14 DAY TRIAL // We've been reporting yesterday on how EA Sports is thinking of focusing on the Nintendo Wii in an effort to extend its appeal to a more diverse gaming demographic. It seems that part of the Wii emphasis strategy might consist of creating new peripherals for the console, which enhance the gaming experience with EA Sports games.
Electronic Arts is expecting to ship games bundled with peripherals in the following 12 months if all goes well in development and in production. David McCarthy thinks that the main thing to be taken into consideration is that the peripheral "doesn't raise that barrier of entry and accessibility" for the player.
The most recent example of success is the Balance Board, which comes bundled with the Wii Fit and allows the player to perform a varied workout on it. The Balance Board will be used in other games from both Nintendo and third party publishers, and other game publishers have announced that Balance Board-like add-ons for the Wii might be coming soon.
McCarthy, who is a vice president at Electronic Arts, has referenced the way Rock Band bundles work on the market, commenting that "You have to be careful with it, because Rock Band, that's a great peripheral, but it's a big expensive box".
The EA representative did not mention any titles that would get the Wii and peripheral treatment, but it's very likely that a golf game and some sort of baseball simulator might be the best candidates for such a bundle. It's also unknown whether the new sports games for the Wii will be part of the already established line-ups that EA Sports makes, like FIFA or NBA, or whether they will be separated franchises developed especially for the Nintendo gaming consoles.
With E3 quickly approaching we expect to hear more about Electronic Arts' plans for the future once the trade show debuts.