They say it stands for "Electronic Arts". Hmm.

Love 'em or hate 'em, you can't deny they're giants of the industry. EA have been swimming around in their money-filled pools since the eighties, combining independent developer, publisher and distributor into one big super label and several sub-labels. They seem to own practically everything and if they don't, they usually make money out of it somewhere through distribution.

Their sub-label EA Sports also the target of much gamer ire, of the "If you release one more annual iteration of a dodgy sports sim, I am going to swear off worldly possessions and run away to become an Amazonian holy hermit" type. Alright, so maybe a bit of my sports-sim-detesting bitterness crept in there - somebody must like these travesties, because they sell like hot cakes. Let's assume we're pleased about it. To increase their ability to pump ... titles ... into our living rooms, they've opened a new label, boldly titled EA SPORTS Freestyle. (It could have been worse. It could have been Extreme.)

I don't think I could do paraphrasing justice to this delicious extract from the press release:

EA SPORTS Freestyle games, while based in sports, will be playful, inclusive, casual, and easy to pick up and play for kids and parents, women and men, and casual and hardcore sports fans of all ages.
"The launch of EA SPORTS Freestyle is an exciting milestone in the evolution of the EA SPORTS brand," said Peter Moore, president, EA SPORTS. "EA SPORTS Freestyle will be a perfect complement to our core portfolio of games that our loyal fans are deeply passionate about, and will provide compelling opportunities for new audiences looking for a lighter gaming experience and an easier entry point into EA SPORTS."

Thereby combining the jock demographic with the casual gamer demographic. What tremendous evil will spawn from their unholy union?!

The first unholy child will be the arcade boxing title Facebreaker, due in September. Oh, goodie.