EA
EA's conference could well be as important as Microsoft's was. We live in a world where game publishers have just as much sway in the entire medium as the console makers. While in the past the publishers have been dwarfed by Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, the sheer importance of their role in the industry is certainly growing. While we are all worked up by the punches of Sony to Microsoft, companies like EA and Ubisoft are going to have a massive say in the matter of an actual 'winner' to a console war. So it was perhaps interesting to see that EA actually had some great titles up for show, and it wasn't all just guns and sports. In fact, it probably started with its best looking title, Plants versus Zombies: Garden Warfare. Taking the popular tower defense indie game and putting it in a third person shooter could well be inspired. Full of ideas, humour and colour, it looks like the perfect way to take a small game and knowingly blow it up out of proportions. But, they didn't stop the ideas there. They showed the genuinely fun looking single player-that-seemlessly-integrates-multiplayer-that-seemlessly-integrates-tablet-controls of Need for Speed Rivals. Tablet integration seems like the the biggest trend I have see so far at the show, and while I can't see myself in a place where me and my friends will use it much, if you intend to, it looks like there could be some decent fun had from it. There was also all the usual suspects in the EA sports lineup, now powered on the Ignite engine and also Battlefield 4. The demo that they showed for Dice's next installment looked incredible, and for that reason I am also skeptical. It was certainly a sight to see a building come down in a multiplayer matchmaking game, but I would love to know how that is going to work in-game. Hopefully I will be able to report back just how impressive it is when I sit down to play a few matches of the 64 player multiplayer on the show room floor int he coming days. They also showed even more of Titanfall after the Xbox One conference, and it is the title I have heard getting a lot of good buzz as I have made my way through the crowds. Having a game where you control mechs, in a Call of Duty style multiplayer (the game comes from the creators of Modern Warfare) that supports story elements to better contextualise these matches seems to be a blend that has people talking. While there is certainly an excited buzz about Titanfall, I can't say I am sold yet. The designs looked fairly bland, and I haven't seen how the story actually works, but adding narrative stakes into a multiplayer experience akin to Call of Duty could be very powerful. The next-gen seems set to really explore new avenues of multiplayer past the run-shoot-respawn that dominated the last generation. That is what I do find truly exciting.