It appears EA hasn’t learned anything from it’s past mistakes.  Why they think that giving people an advantage in a game for pre-ordering it is just beyond me.  How about some cool NVGs like Modern Warfare 2 or a gift certificate for all the money we have spent on ridiculous EA DLC that we don’t need.  It’s just stupid, EA. Get a clue.

The Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Limited Edition delivers six special customizations early to give players a day one advantage in multiplayer matches. Four vehicle warfare unlocks will immediately enhance the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 best-in-class online vehicle warfare experience, delivering extra firepower, radar, and armor for the vehicles. Additionally, the tracer dart attaches to any enemy vehicle and allows RPG-toting teammates to track, lock on, and destroy their adversary. Seasoned veterans of Battlefield 1943™ will be able to immediately re-acquaint themselves with two classic and highly powerful weapons, the M1A1 submachine gun and the M1911 pistol.

Apparently UFC president Dana White is not a fan of EA Sports. In fact, he claims he and UFC are “at war” with EA. This announcement comes just after the UFC 100 match on Saturday. White wants it to be well known that anyone who sides with EA in this face-off will not be favored by the UFC.

Evidently, EA passed on the video game rights to the UFC franchise some time ago. “EA Sports told us, ‘You’re not a real sport,’” White said. “‘We wouldn’t touch this thing. We want nothing to do with this.’” THQ took up the rights instead, helping to publish UFC Undisputed 2009, which has shipped over 2 million units since May.

Now that EA is putting their marketing and publishing power behind the upcoming EA MMA, White is furious. “You [EA Sports] told us you’d never be in business with us. They wouldn’t even take a meeting because mixed martial arts disgusted them. This wasn’t a real sport. Boy, they got over that real quick, didn’t they?”

White went on to say that any MMA fighter who signs their likeness rights away to EA will be blacklisted from UFC competition. “I’m not tap-dancing around this thing or whatever,” White said. “I’m telling you straight-up, I’m at war with them right now. That’s how I look at it.”

I have to question what kind of game EA Sports hopes to get out of EA MMA now that White will not allow UFC fighters to participate in its creation. Sure, there are other MMA franchises, but none have the popularity or name recognition of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. One thing is certain: competition only drives developers and publishers to make a better product, so gamers will be the real winners in this heated battle.

(Thanks to Jeff, AKA xI3 3 A S Tx, for the heads up on this one.)

Battlefield 1943 just hit the Xbox Live Marketplace today for the rather high price of 1200 Microsoft Points. I’d love to tell you that the game is fun and worth price, but I haven’t been able to play much—and neither has anyone else, for that matter.

Reports are popping up over at EA Games’ forums and elsewhere online that the Battlefield 1943 servers are totally janked. I can say from first-hand experience that this is quite true. I tried unsuccessfully for several minutes to get into a quick match, and was only able to do so once. I couldn’t get a friends match going at all.

So before you folks drop 1200 points for Battlefield 1943, be aware you might run into similar problems. To be fair, this is the release day, so of course the servers will be swamped, but you’d think EA would have planned for this. Hopefully, the servers will clear out a bit in the coming days.

UPDATE: Looks like the servers are at full capacity, meaning new players can’t join a match until others drop out. Also, the servers are experience date packet loss. DICE hopes to get new servers up and running with minimal packet loss by the end of the day.

You didn’t really think EA was going to sit back and watch someone run with the MMA genre all by themselves, did you? Don’t make me and Shinya Aoki (right) laugh. Just because THQ has the UFC license locked up, that doesn’t mean the entire sport has had “dibs” called on it.

Yes, MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) is the name of the sport and the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) is just one of the companies that holds events and promotes fighters, despite what you may have heard. The UFC hosts Mixed Martial Arts fights, not “Ultimate Fighting”.

EA Tiburon is set to take on the challenge of translating this multifaceted sport into a video game. You may recognize the developers as home to the Madden NFL and Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchises. Pretty high quality games. The official website tells readers that “EA SPORTS MMA will feature the most authentic, intense and broad mixed martial arts experience to date – complete with a vast array of top fighters and fighting styles from around the world.”

It may seem impossible to think that a game about MMA without the UFC license would even be considered, but the hardcore MMA fans might be quick to point out a few noticeable holes in the UFC roster that EA is no doubt looking to fill.

The game is set to be released next year on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

This is probably the craziest Twitter and/or gaming-related news I’ve heard in quite some time…

Ashton Kutcher — of That 70’s Show and marrying Demi Moore fame — challenged CNN (yep, that CNN) to a Twitter follower contest. If Kutcher gets 1,000,000 followers before CNN, he’ll “Ding-Dong Ditch” Ted Turner’s house (Turner owns CNN, in case you’re wondering why he’s getting the ol’ ring-and-run routine). If CNN wins… Well, that’s not terribly clear at the moment.

To spice this ridiculous news soup up, EA Games threw its hat in the ring, saying it will award Kutcher’s one millionth follower with every game published by EA this year. Yes, every game. In these times of economic hardship, that’s a sweet prize. Heck, that would be a great prize any time.

As cool as the EA prize is, I can’t help feeling like this is a sign of the end times…