Electronic Arts' pre-E3 conference: New Need For Speed
Going into this year's E3 EA had one of the best, and largest, line-ups of any company. But then they have a lot to prove after losing their crown to Activision as the world's biggest third party publisher, and seeing many of their recent new titles flounder commercially - if not critically.
It's hard to see that happening with most of their E3 titles though, starting with Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit from Burnout creators Criterion. With a purposeful back to basics focus, Criterion at least seems to realise that the best bit about the older games was the police chases and the exotic cars. The two-player police chase looked particularly good via the new Autolog mode, which automatically connects you online with friends. The game's out on 16th November in the U.S.
The first of ten further titles was Dead Space 2, sequel to the mostly successful sci-fi survival horror. Pleasingly the game acknowledges most of the complaints about the original, with a more freeform mission structure (so no more acting as intergalactic repairman) and the transformation of your telekinetic powers into a genuinely useful offensive weapon. The newly destructible environments also impress and new enemies such as the horrible mutated children are genuinely scary. The game was dated for 28th January 2011.
The next game was the Medal Of Honor reboot, which was demoed live on stage with a 24-player firefight in the multiplayer mode created by Battlefield developer DICE (the single player is by regular Medal Of Honor maker EA LA). The game looks like it could be a genuine contender even amongst the slew of other military first person shooters. It's more serious than Modern Warfare, but with similar arcade style controls. It's out on 12th October.
A beta test period for Medal Of Honor was set for 21st June, with fans being encouraged to sign up to something called <a href="http://www.gunclub.ea.com/">Gun Club</a> for access. This is basically an online rewards programme for EA action games, offering beta access, pre-order bonuses and other assorted bribery.
Also announced for the first time was a new expansion pack for Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which is to be set in Vietnam. (In part at least the same setting as Call Of Duty: Black Ops.) The expansion is due out this winter and looks appreciably different to its full price parent game.
The first of EA Sports' presentations was for their new MMA game. Although a few familiar faces are in there (so we're told) the game is largely unlicensed, since THQ has a deal sewed up with the UFC. That's not a situation EA are used to, but the game's sweaty, angry men looked very authentic all the same. The game's out on 19th October.
MMA will also see the debut of a new general EA Sports feature which lets you record your own videos of in-game action, "trash talk" over the top of it and post it online. Sounds absolutely horrendous but no doubt EA is confident that others will feel differently.
EA Sports Active 2 won't feature any trash-talking videos but it will support Kinect, PlayStation Move and the Wii MotionPlus. EA claim that each control system will allow for true 1:1 motion sensing, while the game will be bundled with a heart rate monitor. You'll also be able to download new exercise on the 360 and PlayStation 3 when it comes out on 16th November.
We're not qualified to saying anything insightful about Madden NFL 11 but the first trailer for The Sims 3 on consoles, which is due out this autumn, looks impressively close to the PC version.
Those hoping for an announcement from Respawn Entertainment, the new studio formed of ex-Infinity Ward developers, went home predictably disappointed when EA merely name checked the publishing deal with them and Ratchet & Clank makers Insomniac Games.
EA went all out with Crytek's Crysis 2 though, which as if it wasn't high tech enough is now playable entirely in 3D (if you have a 3DTV of course). The first person shooter's graphics are stunning no matter how many dimensions you view them in, but despite all the talk of advanced artificial intelligence and semi-open world environments there's still some strangely un-engaging about its generic art design and characters.
Bulletstorm has personality to spare, even if attempts to paint it as a new Epic game seems a little unfair - since it's almost entirely the work of recently acquired Painkiller creators People Can Fly. The new first person shooter manages to make Gears Of War seem subtle, but despite all the swearing and OTT machismo the complex combo mechanics and excellent graphics are very impressive. The game is due out on 22nd February 2011.
EA didn't leave any surprises for the end of their conference, instead focusing on BioWare's massively multiplayer online game Star Wars: The Old Republic. Despite another hugely impressive cinematic trailer though our hands on time with the game has always proven much less exciting, despite all the new talk of Jedi vs. Sith battles in the jungles of Alderaan. Still, the game's not out till well into next year, so who knows.
Despite the relative lack of new releases then it was a justifiably confident showing from EA and one of their best line-ups for years.
Source: http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/830952-electronic-arts-pre-e3-conference-new-need-for-speed-and-more
Going into this year's E3 EA had one of the best, and largest, line-ups of any company. But then they have a lot to prove after losing their crown to Activision as the world's biggest third party publisher, and seeing many of their recent new titles flounder commercially - if not critically.
It's hard to see that happening with most of their E3 titles though, starting with Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit from Burnout creators Criterion. With a purposeful back to basics focus, Criterion at least seems to realise that the best bit about the older games was the police chases and the exotic cars. The two-player police chase looked particularly good via the new Autolog mode, which automatically connects you online with friends. The game's out on 16th November in the U.S.
The first of ten further titles was Dead Space 2, sequel to the mostly successful sci-fi survival horror. Pleasingly the game acknowledges most of the complaints about the original, with a more freeform mission structure (so no more acting as intergalactic repairman) and the transformation of your telekinetic powers into a genuinely useful offensive weapon. The newly destructible environments also impress and new enemies such as the horrible mutated children are genuinely scary. The game was dated for 28th January 2011.
The next game was the Medal Of Honor reboot, which was demoed live on stage with a 24-player firefight in the multiplayer mode created by Battlefield developer DICE (the single player is by regular Medal Of Honor maker EA LA). The game looks like it could be a genuine contender even amongst the slew of other military first person shooters. It's more serious than Modern Warfare, but with similar arcade style controls. It's out on 12th October.
A beta test period for Medal Of Honor was set for 21st June, with fans being encouraged to sign up to something called <a href="http://www.gunclub.ea.com/">Gun Club</a> for access. This is basically an online rewards programme for EA action games, offering beta access, pre-order bonuses and other assorted bribery.
Also announced for the first time was a new expansion pack for Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which is to be set in Vietnam. (In part at least the same setting as Call Of Duty: Black Ops.) The expansion is due out this winter and looks appreciably different to its full price parent game.
The first of EA Sports' presentations was for their new MMA game. Although a few familiar faces are in there (so we're told) the game is largely unlicensed, since THQ has a deal sewed up with the UFC. That's not a situation EA are used to, but the game's sweaty, angry men looked very authentic all the same. The game's out on 19th October.
MMA will also see the debut of a new general EA Sports feature which lets you record your own videos of in-game action, "trash talk" over the top of it and post it online. Sounds absolutely horrendous but no doubt EA is confident that others will feel differently.
EA Sports Active 2 won't feature any trash-talking videos but it will support Kinect, PlayStation Move and the Wii MotionPlus. EA claim that each control system will allow for true 1:1 motion sensing, while the game will be bundled with a heart rate monitor. You'll also be able to download new exercise on the 360 and PlayStation 3 when it comes out on 16th November.
We're not qualified to saying anything insightful about Madden NFL 11 but the first trailer for The Sims 3 on consoles, which is due out this autumn, looks impressively close to the PC version.
Those hoping for an announcement from Respawn Entertainment, the new studio formed of ex-Infinity Ward developers, went home predictably disappointed when EA merely name checked the publishing deal with them and Ratchet & Clank makers Insomniac Games.
EA went all out with Crytek's Crysis 2 though, which as if it wasn't high tech enough is now playable entirely in 3D (if you have a 3DTV of course). The first person shooter's graphics are stunning no matter how many dimensions you view them in, but despite all the talk of advanced artificial intelligence and semi-open world environments there's still some strangely un-engaging about its generic art design and characters.
Bulletstorm has personality to spare, even if attempts to paint it as a new Epic game seems a little unfair - since it's almost entirely the work of recently acquired Painkiller creators People Can Fly. The new first person shooter manages to make Gears Of War seem subtle, but despite all the swearing and OTT machismo the complex combo mechanics and excellent graphics are very impressive. The game is due out on 22nd February 2011.
EA didn't leave any surprises for the end of their conference, instead focusing on BioWare's massively multiplayer online game Star Wars: The Old Republic. Despite another hugely impressive cinematic trailer though our hands on time with the game has always proven much less exciting, despite all the new talk of Jedi vs. Sith battles in the jungles of Alderaan. Still, the game's not out till well into next year, so who knows.
Despite the relative lack of new releases then it was a justifiably confident showing from EA and one of their best line-ups for years.
Source: http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/830952-electronic-arts-pre-e3-conference-new-need-for-speed-and-more
