E3 2016 has begun and the first cab off the rank is EA with their EA PLAY conference. Luckily for Australian viewers we were able to watch the conference at 6am and bring you all of the announcements.
Titanfall 2
RELEASE DATE: 29th October 2016
PLATFORM: Xbox One| PlayStation 4 | PC
Graphics from the gameplay trailer look basically the same as Titanfall 1 but the maps seem to be more open which would allow for more emphasis on Titan combat. Both soldier and Titan powers have been introduced to give the game a class based feel and Attack on Titan-esque grapple hooks has been added to increase mobility.
The most worthy addition to the game is the offline single player mode with a deeper story. The single player trailer shows titans speaking and interacting with humans. It might be that the Titans aren’t just big metal shells of death.
Titanfall 2 will also be released for PS4 players but there was no talk of cross-play between the consoles.
Madden 2017
RELEASE DATE: 23th August 2016
PLATFORM: Xbox One & PlayStation 4
Unfortunately there wasn’t much to come out of the conference for the Madden game itself. There was instead a focus on the professional Madden scene featuring some of the best players in the world being able to compete in major tournaments. With this being the case I assume the game is going to stay fairly similar to Madden 16. No big changes here.
E-SPORTS
It looks like EA are getting into the professional e-sports market with games like Madden, Battlefield and FIFA. These tournaments will be split into three(3) tiers, each controlled by different parties to cover the entire scope of skill levels.
Challenger Events — Players can easily host their own tournaments.
Premier Events — EA will host these with partners.
EA Major Events — Live events run by EA on a global stage with a $1 Million total prize pool.
MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA
RELEASE DATE: Early 2017
PLATFORM: PC | PlayStation 4 | Xbox One
The reason a lot of people woke up so early was to see if we could get another peek at Mass Effect Andromeda. While EA was able to give a small taste of what’s to come we were unable to obtain an exact release date. The trailer depicts humanity leaving earth to explore the known boundaries of their universe to restart and begin anew.
Along with some intense firefights and new unknown species being introduced I’m looking forward to some expansive set pieces all powered by the Frostbite engine.
PLAY TO GIVE – Bringing in game challenges with charitable causes
EA has partnered with multiple organisations which include HeForShe, the National Centre for Women and Information Technology, CODE.org, CODE2040 and Special Effect. All up, EA will donate $1 million to these organisations.
Gamers can complete challenges within a set number of games (seen here) to earn rewards that will directly benefit these listed charities.
FIFA 17
RELEASE DATE: 29th September 2016
PLATFORM: PC | PlayStation 4 | Xbox One
The most important update to come to FIFA 17 is the introduction of the Frostbite engine. With the visual update we should see some amazing detail brought to the game with some solid gameplay mechanics.
Story mode has also been introduced in the form of “The Journey.” This features an English Premier League story as you follow the journey of Alex Hunter, an up and coming footballer who is looking to play with the best in the world. I’m unsure if this player can be customised to give the mode a more immersive feel but at the moment there seems to only be one story to experience.
Real world managers like Jose Mourinho have been introduced to the game but there was no word on whether there will be the competitive female representation that we saw in FIFA 16.
EA ORIGINALS & Fe
After the success of Unravel from Coldwood Interactive EA has created EA Originals initiative to push indie development to new heights. With ideas that have never seen the light of day due to financial restrictions, EA is looking found this on three(3) main principals.
“First, it is about taking first-time experiences that are unique, gorgeous, innovative and memorable, and bringing them to the world.
Second, it is about supporting small developers and helping them make the most of their games. We’ll seek a few projects each year for EA Originals, and partner with them throughout the process of development to marketing to publishing.
Lastly, it is about funding, and offering small studios a level of security with an EA Originals game. So with EA Originals, we want the profits from these games to go into the hands of the studios making them.”
Swedish development team Zoink games is set to release “Fe” under the EA Originals brand. Fe is a 3rd person adventure game with some wonderful music and some interesting set pieces. There is no release date as of yet but we will see what comes out of this new endeavour.
STAR WARS STUFF
In partnership with developers such as Motive Studios, Respawn Entertainment & Visceral Games, EA are exploring multiple Star Wars eras in different gaming genres. Nothing concrete was announced save for another Star Wars: Battlefront will be released some time in 2017. There was also a mention of BioWare in the video and I’m excited to see what comes from them.
Battlefield 1
RELEASE DATE: 21st October 2016
PLATFORM: PC | PlayStation 4 | Xbox One
Finally, Battlefield 1 entered the stage with a 64 player stream following the EA Play conference.
Newly introduced in Battlefield 1 are the Behemoth class vehicles which can be piloted, gunned and destroyed causing massive amounts of damage to the environment. We are talking Blimp-o-lution here but it might be an on rails sequence that’s similar to the AC130 gunships of previous games.
EA have also detailed that the weather effects will play a huge part in the Battlefield 1 gameplay and soldiers will have to adjust their play styles accordingly. These additions have increased the scale of the Battlefield games and I’m happy to see something that isn’t just a modern day shooter again.
FINAL THOUGHTS
EA said they were going to do things differently by not having a booth at E3 and instead hosting a new and improved conference in 2016. Unfortunately it looks like it has just boiled down to the same conference but now it was hosted in the USA and London at the same time. There was some on stage statistics, banter between hosts and cringe worthy onstage performances a plenty but we all know we are here for the games.
The kicker for me was the Battlefield 1 stream after the conference. EA must have dropped a bunch of money for celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Terry Crews, Jamie Foxx and Zac Efron to show up and be excited to play the latest game in the series.
Content wise for EA Play I would have liked to see more come from Mass Effect Andromeda and some details surrounding a possible FIFA 17 career mode update. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case and we will have to see if anything gets announced at Gamescom later this year.
Stay tuned for more E3 2016 action and let us know what game you’re looking forward to the most from EA. Following EA is Bethesda with their press conference at 12:00PM AEST (11:30AM ACST, 10:00AM AWST). For all the conference times, be sure to check out our E3 2016 portal.