Electronic Arts has set its sights on that bountiful supply of new revenue for the games industry, the casual gamer, with a new sports label.

Can anybody else hear the sound of EA Sports head Peter Moore yelling, "Take that!" at Activision Blizzard's Bobby Kotick?

The label, dubbed 'EA Sports Freestyle', will include games that are (in EA's words), "playful, inclusive, casual, and easy to pick up and play for kids and parents, women and men, and casual and hardcore sports fans of all ages."

The brand will play host to new sporting properties with three of them already under development and set for release over the next 12 months. You may have already heard of one of those - arcade-style boxing title, FaceBreaker - the first new console sports property from EA since 2002.

While nothing has been explicitly said, it's reasonable to expect that the label will place a strong emphasis on the Wii. In a blog post foreshadowing the announcement of Freestyle, Peter Moore, the president of EA Sports, trumpeted about eight new titles on the Wii in the same breath as discussing new intellectual properties for EA Sports. Freestyle would appear to be the home of that new IP and in Moore's head that IP would appear to be linked to Nintendo's console.

“EA Sports Freestyle will be a perfect complement to our core portfolio of games that our loyal fans are deeply passionate about, and will provide compelling opportunities for new audiences looking for a lighter gaming experience and an easier entry point into EA Sports”, said Moore in his corporo-quote du jour..

This isn't the first time that EA has tried to attract casual gamers to its sports titles. It slotted a new gameplay mode - 'Family Play' - into the Wii versions of several of its sports titles recently.