks and well-wishes. But this is a serious blow to EA’s basketball street cred, and it raises questions about the future of the NBA Live games. It’s hard to envision a world without NBA Live, especially since (unlike baseball or football) there’s no NBA license exclusivity, but perhaps EA is going in an arcade direction with its basketball games — and maybe the NBA Jam revival is the begin.

Gamer: Mike Wang returns to 2K Sports [ESPN via Pastapadre]
NBA LIVE Update [In the Paint]

source Destructoid

Popularity: 2% [?]

Last year saw a first for the Madden NFL franchise: two cover athletes sharing the spotlight (Madden NFL 10 featured Larry Fitzgerald and Troy Polamalu). This year, EA is breaking the mold again — they’re letting you choose between three choices for the Madden NFL 11 cover: New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne, and Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen. This is the first time in Madden NFL history that the cover decision has been left to the public.

As discovered by sports gaming blog Pastapadre, EA has partnered with Doritos (which is an official sponsor of the NFL) for the voting: head to doritoschangethegame.com to pick your favorite player. Gamers were likely expecting the Indianapolis Colts’ Peyton Manning to be the obvious front-runner, but that’s not how EA does things. As Chris Erb, senior director of marketing for EA Sports, told ESPN, “For us, it’s about who is hot and relevant, number one, and then we’re also looking for guys who are passionate, who are video game fans and guys who have a great story.” Erb also explained that these three athletes were the first players that the publisher approached for cover candidacy, and all of them were happy to do it.

Once you register on the voting Web site, you can submit a vote every day from now through March 15th; EA Sports will probably announce the cover athlete near the NFL Draft in late April, as they usually do. I’m expecting Brees to win in a landslide, but you never know. The power is yours!

Change the Game [Doritos]
Drew Brees, Jared Allen, Reggie Wayne contend for ‘Madden 11′ cover [ESPN]
How To Vote On The Madden 11 Cover [Pastapadre]

Via Destructoid

Popularity: 1% [?]