#E32016 EA Press Conference Recap/Predictions Review
Let’s get right into it!
So, EA led the conference with Titanfall 2. I knew they’d show off something big at the beginning. They mentioned that six new Titans will be added into the game. Of course, it’ll be available on PS4 as well this time around. I still think it’ll be shown off again at Xbox’s conference, though. They mentioned it’ll have a deep progression system and more customization. Cool… but… The Multiplayer looks almost exactly the same, just the fact that it’s on new maps. There’s some new animations as well, like one where a guy slammed another guy on the ground and killed him. Then there was this Titan that shot out a chest laser. I’m not impressed. Looks like Titanfall 1 besides minor differences. The map does seem a lot bigger, though. Campaign looks sort of interesting. I saw some weird creatures in the trailer, which I hope we get a chance to fight. Would love a variety of enemies. Looks like it’ll be sort of a bond between Titan and pilot kind of thing. Doesn’t look too interesting, but I’ll give it a shot.
EA announced a bunch of new programs too, which may bore some people, so I’m putting those at the bottom of the recap.
Madden 17 was shown off a bit. I didn’t really see or hear anything new about it. The only fact I caught was an “all-new commentary team.” They didn’t mention who they were, but there you go. I’m not a football fan, but you might be. That’s all I caught them saying, but perhaps I wasn’t paying enough attention.
FIFA 17 was given significant time. The game now runs on the Frostbite engine. They also have a new campaign mode that focuses around a character named Alex Hunter. Just feels like a copy of NBA 2K’s storyline from 2K16, except it’s FIFA and not a custom character. 2K’s story wasn’t good in the first place anyway. Famous managers in the premier league now have models on the sideline, though, so that’s good! They also explained how the engine allows them to rework things. They mentioned that they overhauled physical play, redid the A.I., rewrote the setpieces, and added new ways to finish at the goal. There’s new ways to attack. I’m not a FIFA fan, but I liked how enthusiastic Peter Moore was about it, and the way he kept representing pride in Liverpool. Also like how he asked the manager that showed up, “Does your son spend money on Ultimate Team?” Lmao. Oh, EA… you never change.
Mass Effect was only given a tease, which I’m okay with. I either wanted a big blowout like Fallout 4 last year, or I wanted them to keep relatively quiet about it. They mentioned that the player will be traveling to Andromeda, which makes you the alien in this galaxy. They mentioned giving the player more freedom, with a brand new cast of characters. It runs entirely on the Frostbite engine. Something about Andromeda being a “new home for humanity” was talked as well. Maybe you’re a refugee from our galaxy? The game is beautiful, of course, with diverse planets full of alien life and civilization. Reminds me of No Man’s Sky a little bit, with the different planets to explore and such - but it’s Mass Effect, so it’s vast and enthralling. Best part of the conference probably.
Fe is this cute little indie game. They mentioned Unraveled here, and continuing with their initiative to support indie developers, they showed off this game. This game looks amazing! You’re this cute creature in a forest and everything is based around music. Beautiful music, in fact. Reminds me of Journey, actually, except this is a different atmosphere. Journey was depressing and sad, while this looks happy and adorable. Yet the music is so well done. There are enemies in this game, who are trying to kill off the forest by spreading silence. The forest lives off of music. I’d love to try it when it comes out.
They went into their variety of Star Wars titles. I hope they’re good, because Star Wars fans are in for a treat if they are. Let’s start with the new Battlefront, which will be released in 2017. “Building on the foundation” was what they mentioned first. Hopefully that includes a campaign. They did say it will contain content from the new films, and more eras will be included. They also gave a peek at Lando Calrissian, along with Cloud City. I guess Lando will be a hero in the new Battlefront? I just want SinglePlayer, please.
They gave a peek at Amy Hennig’s Star Wars game with Visceral. She talked about telling “an authentic story” in the Star Wars world. Not much was shown of the game itself besides one shot of a guy in the Tatooine market, with a Star Destroyer looming in the distance. Very hopeful for this one. The game is slated for 2018.
Respawn is making a Star Wars game as well. Jade Raymond said their game would take place in a “different era.” From the lightsaber mo-cap they showed off, it looks like it might be around Episode 3 maybe? I know. Can’t take anything from a mo-cap session, lol. The Clone Wars is what came to mind with the comment about a different era, though. They also said it’d be a third person game.
Last of the game was Battlefield 1. It looks freaking beautiful. No mustard gas, don’t worry. Cooler stuff than that. They showed off the tanks, which looked awesome. Then the airplanes flying towards an airship which was great as well. They mentioned battles were going to be more dynamic, with more destruction altering the world and unpredictable weather patterns. They also mentioned “behemoth vehicles” that include airships or armored trains. I’m hoping these aren’t like the heroes in Battlefront, and anyone can get a chance to use them. Or maybe you can spawn on them? I don’t know, but the concept is intriguing, and I hope they don’t screw it up. The game releases worldwide on October 21st, and an open beta was announced for later this summer.
Now for the initiative stuff. You can skip over this if you’d like if you’re bored by this kind of thing.
ESports: EA seems to be very interested in this. They talked about this in regards to Madden, but I believe it applies to FIFA as well. They’re adding three new ESports types to their plans, called Challenger, Premier, and EA Major. Challenger is an ESports event hosted by someone in the community, basically. A glorified organized tournament, sort of. Premier is a large-scale live event for something like Twitch, and is hosted by EA. EA Major is for marquee global events. Like it’s literally on ESPN3. Those kind of events. They announced they’re doing five EA Major events this year, in different locations. We’ll see how it goes. I’m not that into ESports yet, personally, but I wouldn’t mind watching a stream or two if it’s presented well.
Play to Give: To sum this up, they’re giving special challenges in several EA games, which when completed, EA will donate money to charity. I’m not sure of the specific details, but that’s the gist I got. It’s for a good cause, so I’d like to see more of this.
EA Originals: This is basically their goal to help smaller indie developers realize their dreams. They’ve already started this via Fe and Unraveled, but now you have an official name for it. We’ll see how Fe does then. I’m all for helping out Indie developers. I’d like to hear about their experiences working with EA.
Reviewing My Predictions
So here’s how I’ll score my predictions. Incorrect is zero points. Half-correct is half a point. Fully correct is 1 point. I can get a possible ten points in this one.
- Star Wars: Battlefront DLC will be shown. Some kind of Rogue:One tie-in is possible. I don’t care. You screwed up Battlefront already, EA.
Battlefront DLC was not shown, but they did say the new Battlefront will have content from the new films. Half a point. (0.5/10)
- Titanfall 2 will be shown off and dated for this year. While some may be skeptical about it being in the same timeframe as Battlefield 1, I think EA can pull it off. I mean, they’re a juggernaut. They can market both.
Titanfall was shown and dated for this year. Score 1 for me. (1.5/10)
- Battlefield 1 is interesting to me. I didn’t play Hardline, but I kinda like Battlefield. I played some of the previous entries before. Mostly Battlefield 4. I want to see how this one is though. That WW1 setting is going to be really interesting and I'm excited for it.
They showed off Battlefield 1. This was a natural prediction. Everybody knew this would happen. (2.5/10)
- Some PvZ stuff and mobile stuff. Naturally.
No PvZ talk, actually. Does Galaxy of Heroes count as mobile? I think it does. They did mention mobile in passing, but it was never made a talking point. Half a point then. (3/10)
- Insert all of the sports stuff here. On a side note, the only sport I like is basketball. So I can predict something based on that. NBA Live might be pushed back to January, or perhaps even eliminated altogether. Live’s sales compared to 2K were downright atrocious. Just quit, EA. 2K won the basketball market. Just spend your money developing something else. You have every other sport wrapped up, so I don’t see why you insist on making basketball games that nobody buys.
Sports were mentioned, but NBA Live wasn’t mentioned at all. So… half a point or full point? I’d say half, since I did make a point that Live would be a topic. (3.5/10)
- Lo and behold! Praise the gods above! Command and Conquer gets risen from the dead and rebooted for PC! It’ll be Tiberium Dawn, but with beautiful graphics on a wonderful engine. I can dream, right?
Keep dreaming. Maybe at the PC conference? (3.5/10)
- A Sims 4 expansion will be announced. I don't see why not. The people watching go crazy because they love The Sims. Including me.
Nope. (3.5/10)
- Besides an expansion, a console port of Sims 4 will be announced as well. I’d love that. I loved the PS3 version of Sims 3, so a console version of this one will be nice as well. I’m sure it’ll run pretty well on this current gen console. The last gen version of Sims 3 didn’t run that well at times.
Oh well. (3.5/10)
- Unraveled 2 gets a teaser, possibly. Little Yarnie is likable. Yarnie > Sackboy.
Nope, but there’s another cute indie game! (3.5/10)
- Ending the show off with Mass Effect: Andromeda would be nice. I would give it the Fallout 4 treatment before going dark on it until a few months before release.
They didn’t give it the Fallout 4 treatment, and didn’t end with it, but it was shown. Half a point. (4/10)
God, I did awful with predictions for EA. I didn’t know the conference would be this short. I think they were reasonable guesses, though, besides Command and Conquer returning. Let’s see how I do with Bethesda!
Overall, I would rate EA’s conference a 5/10. It wasn’t bad, it was actually kinda good. I wanted them to be more fan-servicey this year, and it feels like they did that a little - with Mass Effect and Battlefield. Just a bit too short, though. Feels like they could’ve expanded on some of these topics more. They just didn't show anything. It suffered because they didn't show much! Not much gameplay was shown at all, but I wouldn't say it was bad. We got some good info on things, but this is E3. I want to see gameplay.
What did you think about the conference? Love it, hate it, meh? Any games you were expecting them to show? I saw people wanting Dead Space or Skate, but I knew those most likely weren’t going to be there. Let me know what you think!
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