FirstCuts: EA keeps NFL exclusivity; Moore Blogs

By Chris Littmann
Sports don’t start and end with a referee’s whistle. FirstCuts, a blog dedicated to sports culture, will cover everything outside the lines, from games to gear.
Oh that wacky Peter Moore. When he was the corporate vice president with Microsoft, working as the face of the Xbox, he did the whole Halo 2 release date tattoo. Now he is -- (gasp) -- blogging! It only makes sense that Moore, now working as EA Sports president, would have a more direct link with that rabid fan base that will line his pockets in the years to come.
His first blog entry is nothing revolutionary, but I’ve added his RSS feed to my daily reader knowing that he’ll probably drop important information about the future of the EA franchises from time to time.
Perhaps he could’ve started his blog with a little bit more of a bang had he included the news that EA Sports is extending its deal with the NFLPA through 2012. That’s right, the reign of NFL exclusivity continues for Madden. And yet, I’m still sort of filled with hope; Moore did a lot of good things with the Xbox and the Xbox 360. I think he’s taking the right route by focusing on the casual gamer and putting out a game like the newly announced boxing title FaceBreaker.
One last note on Peter Moore’s foray into blogging: C’mon, you’re a tech-savvy guy, so what’s with the message board format?
In other gaming news, I continue to salivate over the release of Wii Fit. We’re still slated for that Q2 release -- probably some time in May or April -- but while more than a million Japanese gamers are trying to awkwardly balance on boards, we’re left with this interview from Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo. The latest in his “Iwata Asks” series tackles a lot of the questions you might have about one of Nintendo’s most anticipated releases for 2008 here in the United States.
> EA Sports Aims to Punch Up Games | Wall Street Journal
> Iwata Asks: Wii Fit | Wii.com↵