Live Blog: Will Electronic Arts Go Pay-for-Play at E3?
- By Jason Schreier
- June 6, 2011 |
- 3:14 pm |
- Categories: Console Games
Live blog starts at 12:30 p.m. Pacific, 3:30 p.m Eastern. Refresh this post for the latest updates.
LOS ANGELES — With Activision’s Call of Duty Elite already on the table, will rival Electronic Arts make a move to add a subscription service to its mega-popular sports games?
That’s the big question as Electronic Arts’ E3 2011 press conference kicks off here at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Los Angeles. The maker of Madden, FIFA and Tiger Woods said this morning at Microsoft’s press conference that the next versions of these games will integrate the Xbox 360’s Kinect motion controller. It also showed off how Kinect voice chat will work in its RPG Mass Effect 3. It will likely go a little bit deeper on both of these topics here at its own press conference.
Wired.com’s live blog coverage will begin at 12:30 p.m. Pacific.
12:27 p.m. We are here. There are bowls of miniature candy bars.
12:32 p.m. And we start off with some Mass Effect 3. Lead designer Casey Hudson is talking about the possibilities and choices. “This is all out galactic war.” We’re about to see a demo.
12:35 p.m. Demo of Mass Effect 3 looks sharp. Shepard aims at a target with his reticles, then calls in Joker and the Normandy to drop a payload. Shepard and an asari are fighting humanoid aliens of some sort and — oh wow, Shepard is commandeering a gigantic cannon. Sweet.
12:37 p.m. “That’s just a small taste of what we’re doing with the scale of the battles in Mass Effect 3.” Release date: March 6, 2012.
12:39 p.m. Gameplay trailer of Mass Effect 3 looks exactly like the demo we just saw. Looks like Shepard and crew will be shooting down aliens on Earth itself.
12:41 p.m. John Riccitiello is up on the stage, talking about the recently announced Origin service (EA’s new download store). Now we’re looking at Need for Speed: The Run, which will have on-foot sequences. Because clearly everyone plays racing games so they can walk places.
12:43 p.m. POV shots of a white car driving in Need for Speed: The Run. Another car hits it and your main character starts running into a building, then jumps off the roof. Camera transitions into slow-motion as you make big leaps. Lots of button-mashing, running and jumping. We now see why it’s called The Run.
12:45 p.m. Mission: Get out of the city. Looks like we’ve stolen a cop car. We’re blazing along at 130 miles per hour. This seems very unsafe.
12:47 p.m. Demo ends with the main character trying to get out of a car before a train runs over his face. This is done by mashing buttons, of course. More details and trailers will be available on Origin.
12:48 p.m. Bioware’s Greg Zeschuk is on stage talking upcoming massively multiplayer online roleplaying game Star Wars: The Old Republic. “I’m not trying to convince you to play it,” he says. “Just get lost in it and live in it.”
12:50 p.m. Trailer for The Old Republic. Lots of soldiers with Mass Effect-style armor. And suddenly we transition to a massive Jedi-on-Sith lightsaber battle. Millions of nerds everywhere are simultaneously squealing.
12:52 p.m. From Star Wars to snowboarding — now we’re looking at a trailer for SSX. An avalanche is hitting the slopes. Our two heroes just vaulted off a cliff and swung on a helicopter.
12:53 p.m. Three modes of gameplay: Race It, Trick It and Survive It. Will be out in January, 2012. You can see more characters/information on the Origin website. (I’m sensing a trend here.)
12:56 p.m. EA sports head Peter Moore is talking about FIFA 12. “The world’s sports game.” It will have tactical defending, precision dribbling and what’s called the “Player Impact Engine.” This will apparently feature realistic injuries and body movements. But can it make me care about soccer? (No.)
12:58 p.m. We’re hearing from international soccer players about how awesome they think FIFA is. And there’s NFL wide receiver Chad Ochocinco. And rapper Lil Wayne. And Drake. What?
12:59 p.m. Introducing the EA Sports Football Club. Is this FIFA’s version of Activision’s online Call of Duty Elite platform? Talking about how Football Club will let people compare and compete around the world on multiple platforms, including Facebook, PC and mobile phones.
1:00 p.m. I don’t know why they’re calling it the Football Club. This is soccer. SOCCER.
1:01 p.m. We can see more on Origin. (Of course.) No word on whether Football Club will cost any sort of extra fee.
1:03 p.m. Madden time! We’re hearing from the Broadway version of legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi as he gives a passionate speech alongside footage from what I assume is Madden 12.
1:05 p.m. NFL players Ray Lewis, Peyton Hillis and Clay Matthews are here. Matthews is holding his Super Bowl trophy. He’s probably just trying to make the other two jealous.
1:07 p.m. Peter Moore looks very uncomfortable next to the three players. He’s talking about Madden 12, out August 30. Are these guys allowed to be in their uniforms? Doesn’t this violate some term of the NFL lockout?
1:10 p.m. Riccitiello is back to announce The Sims Social, a Facebook version of The Sims. The trailer shows a conversation about between two women. As one woman talks about the things she did on her date last night, we see them happening in The Sims Social. It ends with a steamy shower scene.
1:12 p.m. Curt Schilling is here to talk about upcoming action-RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The art direction in this game is gorgeous. We see quite a bit of combat — swords, magic, two-headed ogres. Lots of gore-filled hacking and slashing. Coming next year.
1:14 p.m. Ratchet & Clank creator Insomniac Games is talking about its next project, OverStrike. Seems to be some sort of spy game.
Jason Schreier is a contributor to Game|Life and an NYC-based writer/editor. But he really just wants to be your friend.Follow @jasonschreier and @GameLife on Twitter.
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