Get the Inside Scoop on What's Happening at EA

This was my second year attending the PAX show and it was very different from the first year. Sure, we had a solid floor presence that year, but my role then was slightly different then it is now. I went to PAX this year with the single objective of covering the show for the company but in peeling back the layers, it became so much more. It became about making connections.
(continue reading…)

Community Officer Chris Collins gives a quick run down of A.P.B.'s showing at PAX 09 and what's going on in the A.P.B. theater.

This Saturday, EA is hosting an event for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the nation's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy organization.  GLAAD is facilitating a panel on Homophobia & Virtual Communities which will spotlight key issues and include the perspectives of both gaming companies and LGBT gamers.  Discussion will revolve around the state of the problem in these communities, policy solutions that have been developed to address homophobia - what's working as well as what's not, plus challenges and opportunities.

Confirmed panelists include:

• Flynn DeMarco (Alias: Fruite Brute), Founder of GayGamer.net
• Dan Hewitt, Senior Director of Communications & Industry Affairs for the Entertainment Software Association (ESA)
• Caryl Shaw, Senior Producer in the Maxis Studio (Electronic Arts, Inc.)
• Cyn Skyberg, VP of Customer Relations at Linden Lab
• Stephen Toulouse (Gamertag: stepto), Program Manager for Policy and Enforcement on Microsoft's XBox LIVE
• Moderator: Justin Cole, Director of Digital & Online Media, GLAAD

Event details are as follows:

WHAT:    Homophobia in Virtual Communities - Highlighting the Problem and Working Towards Sustainable Solutions

WHEN:    Saturday, July 18th, 2009, 11am-1pm

WHERE:   Electronic Arts, 250 Shoreline Drive Redwood City, CA 94065

The event is free of charge and open to the public.  More information can be found at: http://www.glaad.org/digitalevent

Greetings from sunny Redwood Shores.

Clear skies, 74 degrees, and a slight ocean breeze from the west. Normally on a weekday like this, employees would be sitting in their cubes, staring out the window, dreaming of being outside. Fortunately for us lucky stiffs at EA headquarters, it's a Friday in June, and that means the EA Summer BBQ Series.

Every Friday the chefs at the EA cafeteria cart out their deluxe grill to the Great Lawn and cook up some delicious grub. For a few bucks, employees get to help themselves to one or two pieces of meat (almost always two) and a variety of delicious sides.

The chicken, steak, and burgers (veggie burgers, too) are always done to perfection. Add some corn on the cob, mixed green salad, potato salad, or maybe some plantains, plus a tasty agua fresca-pineapple or coconut-then grab a seat and dig in.

There's a different DJ every Friday to complete the perfect BBQ atmosphere. Today's thumping tunes were spun by DJ ZA6NUT of San Francisco. Further entertainment was provided by the energetic employees playing soccer on the Great Lawn-they didn't seem to mind the clouds of smoke from the grill wafting across their game.

The only problem with the lunchtime BBQ is that you have to go back to work afterwards. Drat! The good news, of course, is that you're working at one of the best places to work on the planet. And there's always the next BBQ to look forward to.