ust a few hours after Microsoft’s large showing of new stuff, we trekked over to the famous Orpheum Theater in downtown LA so see what Electronic Arts had in store. John Riccitiello, the company’s CEO took the stage and informed us that the following press conference would contain very little Power Point and sales numbers. And he was right. Instead we were treated to a bunch of cool demos and trailers. Here’s what we saw:
SimAnimals
This new game from the Sims Studio is a DS and Wii exclusive. Much like a combination of the Sims and Viva Pinata, players get to build ecosystems of animals and their environments. Some animals like cute squirrels are easy to manage while more burly animals like wolves are more of a challenge. Not much more info on the game was given but we hope to check it out a bit more during the show.
The Sims 2 & 3
Next up was the Sims 2 beta store and the Sims 3. The store is up in beta form and players can use it to buy and download new stuff for their virtual cribs. We also got a bit of info on the Sims 3. Their claiming it will have the most complex game characters to date and now instead of just a few houses, there’s an entire town to mess around with.
Dead Space
Easily one of the highlights of the showing was Dead Space. We got a live gameplay demo that showed off protagonist Isaac Clark in a stick situation. The game’s horror theme was in full swing and it felt like something out of a John Carpenter movie. The game not only requires shooting the nasty creatures, but totally dismembering them to keep them that way. The games graphics look great and the environments very spooky. We were also told that there will be some zero grav stuff, but for the first time, realistically simulated.
Mirrors Edge
We were treated to another demo of Mirrors Edge but I turned out to be the same one we saw at GDC. We have some recent impressions of the game up as well so don’t miss that. Other than that, nothing new here.
Spore
Next up was Spore and the always pleasant Will Wright. Here we got some of the numbers game but in a very interesting way. The recently released Spore: Creature Creator was expected to produce 100,000 new unique creatures by the games coming launch a few months after. Within 22 hours, that number was reached and is now sitting at 1.7 million. Far beyond what they thought. They also produced 85,000 YouTube video from the built-in uploader. There was also examples of robots, airplanes, people and other crazy thing built by users. Wright also revealed that there is a National Geographic documentary planned to go in the Galactic Edition of the game.
NBA Live 09
Peter Moore was next in the line-up with EA Sports. First off was NBA Live 09 and it has some pretty interesting new features. The biggest is easily the new Dynamic DNA system. Using the same daily updated stats as the NBA, players will have their own daily updates for the rosters. It’s a way to capture the players more authentically. So instead of just having shooting stats and defense numbers, the game will know if a player is favoring the left side of the court when driving versus the right.
EA Sports All-Play
Moore then brought out a new games initiative exclusively for the Wii called EA Sports All-Play. It’s a totally new take on the systems sports games making the control much easier for people to use. While we only got a demo of the latest Tiger Wood PGA, it looks like they will be doing this for all of the Wii sports titles. Fear not for the hardcore as there are still regular control styles available.
Nucleus, Rupture
With a small break in the game action, we were treated to some social networking goodness with Nucleus and Rupture. The demos were quick but to the point. Nucleus is a global EA Games gamer profile that is part of every upcoming game and allows you to track stats, games, friends and more. Rupture run somewhat like a Facebook for EA games and allows you to track your achievements, trophies, friends and more. One of the cool things you can do is create your own challenges like getting the entire Battlefield: Bad Company achievements in one week. Then you can take that challenge to a friend and see if they can beat it. Another cool note is that Rupture is open-source.
Dragon Age: Origins
Bioware was representing at the show and we got a chance to see a wicked Dragon Age trailer showing off some awesome Lord of the Rings style action. We were informed that the game is a spiritual successor of Baulders Gate. Beyond that, the left us hanging and wanting more.
Left 4 Dead
Valve’s Gabe Newell to center stage next to show off Left 4 Dead. The game is a mixture of TF2, Counter Strike and Half-Life wrapped into a zombie survival experience. The games dynamics are controlled by an invisible AI they call The Director. It will bring in or take out game elements depending on how well you play. If you suck and are killing teammates and running low on ammo, its going to give you a weak experience. But if you step it up and play as a team, you will be fighting off masses of zombies and blowing crap up like crazy. The game ships in Nov for Xbox 360 and PC.
Rage
Last up was id Software, a company normally always along with Activision. But since their independent, they have decided to go with EA Partners for the publishing of their new IP, Rage. Running on their stunning new id Tech 5 engine, the game mixes vehicle and FPS combat. We got a look at a new trailer and if the footage is in-game, it looks amazing.