E3 2011 – EA Press Conference recap

Did you miss the EA E3 Press Conference? Here’s a quick recap of what they covered:

• Mass Effect 3 – The press conference started out with a live demo and an awesome trailer. And finally we have a release date: March 6, 2012. (Check out more information here!) Oddly enough, Kinect support wasn’t mentioned during this press conference.
• Need for Speed: The Run – Another racing game. This one will track all races with Autolog, and introduces foot races, as well. It sounds like Autolog is a free service and more incentive for gamers to buy a new copy of the game instead of used.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic – All we really got from this was a shiny new, six-minute trailer. Release date? DENIED!
• SSX - Shiny trailer. January-ish release date. That’s about it.
• FIFA 2012 – I didn’t realize just how many incarnations of FIFA there was. Oops? Other than adding the new roster to the franchise for fans, they’re introducing EA Football Club. It’s the same as Autolog for Need for Speed: The Run; a free service that allows friends to compete against each other online.
• Madden 12 – They mentioned Kinect support, but didn’t explain nor show how it’ll work. Plus, random football players came on stage: Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens, Payton Hillis (the cover of Madden 2012) of the Cleveland Browns, and Clay Matthews of the Green Bay Packers. This was right after EA announced they don’t have celebrities join them on stage. Guess professional athletes don’t count.
• Sims Social – Sims for Facebook! Just a flashgame of The Sims that allows you to play on Facebook, interact with your friends, and waste more time at work. Nothing more needs to be said, other than there’s no release date.
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - The game I’ll be calling “Not Dragon Age“, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was designed by Baltimore’s own Big Huge Games–so I’m a bit partial to this title. Written by R.A. Salvatore, brought to life by Todd McFarlane, and designed by Ken Rolston of Elder Scrolls fame, this high fantasy, open-world role-playing game has a lot of name power behind it. It looks beautiful, and I can’t wait to play this! Check out the trailer and see for yourself!
• Overstrike – This one gets my vote for Most Fun Trailer of E3. Overstrike is the first game in a new franchise by Insomniac. The awesome trailer, featuring a ragtag team of elite special agents that seem to specialize in sarcasm, was hilarious. I really want this game!
• Battlefield 3 – They talked about the Frostbite 2 engine and how it’s designed to give a better battlefield realistic experience. Then they demoed the multiplayer, and it went on forever. Good news, though: the open beta for Battlefield 3 will be available in September, and the full game on October 25.

Not mentioned in the press conference: Wii or handheld games. EA strictly stuck with the heavy hitters, and even then, not a lot of information was revealed… or a lot of gameplay footage other than Battlefield 3.

And that’s what you missed! I’ll be posting an article just about Mass Effect 3 soon! Check back later!