????約翰?麥登（美國(guó)著名橄欖球教練兼評(píng)論家——譯注）將全身心投身于社交網(wǎng)絡(luò),？我們現(xiàn)在說(shuō)的不是那位橄欖球評(píng)論員,。（麥登的一位同事稱：“他對(duì)Twitter這類玩意不感冒?！保┪覀冋f(shuō)的是電子藝界（Electronics Arts）制作的一款游戲,，也就是以這位著名的橄欖球教練麥登命名的《麥登橄欖球》（Madden NFL）。

????電子藝界最近在社交游戲領(lǐng)域可謂春風(fēng)得意——《模擬人生Facebook版》（Sims Social）勇奪Facebook游戲排行榜榜眼位置,，僅僅屈居于Zynga的《城市小鎮(zhèn)》（CityVille）之后,。電子藝界稱有意把旗下數(shù)十款最熱門(mén)的特許游戲通通推向社交平臺(tái)。

????事實(shí)上,，電子藝界已經(jīng)開(kāi)始嘗試將《麥登橄欖球》和《FIFA國(guó)際足聯(lián)》（FIFA soccer）搬上Facebook,，不過(guò)它并未大張旗鼓地展開(kāi)宣傳攻勢(shì)，目前也并沒(méi)有之王靠它們賺錢(qián)?，F(xiàn)在,，首席執(zhí)行官約翰?里奇泰洛表示，社交游戲?qū)⒊蔀楣疚磥?lái)宏偉戰(zhàn)略的核心——電子藝界的游戲?qū)⒈椴妓性O(shè)備和平臺(tái),，用戶隨時(shí)可以開(kāi)始游戲或是跟蹤游戲進(jìn)程,，即便他們從游戲機(jī)平臺(tái)遷移到智能手機(jī)、平板電腦或桌面電腦平臺(tái),?！纠?，里奇泰洛本人向我抱怨，他非常沮喪,，因?yàn)樗麩o(wú)法將《憤怒的小鳥(niǎo)》（Angry Birds）的游戲積分從iPad 1代遷移到新款iPad 2里,。】

????電子藝界的戰(zhàn)略和“電視無(wú)處不在”戰(zhàn)略有異曲同工之處,，后者由《財(cái)富》（Fortune）的東家時(shí)代華納（Time Warner）及一些公司提出,。一旦付費(fèi)，用戶就能在任何平臺(tái)上玩到它旗下的游戲,。電子藝界還能通過(guò)銷售虛擬貨幣和虛擬物品獲利,，例如《模擬人生Facebook版》的重度玩家就會(huì)樂(lè)意為此掏腰包。

????里奇泰洛希望徹底改造電子藝界,，而進(jìn)軍社交領(lǐng)域和其它數(shù)字平臺(tái)將成為其戰(zhàn)略核心,。他承認(rèn)電子藝界變得有些剛愎自用，一直依賴?yán)咸椎奶卦S游戲,，同時(shí)制造了大量低劣的游戲,。電子藝界2009年虧損超過(guò)10億美元。為了扭轉(zhuǎn)頹勢(shì),，電子藝界開(kāi)始大舉并購(gòu)：2009年,，它以2.75億美元將Zynga的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手Playfish收入囊中；今年早些時(shí)候,，它又以7.5億美元收購(gòu)了休閑游戲制作商PopCap,。里奇泰洛在最近一次講話中表示：“通過(guò)收購(gòu)切實(shí)威脅到我們的公司的新事物，我們已將電子藝界重新帶回正軌,?！?/p>

????電子藝界的轉(zhuǎn)型還遠(yuǎn)未完成。該公司仍然在賠錢(qián)——第二財(cái)季虧損3.4億美元——而且其數(shù)字戰(zhàn)略也并無(wú)法一蹴而就：它將需要將游戲移植到更多平臺(tái),，包括Xbox等傳統(tǒng)游戲機(jī)以及iPhone和iPad等新型平臺(tái)（電子藝界目前在此領(lǐng)域是領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者）,。同時(shí)，它必須將適合長(zhǎng)時(shí)間進(jìn)行的游戲進(jìn)行改造,，使之適應(yīng)社交網(wǎng)絡(luò),。社交游戲玩家每次的游戲時(shí)間相對(duì)較短。不過(guò)里奇泰洛并不擔(dān)心,。他說(shuō),，盡管Zynga之流可能更適應(yīng)社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)，但電子藝界擁有大量高品質(zhì)的游戲,，它們擁有一批忠實(shí)的追隨者,。換句話說(shuō)，玩家們可以期待返老還童的約翰?麥登（說(shuō)的是游戲，而不是那位教練）,。

????譯者：項(xiàng)航

????Is John Madden going social in a big way? Not the football commentator. ("He's not really the tweeting type," an associate says.) No, we're talking about the Electronics Arts videogame Madden NFL, named after the famous coach.

????Fresh off its recent success in social games -- EA's Sims Social is the No. 2 game on Facebook, behind Zynga's CityVille -- the game publisher says it is making a big push to modify a dozen of its most popular franchises to social platforms.

????In fact, EA (ERTS) has already experimented with Facebook versions of Madden and its FIFA soccer game, but it never widely publicized those efforts or tried hard to make money on them. Now, CEO John Riccitiello says, social games are at the heart of a broader strategy to make EA's games playable on any device or platform, and for consumers to be able to keep playing a game or track their progress as they move from a console to a smartphone to a tablet to a desktop. (Riccitiello tells me he is personally frustrated that he can't port his Angry Birds scores from his original iPad to his newer iPad 2, for example.)

????EA's plan is sort of a variation of the "TV Everywhere" model championed by Time Warner (TWX), Fortune's parent, and others. Consumers get to play the game on any platform once they've paid for it. EA also makes money from games such as Sims Social when heavy users buy virtual currency and other items for their games.

????For Riccitiello, the move to social and other digital platforms is the centerpiece of his efforts to reinvent EA, which he admits had become bloated and complacent, depending on tired franchise titles while producing a large volume of lower-quality games. EA lost more than $1 billion in 2009. To catch up, EA went into acquisition mode: In 2009 it snapped up Zynga rival Playfish for $275 million, and earlier this year bought PopCap Games, a maker of so-called casual games, for about $750 million. "We put the company back on track by embracing the very thing that threatened us," Riccitiello said in a recent speech.

????EA's turnaround is far from complete. The company is still losing money -- it lost $340 million in its second quarter -- and its digital strategy is hardly a slam dunk: It will need to juggle games on many platforms, including traditional consoles like Xbox and new form factors like the iPhone and iPad (where EA is a leader today). Meanwhile it must transition franchises designed for long hours of play to the social world, where users play in short bursts. Riccitiello isn't worried, though. Zynga and its ilk may have stronger social DNA, he says, but EA has a library of high-quality games with loyal followings it can mine. Put another way, fans can expect a rejuvenated John Madden (the game, not the coach).