The convention is over and while it was not as flamboyant or swap stacked as the past editions the focus was squarely on gaming, but who out shone the others? It's a little bit of a shock to hear myself saying that but the general consensus from talking to various attendee's is that the EA line-up was by far the strongest amongst the attendee's present at this year's event. Let's have a look at the reasons.
The fact that the EA press conference, despite the lack of new game announcements, was the most enjoyable to attend speaks volumes. There was no open bar or nibbles and I didn't feel like I was attending the Oscars, but there was an element of honesty in the conference with it looking at the hear and now rather than discussing stat's and figures.
The games really are the key element in a convention about games. Spore is obviously a title that will speak to a lot of people with it's broad scope and easy to grasp concepts while still allowing a deeper experience. Dead Space and Mirror's Edge both impressed a lot of people and have actually lived up to a lot of peoples high expectations (mine included). Face Breaker is another title that came across as good simple fun with a lot of features and usability packed in there for extra awesome super fun times.
Left 4 Dead is another huge draw card, and while it is not being developed by a EA studio it is one of the titles that they are publishing and it will be a huge hit both in the PC gaming scene and with Xbox owners. The genius likeability of killing hoards of speedy "zombies" is something quite remarkable.
Rage was not there in any form other than a teaser trailer but that was enough to get a lot of people excited. Let's hope that it turns out spectacular.
The turn around from the past EA is very dramatic and something almost tangible while walking around the different booths, EA's producers were genuinely excited as were the Valve team. Killer year ahead, that is certain.
18-07-2008, 09:52 PM
EA Wins E3
Linear Mode
