EA E3 Press Conference Wrap Up

The EA E3 Press Conference is underway!

 

Opening the presentation, we’ve got Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare.  PopCap games has developed this silly series into a multiplayer platform, featuring 4 player cooperative survival mode.  With 4 characters; Peashooter, Chomper (close combat), Sunflower (healer class), and Cactus (distance shooter), players team up to take on events like Boss Waves and the epic Gargantuar. A trailer featuring gameplay and a healthy dose of Disco themed zombies (seriously!), showcased the next evolution in Plants vs. Zombies.

 

Next up Titanfall is showcased.  ReSpawn Entertainment will release this title to Xbox One, PC, and Xbox360 in spring 2014.  Titans vs. pilots becomes infused into a multiplayer experience, in a world that feels tailored to traditional single player gaming.  Titans are evolutions of the modern exo-skeleton, a very agile giant robot, easy for pilots to get in and out of with seamless ease.  The world has been built toa scale tailored to the Titans, but contains many elements for the smaller Pilots to use.

 

Peter Moore takes the stage again to mention the two new engines the EA has developed for all games on next-gen consoles.  EA Sports Ignite and Frostbite 3.  Following this brief announcement comes a teaser for Star Wars: Battlefront, on the Frostbite 3 Engine.  (We’re chasing down more details!)

 

After a momentary quiet, the stage ignites with a fast paced trailer for Need for Speed: Rivals.  Its cops vs. racers in this high-def game that incorporates both multiplayer and single player elements.  In fact, NFS: Rivals revolutionizes the online racing world by destroying the line between multi and single player, infusing the two into one world where races and chases can collide at any time.  You can start out single player mode, and quickly find yourself caught up in someone else’s chase, igniting multiplayer mode.  Its truly dynamic and breathes new life into the traditional chase games.

Need for Speed, the film, is announced bringing its star Aaren Paul (Breaking Bad) onstage to showcase a trailer for the upcoming film, due in 2014.

 

And now a teaser for Dragon Age: Inquisition, with new RPG experiences in a vast open world, where choices effect the world around you.  A trailer titled “The Fires Above” is released.  DA: Inquisition will be out in 2014.

 

EA Sports takes the stage for the next section.

 

A moment for Andrew Wilson to showcase the Ignite engine, allowing evolution in human instincts, agility, and living world environments where real life sports developments effect gameplay experience.

 

NBA Live 14 presentation brings NBA star Kyrie Irving onstage to feature advances in dribbling animation - redefined on next-gen with BounceTek.  BounceTek releases the ball from hand to hand motion, incorporating real physics.  Ball handling becomes interactive with other players and ball physics, allowing for creativity and self expression in dribbling by players.  NBA Live changes as real life sport develops, so you’ll never play the same game twice.

 

Madden NFL 25, for XboxOne and PS4, is next, and the highly anticipated presentation is actually painfully short.  Some information with gameplay footage shares details on intelligent players, TrueStep locomotion, and how PlayerSense allows 50 times more contextual information to be processed per second.  Lineplay is the new foundation in this Madden installment, focusing on development of intelligent offensive linemen, capable of dynamically shifting and sorting based on perceived threats.  Players, rendered in amazing detail, move and think like real life athletes creating an experience as close to real life as possible in gaming.  Adrian Peterson, NFL runningback, introduces new feature trailer.

 

FIFA 14 begins its presentation with interviews from international players (Messi!) and a few word from FIFA fan, Drake.  Emphasis placed on new innovations, life like stadiums with living spectators, new Pro Instincts like intelligent decisions (4x more decisions per second capable on this engine).  A fully playable version is available at E3 this week, and we expect reviews to hit the web in the next few days.

 

The iconic voice of the UFC, Bruce Buffer, calls onstage John Jones and Benson Henderson, UFC champions, to help introduce the new UFC game.  Featuring MMIA systems, fighters in UFC are able to organically alter strategy throughout the fight based on opponents actions and stats.  To make it feel real, viceral reactions to hits are incorporated, effecting how bodies respond and future actions.  UFC will be out next spring 2014.

 

Battlefield 4 takes the stage again, with another epic presentation.  DICE has certainly pushed through barriers with this one.  Its described as a “total package of emotion, immersion, and connection.”  The nicknamed Levolution feature allows full interaction with terrain, daringly shown off by the full collapse of a high rise building during the gameplay demo, inciting applause from the audience.  Its destruction of Air, Land, & Sea, with a new Command Mode, giving the option to take command with a birds eye view of battle.  BF4 offers a fully connected experience in your living room or on tablets, allowing you to interact with the game anytime, anywhere, and on multiple devices.

A gameplay demo features plenty of explosions, tanks, helicopters, debri flying around, intense graphics, and the previously mentioned building collapse, the result of a joint effort by teammates.   Its a tough act to follow.

 

Wrapping up the presentation is a quick teaser: Faith is back in Mirrors Edge 2!   And that’s all we know for now.  Yet another exciting development to follow up on this week.