February 11th

petermoore — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:02:00 GMT

One week ago, I was sitting with my family in Glendale, Arizona. It was Super Bowl Sunday and I was hoping—and fully expecting—to watch my undefeated New England Patriots wipe out the New York Giants to become Super Bowl Champs, the first team to complete a perfect season in more than three decades, and rightfully position themselves as the greatest football team of all time.

I also knew I had a two hour flight home from Phoenix on Monday morning, and had decided that I’d use that trip home to pen my first entry in a new blog, something I’d really been wanting to do for quite some time. Between attending Madden Bowl and taking my family with me to see the Pats and Giants on Sunday night, I knew I’d have a lot to say and some time set aside to say it. It all seemed like a perfect plan.

Most of you know what happened next…

Now, I worship the Great Hooded One, but going for it on 4th and 14 instead of attempting a 48-yd field goal in a dome? And how about spreading the field with 5 receiver sets as we have been doing all season? And when half time lasts 38 minutes, you’d think you could make some meaningful adjustments that would prevent Brady from playing most of the game on his back staring at the closed roof. Sigh…

Needless to say, last week was a tough week of recovery for Patriots Nation. So forgive me that I’m a week late but still committed to launching “Inside the Game with Peter Moore”. I may be a little late to the blogosphere, but I have always enjoyed my interactions with gamers and recently decided to develop a more consistent forum than presentations and interviews. I also want to hear from you – EA SPORTS Nation – about what is on your mind: plaudits, gripes, vents, kudos (when due) and brickbats when deserved.

As recently as this past weekend I enjoyed some good natured trash-talking with one of my all-time favorite bloggers Larry Hyrb, AKA Major Nelson of Xbox Live. For those of you who haven’t seen it, I “called out” Larry to his sidekick Trixie, accusing him of being the Perez Hilton of video game blogging (i.e. becoming a celebrity bigger than his blog). Well Larry, being a little hard of hearing due to hundreds of hours of chainsaw action on Gears of War with his wireless headset on a little too snuggly, thought I said “Paris Hilton”. Check it out on Xbox Live for a good chuckle.

This clearly escalates the war of words. Suggestions on an appropriately acerbic response welcome…

I’m lucky to have an incredible job that affords me some great experiences and the chance to work with and meet some fascinating people. I hope you’ll enjoy sharing some of those experiences with me in the months and years to come.

Let me start by saying that I won’t try to sum up my first five-plus months at EA SPORTS today, but I will tell you that this is an incredible place to be and an exciting time to be here. I’ ll start by talking about just a couple of things that have kept me busy the past few weeks.

First, we recently announced a new game in development called FaceBreaker that has a lot of people excited. I’m glad to see so many fans share our anticipation for that title. It’s fresh, it’s approachable and it’s going to bring back a genre that’s very near and dear to my heart…by that, most of you have figured out that I am referring to Ready to Rumble, one of the launch titles on the Dreamcast and a game that certainly sold hardware and was one of the top titles in a deep and eclectic launch line-up.

At the other end of the spectrum, on Thursday before the Super Bowl, I had the chance to attend my first Madden Bowl as a member of the EA SPORTS team. Having flown in from Munich that afternoon, I was dragging a little as I finally made it to the Martini Ranch in Scottsdale, but wow, what a great party, that culminated in Willis McGahee beating Marshawn Lynch (Go Bears!) in the final. It was great testament to the power of our industry, and of the EA SPORTS and Madden brands, that this event has become THE must-attend party for celebrities and athletes to kick-off Super Bowl weekend.

What’s next?

We’ve got a busy year ahead. Our teams are driving hard to deliver the most innovative lineup in the history of EA SPORTS and we’re aggressively looking to take EA SPORTS into new places we haven’t yet gone.

I hope you’ll bookmark this page and check back often. We’re going to have plenty to talk about together. Drop us a line at InsidetheGame@ea.com. I’d love to hear what’s on your mind.

- Peter

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Peter Moore Blog : Major Nelson

February 11th