Live blogging the EA press briefing (sort of)
by Richard Mitchell 
{ Jul 14th 2008 at 6:22PM }
3:22 On stage demo of Dead Space. Game looks gorgeous. We've seen strategic dismemberment without any HUD at all. Game hits on October 21 this year. Time for a trailer.
3:24 Trailer set to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Lots of dead bodies, interspersed with flashes of wicked monsters.
3:25: Patrick Soderlund takes stage to show Mirror's Edge (running on PS3).
Parts of the background turn red to highlight the paths that Faith can take. Puzzle: how do you get into the ventilation shaft. Grab a pipe on the wall, jump to on top of the shaft, find a vent. She crawls through to be ambushed and starts running up the stairs while pursued. On to the rooftop. Leap of faith time?
3:29 Faith hands the package to another runner. Makes a rooftop escape. New trailer time. More indoor environments. This game is literally so fast it's impossible to take pictures of it. There will be hands on of the game on the show floor.
3:37 Will Wright is on stage talking about Spore. This is still PC and Mac, so move along. Unless, he decides to tell us it's hitting 360, of course.
3:44 Peter Moore on stage to talk EA Sports. Introducing Bill Walton from the NBA. Talking about NBA Live 08. Bill is talking about how the emotional aspects of sports. "You can't script sports. It's just fresh and live, new every single day."
3:44 Peter Moore on stage to talk EA Sports. Introducing Bill Walton from the NBA. Talking about NBA Live 08. Bill is talking about how the emotional aspects of sports. "You can't script sports. It's just fresh and live, new every single day."
"This is beyond getting the stats and rosters right," says Moore. Introducing new feature called Dynamic DNA, which uses the actual statistics used by the NBA itself. The game is "made fresh daily."
3:49 Player tendencies: how a player behaves, what kinds of decisions they make. These tendencies will be updated every day for all NBA players. This is based on how the actual tendencies of each player change throughout a season. This is the Player DNA. Team DNA is essentially the same thing applied to team dynamics as they are seen in "real world data and analytics" of the NBA.
3:51 Live demo time. Now Bill is "calling" the game. Cute. Feature: lighting up the "Hot Zones." These show you where a player is more likely to make a shot, again based on real world tendencies of real world players.
3:54 Bill Walton leaves the stage. That dude is funny.
3:55 Peter Moore is now talking about EA Sports All Play, the casual titles for the Wii. So, um, it's probably time for 360 fans to go make a sandwich.
3:57 Ha, Peter takes a swing in Tiger Woods All Play and is glad he managed to make a shot without pausing the game. Oh, Peter, you joker.
3:49 Player tendencies: how a player behaves, what kinds of decisions they make. These tendencies will be updated every day for all NBA players. This is based on how the actual tendencies of each player change throughout a season. This is the Player DNA. Team DNA is essentially the same thing applied to team dynamics as they are seen in "real world data and analytics" of the NBA.
3:51 Live demo time. Now Bill is "calling" the game. Cute. Feature: lighting up the "Hot Zones." These show you where a player is more likely to make a shot, again based on real world tendencies of real world players.
3:54 Bill Walton leaves the stage. That dude is funny.
3:55 Peter Moore is now talking about EA Sports All Play, the casual titles for the Wii. So, um, it's probably time for 360 fans to go make a sandwich.
3:57 Ha, Peter takes a swing in Tiger Woods All Play and is glad he managed to make a shot without pausing the game. Oh, Peter, you joker.
4:04 John Pleasants of EA Redwood Shores presents Nanea Reeves of EA Online Games. No 360 talk thus far.
4:06 Sean Fanning takes the stage to talk about Rupture. It's a service that allows players to play and track games across games and platforms. Players can create custom challenges for their friends. Example, challenge your friend to unlock every achievement in Bad Company.
4:08 Travis Boatman of EA Mobile takes the stage. So, it's time to talk about iPhone games. So, bathroom break 360 fans.
4:12 Greg Zeschuk showing us a trailer of Dragon Age Origins. He notes that the franchise will be on consoles in "the future." Currently it's only on PC.
4:14 Trailer shows off huge LOTR style battle. Trolls, archers, the works. That's all we get though. Gabe Newell from Valve takes the stage. Left 4 Dead talk! PowerPoint slides ... ew. Co-op supports split screen. Good.
4:06 Sean Fanning takes the stage to talk about Rupture. It's a service that allows players to play and track games across games and platforms. Players can create custom challenges for their friends. Example, challenge your friend to unlock every achievement in Bad Company.
4:08 Travis Boatman of EA Mobile takes the stage. So, it's time to talk about iPhone games. So, bathroom break 360 fans.
4:12 Greg Zeschuk showing us a trailer of Dragon Age Origins. He notes that the franchise will be on consoles in "the future." Currently it's only on PC.
4:14 Trailer shows off huge LOTR style battle. Trolls, archers, the works. That's all we get though. Gabe Newell from Valve takes the stage. Left 4 Dead talk! PowerPoint slides ... ew. Co-op supports split screen. Good.
4:18 Left 4 Dead has an internal "director" like a movie. It alters the difficulty of conflicts based on how well the team is playing. Play bad, and it makes things easier. Play better, and the game gets harder, and offers more drama. Movie time. Big super muscular zombie tosses concrete at the party.
4:20 All characters work together to take him out, peppering him with bullets, grenades, etc.
4:20 All characters work together to take him out, peppering him with bullets, grenades, etc.
4:22 Id's John Carmack takes the stage to announce partnership with EA. Showing off Rage. Trailer: desolate world, think Mad Max. Violent, lots of critters that look like mutated humans. No console actually announced.
4:24 That's it. Conference is over.There closing with the same montage video that opened the conference. Lots of games we already know about. FaceBreaker, sports games, Sims, etc. Many of these titles will be on the show floor. Expect coverage throughout the week from X3F.
4:24 That's it. Conference is over.There closing with the same montage video that opened the conference. Lots of games we already know about. FaceBreaker, sports games, Sims, etc. Many of these titles will be on the show floor. Expect coverage throughout the week from X3F.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
RedSonRising @ Jul 14th 2008 6:29PM
wtf.. its m$ press conference and theyre showing Mirrors Edge on a ps3? whose idea was that?
LAME!
Glitch W @ Jul 14th 2008 6:32PM
Except it's EA's press conference...
Conor @ Jul 14th 2008 6:33PM
Hey,try reading the title of the blog post, "Here we are at the EA press briefing".
Who's LAME now?
Anyone have a link to a live video stream of this?
I don't wanna sit here tapping F5 the whole time.
Cheers.
RedSonRising @ Jul 14th 2008 6:35PM
damn you reasonable, correct answering people..
still.. its still m$ day to me, get an xbox version running damnit.
Tyr1n @ Jul 14th 2008 6:42PM
anyword on skate 2??? :-D
RedSonRising @ Jul 14th 2008 6:52PM
i finally started playing skating games again with skate only to vow never to play a skating game online again..
it took me a month to figure out when noone was talking in the skate parks i joined.. 2 words; Ahhh!! Fro!!
(speaking of AHH!! ive been censored/edited.. first time for everything i guess..)
Final thoughts; still preordered Mirrors Edge for the messenger bag (hope it fits my 360) and if skate2 is announced ill add it to the list too.. game kicks TH right in the buttocks..
RedSonRising @ Jul 14th 2008 6:43PM
damn DICE/EA for not making this open world.. im getting the same feeling i had about Bioshock: so much potential wasted on a 'railroad' story ..
i understand the whole "we dont want lame side missions'' idea but that does mean you cant make good side missions too?..
Xoviet chiK @ Jul 14th 2008 6:59PM
I'd rather play it in a self contained story... Game just oozes artistic beauty, I'd hate to see any of it spoiled by repetition and genre cliche.
Open World would have lent itself nicely to the worlds first 3D Multiplayer Game of Hide & Seek and/or Tag though.
RedSonRising @ Jul 14th 2008 7:06PM
yes xoviet!! tag, hide and seek!! open world multiplayer ala gta4 with assassins creed/crackdown style wall climbing.. that game would be awesome.. i hope theres a multiplayer aspect to Mirrors Edge.. i love any game that lets me wander around chasing friends..
joe @ Jul 14th 2008 6:42PM
EA better start creating some positive vibes for Mercenaries 2. Because Pandemic's trailers are not impressing anyone (and I am a huge Mercenaries fan, that plans to buy the sequel on day one).
Conor @ Jul 14th 2008 7:35PM
Does anyone else feel the hype for Mirrors Edge rising and rising or is it just me?
+++volume+++ @ Jul 14th 2008 10:05PM
This is easily among my most anticipated games...it looks insane.
Mikeawesome @ Jul 15th 2008 2:28AM
For the love of god, some time this week, get some coverage of NHL 09.
I feel like I've heard so very little.