E3 2013: The EA Press Conference Round-Up

Catch up on all the biggest MICROSOFT, SONY, and NINTENDO E3 2013 Announcements:

The EA (Electronic Arts) Press Conference was all about one thing: the games that you’ll be playing on the next-generation consoles.

EA came out of the gate at this press conference showing off the playful and humorous gameplay of PLANTS VS. ZOMBIES: GARDEN WARFARE, a shooter based on the PLANTS VS. ZOMBIES universe, and wasn’t necessarily the most interesting way to start off a conference. It’s trying to sell people on the fact that it’s developing the games you’ll be wanting to play next-generation and starting off slow with a game like this was a bit of a let down.

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But this didn’t last long.

Following PLANTS VS. ZOMBIES: GARDEN WARFARE, EA dropped a surprise reveal of a new game called TITANFALL, a first-person shooter that allows you to fight in either an armored titan mecha or as a regular pilot. This game announcement was followed by numerous game announcements of EA’s more established franchises like: NEED FOR SPEED: RIVALS and DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION. Technical demos were also presented following NEED FOR SPEED: RIVALS and DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION, which were both were impressive and appealing to their fan bases.

Appealing to different demographics was a running theme throughout the course of EA’s Press Conference. “If you don’t like TITANFALL , well, why don’t you take a look at NEED FOR SPEED: RIVALS or another one of our games like BATTLEFIELD 4,” that was the kind of messages EA was giving off during their press conference. The message that they have games for everyone.

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A large portion of EA’s Press Conference was dedicated to it’s sports department, EA Sports, and how it will revolutionize the way audiences play sports games this coming generation. EA’s staple franchises such as Madden and Fifa were shown, MADDEN 25 and FIFA 14 , along with the return of NBA LIVE with the next installment being NBA LIVE 14. With EA acquiring the rights to publish UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) games, the mixed martial arts sport, it made good on that publishing deal by announcing its first game called EA SPORTS UFC.

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Batting cleanup for EA was DICE which revealed more footage of it’s upcoming title, BATTLEFIELD 4. Showing off the graphics power it will utilizes from the next-generation consoles, Battlefield 4’s technical demo was robust and action packed. It’s clear that EA and DICE are doing everything they can to take the market share for best first-person shooter away from CALL OF DUTY, and with gameplay like this, it stands a fighting chance. DICE had a surprise for us though and that came in the form of MIRROR’S EDGE 2.

MIRROR’S EDGE 2’s trailer was a nice surprise to wrap up the EA Press Conference because it was the one game that showed innovation. While your FIFA 14 and DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION tried to show people that these franchises were doing something different this time around and that you should revisit these franchises again. They’re games we’ve seen before and know how they’ll play out. But MIRROR’S EDGE 2 looks like it’s trying to do something creative and different and that’s got me excited. MIRROR’S EDGE 1 in a way kind of came and went without making much of a commotion, which was strange because it was such a great game, so for DICE to come back to this franchise has me excited for the possibilities of what DICE can achieve with it. And I have to mention that there was an official announcement for STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT. This is exciting news, but no real details or gameplay footage was shown.

Overall EA’s Press Conference was average. It had it’s exciting moments, it had games that appeal to many different types of demographics, but it had no “wow” factor. This isn’t a bad thing though, most of EA’s new titles look intriguing and fun to play. With 11 new EA titles coming out by the end of next March there has to be a game for everyone in there.

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