EA test centre in Madrid by Zuzana Zelenakova

California-based company Electronic Arts is the world's biggest distributor of computer and video games. Founded in 1982 by Trip Hawkins, it stands behind the blockbusters such as The Sims, Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, The Simpsons and FIFA. In October 2007 EA officially inaugurated its European test centre located in a northeast part of the Spanish capital. The test centre has provided jobs for 200 to 400 young people 20 European countries. 27 other cities were taken into consideration for the emplacement of the office, but only four of them made it into the finale: Warsaw, Prague, London and Madrid. The winner was selected because of its geographical location and popularity among the tourists. "We decided several years ago that we needed to centralize all of our services," said Jamie Gine, Electronic Arts' international vice-president for development services. The centre security system based mainly on magnetic-strip cards is high-class as to prevent the industrial espionage. Many people at the office work on translating the video games into 17 European languages. But as a part of the security system they have access only to the voices of characters and the dialogues, not to the images from the game. "You don't necessarily have to have great technical knowledge (to do the job)," Laurent Gabas, 25-year-old French games tester said. The six-floor 6,000 square meter testing centre have kitchen on each floor and also rest area with dart board, billiard table and we can't forget about the video games consoles of course.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080206/tc_afp/lifestylespainusvideogames_080206184444;_ylt=AsMSQT3NclnzUCnI8mmtNVCs0NUE

by Zuzana Zelenakova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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