Electronic Arts E3 Press Conference

By: Dave Mackiewicz

Electronic Arts' E3 press conference gave gamers a glimpse into the company's next year of releases. Here's a quick look at all of the announcements from the 2010 keynote.

–        Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

^–Currently being made by Criteron Games (creators of the Burnout series), the next installment in the NFS franchise features an online community powered by a system called Autolog.  Looks similar to some of the Burnout franchise's seamless incorporation of online and single player modes.  An onstage demo is played with two players in a Cops vs Racers scenario which looks to be a major focus of the game.  Release date scheduled for November 16^th.

–        Dead Space 2

–The sequel to the horror genre, sleeper IP takes place in the  sprawling (and quite infested) city of Scrawl.  New weapons and character designs looks to keep this series as intense as ever.  Scheduled for release on January 25^th, 2011.

–        Medal of Honor

^– The new chapter being created by EA Los Angeles (single player) and Dice (multi-player) pushes to 'raise the bar' in the FPS genre by taking the game to modern day Afghanistan.  A 24-person 'Assault' multi-player game is played onstage and looks quite impressive.  The game has a release date of October 12^th 2010, and a beta opening June 21^{st .}

–        Electronic Arts Gun Club

– A must for EA's FPS fanatics.  Gun Club provides shooters with rewards, weapon unlocks, early demos and betas, and news for upcoming and current releases.  A DLC Vietnam expansion was announced for Bad Company 2 coming Winter 2010 also.  Check out www.GunClub.EA.com for more details.

–        EA Sports MMA

– Featuring Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko on the this year's cover, EA breaks into the MMA genre with a 'simpler, quicker, and deeper' control scheme and Live Broadcast (my favorite part).  Live Broadcast is a chance for gamer glory as you create a fighter and real smack talk videos for a chance to play in front of thousands with live broadcasters and real prizes.  Look for this on October 19^th.

–        EA Sports Active 2

– Coming out November 16^th on Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii, EA Sports active goes wireless, has heart rate monitors, includes over 70+ exercises, and has instant online tracking. Demonstrators onstage made use of the Wii mote, free weights, Playstation Move and Kinect to perform demonstrations of exercises.

–          Madden 11

–A lot of emphasis this year is being placed on the reinvention of playcalling called Gameflow, which resembles more 'realistic' playcalling.  Online 3 vs 3 games were shown and games take half the time as previous years games.  Oh, and four-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Joe Montana was there.

–        Sims 3

–  Highlighted the unpredictable simulation aspects of Sims 3 and announced it's multi-platform release coming this October.

–        Crysis 2

–Taking place in New York City offering the same stunning visuals as the original. It will be playable in stereoscopic 3D on the PC, 360, and PS3, Holiday 2010.

–        Bulletstorm

–Cliff B's new game that encourages players to 'Kill with Skill' and offers over-the-top, pulpy, fast paced action for FPS fans.  Looks to keep it's promise of “Action and carnage with a wink and a smile”.  Scheduled for a February 22^nd , 2011 release. 

–        Star Wars: The Old Republic

–  Details were released that every player will have a starship to use as their base of operations, and Player vs Player encounters will take place in 'warzones'.  After that another awesome CG trailer was shown entitles 'Hope'.