Here’s EA’s E3 conference wrap up, it includes their barrage of yearly installments, Battlefeild Hardline and also…. Mass Effect!

 

Unfortunately, due to IGN’s stream messing up for me, I missed the introduction, but it was probably a huge dubstep thing anyway with lots of lights, so I’m not too worried.

Watching the Post wrap up on IGN, I noticed that I actually missed a video on their new Star Wars installment, and showed all the giant robots and flying machines, I don’t do Star Wars, excuse my blasphemy but I’ve never seen the films.

Awesome, someone has already uploaded the video to youtube:

My conference started when I saw a video about Dragon Age: Inquisition, with a live Cello performance, EA seemed to have a thing about ’emotional’ music added into their game. The Bioware Studio general manager was there and showed new a new gameplay demo, along with a new mechanic which is a camera mode which make the camera further away from all the characters (4th person) so it looks similar to a Dota game, which was very interesting and a mechanic which should open up a new audience.

The game also got an announcement on it’s date, October 7

 

The next game for the EA limelight was a new Mass Effect, rather than a direct sequel they showed a developer diary and they were explaining how they’ve listened to the feedback they’ve received, they’ve listened and have conceived all new characters, in an all new universe. We still saw our very own Commander Shephard however, so don’t sweat it.

 

After the Mass Effect presentation they took a bit of a turn, talking about Sims 4. It started off with a girl named Rachel walking on stage, to a bunh of fake child/girly screams. with her staring at the audience like it was coming from that direction, pretty weird to be honest. But that’s not the point.

This sims is completely different than previous ones, rather than creating your character you also give them their traits, personality and what happens in their daily life could influence their attitude the next day. An example given was how a hot-headed bodybuilder who loved poetry, was interested in a flirty older woman who is a bit insane, he read her some of his poetry and she despised it. So much infact that she beat him up, the next day when he was in the gym he was very angry and workout out twice as hard. So to cheer him up we threw him a party and invited all the neighbors. But also, our stubborn flirty older lady, named Gladis shows up and is still annoyed at our gym buddy, and starts beating up a teddy bear (It was really a teddy unicorn though) and dampened the mood considerably.

Here’s another new feature that impressed me quite a bit. The Sims people create are uploaded onto a connected page where you can bring them into your game, so the demo decided to bring a fun-loving singer into the party to brighten up the mood, I was pretty impressed

 

Here’s the video:

‘He’s working out tho’se abbs’

Sorry, but he’s doing leg extension, he’s working out his Quad’s

 

 

Their crapton of yearly installments were up next, these were touched upon in videos and a small description from the developer

UFC 15

They didn’t spend too much time on this worth noting down, other than praising Bruce Lee and how he’s a playable character, so that’s pretty much it to be honest.

NHL 15

Not much was really said about this either to be honest, other than the graphics being astonishing, and this phrase;

‘We’ve put physics on all 12 players and the puck’

Now I’ve stated before, I’m not a tech geek  but doesn’t everything have physics in the game, just by being in the game?

at the end of the presentation, it showed a small clip of 2 hockey players fighting. If there’s a fighting mini-game I’m so getting it.

Last year, Madden quoted ‘Every blade of grass is rendered’ 

 

The next game up was a surprising one, and although it was stated that it was very early for this to be shown, they put it frnk and said it’s not like it’d be easy to keep it a secret. So they revealed it anyway.

Criterion.

Rather than keeping on their driving vision, they took a turn and have decided to involve other vehicles for a change, these are the vehicles they mentioned (and what were shown) in the dev diary:

• ATV/Quad bike
• Helicopter
• Plane
• Jetski
• Car
• Wingsuit

It’s also noted that the game is first person

 

Developer Tiberion took the stage next, which revealed PGA Tour, their next golf game. With a twist however, rather than being a traditional Golf game, with the best golf courses wherever, etc, it also has fantasy ones. An example given was a battleship crossing mid-course, and the hole is the other side of the course, which looked pretty fun!

 

Madden was up after PGA Tour, and they mentioned how they had quite a bit on feedback on the defense, and have made it their mission to improve it, when grappling you can choose in what direction to throw your opponent, you can dive to trip them up, which I presume is a new feature in the series, they’ve also put alot of improvement towards emotions/animations of the characters while on the pitch, as well of all of this they also announced a release date for it, August 26th.

 

 

The Mirrors edge reboot was up next, and another dev diary was on the big screen. The developers explained that this game will tell you why Faith is who she is, and how she became herself.

 

Fifa 15!

 

The development team also mentioned how they’ve put alot of concentration on the smaller details, which are always the ones that impress. Here’s a few they mentioned:

• Boots leave marks on the pitch
• Sliding tackles permanently cuts the grass (for that game, I presume)
• Corner Flags move when hit
• Goal Posts shudder when they’re hit

 

 

And last but definitely not least was their headline act, Battlefeild: Hardline. With a few shock announcements, for example, signup for the Beta is live NOW with limited spaces. Fancy playing it? Sign up here:

http://www.battlefield.com/hardline/beta

They spent alot more time and emphasis on this game unlike other ones, which is a given, the story/setting is Cops vs Criminals rather than  warfare, which is an interesting twist, as it still seems to play homage to the battlefield series. They boasted a new mode where it’s cops vs criminals and each team has to get the loot, so essentially capture the flag. There were lots of different vehicles, ones shown were:

• Cars
• Minigun cars
• Helicopters
• Ziplines

There were a few weapons shown also, other than the obvious SMG/ Shotgun, there were Tasers and also Baseball Bats

I was pretty surprised about the Beta announcement, and hopefully I’ve got in. But I’d sign up fast!

The Beta is only out for PS4 and PC

 

 

Phew…..

Now time to start drafting the Ubisoft roundup…