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Commander Shepard can pick up the keys to the Hammerhead hover tank on March 23, the official release date of the Firewalker pack. The new wheels, er, propulsion things are the latest piece of free Mass Effect 2 DLC. Available through the game's Cerberus Network, the pack includes five missions that utilize the new vehicle -- which will hopefully handle a little better than the first game's infamous space car.

(Of course, a drunk krogan successfully engineering a geth self-destruct algorithm was more likely to yield success than the Mako's control system ... )

A new company debuting at GDC 2010, Super Giant Games is largely comprised of ex-EA LA members -- you know, the guys and gals who made those Command & Conquer games you like so much. The new studio's project is something for "digital platforms," destined for a 2011 release. Sadly, there's no more info to go on right now.

The studio is on-hand at GDC with said title, so we've contacted them to try and schedule a visit.

[Via Big Download]

When Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 was revealed to have PlayStation Move support, we wondered why EA would support every other motion-controlled peripheral (all two) and not Microsoft's Project Natal. So we hit up EA for an answer. As it turns out, EA just wasn't "in a position" to add Natal support to Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 -- but the company doesn't rule out implementation in future installments of the franchise.

"We are always evaluating new technologies and Natal would be a perfect fit for the Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchise," an EA spokesperson told Joystiq, "however we are simply not in a position to do so with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11."

There you have it: Natal is a "perfect fit," but Tiger Woods 11 won't have that functionality. Our guess? The Natal dev kits haven't shipped and a post-release implementation patch would not be cost effective.

EA's been keen on in-game advertising since 2006, and, two years ago, signed a pretty big deal with in-game ad provider Massive. Apparently, though, EA won't be re-upping that agreement. As Mediaweek reports, the publisher has instead decided to take it upon itself to coordinate in-game ad sales starting with Madden NFL 11.

Elizabeth Harz from EA's global media sales division says it's basically a situation in which EA is cutting out the middle man. "Fundamentally, [EA sales execs] are talking about these gaming audiences everyday already," meaning that EA is already discussing who's playing and what products would best target those audiences.On its own, EA can create more diverse and specific advertising packages, with increased ability to personalize packages based on the potential advertisers' targeted demographic. Exciting stuff, we know.

[Via Game Politics]

Surprise! Major MMOs cost batty-bonkers-cuckoo amounts of money to produce. Eurogamer reports that Electronic Arts CFO Eric Brown said as much today, describing Star Wars: The Old Republic as the "largest ever development project, period, in the history of the company." EA is apparently betting big on having something like Activision Blizzard's World of Warcraft with The Old Republic. Brown guesstimates that WoW cost about $100 million to launch back in 2004 -- the game makes something like that now in a month.

The executive explained that the average game costs about $30 million to produce, but that "any MMO costs significantly more than that." With an expected spring 2011 release, hopefully EA will start making a return at that time on its investment in a galaxy far, far away. Otherwise, the gaping maw of the Rancor would be preferable to what investors will do.

Sure, Ferraris are fun and all, but they aren't exotic enough. EA's looking to increase Need For Speed: Shift's roster of wacky, expensive rides you'll probably never drive in real life through the Exotic Racing Series Pack. Available March 18 for 800 ($10) on Xbox Live and PSN, the Exotic Racing Series Pack parks seven new rides in your virtual garage:

• Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
• BMW M1 Procar
• GUMPERT apollo
• Honda NSX
• McLaren MP4-12C
• Maserati GranTurismo S
• Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss

There's really only one important thing to take away from the new trailer for The Sims 3 Ambitions expansion. The expansion allows players to extend the lives of their sims, endowing them with many different career options, including inventor, fireman or a detective. None of that is important, though. What is important, is that the expansion allows you to be a Ghostbuster. Legal reasons probably prevent it from being called ghost busting, of course. Atari and EA's lawyers wouldn't want anyone crossing the memes, after all.

Check out the ghost busting catching action -- along with the other professions -- in the trailer above.

[Via Big Download]

Okay, Mac gamers, take a deep breath. It's been a busy day. Steam is coming to the Mac. The Left 4 Dead games will even support multiplayer across PC and Mac platforms. You're just not used to all this attention, we understand. Bear with it though, because there's more on the way. In a recent tweet, DICE's Karl Magnus Troedsson stated, "We like it!" in reference to Valve's Mac Steam announcement. When asked by UGDB.com whether the company had plans for a Mac version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Troedsson responded, "We're currently investigating the possibility of making BFBC2 available on Mac."

It wouldn't be the first time a Battlefield game was ported to Mac -- the most recent being Battlefield: 2142 -- but it could be the first Battlefield released on Mac via Steam. Again, Mac gamers, it's a lot to take in. Try to get some sleep and we'll start fresh tomorrow.

For those who prefer their multiplayer experiences to be full of camaraderie rather than competition, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 delivers a bonding experience like few other games can. By pushing the idea of teamwork upon players, Bad Company 2 is a game that discourages the "lone wolf" mentality found in many, if not most, online first-person shooters.

A question I've been asked a lot this week: "I barely played and/or didn't really enjoy the first Battlefield: Bad Company's multiplayer. How does this stack up?" The sequel is more Battlefield 1943 than Bad Company. It's a more balanced experience like developer DICE's summer hit, but with a modern setting and delivering the scope one would expect from a full-priced retail experience.

Squads. It's one of the most important elements to Battlefield and a feature that has gotten better through each iteration. A squad is your mini-team within the game; working with them just makes sense, since you'll be respawning with them when you die. In previous Battlefield games, squad members would sometimes be switched to the other team, even as total strangers were inserted in your squad. (As one comrade-in-arms aptly put it this week: "It's like being invited to a Rock Band party, but you're accidentally given the address next door and they're playing Guitar Hero. Sure, it's almost the same, but that's not the party you wanted to attend.") Thankfully, the biggest problem with making a squad is resolved in this outing.

It's time for EA to announce the latest Sims 3 expansion: Ambitions. Arriving in June, the pack gives players the opportunity to pull the strings of the helpless electronic dolls throughout their careers. No longer safe from Little Susie's megalomania on the job, the Sims will now do their work as a conduit for an ethically ambiguous puppeteer. Although, we doubt it'll ever get to the visceral level of Five Minutes to Kill Yourself.

Ambitions will apparently include a huge variety of jobs, including solving cases as a detective, hunting ghosts as a (wait for it) "ghost hunter," and "leveraging Build and Buy mode" as an architect. The expansion also includes a tattoo system -- so, go ahead and give your teenage Sim that tribal or barbed wire ink they'll regret every time they take a blurred-out shower as an adult.

Electronic Arts claims a "small number of employees were impacted" by the publisher's decision to move Boom Blox development from EA Los Angeles to EA Bright Light Studio in Guildford, UK. Kotaku obtained a quote from the publisher, which notes that the move has nothing to do with the company's "restructuring" and is a routine event in a global studio organization to "leverage development strengths."

The history of the Boom Blox franchise at EA has been pretty shaky since the first title was launched. The original game wasn't an explosive hit at the start, but eventually sold half a million copies. The division that was supposed to handle the franchise shut down afterward. Although critically acclaimed, the Boom Blox series just hasn't been a breakout success.

AdFreak's chronicle of the Dante's Inferno guerrilla marketing campaign is one hell of a good read. The piece covers ad agency Wieden + Kennedy's almost year-long viral and guerrilla campaign for the game, which allegedly cost $200,000 and "yielded 47 million impressions of coverage." The ad agency had a $20,000-a-month budget according to EA, but AdFreak tells Joystiq that W + K likely spent more (of its own money) in the pursuit of industry awards.

Although the final months of the campaign didn't really pop up on our radar, loyal readers will likely recall a few of the earlier ones: the misguided fake E3 protest, the apology-inducing "Sin to Win" contest and Mass: We Pray. Interestingly, the $200 check we at Joystiq decided to donate apparently caused the ad agency to come up with a third resolution to its "Greed" stunt. It's always fun when we're the ones to keep marketing on its toes. Whether it's bound for heaven or damnation, the Dante's Inferno campaign is certainly an interesting case study in modern marketing.

The sixth developer diary for Star Wars: The Old Republic has been released and it features a new (yet familiar) location players will be able to visit when the MMO finally goes live. Devastated by the sinister Sith Lord Darth Malak in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the post-apocalyptic world of Taris will be a "major world" in the upcoming Bioware MMO. While the original vision for the ruined planet was to be a giant swamp-like crater, Bioware smartly decided to shape the environment as a vertical wasteland that both the Republic and Imperial factions are attempting to reshape.

Following up on the recent purchase of Freeverse by Neil Young's ngmoco, the ex-Electronic Arts exec spoke business with PocketGamer. Young's remarks ran the gamut, touching on subjects ranging from the possibility of expanding to other mobile platforms (spoilers: it ain't happening) to how he feels about the future of his still nascent dev house. "Our opportunity is to build a company in this space that's as meaningful, impactful and long lasting as Electronic Arts," the ngmoco head said.

And while he's still interested in the possible purchase of more studios ("We will continue to look for acquisitions that make sense at a studio or company level and acquisitions of applications."), he's still not committing to development for smartphones other than the iPhone. "The iPhone is in a strong leadership position ... I'd say that among the pack of competitors, Android is the furthest advanced but it remains significantly behind the iPhone and iPod touch ... for us the real focus is the iPhone OS," Young explained. We're not sure which parallel dimension's version of EA Mr. Young is comparing ngmoco to, but the EA we know makes its games for as many consoles as possible.

It's not exactly surprising to hear EA Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown say that we won't see the "sharp and distinct console transition like we've seen in the past." It's a notion we've heard before and something that THQ boss Brian Farrell explained a couple years back, dividing the current cycle into three distinct sub-cycles: handheld, Wii and another group of Xbox 360 with PS3.

Brown's issue had more to do with pricing, noting that half the PS2's sales occurred after the console hit $150, which the PS3 at $300 is nowhere close to. Comparing it to the last console cycle, Brown doesn't feel pricing has come down to where the publisher would have expected it to. Given the amount of investment required in the current round of HD gaming, it's unlikely we'll see publishers wanting to invest heavily into whatever's next -- especially in this economy.

[Via IndustryGamers]