If you're anything like me you are super hyped for all the conferences and wishing you could be there in person to try things and be a part of the magic. Alas I have responsibilities and I have to stay here feet firmly on the ground and watch from home (though I did score some tickets for Sony's in theatre showing tomorrow which I'll be going to). I'm hoping to post the round up's for each day's announcements but due to some familial commitments yesterday I couldn't get EA's up until today so be sure to read on to find out what we learned yesterday or watch the whole presentation here.
EA's Let's Play presentation started off with a Trailer montage that includes Star Wars, Madden, Fifa & Battlefront giving us a hint of what we can expect throughout the presentation. We got off to a pretty cool start with a drum line clad in Patriots Jerseys followed by some Madden Game Engine footage. Madden's NFL 18 Longshot seems that it will have a cinematic story line included and looks to be pretty dramatic.
"Madden like you've Never Seen it" - Andrew Wilson, CEO
We move on to Andrew Gulotta who throws us over to several clips of You Tube content creator clips of Battlefield 1 game play and talking about the game and the game community at large after which we learn about new content coming to Battlefield 1. We will see 2 new Night Maps debut this summer with Nivelle Nights coming in June and Prise de Tahure in July. Following that we will get a major revolution in the fall with In the Name of the Tsar expanding game play into the eastern front and bring us 6 new maps, the Russian army including the Husar Calvary and the iconic Women's Battalion of Death. We will also see new vehicles and weapons introduced as well as all new assignments offering us a richer game play experience overall. You'll have the ability to tailor your game play style with specializations, and we'll get new multi battle experiences through new operations. We then got our first look of In the Name of the Tsar trailer.
We then got a small information tease from Patrick Soderlund who told us we will see a new competitive Battlefield experience and more information on that will come to us at Gamescom in August. After this we spent some time hearing about competitive esport including the largest FIFA championship yet which will come this fall and more information to be released this summer. We then saw some tournament footage and a Trailer for Fifa 18.
Using Cristiano Ronaldo to get motion capture to improve the way the players move in Fifa 18, which will also contain a Story mode, is a fantastic way to improve this iconic game. We also heard a lot about the way it brings the players to life bringing in personal style and technical ability. Then we moved on to hearing all about Alex Hunter from Men in Blazers' Michael Davies & Roger Bennet. and got a short trailer of some Game Engine footage from Fifa 18: The Journey.
After the trailer we were handed over to Youtuber Jessie Wellens and I'm sorry to say but this was probably the most awkward area of the presentation. It felt slightly unprofessional and Jessie didn't seem to know what to say or do for his part. Likely he wasn't well enough prepared in advance or it his nerves got to him as he fumbled somewhat. Though being fair, EA has a habit of having an awkward and slightly cringey presentation in general.
Jessie along with Executive Producer Marcus Neilsson brought us some Need for Speed Payback information. We learned that we will see a new narrative brought to the game as we play as 3 characters - Jess, Mac & Tyler - and see deeper visual and performance customization. We got to hear about a new bit of the game called Relics, where you take a broken down abandoned classic car and restore it from Scrap to Stock and then finally to Supercar status. That is probably the most exciting part of it for me. The trailer of the game shown was a highway heist and it reminded me of a Fast & the Furious - Gone in 60 Seconds Lovechild which is awesome (and if you haven't seen it go watch it right now!)
Patrick Soderlund talked a little about the introduction of EA Originals last year and let us know that after hundreds of pitches from indie developers looking to partner with them, there are now several titles underway through this program. This segued into his story of how after playing Brothers: A tale of two sons, he was so impressed that he contacted the creator of the game and found out that he had started Hazelight Studios and had this crazy idea for a new game. It went from crazy on paper to a groundbreaking new IP. We were introduced via the trailer for A Way Out. A Way Out is a co-op only game which while it can be played online, is designed to be at is best when played via couch co-op with a friend. Jason Fares wanted to create a game where each player can embark on a journey together but yet with unique goals and tasks. We saw this in the game play footage shown where one player is in a cutscene and the other is performing tasks playing the game. This looked really interesting to me and seemed an exciting way to bring something new to co-op gaming that we haven't seen before. I can't wait to get my hands on it when it comes out in early 2018.
Patrick Soderlund intruduced us to the new research division dubbed SEED [Search for Extraordinary Experiences Division] explaining a little about what they do and after hyping up the Project Scorpio devkit he showed us Madden NFL 18 which used Scorpio combined with Frostbite to create the most detailed, high resolution game possible.
We got a very small Teaser for some new IP from Bioware with more to come at the Microsoft Press Conference. Anthem looks to be a Sci-Fi game with big monsters, halo-esque armored suits and some incredible looking environments. I can't wait to hear more when I see the Microsoft Press conference.
We got to see a tiny snippet of the detailed responsive gameplay in NBA Live 18 and learned there is a free demo coming in August where you can carry your progress to the full game. This installment of the game is centered on you and your choices will determine how your journey plays out. You can play in the league for an authentic NBA experience or go the street ball route bringing something entirely new to your game.
We got our general thank you's and learned that EA Access and Origin will be giving free access for a limited time and then switched over to Janina Gavankar, who if you are a fan of Star Wars Battlefront, needs no introduction. Battlefront 2 aims to fix the host of problems and concerns people had with Battlefront 1. It will tell a story, taking place between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, however couch co-op will return via Skirmish mode, and overall game content spanning all 3 Star Wars eras will give three times the content of the first game. There will be more vehicles, more abilities, classes and general options, more customization and you'll be able to play not only as a Special Ops Imperial soldier intent on revenge against the rebel alliance but you'll be able to play as the likes of Kylo Ren, Luke Skywalker and others from your favorite eras. The gameplay has been fine tuned, pre-orders will get early beta access, Finn will be in the "Last Jedi" inspired first season of add on content and the best thing about the announcement? ALL Post release add ons will all be FREE.
While the EA Presentation wasn't necessarily everything people hoped for, and cringey at times it could have been worse and I'm pretty excited to see what the rest of E3 has in store for us.
Be sure to check back here to read up on what's announced over the rest of E3 and until next post,
Take Care
WDragonX
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