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EA kicks off the E3 2016 week with their inaugural EA Play event. Foregoing the standard E3 showfloor, the makers of Madden, Star Wars Battlefront, and much more host their own event across the street from the LA Convention Center. Watch the press conference in the player above when it begins at 1pm PDT, and follow along as we liveblog the announcements and excitement throughout!
Starting a little late, the audience was told at 1:05 that they were a few minutes from kicking off the festivities.
Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts was first to take the stage, “kicking things off with a new type of show.” Wilson said that they “can’t give you everything you want in sixty minutes,” but “this is a taste.”
There’s a second EA Play press conference currently live in London, being led by Peter Moore, and the two were connected live via satellite for a message from Moore.
“In the next hour we’ll look into the future of Star Wars games at EA, plus the next chapter of Mass Effect. We’ll look at sports, and of course have Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 here,” Wilson teased.
Vince Zampella, CEO of Respawn Entertainment was next on stage, and shouted out to PS4 players, who join the franchise for the first time (the first game was XB1/PC exclusive). A multiplayer gameplay trailer showed off massively explosive new weapons, both on foot and in titans. The crowd was shouting throughout, especially for the amazing gravity grenade. This multiplayer is unlike anything ever seen, including the first game. An insane grappling hook stunt at the end made the crowd go insane.
Six new Titans, expanded pilot gameplay, more customization, and a deep progression system are new to the game. Go to Titanfall.com for a free multiplayer stress test coming soon. The game launches October 28 for PC, PS4, and XB1, and includes (as leaked earlier today) a full single-player offline campaign.
EA Sports was next, with a trailer for Madden. Yes, Cam dances when he scores. The trailer was all game engine footage. Woah. Peter Moore took the stage in London again to talk about Madden NFL ’17. The game has a new commentary team. Moore transitioned into talking about competition in gaming with eSports.
“With new competitive modes and weekly online contests in all our franchises, we’ll make it fun to compete for everyone.”
Three new event modes in all games: Challenger, letting community-run tournaments. Premiere, tourneys hosted with EA partners around the world. EA Major events with the top players in the world. Those events are being held in both sports games and FPS.
BioWare’s GM Aaryn Flynn was next on the stage. Mass Effect Andromeda got its full introduction at the press conference. “This is a whole new adventure,” Flynn said. “We’re building on the things you love about Mass Effect, this is more freedom than we’ve ever had in a BioWare game.” The game is powered by Frostbite, and a new behind-the-scenes trailer was shown.
The trailer showed teams at BioWare working on the game, going to Andromeda to “build a new home for humanity.” We saw a new Asari character with facepaint on smile, new vehicles, new ships, and a female character waking from hyper sleep. “We made it,” she says.
A new “Play to give” campaign is being launched by EA, where you can play games and give to charities at the same time. Partnered with HeForShe, National Center for Women & Information Technology, Code.Org, Code 2040, and others.
FIFA 17 was next, and a trailer started by showing the history of the franchise, watching it develop into the nearly photorealistic franchise it is now, powered by the Frostbite engine. Alex Hunter took the stage in London saying “You don’t know me, but you will.” He talked about his dreams of being a footballer as a kid, and “now making that dream a reality.” He’s the character you’ll play in story mode!
The FIFA story mode trailer was next, showing how you play as Hunter, growing your stardom, signing an agent – it’s similar to the NBA 2k story mode.
The feature is called “The Journey,” and the trailer got a huge pop from the crowd. Very interesting.
Premier League managers have been added into the game for FIFA 17 so English fans can enjoy their emotional responses on the pitch. FIFA producer Aaron McHardy took the stage to talk a bit more about The Journey. “You’re in control of your story off the pitch, but the most important thing that happens in FIFA is what happens on the pitch.”
Set Pieces have been rewritten, Physical Play overhauled, New Intelligence system and New Attacking techniques are all coming to the game as well. Another gameplay trailer, with real Game Engine footage was shown.
Patrick Soderlund, EVP of EA Studios was next on the dais, and said “around this time last year we surprised you with something unexpected,” talking about Unravel, and said there are “more studios out there” that are creating great new games like this. EA Originals is a new program, “taking first time experiences that are unique, gorgeous, innovative and bringing them to the world.” This is a new partnership, from development to marketing to publishing for small development studios.
All of the profit for EA Originals games will go back into the developers. The first game, Fe was introduced, from Zoink, a small game studio in Sweden. In Fe, you play as one small creature, and each animal and plant – anything living – has its own unique song, and as you learn those songs, it takes you to other parts of the forest. The “Silent ones” corrupt the forest, casting their silence around. The game doesn’t guide you or tell you what to do, and only “sets the stage for your own journey,” they announced.
A gameplay trailer for Fe, the first EA Originals game was shown, demonstrating the little creature’s movement, communication with other animals, and combat.
Jade Raymond took the stage to talk about EA’s Star Wars games next! “Already today, you can play Galaxy of Heroes, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Star Wars Battlefront.“
“Next year, you’ll get a new installment of Star Wars Battlefront, and we’re listening to the fans, and will add new content including content from the new films.”
“In 2018, we’ll have a new game with new characters in the game being made by Amy Hennig and her team. We also have a new third-person action-adventure game from Respawn Entertainment in a new era in the Star Wars universe.”
A full single Star Wars behind-the-scenes trailer was shown, featuring DICE, Motive developers talking about Battlefront, then showing stunt guys at Respawn doing motion capture for a lightsaber fight, one blue and one red!
BioWare said, “Beyond the Old Republic, there are so many stories we want to tell.”
Amy Hennig and Doug Chiang talked about their new game, with some early in-game footage and concept art. Lots of applause for the behind-the-scenes look.
Battlefield 1 was the final game in the press conference. Patrick Bach, GM of DICE took the stage to talk about the new game. Jamie Foxx and Zac Efron are leading two teams of community players who will do a live-stream of 64 player multiplayer right after the press conference.
New screenshots showed cavalry charging on horses, and new destruction elements. A trailer showed off the uniquely World War I era combat.
With that, the press conference was brought to a close, and the Battlefield 1 gameplay demo began.
Stay tuned for lots more from E3 2016.
