When 
Andrew Wilson was named CEO of Electronic Arts in September, there were a lot of double takes.
He hasn’t been as prominent as other EA executives in his 13-year history with the company, but as analysts and gamers took a closer look at his resume, those double takes turned into knowing nods.
Fans of EA Sports games 
tend to be a dedicated lot, but now the publisher is launching a program that will help it find the most dedicated.
The company’s just-unveiled Season Ticket program will give die-hard fans the chance to get a three-day head start on new versions of Madden, FIFA, Tiger Woods, NHL and NCAA Football games as well as discounts on any downloadable content.
But that access comes with a price – and a catch.
Compared to its peers, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 
12 is one of the best golf games on the iPad, but judged against the larger console gaming category, it falls a bit short. The swipe mechanic used to take shots works fine most of the time, but occasionally adds more power than you expect — and little errors in the angle of your swipe can have tremendous consequences on screen. However, these controls do provide you with the ability to shoot the ball at a slight angle and add some English to it, which affects its landing. The commentary is also sometimes inappropriate for the situation on screen — not in an offensive way, but it often seems disconnected to the player’s situation. Players can create their own character or use one of the pros, but it doesn’t tremendously affect gameplay. All of this said, the game looks great and the Closest to the Pin challenge is one of the better Facebook integrations of any app. Dedicated duffers might like parts of this app, but casual fans of the sport — and young players — are likely to get frustrated.
The latest version of Electronic Arts’ annual 
Tiger Woods franchise downplays the golf superstar in a big way. As it turns out, those changes might have earned the publisher a hole in one.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters has proven to be the fastest moving in the series’ history. EA says the game — the 14th installment in the long-running golf sim — sold 225,000 copies in its first week.
While 2010 has been a bad year for video game 
software sales in general, it’s been particularly tough for some high-profile releases. Several titles that were expected to be big sellers — or at least impressive ones — have fallen flat, the victim of the economy, gamers’ continued interest with other titles or just plain old bad luck.
There’s still time to recover, of course — the year’s only half over. But while these six titles may have mostly met critical expectations, they still failed to set the sales charts ablaze.
Chris Morris: Journalist 