If you’re one of those people who always dreamed of playingNHL 08with a hockey stick-like peripheral (à lathese worthless Wiimote shells), you might not be waiting much longer. Gamasutra brings us the followingintriguing tidbitfrom the Paris GDC: EA Sports VP David McCarthy gave a talk regarding efforts to produce more Wii titles, and in the post-lecture session, he revealed that EA Sports titles may begin shipping with bundled peripherals within the next year.
McCarthy didn’t divulge any further details, such as specific games or consoles, or what kinds of peripherals he meant. But he did reference the EA-published titleRock Bandas a model that EA Sports will follow (in other words, we’ll probably see peripherals in the game box). However, he also noted thatRock Bandserves as something of a cautionary tale; obviously, peripherals increase the cost of the overall package:
“You have to be careful with it, becauseRock Band, that’s a great peripheral, but it’s a big expensive box.”
McCarthy said that the firm would put out a peripheral “provided it doesn’t raise that barrier of entry and accessibility” for the gamer.
However, he concluded: “I think you’ll see games using thatRock Bandperipheral strategy from EA Sports, even within the next 12 months.”
Well, there you have it. Frankly, I’m perfectly comfortable playingMaddenwithout a football-shaped piece of plastic — but then, I feel as if these peripheral-including games would be more geared towards the Wii.
[ViaGamasutra— thanks,Zulu!]
