EA’s got (stress) balls, lets fans preview Madden games

While thumbing through the same January 2009 issue of Delta’s Sky magazine with the “Chick Click” article, I almost missed a small article about EA Tiburon before tossing it into the recycling bin.

The sidebar, titled “Serious Game Playing,” (by “GB,” p. 67), is part of the magazine’s portrait of Orlando, Florida (USA), and specifically accompanies the “Partners in Progress” section of the series by Lisa Roberts.

The article is topped with a colorful image of Phil Holt, EA Tiburon’s General Manager, chillaxing on top of a bed of balls. You know, those colorful balls you find in soft-caged or inflatable rooms for kids to jump in at local fairs and Chuck E. Cheese restaurants.

According to the brief article, Holt revealed that EA “combs Madden Internet forums for player comments” and the company invites local residents and fans to play and comment on early versions of the game.

Since the article is focusing on Orlando (the EA office is just north of Orlando in Maitland, FL), it also points out that around 10 employees (at least, of the employees still at EA when the article was written) graduated from the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy and the company also gets a “handful of interns” from the school each Fall. According to the St. Petersburg Times, the school opened in 2005 with a little help from EA.

Makes you want to move to Orlando, eh?

Since the trough o’ balls in the sidebar’s photo is intended to, as the article points out, help employees “unwind” and “disrupt what starts out as a serious meeting,” I wonder if it is used more now than ever, considering EA’s recent and impending layoffs?

To find the full sidebar, check out the scan below or head to the source (PDF file) at the Sky magazine site.

Read [Delta Sky Magazine] Download [Sky (PDF pp. 66-67)] Site [Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy]

Note: Scan and image from Delta’s Sky magazine.