Battlefield 3 wrecks E3: full coverage of EA presser
DICE's Battlefield 3 turned in a stunning presentation at EA's E3 press conference today, while Insomniac finally came clean on its new IP.
DICE and Battlefield 3 were undoubtedly the stars of EA's E3 show today, delivering a sensational demo and announcing new online features.
A lead trailer showed a section with an American cop car, and a second detailed Frostbite 2 tech, showing animation, audio, rendering and more. There's not much to say: it looks incredible.
DICE boss Karl Magnus Troedsson said the engine allows for "full-scale destruction," before showing multiplayer for the first time on a map in the centre of Paris.
Troedsson announced Battlelog, was looks to be Battlefield Elite. It's "100 percent free," he said, laughing.
The beta's going live in September.
Vehicle-based gameplay was shown for the first time, with tanks rolling across a desert. You have to see it for yourself. Absolutely breathtaking lighting, smoke and sand effects.
The tanks came under attack with a battle ensuing, the enemy dying and the gunner switching to greenscope. Moving further along, the tanks were faced with a rocket battery and the gameplay switched to directing the ground forces from a drone. Planes took out the launchers, as viewed from the air.
Battlefield 3's E3 trailer. Hot stuff.
Once in a compound, the tanks switched to guns to take out infantry, with sirens going off all over the place and lots of stuff very much exploding. Full power incredible. It's out October 25.
EA's other big hitters also failed to disappoint. Mass Effect producer Casey Hudson was on stage to show Mass Effect 3 and confirm its release date as March 6, 2012.
Describing the game as "all-out galactic war," BioWare showed a section where Shephard is charged with taking out a base. Some large explosions featured, as did huge Reaper enemies.
Hudson said the game would be the best in the series, and showed a new trailer dubbed Fall of Earth. Everything ME3-related was very heavy on the action.
Need for Speed: The Run, Black Box's entry into the race series, was next. Criterion's Autolog system has been woven into the story, and that wasn't the only announcement: the game will run on DICE's Frostbite 2 engine and will feature out-of-the-car action.
The Run is an illegal racing game in which you need to get from San Francisco to New York. The demo shown was in Chicago, and included a section in which the player chased through the city on foot, running over building and fighting with police. At one point he was chased by a helicopter, which fired at him with a machine gun, before ending up in a crashed car on a train track. It certainly looked "exciting".
There was no date.
Greg Zeschuck then came out to talk The Old Republic, calling Star Wars "the most epic story ever told".
"It's bigger than words, bigger than a trailer," he said, adding that the game "represents years of my life."
Overstrike, Insomniac's EAP multiplat IP.
The game's raids and high level gameplay will be on display at E3 this week. A new CG trailer was 100 percent gobsmacking - we'll have it for you as soon as we can.
Unfortunately, there was no date.
SSX came next, with a CGI trailer showing flippy concepts and an avalanche. It's out January next year for PS3 and 360. It will allow you to "own the planet," said EA Sports boss Peter Moore.
It uses NASA data to allow players to ride every major mountain range in the world. SSX characters are to be revealed on the game's Facebook page and on EA's Origin store.
Moving on to FIFA, Moore said 1.3 billion FIFA 11 sessions have been played so far.
A FIFA 12 demo followed, outlining a gameplay innovation, the main one being the game's Impact Engine.
Wayne Rooney popped up to say FIFA was "the next best thing to being on the pitch," with EA saying the FIFA 12 is "barely Alpha" but the team's already being told it's the best-playing game in the series yet.
EA Sports Footbal Club was announced, a cross-platform social service based on being a live service, persistence and presence and will be free alongside FIFA 12.
Challenges within the service are based on real-world league games, with players being able to force their teams up leagues by working together.
Heady stuff: EA said FIFA 12 was a true next generation sports title.
Sticking with sports, we moved on to Madden, with real life footballers Ray Lewis, Peyton Hillis and Clay Matthews coming out onto stage to shout, "Victory is waiting for me."
Peter Moore gave a stellar performance with this guys, pointing out online and strategy features in Madden and pumping up FIFA. Very good.
Switching tack, John Riccittiello announced Sims Social, a Facebook system allowing you to play with your friends. And take showers with them, apparently.
Curt Schilling from 38 Studios came out to talk about Reckoning, his inaugural RPG. It has "hundreds of hours of gameplay," he said, and features "fast and fluid combat". A new trailer was shown, showing gory fantasy combat, magic and a rousing score. By far the best the game's ever looked.
It was dated for 2012.
To round off a solid performance from EA's E3, Ted Price was next from Insomniac, announcing Overstrike - its EA Partners, multi-format IP - a near-future game based on a team called Overstrike 9, which is comprised of an ex-mercenary, a thief, a scientist and a detective.
Overstrike 9 are considered “outcasts” but are thought to be the best available when a terrorist group tries to destroy humankind.
It's about gadgets and humour, Price said. Check out the first trailer here.