Monday, June 13, 2016

E3 2016: EA Press Conference

So, catching up on yesterday.

Andrew Wilson CEO of EA comes out to say this will be a new kind of show for E3 because there's so much to do in only 60 minutes.  The show is called EA Play.  It's actually happening in two locations, Los Angeles and London being hosted by Peter Moore. So, let's hope they make the best of it!

After a lot of talk, Andrew brings out Vince Zampella from Respawn to talk about Titanfall 2.  A video plays to show off some gameplay footage.  It looks like a lot of chaotic fun, and is easily recognizable as Titanfall.  Running, jumping, leaping into mechs.  There's also grappling hooks.  Vince talks more about the game, with six new games, more customization and progression systems.  People can sign up for a beta at Titanfall.com and then Vince just says something that gets my ears perked up. "SINGLE PLAYER!"  Yes, EA, this lack of single player is why didn't bother checking out the first Titanfall.  Now, let's just hope it's not a half-assed five hour campaign. October 28th is the release date for both PS4 and Xbox One.  Another trailer is show, I believe he said for the single player campaign.  It shows some pretty cool stuff.  There's also some hinting at a narrative between mech and pilot.  The voice of the mech also somewhat sounds like Optimus Prime. :P

A trailer for Madden 17 plays.  Sounds like it's set to a Pusha T song.  I've never been a fan of football so by extension never been a Madden fan, but I do appreciate them highlighting the Denver Broncos!  Peter Moore comes out to talk about Madden and its "all new" features.  *yawns* Next, he talks about focusing on competitive gaming, which I've also never gotten into.  He introduces some competitive players whose names I've already forgotten.  In the interest of time, I'm just going to fast forward.

Finally! He moves on and introduces Aaryn Flynn from Bioware to talk about Mass Effect Andromeda.  It will, obviously, take place in the Andromeda galaxy.  Now, I'm behind on Mass Effect, because I skipped 3 since it just didn't look all that good to me so I'm honestly not that excited for Andromeda.  A behind the scenes trailer is shown talking about the science that goes into creating the game's universe.  Didn't really see much to excite me, but if they can get the game to focus away from ME3 and be more like the first or even the second, I'll get excited again.

Andrew comes out again to talk about supporting the gaming community through content updates.  He says there's a free trial for many upcoming games available all week long.  Next, he talks about a new initiative called Play to Give.  Basically, it's charity donating through meeting challenges while you play certain games such as Battlefield, Star Wars and FIFA.  That sounds pretty cool.  EA also said they're goal is to donate 1 million dollars.

Peter Moore comes out again.  He's setting up to talk about FIFA.  I have no interest for soccer so I'm just going to skip ahead.

Patrick Soderlund EVP of EA Studios come out to talk a game called Unravel.  Also, he's talking about a new program called EA Originals (most likely inspired by Netflix Originals, Amazon Originals, etc).  Basically, it's EA backing small developers to get their games out in the world, and he says that "ALL" of the profit will go back to the developers so they can keep making new games.

Patrick brings out a guy from Zoink games, Klaus Lyngeled (had to Google that, since the show producer didn't splash his name) to talk about a game called Fe.  There are graphics going on behind him while he talks, and it almost reminds me of Limbo.  It sounds like it's going to be a game about nature and how your actions affect it.  You'll play as a creature and there will be music that you learn to play to access new areas to the forest.  So far, it's been still shots, but now there's a gameplay trailer.  At first what I thought was just 2D is now actually 3D.  The music is somber and relaxing., and the animations are wonderful.  The art style uses lots of purples and blues.  I might have to check this game out.

Iconic Star Wars music now plays.  Jade Raymond comes out to talk about Star Wars games.  Galaxy of Heroes, Old Republic and Battlefront are the current three Star Wars games that EA supports, and next year there will be a new expansion for Battlefront.  New content will be added based on the upcoming films.  Visceral is also involved in making a brand new Star Wars game in 2018.  Respawn will be working on their own game as well.  A behind the scenes video plays and people of EA Star Wars are talking about their experience working with LucasFilms.

Andrew comes back out to talk about Battfield 1.  A quick trailer is shown.  I believe this was the one that was shown several days ago.  Patrick Bach comes out to talk more about the game, and leading up to the live stream play of the game (of course, this was yesterday so that's already happened).  It was a 64 player match, and apparently Jamie Foxx and Zach Effron were players (hurray... )  There will be a focus on destruction, and there will be weather and day/night cycles that will affect gameplay.  You can take control of vehicles such as battleships and zepplins.  Another video is shown.  Again, it's the one we've already seen.

Peter Moore comes out to close the show off and then talk about all the playable kiosks they have.  (Wish I was there!) Andrew comes out as well to say "It's time to play."

So, EA is already at a disadvantage when it comes to impressing me because a good portion of every one of their conferences is dedicated to sports.  I was so bored with their sports and competitive gaming sections that I skipped right over it.  Also, this is a new kind of show for them, leaving ALL the playable stuff out of the show to save for kiosks.  There was a lot of talking filler going on, so I think they could have at least shown off some demos for people who weren't there to actually try it, and I think it was completely superfluous of them to highlight the fact that Jamie Foxx and Zac Effron were part of the 64 player live demo.  Like anyone cares... The highlight of the show for me, though, would be Titanfall 2 just because it has a single player campaign.  I am eagerly anticipating to hear just how extensive it is.  If it's roughly 10 hours, they have a sale at 60 dollars.

Thanks for reading!

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