Electronic Arts has released guidelines for what kinds of content the community can create using the new SimCity mod tools. To say that these rules put limits on the creativity of the community is probably an understatement. According to EA's guidelines the community is basically limited to cosmetic changes, such as reskins of buildings.

Dave Roberts, chief executive of Electronic Arts’ PopCap Games division, will retire next week, according to a GamesBeat report. Roberts, who joined the company almost nine years ago will officially exit the company on January 8, with PopCap co-founder John Vechey taking over the job of CEO at the Seattle-based studio responsible for the Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled franchises.

The hacking group known as "DERP" has reportedly struck again, claiming responsibility for taking down EA's digital distribution platform Origin yesterday.

The hacker organization claimed responsibility for the attack in posts via Twitter.

"We've directed the Gaben Laser Beam @ the EA login servers. Origin #offline."

It should come as no shock that the Chinese government has banned Battlefield 4 - not that it ultimately matters to publisher Electronic Arts - the game isn't available in the region anyway. Earlier in the month the military criticized the unreleased DLC "China Rising," saying that it put the country in a bad light.

Electronic Arts has found itself on the business end of a class action lawsuit related to the numerous bugs, glitches, and technical problems related to Battlefield 4. The game, which launched in November on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One has suffered numerous problems since launch, and while EA and developer DICE have tried to get a handle on things, apparently some investors (not players, surprisingly enough) are so upset that they have decided to take the fight to a court room.

While EA generates a fair share of bad press on a variety of fronts from time to time, it's hard to deny that the company has a pretty good track record when it comes to workforce diversity and inclusiveness in its various studios. In this year's Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign, the company scored a 100 percent rating. Corporate Equality Index is part of the group's 2014 Best Places To Work report.

In a tweet congratulating the team at Electronic Arts for their part in the highly successful Humble Origin Bundle, EA's Peter Moore said that the company had donated $1.65 million of the $10.5 million generated by the bundle to the American Cancer Society.

When EA, Origin, and the Humble Bundle announced the Humble Origin Bundle back in August, they said that all of EA's and Origin's profits would go to give charities - the Human Rights Campaign; Watsi; the San Francisco AIDS Foundation; the American Red Cross; or the American Cancer Society.

FIFA Manager series' founder Gerald Köhler announced that FIFA Manager 14 will be the last game in the soccer/football management series.

"Today I’m writing to tell you that FIFA MANAGER 14 will be the last installment of the football simulation series marketed by EA SPORTS. This is was a very tough decision, so I want to take the time to explain it. This probably comes as a big disappointment to many of you, and it is understandable that you would ask why."

Electronic Arts has acknowledged several bugs that are plaguing the Xbox One version of FIFA 14, which it vows to adress with an update later today. The first is a bug where using a second controller to navigate the bootflow when FIFA 14 is loading will result in a game crash. Until the bug is fixed, EA recommends that players use the first controller to navigate the bootflow and then activate the second controller when at the main menu of the game.

Are big publishers finally turning a corner on trying to tame the used games market? If you believe some Sony and Electronic Arts executives this week, it sounds like they are finally acknowledging that the used games market is an important part of the video games ecosystem. Yesterday Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House told Game Informer that used games sales generally go back into buying new games.

According to this NeoGAF thread, Electronic Arts is starting to send out checks as part of a settlement agreement related to a class action lawsuit about sports video game monopolies. EA came to an out-of-court settlement with the plaintiffs in the court case Pecover v. Electronic Arts in July 2012. As part of the agreement EA agreed to pay $27 million into a fund that would be used to pay lawyers' fees and class-action claimants in the case.

Electronic Arts announced this week that it has canceled Command & Conquer, the free-to-play reimagining of the popular real-time strategy game. In a blog post developer Victory Games announced that fan reaction to the alpha of the game is what put the final nail in the coffin for the project:

According to a Seeking Alpha report, EA is predicting that total PS4 and Xbox One shipments will be around 10 million units by April of 2014. This is according to EA's Peter Moore, who talked at length about the next-generation of consoles and EA's plans for both of them last night during a conference call to discuss the company's latest quarterly financial results.

As part of its release of financial results for the second fiscal quarter, Electronic Arts revealed that the Wii and Wii U account for a little over one percent of the company's total sales, while PC game sales are its top segment. EA said that Wii and Wii U games accounted for 1.3 percent of EA's software revenues in the last fiscal quarter. Of the $695 million in revenue earned from combined sales of console, mobile and PC software, about $9 million came from Wii and Wii U software.

While EA Sports has announced that it has broken its long-time relationship with golfing sensation Tiger Woods, it looks like Woods may already be talking to other game companies about putting his name and face on a whole new product. Tiger Woods' agent Mark Steinberg told ESPN that he is currently speaking with another unnamed video game company regarding video game rights.

Electronic Arts announced via its official blog this morning that it is ending its long-standing partnership with pro golfer Tiger Woods. The company said that the split was a mutual decision between both parties, and that the PGA Tour series of licensed golf games would continue on without the Tiger Woods name.

Battlefield 4 launches today, and along with it a launch-day patch. The Day One Update isn't mandatory but its developer DICE is "strongly" recommending that Battlefield 4 owners download it. If you bought Battlefield 4 for its multiplayer then you'll definitely want to download it or you might experience some less-than-stellar multiplayer action. According to DICE:

"This Battlefield 4 update contains improvements to the multiplayer portions of the game. We strongly advise you download it."

GlassLab, a collaboration between Institute of Play, Electronic Arts, the ESA and others, strives to improve education through the use of digital games.  The lab's first game, SimCityEDU: Pollution Challenge!,will be integrated into select U.S. school ciriculums next month.

Electronic Arts announced today that it will push the Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC title forward to release it sooner than expected - March 11, 2014. While that's good news for fans of the game that made such a grand showing at E3 this year, analysts are saying that this move by EA is to take advantage of Watch Dogs being delayed by Ubisoft until sometime in the first half of 2014. Research firm Stern Agee is comfortable saying that this news by EA is a response to the delay of Ubisoft's multiplatform title Watch Dogs.

The newest title in EA's long running action racing series will not be on Wii U or PS Vita, according to the game's Creative Director, Craig Sullivan. Speaking recently to Sixth Axis, Sullivan said that Need for Speed: Rivals will skip Vita and Wii U due to poor sales from the previous game, Need for Speed: Most Wanted.

According to new court documents unearthed by Polygon, THQ is suing both EA and Zuffa over the UFC game license. THQ alleges that EA used information obtained when it was discussing a sale of the company to undermine the publisher's position with Zuffa. EA would later purchase the rights to the UFC game franchise and Zuffa paid THQ $10 million to terminate its contract with THQ early.

In an update to the State of SimCity Blog, Maxis Emeryville studio General Manager Patrick Buechner said that the company is considering an offline mode for the game that launched as an online-only, always-connected game earlier this year. I'm sure you remember how that turned out...

If you wanted to get into the Battlefield 4 beta but weren't a Battlefield 3 Premium purchaser, then you'll be happy to hear that the online multiplayer beta test for EA's and DICE's military first-person shooter is being opened up to the public.

The NCAA is adamant that it will take the fight against lawsuits related to EA's college sports games all the way to the Supreme Court if it has to. Speaking to USA Today Sports, NCAA chief legal officer Donald Remy said that the organization is not afraid to go the distance and is ramping up its legal team:

Electronic Arts has entered into a settlement agreement related to several cases involving the use of college player likenesses in many of its NCAA-branded sports titles. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed and still require the approval of the courts. The settlement is related to several pending cases filed by former and current NCAA college sports players including the Keller and O’Bannon case against EA, along with the Alston and Hart cases.

Apple is denying that it paid publisher Electronic Arts to delay the release of the Android version of the game. The denial relates to a statement by EA executive Frank Gibeau that the iOS device-maker paid EA to delay the Android release of Plants vs Zombies 2. That statement was made in an internal company presentation by Gibeau, as reported by GiantBomb.

Lawyers representing former West Virginia running back Shawne Alston (who played for the team from 2009 - 2012) have filed a separate class-action suit against Electronic Arts in the Federal District Court in New Jersey. The new lawsuit alleges that EA engaged in "blatant and unlawful" use of college athletes' names and likenesses in its college football and basketball games.

EA' Humble Origin Bundle closed this week, raising well over $10 million - a good portion of which went towards five charities (we assume some of it went to the Humble Bundle organizers). The bundle ended last night, and was called the best selling bundle to-date for the Humble Bundle initiative. At the end of it all, the Humble Origin Bundle managed to generate $10.5 million from the sale of 2.1 million game bundles.

In an Engadget interview that took place last week during Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, Electronic Arts COO Peter Moore said that the company no longer ships games that are "offline."

Speaking at length with Engadget following his company's Gamescom 2013 press event, Moore said that EA's current dedication to online functionality in its games is unmatched:

"We don't ship a game at EA that is offline."

The Humble Origin Bundle is inching towards another milestone - the $10 million mark. As of this writing the bundle is at a little over $9.6 million with nearly 2 million bundles sold, and an average price of $4.91. The bundle includes Dead Space, Dead Space 3, Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box, Crysis 2 Maximum Edition, Mirror's Edge, and Medal of Honor. Paying more than the average price will get you The Sims 3 + Starter Pack, Battlefield 3, C&C: Red Alert 3 - Uprising, and Populous.