WOW, followers— we woke up bright and early today, rolled into work, and were greeted with a spectacular Friday surprise— we’ve passed 4,000 followers!  Now, as you know, we occasionally like to give away some gaming goods, and we figured today is a great opportunity to thank you for your followership (is that a word?  We’re pretty sure it’s not…) and host a BIG EA PLAY GIVEAWAY!

We’ve got a little something for everyone today, and here’s what we’ll be giving away: 

• 2 download codes for The Sims 3 base game for PC (giveaway at 2:00PM PST/5:00PM EST)

• 1 copy of MySims SkyHeroes for the Xbox 360.  This game isn’t even out yet— it won’t even hit stores until September 28th, so the winner be the one of the first people in the world to play it! (giveaway at 2:15PM PST/5:15PM EST)

• 1 HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT gaming package for the Nintendo Wii, which includes both HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT (includes Connect 4, Battleship, Yahtzee, Boggle, Sorry! and Sorry! Sliders) and HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT 2 (includes Operation, Jenga, Pictureka, Bop-It, and Connect 4x4)! (giveaway at 2:30PM PST/5:30PM EST)

 We’re kicking off our giveaway at 2:00PM PST/5:00PM EST, and here’s what you need to know:

• Giveaway starts at 2:00PM PST/5:00PM EST.  Each of these games will have different giveaway rules attached, so stay tuned and follow our Twitter feed; we’ll communicate the directions before we give out each game.

• How do we choose the winners? We’ll be using our @replies Twitter feed (within the www.twitter.com client) to pick the winners.  We’ll have four winner’s for today’s BIG giveaway (two winners will get The Sims 3, one will get MySims SkyHeroes, and one will get HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT and HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT 2), and as always, once the winners are announced, they’re final.

• How do I know if I’ve won?  We’ll announce who the winners are once we’ve picked them.  If you’ve won, we’ll DM you to find out your mailing address so we can send you your prize.

• One more rule: We can only accept winners who live in the USA or Canada.  Sorry— we wish would could send out prizes to our international friends as well, but it costs us a bunch to ship out!  (If someone with an international address is chosen as the winner of this giveaway, that entry will be thrown out and we’ll pick a new winner).

Wohoo, it’s Friday!  We’ve been a bad EA Play team this week and we really haven’t tweeted that much.  To make it up to you all, we wanted to do a fun Friday giveaway.  We’re hoping if we give away a couple of free games, maybe you’ll take us back?

Today we’ve got 2 copies of MySims Racing for the Nintendo Wii, the super fun racing game that features everybody’s favorite little guys, the MySims. But don’t judge a book by its cover— those little guys are cute, but they can RACE, and they’re not afraid to peel out on the starting line. 

  We’re kicking off our giveaway at 10:30AM PST/1:30PM EST, and here’s what you need to know:

• Giveaway starts at 10:30AM PST/1:30PM EST.  Since we’re giving away MySims Racing, this giveaway is going to be about speed!  At the start of the giveaway, we’ll ask a question— there are two correct answers to this question.  The 3rd and 7th people who @reply to us with both of the correct answers will win.   Multiple entries will be thrown out, and we don’t want to do that to you guys! 

• How do we choose the winners? We’ll be using our @replies Twitter feed (within the www.twitter.com client) to pick the 3rd and 7th correct answers.  Those folks will each win a copy of MySims Racing for the Nintendo Wii.  As always, once the winners are announced, they’re final.

• How do I know if I’ve won?  We’ll announce who the winners are once we’ve picked them.  If you’ve won, we’ll DM you to find out your mailing address so we can send you your prize.

• One more rule: We can only accept winners who live in the USA or Canada.  Sorry— we wish would could send out prizes to our international friends as well, but it costs us a bunch to ship out!  (If someone with an international address is chosen as the winner of this giveaway, that entry will be thrown out and we’ll pick a new winner).

Happy Friday, EA Play-ers!  It’s been a while since we’ve given away some free video games, so we figured today is a great day for freebies.  It is Friday, after all, and that’s something worth celebrating, are we right?

Today we’ve got 3 copies of The Sims 3 World Adventures, the kooky, action-packed, globe-trotting expansion pack to The Sims 3 game for PC/Mac. This is a super fun one, because your Sims can travel the world and explore exotic Sim-ified locales like Champs le Sims, France, Al-Simhara, Egypt, and Shang Simla, China.   We’re kicking off our giveaway RIGHT NOW, and here’s what you need to know:

(Don’t forget that you need the core Sims 3 game to play the World Adventures expansion pack.  Don’t have The Sims 3 game yet?  Well, never fear! You can pick it up right here!)

• Giveaway starts NOW and will end at 1PM PST (you’ve got about two hours!).  Since we’re giving away The Sims 3 World Adventures, we want to know: If you could have an adventure anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?  Just @reply to us with your answer to that question by 1pm PST, and you could win!  ***For this giveaway, it’s one “entry” per person only…after all, this is about choosing your one ultimate world adventure destination, right?  Multiple entries will be thrown out, and we don’t want to do that to you guys!

• How do we choose the winners? We’ll be using our @replies Twitter feed (within the www.twitter.com client) to pick our 3 favorite answers.  Those folks will each win a copy of The Sims 3 World Adventures.  As always, once the winners are announced, they’re final.

• How do I know if I’ve won?  We’ll announce who the winners are once we’ve picked them.  If you’ve won, we’ll DM you to find out your mailing address so we can send you your prize.

• One more rule: We can only accept winners who live in the USA or Canada.  Sorry— we wish would could send out prizes to our international friends as well, but it costs us a bunch to ship out!  (If someone with an international address is chosen as the winner of this giveaway, that entry will be thrown out and we’ll pick a new winner).

With the birds chirping and the bees buzzin’ outside our office window, we’ve got Spring on the mind here at EA (is there any way I can drag my computer outside and work on the lawn?).  Since we’re so hyped up on the beautiful Spring weather, we figured you guys must be too, so for yesterday’s Mommy MonDaze event, we asked:

It’s a beautiful Spring day here…what do you do with your family to get outside and enjoy the weather? Fun games? Sports?

T ake a look at all the awesome replies we got from our Twitter followers (who, incidentally, all scored entries in a drawing to win a EA Play video game at the end of the month…just for participating and sharing their wisdom!).  There are so many good ideas here, why don’t you grab the fam and head outside today?

This was our second week for kicking-off our new Mommy MonDaze event, and we were thrilled that so many of you participated! 

“How do you deal with sibling conflict? What works? What doesn’t?”

Go ahead, see if this helps you when your kids fight. Maybe it’ll bring back memories for you and your siblings. Thanks to everyone who participated in Monday’s event— you’ll all be entered for a chance to win one of our fun video games in a drawing at the end of the month. 

Happy Friday, followers! Since it’s the end of the week, we thought we’d do something a little fun today.

Here at EA Play, we’ve got a great family of people who are super passionate about making (and playing) video games.  We thought it might be kinda fun to introduce you to some of the real people who work here and make games for a living.  Each month, we’ll share a short profile of one of our coworkers so you can get to know the people behind the games.

First up?  Us!  The EA Play Twitter feed is run by Lauren and Rachel.  We’re no corporate robots—just two girls who love to talk about video games!  Get to know us a little bit more by checking out our profiles below, and feel free to give us a DM or @reply to say hi and introduce yourself to us too!

______________________________________________________________

Name: Lauren Svensson

Title: PR Coordinator

What I do, in a nutshell: I spread the word about our EA Hasbro, MySims and Spore games and make sure the press (and all of you) know about the fun games we make!

Share a favorite EA Play experience/your favorite thing about working at EA Play:  One of my favorite things about EA is— no lie— the cafeterias we have on campus (we have two!).  Our resident chefs are super friendly, and they make a mean stir-fry!

Favorite video game:  Super Mario 64, for the Nintendo 64.  Ah, the good old days…

Favorite thing to do when you’re not playing (or making!) video games: Watching reality TV.  I have a special place in my heart for shows like Real Housewives of Orange County, the Millionaire Matchmaker, etc.

First video game that drew you into Gaming as a hobby?  Tempest 2000, which I played on my brother’s Atari Jaguar.  I was 8 or 9, and it was magical.

And lastly, because a picture is worth a thousand words…a picture of your desk:

________________________________________________________

Name: Rachel Steinberg

Title: PR Coordinator

What I do, in a nutshell: I spread the word about The Sims and EA’s Casual Studios games.  I make sure the press, and super awesome people like you, know what’s coming out and what’s in store.

Share a favorite EA Play experience/your favorite thing about working at EA Play: I love working with a group of smart, talented and dedicated people every day.  Plus, having a gym on campus— it can’t be beat!

Favorite video game:  This is hard.  As a kid, I was a hardcore PC gamer.  I loved Duke Nukem, DOOM, Seventh Guest, 11th Hour, Myst, Civilization and SimCity.  Right now I’m more into console games.  Let’s just say I’ll try playing anything at least once.  It might end midway through the first level, but at least I tried.

Favorite thing to do when you’re not playing (or making!) video games:  Reading, attempting to start running again, hanging out with my friends in the city— live music shows and movies— and enjoying the San Francisco days that aren’t too rainy.

First game that drew you into Gaming as a hobby?  I don’t remember the names, but I remember they were on floppy disks (yes I am of the age where I blew on floppy disks) and it was made by Microsoft.  They were Edutainment-style games that came to my house monthly.  Fun and educational!

And, lastly, because a picture is worth a thousand words…a picture of your desk:

Yes, I am Team Edward (note the Edward water bottle).  Don’t ask my colleague, Lauren, about that Jacob poster in her cube…

Yesterday we ran our first Mommy MonDaze event, and we were amazed at all of the great ideas you had to share with us! We asked:

“Spring break is almost upon us- what are your picks for economical, kid-friendly destinations/vacation ideas?”

Below are some of our favorite replies. Go ahead, take a look so you can start planning YOUR family’s fun (yet affordable) Spring Break vacation!  Thanks to all of the followers who participated in Monday’s event— you’ll all be entered for a chance to win one of our fun video games in a drawing at the end of the month.  In the meantime, don’t forget to join in on our just-for-fun video game conversations on Talk It Up Tuesdays…we’ve got a discussion topic coming up in a bit!

Today we thought we’d switch things up a bit on you and introduce you to a new feature we’ll be doing on our EA Play Twitter feed: Mommy MonDaze.  We’ll be kicking off our first Mommy Mondaze question in a few minutes on our Twitter feed!

What is it?

We know Mondays are hard— especially for all of the super-busy Moms who follow us on Twitter.  To get you out of your Monday Daze (get it? MonDaze?  Ooh, we’re clever!), we’ll be posing a question about parenting every Monday and tweeting it out to all of our followers.  It won’t necessarily be a question about video games (though we do love those here at EA Play!)— just a question that will prompt you to share your best Mommy (or Daddy) tips with us.  We’ll share your answers on our feed and on our Tumblr blog so everyone can reap the benefits of your wisdom, and we’ll all take away some great parenting tips to get us through the Monday Daze.

Why participate?

Mommy MonDaze not only gives you a chance to share your awesome Mommy tips (and learn from other Mommies and Daddies), but it’s a big ol’ contest, too!  For every Mommy MonDaze tip we receive via Twitter reply, we’ll put your Twitter name into a virtual hat.  At the end of the month, one winner will be chosen at random to receive one of our fun, family-friendly video games.

What are the rules?

Why, thanks for asking!  The same rules that apply to all of our contests:

• How do we choose the winners?   For every @reply we receive on Mondays that responds to our Mommy MonDaze tip query (has to share a parenting tip relevant to the question we ask), we’ll add that Twitter username to a list.  At the end of the month, one Twitter user from the list will be picked at random to receive an EA Play video game.  We’ll be using our @replies Twitter feed (within the www.twitter.com client) to view the replies.  As always, once the winners are announced, they’re final.

• Can I enter more than once? We’ll only put your Twitter user name down once on the list each Monday (i.e., one entry every Monday), but feel free to share as many Mommy or Daddy tips as you’d like— we read everything you share with us!

• How do I know if I’ve won?  We’ll announce who the monthly winner is once we’ve picked him/her at the end of the month.  If you’ve won, we’ll DM you to get your mailing address so we can send you your game.

• One more rule: We can only accept winners who live in the USA or Canada.  Sorry— we wish would could send out prizes to our international friends as well, but it costs us a bunch to ship out!  (If someone with an international address is chosen as the winner of a Mommy Mondaze giveaway, that entry will be thrown out and we’ll pick a new winner).

Valentine’s Day is almost upon us, and we’re guessing that some of you might still be searching for that perfect gift for the special person in your life.  Don’t stress yet! We’re procrastinators ourselves, so we like to help you out with some ideas when we can.

With that in mind, look no further than our Video Game Valentine’s Day Gift Guide, where we’ll give you a unique Valentine’s Day idea for every special person in your life— from kids to husbands, girlfriends or wives, or even a little something to show Mom or Dad how much you love them, EA Play and some of our other friends at EA have the perfect gift to score some serious points and Wow everyone on your list.

For her:

• Need a fun Valentine’s Day present for a young daughter?  Why not say “I love you” with LITTLEST PET SHOP Friends for the Wii or Nintendo DS?  It’s also available for download on iPhone, for all of the cell phone-savvy girls out there.
• Got a slightly older daughter at home?  Tween girls will love the girliciousness of CHARM GIRLS CLUB game for the Nintendo Wii or DS, and teens can mess around with life simulator The Sims 3, the best-selling PC game!
• Looking for something for that health-conscious lady in your life?  Give her the gift of fitness with EA Sports Active on the Nintendo Wii!
• Show Mom how much you love her with a gift subscription to Club Pogo, the VIP section of our online casual gaming destination with more than 100 card, word, and board games!

For him:

• Got a tween boy at home?  Give your son a Valentines’ Day surprise with NERF N-Strike Elite on the Nintendo Wii or MySims Agents for the Nintendo Wii and DS.
• Is Dad a hardcore gamer?  Pick up one of EA’s hot M-Rated titles to indulge his love for video games!  Mass Effect 2 and Dante’s Inferno both launched in the past few weeks, and he’ll be the envy of all of his friends if he gets some love in the form of one of these.

And remember…in the end, all you need is love.  And maybe video games.

Today we asked a question on our feed about what kind of consoles you and your family love to play games on, and it seems like you’ve all got different preferences!  We usually show our Nintendo Wii families a whole lot of love with Twitter giveaways, so today we decided to mix it up with a little something for our Xbox 360 lovers.

For a fun Friday giveaway, we’ve got 15 (wow, FIFTEEN!) download codes for the Video Game Trivia pack for the Xbox 360 version of TRIVIAL PURSUIT.  TRIVIAL PURSUIT is one of our favorite party games (we actually have office competitions where we all gather together to play our video game version TRIVIAL PURSUIT) and naturally, we’re all video game lovers, so this trivia pack is right up our alley, and we hope you love it too!

You do need to have the TRIVIAL PURSUIT Xbox 360 game to redeem the code, but no worries— if you haven’t picked it up yet, you can always download it from the Xbox web site or from Xbox LIVE Games on Demand for only $19.99!

• Giveaway will be conducted at at 11:20 AM PST.

• How do we choose the winners?  We’ll give directions for this one at 11:20, but we will give you a hint and say that you’re going to have to be quick if you want to be one of the winners of this giveaway!  We’ll be using our @replies Twitter feed (within the www.twitter.com client) to pick the winners.  As always, once the winners are announced, they’re final.

• How do I know if I’ve won?  We’ll announce who the winners are once we’ve picked them.  If you’ve won, we’ll DM the download code for the Video Game Trivia Pack for TRIVIAL PURSUIT X360.

• One more rule: We can only accept winners who live in the USA or Canada.  Sorry— we wish would could send out prizes to our international friends as well, but it costs us a bunch to ship out!  (If someone with an international address is chosen as the winner of this giveaway, that entry will be thrown out and we’ll pick a new winner).