My E3 Soapbox continues with my thoughts on the Electronic Arts event. With a publisher, the coverage is usually about the games involved, because it’s very rare a company showcases a product or service of their own. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen as was the case when EA debuted Origin. This year, like Triple H’s theme song says, it’s all about the game.
Again, if you missed, New Gamer Nation’s Editor In Chief, Joe Marchese went more in depth about what was shown during EA’s show, and gave his impressions of the conference here.
Dead Space 3
I just got into work and started watching a live stream just as the start of the show, and saw some of Dead Space 3. While the game itself didn’t look bad, the fans of the franchise might not like the new more open world of the game, as opposed to the tight quarters of past games. While a new direction isn’t always a bad thing, I’d like to see just how well this game holds up to the first two games when it does come out.
Madden NFL 13
We learned a little more about this year’s installment of the famed football franchise. With a new engine, to give the “most authentic gameplay physics”, and a new online mode this year’s Madden is ready to launch it’s hype machine. Last year’s Madden may have suffered due to the NFL lockout, but this year’s Madden looks to overhaul the gameplay itself. I don’t expect casual Madden fans to notice a difference, but hopefully, for EA’s sake, the core Madden gamer will love all the new changes.
Sim City Social & Sim City (PC)
I’m going to admit this, but I’m kind of a big Facebook gamer, when I’m at work. During all the down time, I look through my Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Zynga’s Poker game, an army game, and sadly Cafe World (Don’t look at me like that). Sim City Social might be one of those games where if I get a request, I might try it out for a few minutes and decide if I like it, forget about it for a while, then come back to it a few months later. Sim City for the PC, I’ll pass on, simply because I highly doubt my laptop is powerful enough for any real games.
Battlefield 3 Premium
I personally thought this was refreshing. A developer supporting a game with more DLC almost 7 months after it’s launch and more DLC to come possibly a year after the launch is excessive. Granted it’s an extra $50 out of your pocket, but it’s really up to the player on whether they want DLC for a game they’ve been playing, or a completely new game altogether.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
It didn’t seem like there was too much announced aside from some new missions. Again, my laptop isn’t powerful enough for PC games, so it’s an unfortunate “pass” for me.
FIFA 13
I’m not a big soccer gamer, but between Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer and EA’s FIFA 13, there’s going to be some interesting competition between the two games.
UFC & EA
I’m a big fight fan, and yet when this was officially announced and Dana White was on stage promoting the multi-year, multi-game partnership deal between the UFC and EA, I couldn’t help but think this has something to do with THQ’s financial trouble over the past few months. Still, I’d like to see where this goes because I thought UFC Undisputed 3 was, by far, the best in the series. Dana White has usually been against annual franchises, but annual sports franchises have made EA a ton of money. If Dana White has enough power, hopefully we see a UFC game when it’s good and ready, instead of one that’s just ready.
Need For Speed: Most Wanted
The latest Need For Speed is being developed by Criterion, who developed one of my favorite racing games of all time in Burnout Paradise. It looks like Need For Speed: Most Wanted, is taking the open world element of Burnout Paradise, and putting in the Need For Speed elements of high speed cop chases. I think I’m in love. This is the first game of the conference, of day 1 even, that I want to genuinely buy.
Crysis 3
I don’t know enough about the franchise to get as excited as I was for the Need For Speed game, and quite honestly, I was still thinking about it. The demo was something that did look nice. It might not be something I’ll play, but if given the opportunity, I might give it a shot just to see if I feel like I’m missing anything.
Summary
It was a nice conference for gamers of all types, fight fans, sports fans, shooters, PC gamers, and even the social and mobile gamers. It seemed like EA is sticking to it’s bread and butter and releasing games that make them money. Not necessarily a bad thing, considering you know you’re going to get quality games out of it. Still I think I would have liked to have seen a new game thrown out there. It wasn’t a bad conference overall, but just felt like it was missing a little something extra to put it over the top.
While I commend EA for putting out quality games, I would suggest EA takes a risk. Maybe next year, we can see what Vince Zampella and Jason West have been working on at Respawn Entertainment, now that the Activision suit has been settled. Although rumor has it, that whatever they are working on, it won’t be ready until the next generation of consoles. Still, an occasional risk, with the right presentation will get people excited about something new while still keeping the flame high on the noteworthy sequels.
Let us know what you thought of the EA conference. Was it good, bad, or somewhere in the middle? Also, stay tuned NGN for all your E3 goodness.