The date was 6th April, the venue was the Louise Blouin Foundation in London, the event was EA’s 2011 showcase and the lovely Gem was my chaperon for the day, hello Gem!
When things got started we had a quick statement from Stuart Lang – UK and Ireland Marketing director — about EA, their direction and how they have moved on to reflect the changes and transitions in the marketplace.
Fewer and bigger brands
Rather than spreading themselves too thinly trying to cover everything, EA are to focus on a smaller number of brands and give them broader and deeper support. The big names which come immediately to mind here are of course Crysis, Battlefield, Need for Speed and Sims and these all remain a major priority. Then of course there is Mass Effect. Say no more.
Digital and direct
EA are also expanding the number and type of games they are offering directly. The stated goal here is that delivery of games and content should be in the most convenient and accessible way for the consumer. This means that we’ll be seeing the Play4Free portfolio expanding and more games being offered via the direct access channels of XBLA and PSN.
Genre and quality
Of course the fear with statements which include words like ‘focus’ and ‘concentrate’ is that the smaller developers are going to be missed. Not so, said the nice man from EA, there is still going to be dedicated support for smaller development studios putting out good games across all genres. The example given here was EA’s commitment to Valve. I have to admit the message is a little mixed, but EA seem to have a plan and I’ll go with it. Anyway, enough with the talking… where are the games!
Portal 2
Damn! I wish I could actually play Portal 2. Really it’s a bit of a head melter but I know that I’d love it. I love the idea behind the game, I love the concept, I loved sitting through the intro sequence as our ‘sleeper’ awakes and I love Stephen Merchant’s characterisation of the electronic guardian which actually had me laughing out loud. But it’s first person and that means nausea after less than 5 minutes for me. Boo!
In case you aren’t aware, the conceit of the game is that you’re part of a sleep research program but unfortunately a power problem means that rather than being ‘under’ for a couple of nights you actually waken some hundreds of years in the future with the research facility in pieces and you needing to use your skills and your portal gun to find your way through. Dammit I wish I could play this!
Dragon Age Legends – Play4Free
When is a Facebook game not a Facebook game? The answer is when it’s a cross platform, free-to-play MMO. Mobile, tablet, browser, all are ways that the Dragon Age Legends game will ultimately be accessed. The nice thing is that, regardless of the method of access, it’s all against the same back end servers so you’ll be playing the same game and gathering rewards as you go. The Facebook aspect provides a common framework for friends whom you can recruit to help in your quests and who gain gold as a result of helping out but outside of that, this thing is going to support crafting, group and single quests and access anywhere, anytime playability. It’s still a beta right now, but worth playing!
The big question of course is ‘Is it really free?’, and the answer is actually yes it is. It’s possible to play through all of the game content without actually spending a penny. Will you? Well, that depends on how quickly you want to slam through, how many friends you have on the system and how big and shiny you want your kit to be!
Oh, and if you own other EA games, and link up your EA account, you’ll be able to get some cool freebies too, like an N7 suit of armour if you have Mass Effect. This I like. I understand that this kind of link up is not only going to be extended but it’s also going to be bi-directional so you’ll get perks in Dragon Age games as a result of playing Legends.
I’m not a fan of Facebook games, but this I’ll be trying, along with the iPhone app and the iPad app when it comes out. Tick!
Alice: Madness Returns
I wanted to like this, I really did and with a little more exposure throughout the entirety of the gameplay perhaps it’ll become more appealing. In the demo we had a sequence to play through which gave an overview of all of the major features of the game: movement, attack and defence moves and progression around the environment. My problem with Alice was really I didn’t understand ‘why’ and that is where beginning at the beginning would have helped.
The re-rendering of Wonderland to reflect Alice’s new mental state following the death of her parents, that of depression, paranoia and not a little madness is pretty well done though. All of the characters are there: the playing cards, the March Hare, the Hatter, the Queen… all of them and they, as well as the landscape, show how far out little Alice has fallen since those earlier, more innocent adventures in Wonderland.
If you’re an Alice fan, this will interest you, if you enjoyed American McGee’s previous work, you’ll like this too. If you are expecting tea parties and Croquet on the lawn… best move along, there’s nothing for you here!
Warp
This was my surprise of the day, it’s a download (XBLA and PSN) in which you play an alien escaping from a research facility where those nasty humans have been experimenting on you. For shame!
Your key ability is that of being able to warp through walls and into other objects, including the aforementioned nasty humans. Warping through walls allows you to navigate through the lab environment, warping into other object allows you to blow them up with either a boom or a splat!
Of course it’s not all simply warping and splatting, there are puzzles to be solved along the way and you can always make the choice that you aren’t the violent type and want to escape through stealth rather than violence. Sure you could do that! I’m getting this one, purely because it’s good to look at and it’s fun.
Gatling Gears
Top-down metal, missiles and mayhem! This evoked very fond memories for me. I used to love this type of game which isn’t at all about simulations, immersive experiences or physics engines but are about getting the biggest weapons you can and blowing stuff up.
There’s a scenario if you’re interested — an evil empire ripe for being overthrown — but frankly that’s not important, this is about explosions either on your own or with friends online.
Other titles we can expect from EA
The Fancy Pants Adventures (XBLA and PSN). A high-speed, side-scrolling platformer which features a hand-drawn style. Fancy Pants Man sets out to rescue his sister Cutie Pants and has to overcome obstacles and challenges along the way.
Battlefield 3 (Xbox 360, PS3 and PC). Massive destruction, enhanced visuals and improved character animations aim to set this one ahead of the rest of the field.
Battlefield Play4Free (PC). Bringing 10 vehicles including tanks, jets, ‘copters and light strike vehicles along with the big guns from Bad Company 2 and the maps from Battlefield 2, this Play4Free title lets you immerse yourself in all of the warfare shooter action you could want, for free.
FIFA Superstars (Facebook). This is basically a fantasy football game with all of the official licenses in place for the clubs and players. Compete with your Facebook friends to create the best footie team you can.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (Xbox 360, PS3, PC). An open world fantasy RPG set in a world created by R.A Salvatore. Scheduled for release towards the back end of the year, there are only screenshots and the cinematic trailer available at the moment, but it looks pretty good from what I’ve seen.
One thing which was of note, was the lack of titles taking advantage of the new hardware. Nothing for Kinect and nothing for Move. Deliberate, planned or just the ‘way things worked out’ it’ll be interesting to see how EA’s approach to platform specific titles plays out and whether it’s a strong move or a costly mistake. One thing is clear though: EA are throwing some considerable weight into the direct-to-consumer model. The XBLA / PSN titles are good, very good indeed and, as a gamer, I’m very interested to see how this model progresses. What the retailers in attendance thought, I’m not sure, but they did get a deeper and longer presentation than us writer types so I’m guessing that there was a lot more information behind the scenes than we were given access to. It looks like a pretty good year though.
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