Wanted: EA Sports GameShow Beta Testers

Games
1

Hopefully Tom doesn’t mind me pimping my new project, but considering I defended him in the Halo 3 love/hate thread, I’m hoping I’ve earned a little slack. Anyway, I’d like to invite my fellow Qt3ers to try out the project I’ve been working for the past year or so: EA Sports GameShow.

Basically, think of this a You Don’t Know Jack meets live sports talk radio. Here are the details:

What is it?
It is a live, online-only, massively multiplayer casual trivia game.

That’s great, but I prefer the overheated, long-winded marketing spiel.
Think you know more about sports than anyone else? Then get ready to prove it…against the entire nation! EA SPORTS™ GameShow allows you to compete head-to-head with players from around the country, streamed over the internet in real-time. Every session features a live host, throwing questions at you with text, audio, and video. You’ll have to stay up to date on the current world of sports if you want to compete for high scores, tokens and raffles not to mention that top spot on the nationwide leaderboards. So grab EA GameShow - it’s free to download and free to play! - and bring your A game because you’re going to have to prove it.

How much is this going to cost me?
Nothing. It’s free to download and free to play. Honest.

What platform?
PC only to start (Windows XP (sp2) or Vista*; DirectX 9.0c or later, 512MB of RAM (1GB for Vista); 1.4Ghz processor; Video card with 128MB VRAM; broadband connection; 500MB of hard drive space) *Note about vista: could be glitchy, we’re still working on it

What are you looking for?

  • Primarily, load testing
  • Audio quality reports
  • Compatibility with different PC setups
  • Gameplay feedback
  • Wishlist, feature requests
    There are loads of bugs and interface quirks, but we wanted to start the load testing while we polish the look of it in parrellel. Basically, we’re still tacking down the carpet, and laying on the paint.

What are the testing hours?
Testing hours are 5:30pm - 8:30pm Eastern. That’s when the guys are in the studio and on the air, askin’ the questions. There is no single player or offline game, it’s online only.

Can anyone join?
You must be at least 13 years old to create an EA Account. And depending on the size of the response, it is possible that not everyone will be invested to be a tester. If you are selected, you will be sent an email explaining how to create an EA account and then download and join the game.

Ok, I’m game. How do I sign-up?
Just head on over to the GameShow web site, and click on the gigantor graphic or the link in my blog to bring up a sign-up form. Just enter your info and don’t forget to click on the beta tester sign-up box.

When will I know if I’m accepted?
We’ll email the interested folks in batches, sending out messages with further instructions on how to download the game and create an account. The game will be starting with a few days.

Well, that’s it. I wanted to offer it to the folks on this forum first because I’ve had more intelligent threads on here than anywhere else. I’m sure the EA haters will be in good form, which is fine, and there are plenty who will refuse to play an ad-supported game, which is understandable. But I’ve really enjoyed being on a small team as the lone designer/producer, and getting EA’s full support in trying something a little bit different. I hope you guys will check it out.

Thanks,
Jim

2

Werd, this sounds cool. I’ll try it out!

3

Man too bad I suck at sports!

4

I dig sports and I dig… answering questions. I’ll try it out.

5

Did you say you need beta testers for Jane’s Longbow III?

6

REPORTED

Seriously, sounds cool. I rock the house at trivia.

7

You’ll take your Madden and like it, fucker.

8

Man, too bad this isn’t a more general trivia thing. I suck at sports trivia (well, compared to some of the FREAKS out there who memorize EVERYTHING) but I’m a whiz at general interest.

Hmmmm… sounds like a business opportunity…

9

Sports is just the start. We’re not talking about new channels at this time.

10

Yeah, I’d be all over this if it were a subject other than sports.

11

I’d be on it if it were science or something, then you’d like get learned and stuff.

12

Can you ask the Tiburon to work on a better stats algorithm for the NFL players so it translates into better stats in simmed games?

I’d love to play something like what you’re advertising, but I know very little about sports memorabilia. You guys should do a version of this game that’s just science and social studies. That would be cool.

13

I’m actually quite shocked – SHOCKED!!! That Microsoft hasn’t pushed out something like those trivia games you can play at bars for Xbox Live Arcade. Scene It looks like a push in that direction, but not exactly the same thing.

14

If it was anything but sports trivia I’d be in.

15

Will there be other themes, like dead religions, philosophy or obscure computer trivia?
Outside women’s beach volley, my sports interest and knowledge is rather limited :(

16

I see that this initial channel isn’t going to appeal to the international market. You don’t even get to see the blank expression when the “Maradona” question comes up.

17

I don’t think that DOAX counts. ;)

18

True enough. We’re North Americe, english-only for launch. There’s nothing really from preventing people in other territories from downloading and playing, outside of the fact that the probably don’t know who won the Fiesta Bowl this year, or who replaced Matt Leinert in yesterday’s Cardinals game. :)

19

I went ahead and signed up, but it appeared that you could only submit the form if you agreed to be hit with targeted e-mail.

Could you forward some discontent from me on that one, Jim?

20

Sorry, that was a legal necessity. If you want to participate in the beta, we have to have the ability to email you with the instructions, to have the ability to email you we need your consent (the second box). Just don’t click the third box. Once you get accepted to the beta, you can unsub from the spam. But I get all of EA’s regular email blasts, and they are pretty rare, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

Thanks for signing-up, though!