Games

E3 2010: Electronic Arts Game Highlights

EA held their big E3 press conference at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, demonstrating upcoming games they have scheduled to come out in 2010 and 2011.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit: Creative director on the new NFS game Craig Sullivan demonstrated a live race where he played as a cop against an opponent playing as a "racer." Sullivan announced that they are taking the series "back to its roots," as he raced a police car Lamborghini through a forest. He eventually busted his opponent by slamming his vehicle into the racer, wrecking the vehicle in the process.

Dead Space 2: Executive producer Steve Papoutsis talked about how they "are really putting a stamp on the horror genre" with the Dead Space sequel as he showed off a live demonstration of the game. At the start of the demo, a new nightmarish long-legged enemy descended upon Isaac Clarke, which he slaughtered quickly. Soon after this a horde of demonic children with elongated fingers joined the fight. Clarke decapitated one of the children by smashing its fragile skull with the butt of his rifle, and then blew the rest apart with his machine gun. He also took out several other enemies returning from the original Dead Space with the javelin gun, stapling them to the environment. He later nearly avoided getting sucked out into space when a window in the room shattered. The demo concluded with Clarke encountering a huge monstrosity before the screen faded to black.

Medal of Honor: General manager Sean Decker demonstrated a brief live 24-player demo of the new Medal of Honor game. The team assault match shown took place in Kabul, Afghanistan, in a map riddled with crumbling buildings, stairwells, and smoldering debris. A trailer for the new Medal of Honor concluded the presentation.

A new downloadable expansion pack titled Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam was also shown in the form of a short trailer.

EA Sports MMA: EA Sports president Peter Moore introduced the new mixed martial arts video game, highlighting the new EA Sports Live Broadcast where you can put your face on an MMA fighter, smack talk opponents online, and get to participate in live broadcasted online matches for "real world prizes and online fame." Real announcers will apparently also provide commentary for those lucky enough to have their online games broadcasted.

EA Sports Active 2: A video was shown, featuring some of the various forms of exercise you can partake in including running and bike riding. They also showed a short live demo of EA Sports Active 2 running with Kinect, where a player on stage pummeled a punching bag.

Madden NFL 11: "Simpler, quicker, and deeper," are the apparently the focuses of where Electronic Arts is taking the new entry in their flagship football franchise, Madden NFL 11. NFL Hall of Famer Joe Montana also came out on stage to talk about how football coaches actually put together plays and communicate them effectively to players in real life. Madden NFL 11 is said to evolve the way plays are executed in order to achieve a more authentic experience.

Crysis 2: The anticipated sequel to Crysis will allegedly feature "the most intelligent enemies ever featured in a first-person shooter." A gameplay video was shown where the player used an array of weapons -- including a shotgun and remote activated explosives -- to destroy a giant mech terrorizing a city. 3D gaming was also one of the focuses of EA's press conference as they handed out pairs of 3D glasses to everyone who attended. They discussed how the company is embracing the new technology with titles like Crysis 2, which will be playable on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC in full stereoscopic 3D this holiday. A short cutscene of Crysis 2 running in full 3D was shown to the audience.

Bulletstorm: Cliff Bleszinski came out on stage and announced Bulletstorm's release date, which is February 11, 2011. One of the early missions in Bulletstorm was unveiled in a live demo where the player butchered countless enemies in inventive ways such as kicking one into an electrified machine and smashing another underneath a heavy steel door. "Cheesy" is definitely what Epic is going for as some of the protagonist's one liners include "you just scared the dick off me" and "what are you doing fatty (to a large enemy), eating those bullets?" Corny dialogue aside, the game is visually astonishing.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: A short trailer was shown where a battle broke out between the republic and the empire in Alderan. Intense lightsaber fights ensued and EA teased that this portion of the game will be playable on the E3 showfloor.