Electronic Arts today made a number of key revelations during its Analyst Day. In particular, the publisher is looking to extend the Skate and Burnout franchises during fiscal 2009. This would mean that a product from either franchise, and not necessarily a full sequel, will release between the period of April 2008 and March 2009.

In addition to this, EA confirmed that work was continuing on the Mass Effect series and it would be a trilogy of games. The publisher also reconfirmed that distributing deals for the sci-fi RPG series would be handled by them and not Microsoft, going forward. EA also added that the next game in the Need for Speed series would be focusing on the street racing that made previous installments so popular.

Also revealed is that Pandemic is currently working on a new title based around the Lord of the Rings license. No details about this game are otherwise known. "We're all big Lord of the Rings fans here at Pandemic Studios, so we're very anxious to begin telling more about this project soon," a Pandemic rep told GameDaily BIZ.

Finally, the Sims label announced success with the recently launched MySims franchise, commenting that they've shipped $3 million units and received $100 million in sales for the game on Wii and DS. They're now looking to expand the franchise with MySims Kingdom and MySims Party for Wii and DS. The label also announced the plans for SimsOnStage.com and TheSimsCarnival.com, two new Sims community sites, in addition to SimCity Creator and SimAnimals.