At EA our culture is guided and informed by what we call EA Action Values, six distinctive core behaviors that have been fundamental in forming the unique environment that we all enjoy as employees, regardless of role, location or tenure in company. Each year, we recognize individuals and teams who embody these values, and as you might imagine our FIFA 10 recently was awarded for their work in creating quality and innovation.

Last week in Vancouver I was honored to host a celebration for the team, including not only the development, marketing and central services team members, but perhaps more importantly for their “significant others” – the husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends that provide so much to the effort in the form of their understanding of long work hours, business travel away from home, and all of the stress and pressure that comes with creating something as special as this franchise. It was also payment to the team for a gauntlet I threw down over a beer with Dave Rutter, FIFA’s Line Producer. Beat 90 metacritic said I, and I’ll take the whole team out for dinner…

FIFA 10 has now received tremendous external recognition in the form of 50+ awards from around the globe, but arguably the team was the most excited and humbled to receive two “British Oscars” – The BAFTA Award given each year by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Each team member and their guest were photographed with the award – here you can Alex Kachura, Sr. Development Director, Kaz Makita, Executive Producer, yours truly with the award, and Matt Bilbey, GM of our football business.

It was a great trip, as we also hosted a large gathering of international media for a first look and hands on gameplay sessions with our upcoming product lineup.  We’re only three weeks away now from E3, so keep your eyes out over the next few weeks for previews and new assets that will hit before the big show in LA.

Finally how about that Red Sox pitching last weekend? I go back and forth between thinking the season is lost (my pre-2004 mindset) and then reminding myself that it is still May and that we are still only 2 ½ games behind the Yankees. Big series at Tampa Bay coming up – let’s see if the pitching can hold up against the hottest team in the big leagues right now.

Congrats as well to Inter Milan, and a personal plea to “The Special One” – you know you would much rather be managing in the English Premier League, and you know where the biggest challenge lies there right now…