So EA left the E3 extravaganza and decided to go alone this year. Not only that, but they are opening their event to the public! Woot! Kicking off their presenation Sunday afternoon at 1pm Pacific Time EA had a lot to talk about.
EA announced their Play to Give initiative. The idea is to give money to 5 organizations that give back to the gaming community. Those organizations are Code.org | Code2040 | HeForShe | SpecialEffect | Nation Center for Women & Information Technology. How this works is you play games and they give up to $1 Million total split between those worthy organization. There will be challenges announced in each of Battlefied 4 and Hardline, Star Wars Battlefront, Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, FIFA 16 and Madden 16. Play between June 12-17 and earn goodies in game and help EA donate. So basically you play a game and EA has to pay...I think that's a pretty sweet deal!
EA is by far the king of the sports game genre. Yes I know 2K puts out games as well and there are others out there but love it or hate it, lets face it EA owns this genre. Back in the late 90's early 00's it seemed like each yearly iteration was just cosmetic. EA got sloppy and lazy. I can't say that for them as of late.
FIFA 17
As much as I loved playing Soccer(football) growing up it was always just the sport to play when I wasn't playing hockey. I do understand the attraction and I know that even though us over in North America aren't likely the real target audience for this game I can say with the addition of the Frostbite Engine FIFA 17 looks gorgeous and fluid as all hell. For those of you who prefer the administrative side you'll be happy to know that 4 of the most influential managers are included this year and you can play as them and just manage your own team to a title.
NHL 17
As a Canadian it was my duty to play hockey growing up. Every winter, whether it was in a locker room, a backyard or outside on a community rink my friends and I would dream of one day playing in the NHL. We used to watch Hockey Night in Canada religiously and fight over which of two Canadian teams we were going to play for. Forward a decade and some and two of our friends actually did make it to the big leagues. Sadly neither played for long but they did something the rest of us only ever dreamed about. My only outlet became bubble hockey and then video game hockey back on the NES. That graduated to the PC for a while and then back to my XBox. Even though there is very little gameplay in the trailer below it gets me in the feels with nostalgia. Damn I miss playing hockey!
Madden 17
It's Madden, if you play it you know you are going to buy this one. For now we know about some running game improvements along side new commentary voices on top of an already great looking game
Titanfall 2
The first Titanfall had so much promise. It was like Mechwarrior mixed with COD but unfortunately for most it was not enough of either to hold their attention for long. Mine included. The weak single player mode couldn't make up for the just as weak multiplayer and vice versa. Looks like Respawn heard that loud and clear and is upping their game along with dropping some titans on both the PS4 and Xbox One this time around. Don't worry PC fans its' coming your way as well.
All things Star Wars
Aah capitalism! EA owns the Star Wars license and has found out its a license to print money! Watching Jade Raymond on stage announcing something like 8 different games or upgrades to currentl games releasing within the next 12 months. If you can think of a genre there is going to be a Star Wars game for that! With studios such as Jade's own Motive, Respawn, Dice, Bioware and others working on a licensed title from the legacy trilogy to the new movies including Rogue One this will be year of Star Wars!
Battlefield 1
Moving from near apocalyptic future backwards a hundred years plus, Battlefield 1 drops us into the first great war. This was, by all accounts, one of the most gruesome wars ever fought. Some armies fought on horseback and with swords, as time went on airships, planes and tanks entered the battle field. Then came the advent of mustard gas and other biological weapons which would turn peoples insides out. There was no media watchdog to ensure innocent civilians didn't get hurt, if you were on the other side of the front line you were fair game. The trenches were ripe with disease and soldiers had little to no rations and often starved to death. Why on earth would Dice make a game about this?!?! Then I saw it...dear lord it looks fantastic! I want to pilot an airship just to have it go down and explode! Wow! Just...wow!
After the show I got to watch a 64 player Battlefield 1 match with not only some great Battlefield players but with celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, Jamie Foxx, Terry Crews, Richard Sherman, Zac Efron and Major Nelson among others. It was pretty intense and while the weapons and vehicles were slower it didn't slow down the gameplay at all.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Not much was released other this game will be bigger and better than any of the originals! Not coming out until late 2017 but watch the trailer below and if, like me, you love this franchise this will give you chills enough to hold you over!
