E3 2009 - EA

*huff, huff, pant* Man it's hot outside. Made it out to the mall, got my glasses fitted, and back home in half an hour. Love my glasses (almost the same as my previous frames), not so happy about my sunglasses. The frames are bigger than I remember, which meant the lenses are too. And they’re THICK. So all I see out of the corner of my eyes is thick plastic. And it sucks. They look very clinical, and not at all stylish or sexy. Might see if that’s a significant complaint to go and pick new ones (they’ve got a 30-day guarantee; not sure if this sort of thing applies, but if not, what does?).

OK, the blog really hates MSWord. It keeps trying to code it, but I just want to copy paste. Unfortunately it’s so much easier to type in Word than straight into the blogger for long posts like this. I’m going to have to find a way to work around it, because I wanted to go back in and add some trailer links, and it kept yelling at me. Annnnd problem solved.

Also, flip flips (the ones with the thing between your toes) are not made for walking…any sort of distance. I wore them downtown yesterday, big mistake, because I have blisters now, and they hurt.

And here goes EA.

Zombies? Oh no this has got to be for Dante’s Inferno. And it looks exactly like God of War, so if you like GoW I expect you’ll like this. I’m not really interested in the butchering of a classic piece of literature myself.

This guy is…I’m not sure (back edit: was John Riccitiello, CEO of EA). He’s taking about the Sims 3 launch tonight at midnight. Pointing out people in the audience who worked on Dante and Sims. Now they’re showing Sims 3. What I’ve seen so far has been really cool. The game takes another huge leap in innovation. Which is great, because no one wants to play the same damn game over and over again (I’m looking at you Animal Crossing).

12 great games from 12 creators. Chip Lang (?). To talk about stuff for the Wii I think. Oh he’s the general manager of EA’s Hasbro division (hate Hasbro, they ruined Dungeons and Dragons). He’s talking about Littlest Pet Shop games. *sigh* No one sitting over there is going to give a crap about this. Marketing – you buy the stuffed animal, type in a code and use the pet online.

Dyan Williams, SR producer of…Charm Girls Club. So I guess today is EA’s little girls debut game. Great. How do you start with Dante’s Inferno and then go to this? Some little girls onstage are playing the game on the Wii. They’re…teasing hair. They kind of look like Bratz. I was never very girly so…I really couldn’t care less. It’s makeover, clothes, crap like that. It’s a mini-game collection I think.

Need for Speed Shift. With Patrick Suderlond (?). More racing. Zzzzzz…. Is Need for Speed better than Forza? I have no idea. Driver profile – ties you in emotionally or something. “How you drive on the track defines who you are.” Tech problems with the trailer. So I guess what they’re saying is you can level up some sort of skill set based on how you drive. I’m not sure. He’s basically saying if you’re aggressive, you bump people (duh), and if not then you get better speed, etc. So…it’s literally how you use your controller. That’s not…anything special. It sounds like a bunch of fluff terms. Maybe I’m just not understanding what he’s trying to say. Wow that was some wreck; the camera moves around in the car and you look like you’re really crashing a car. And…he’s giving away a car to someone on Thursday. That’s nice.

Dragon Age Origins. Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk from Bioware (why can’t game people have normal spelled names). Mentions that it’s one of their most ambitious games, it’s dark, etc, with major decisions you’ll have to make. Trailer. Scantily clad lady there. Nasty orcs, demons and dragons. Very bloody, blood spewing everywhere. Girl in her undies…because I’m sure they totally had lace panties and bras back then. Armor looks good. SWEET. Oct. 20.

Mass Effect 2. Talking a bit about the first game, and Sheppard. “He’s a kick ass hero who will get the job done at any cost.” He sure is. Suicide mission into the heart of enemy territory. Shooter action, new characters, new worlds. First full game play trailer. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. There’s the Normandy. Voice over sounds a little like Sheppard. “Sheppard, but you’re dead” says a blue alien chick (forgot what they were called). Some shooting here, guy falls out a window. Seth Green is back as the pilot. “It’s not the Geth.” So new enemies then. Explosions. Logo.

Moving on to EA Sports now it seems. Pretty much anything I cared about from them has already been shown. Sooo losing interest. Montage of real people doing sport things. And here’s Peter Moore. “Personal access to the emotion of sports.” “There’s no win like a sports win.”

Fight Night Round 4. Showing Ali and Tyson fighting each other. Talking about the physics engine. Where’s my manga…. Physics, strategy, style. Giving the characters real stats and size based on their stature and moves, so some realism here is what they’re going for. June 25.

New franchise. MMA. MMA? Oh, mixed martial arts.

Talking about their success with their sports games. Steve Chiang now to talk about online play. Tiger Woods PGA (browser game) and the new EA sports website. Team Builder for NCA Football 10 user content, team creators, all online. Team Builder is available now, game comes out in a month.
“We believe this next feature will end productivity in the American workplace.” Again building online communities. You can use your iPhone.

Bold new direction, eh? EA Sports Active. Talking about the Wii now. Peter is talking about the abuse and cynicism toward video games, but that EA Sports has helped lift the stigma. Video about active, showing people using it to exercise. Alison Sweden (?) is coming out to talk about Active as an exercise and weight loss program. 600,000 units sold.

Grand Slam Tennis on Wii, comes out next week. Works with Wii Motion Plus. Live stage demo, Peter’s gonna play with another EA guy (game’s producer). LOL at Peter’s comment on EA Sports execs being follicly challenged (they’re both going bald). They’re not doing so hot. A guy just snuck up behind them; professional tennis player I’m going to assume. It’s Pete Sampras (?), 14 time Grand Slam champion. “Let me explain how to play tennis.” Haha. Very good movement reactions. And that’s it from Peter.

Tom French, lead designer for The Saboteur from Pandemic. Trailer – skanky hoes dancing with soldiers. He tosses a guy from the roof that falls down in front of another soldier and splatters blood everywhere. Nice color scheme here, black and white, with red. Then it cuts to full color. Good looking game. “The Will to Fight” - when Sean fights the Nazis, the color comes back into Paris. That’s a really cool idea. “And yes, you can absolutely climb the Eiffel Tower.” Stealth, disguise, assassination, sabotage. Some 3rd person shooter action, then he hops into a car and drives off, to hide in the red light district. Haha, he got some while he was hiding in there, too.

EA Partners. He’s (the pres or VP, missed his name early on…oh it’s John Riccitiello) talking about partnering with other developers, etc. Leading up to:

Brutal Legend, Tim Schafer. He’s talking about the amazing cast they have. “People say did you make this game just to meet all these people? Yeah.” He’s talking about the story and characters. Showing part of a trailer. “Out of the light comes….a roadie. Armed with the power of metal and destined to become…a Legend.” Game looks pretty funny. Oct. 13. Video message from Jack Black. Should have gotten him to show up, though Jack Black can’t really compare to Ringo and Paul. Jack being Jack and a brief clip of game play.

CEO of Crytek. Cevat Yerli. Cyrsis 2. 360, PS3 and PC, simultaneously. So…maybe people will actually be able to play this one.

Sometimes you have the pleasure of actual news? Lol, is that what he said? Real Time World studio. Here’s Dave Jones for All Points Bulletin. So…it’s an online GTA sort of something? Showing off some great character customization tools. Trailer shows lots of crime, car jacks, robberies, shoot outs, car chases, boobs. This seems interesting, if I’m understanding it correctly. It looks like an online game where you can all play together in this city, interacting, fighting each other, etc. But they didn’t really explain and….

Now there’s some Star Wars music. And people in costumes walking across the stage. They have light sabers. Oh these have mics; must be developers in Jedi robes. Bioware and Lucas Arts. Ray again and Darrel Rodriguez. Star Wars TOR MMO. The fist ever fully voiced MMO. That’s pretty cool. One of the largest voice over projects in the history of games, Ray says. Every class will have its own unique story. This game has always sounded impressive but…also overly ambitious. I trust Bioware, but I worry as well. Cinematic trailer now. Sith lord walks by, takes down some bitches. Transport ship crashes through the wall and runs over some Jedi. Big light saber battle. Wow this looks amazing…for a cinematic. Game won’t be like this of course. (It will look like this.) But this is totally bad ass looking. “You were deceived, and now your Republic shall fall.” Ooooh snap. Oh Bioware, I love you so. Hell yeah that was stunning.

And they’re done.