San Diego is known for a few key things- having gorgeous weather all year round, being the home of Ron Burgundy, and once a year hosting possibly the biggest nerd and geek fest in the world: the San Diego Comic-Con. Running from July 23rd to the 26th, Comic-Con brings together the world of comic books, movies, television and gaming for a cavalcade of cos-play, panels, and celebrity sightings. With each passing year, video games take up a larger and larger chunk of the show floor, with all the major developers finally realizing that the world of games and comics essentially bring in the same demographic.

Electronic Arts has sent out a press release detailing which of their upcoming and current games Comic-Conners can expect to see at their booth this year. A total of ten games, including some of this holiday season's most anticipated releases, will be on display. In addition to the games being playable at the booth, EA will also be hosting a series of panels for some of their most anticipated games for 2009/2010. I'm a little upset that I'm going to miss the chance to get some hands-on time with Dante's Inferno, Dead Space: Extraction, and GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, but I'll just have to make do. I also think that the panels for Dante's and Extraction would be well worth anyone's time, but it's been said that I have a bit of a crush on Visceral Games.

Anyway, enough out of me. If you're heading to San Diego, here's all the information you need to see the EA games of your dreams.

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GAMES

ARMY OF TWO™: THE 40^th DAY

The ultimate two-man private military team of Salem and Rios return in ARMY OF TWO™: THE 40^th DAY, where they must fight to survive a carefully orchestrated series of catastrophes that are dragging the city of Shanghai to the brink of disaster. The game has been built from the ground up with a focus on an incredible cooperative experience. A bigger playbook of features and a new arsenal of co-op moves are available to both players to perform at any time, opening up fresh strategies and choices. The result is a bigger, deeper, more organic and immersive co-op experience that lets players put their best two-man tactics to use whenever and wherever they want.

• Platforms – Xbox 360®, PLAYSTATION®3 and PSP®
• Ship Date – 2010
• ESRB – Rating Pending
• Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/army_of_two

Battlefield: Bad Company™ 2

Specializing in online vehicle warfare since 1942 -- In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, DICE brings its best-in-class online vehicle warfare to a spectacular new level. By pushing destruction to new heights and delivering a host of land, sea and air vehicles, players will experience all-out-warfare like never before. Whether its intense battles online or in the single player campaign, players must use every weapon and vehicle at their disposal to survive and conquer. This unprecedented action unfolds on the battlefield to bring a new level of excitement to vehicular warfare never before experienced in a modern warfare action game.

• Platforms – Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 and PC
• Ship Date – Q1 2010 (calendar year)
• ESRB Rating – Rating Pending
• Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/OfficialBFBC2

Battlefield 1943™

Battlefield 1943 is a critically acclaimed download-only game that delivers endless hours of 24-player First-Person Shooter action on popular maps inspired by Battlefield 1942™. The game will have players battling over four tropic locations: Wake Island, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Coral Sea. These maps have now been updated with the DICE Frostbite™ engine, providing destructibility to the Battlefield and leaving players with almost nowhere to hide. Gamers will have the freedom to compete by land, air and sea as either the US Marines or the Imperial Japanese Navy. Whether they choose to play the role of a rifleman crawling through the trenches, a steel-fisted tank commander, or a dog fighting ace pilot, gamers will have the power to rule the Battlefield.

• Platforms – Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 and PC
• Ship Date – Download Now on Xbox LIVE™ Marketplace and PlayStation®Network
• ESRB Rating – T for Teen
• Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/OfficialBF1943

Brütal Legend™

From the mind of Tim Schafer and Double Fine Productions comes Brütal Legend, a 3^rd person action game starring Jack Black as the ultimate roadie Eddie Riggs. Rich in combat, imagery and storytelling, Brütal Legend delivers lighter-flicking fun sure to melt your face off.

• Platforms – PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox 360
• Ship date – Rocktober 13^th in North America, Rocktober 16^th in the UK and Europe
• ESRB – Rating Pending
• Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/brutallegend

Dante’s Inferno™

From Visceral Games, award-winning creators of last year’s critically-acclaimed Dead Space™, comes one of 2010’s most highly anticipated 3^rd person action adventure games, Dante’s Inferno. Based on part one of Dante Alighierei’s classic poem “The Divine Comedy,” EA’s Dante’s Inferno takes gamers on an epic adventure through Dante’s nine circles of hell – limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery. The game features a highly responsive, addictive combat system, which players will need to take Dante through a gauntlet of unimaginable evils as he fights to recapture the soul of his beloved Beatrice.

• Platforms – Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 and PSP
• Ship Date – 2010
• ESRB – Rating Pending
• Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/danteteam

Dead Space™ Extraction

From Visceral Games comes Dead Space Extraction, the thrilling prequel to last fall’s award-winning Dead Space, built from the ground up exclusively for the Wii. In Dead Space Extraction, gamers will experience the panic before the terror through the eyes of a handful of space colonists desperately struggling to escape from a horrific infection on the Aegis VII mining colony. The game introduces Lexine, a new heroine in the Dead Space universe, and it quickly becomes clear that protecting her may be the crew’s only hope for survival in one of the most cinematic action-horror game experiences ever made for the Wii.

• Platforms – Wii™
• Ship Date – Sept 29th in NA & Oct 2nd in Europe
• ESRB – Rating Pending
• Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/isaacclarke

Dragon Age™: Origins

Award-winning RPG developer, BioWare™ invites players to experience their deepest RPG to date. For thousands of years, the Grey Wardens have been the guardians of the land. Now with an ancient evil on the rise again, it is up to players to unite the shattered lands and slay the corrupted dragon known as the Archdemon. In Dragon Age: Origins, players must make ruthless decisions and be willing to sacrifice their friends and loved ones for the greater good of mankind.

• Platforms – PC, Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3
• Ship Date – October 20, 2009 (North America), October 23, 2009 (Europe)
• ESRB – Rating Pending
• Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/dragonage

G.I. JOE™ The Rise of Cobra™

G.I. JOE The Rise of Cobra for all major video game consoles features an exclusive storyline that picks up where the live-action movie, from Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment, in association with Hasbro, leaves off, allowing players to re-create and re-live the greatest moments from the film, cartoon series and action figure toy line. The game offers 16 playable characters – four of which are unlockable COBRA characters – each with unique abilities and weapons. Adding to the adrenaline rush is an intense single-screen co-op mode allowing two players to easily unite as a team in a classic struggle between good and evil to defeat the powers of COBRA.

• Platforms – Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii, PlayStation 2, PSP, Nintendo DS™ and mobile devices
• Ship Date – August 2009
• ESRB Rating – E10+ for Nintendo DS; T for console and PSP

Left 4 Dead 2

Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 is the sequel to the best-selling, critically acclaimed co-operative multiplayer smash hit, Left 4 Dead. Set at roughly the same time as the original Left 4 Dead, players assume the role of 4 new “Survivors” as they are lead through the southeastern region of the US – from Savannah, Georgia thru the bayou country, and climaxing in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Introducing melee weapons, new zombies and advanced technology -- such as the AI Director 2.0, which procedurally changes weather effects, world objects and pathways, in addition to tailoring the experience to match the players’ performance -- Left 4 Dead 2 promises to be one of the top game releases of 2009.

• Platforms: Xbox 360 and PC
• Release: 11/17/09
• ESRB – RP
• For more info please visit www.l4d.com

The Saboteur™

Fight, climb, and race your way through a uniquely stylized version of Nazi-occupied France in Pandemic Studios upcoming action sandbox game The Saboteur. Meet Sean Devlin, the daredevil hero of The Saboteur – a street-tough Irish racecar driver turned resistance fighter in 1940s Paris, where the women are sexy and the action is epic.

• Platforms – PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360 and PC
• Ship date – Holiday 2009
• ESRB – Rating Pending
• Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/pandemicstudios

Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning®

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning features revolutionary Realm vs. Realm conflict that will provide players with an engaging battleground for years to come. Available now for PC, WAR is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. For more information about the game and to download the 10-day free trial, visit www.warhammeronline.com.

• Platforms – PC
• Ship Date – Available Now
• ESRB – TEEN
• Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/warherald

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PANELS

Sunday July 26; 3:15-4:15 Army of Two: The 40th Day — Bridging Video Games with Comics. In this panel Reid Schneider (Executive Producer - Army of Two) and Alex Hutchinson (Creative Director - Army of Two) will discuss how they have been working with comic artists to show players the consequences of their moral choices throughout the game, and how the in-depth involvement of these artists in the production of Army of Two changes the feel of the game. Room 6A

Thursday July 23; 12:30-1:30 Dante's Inferno — Jonathan Knight (executive producer, EA), Ash Huang (art director), Brandon Auman (writer), Christos Gage (writer), and Victor Cook (director) talk about the adaptation of this literary classic into pop culture. They will discuss how they translated the various aspects of The Divine Comedy into a video game, an animated feature, and a comic series, where they were faithful and where they invented, and how each of the mediums differs. Also get a peak at EA's game in development, and also watch the world premiere trailer for the animated feature Dante's Inferno co-produced by EA and Starz Media. Room 8

Friday July 24; 6:00-7:00 Dead Space Extraction — Chuck Beaver, Producer from the award-winning game Dead Space and the creator of the award-winning Dead Space, Ben Templesmith, Dead Space comic illustrator and Antony Johnston, Dead Space comic writer, will discuss utilizing interactive gaming medium to portray emotion of story in ways that books & film traditionally display. Visceral Games executive producer Steve Papoutsis discusses the implementation of story and talent into games and the art of crafting a believable, epic story into this fall's Wii exclusive Dead Space Extraction. Room 2

Saturday July 25; 2:00-3:00 The Saboteur — Rethinking the WWII Gaming Genre — Pandemic Studios™ lead designer Tom French and art director Chris Hunt discuss how historical events served as the foundation for their upcoming action sandbox game The Saboteur, who the Saboteur is, and how the innovative combination of game design and artistic style were employed to develop a unique experience. Room 2

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