Electronic Entertainment Expo - E3 2009

As everyone’s mind moves from E3 and looks towards the next big games show in Germany we wanted to close off the E3 story with some great news from the judges from the event. As you’ll have seen from all the coverage so far people are pretty impressed with both Nitro and SHIFT but both games had particularly good sessions with the judges.

Need for Speed Nitro was voted Best Racing Game for Wii & DS by the guys at IGN.com where they said: “Nitro didn't have much competition this E3, but rather than taking a "default" spot on our best of E3 it defined the category. Bringing an all new development team, engine, and visual style Nitro is 100% Wii, and it's the start of something great for EA and Nintendo's console. Blazing fast visuals (60 frames per second) mixed with some classic arcade drifting to create a package that's more Burnout than classic NFS. It may be alone in its category, but it would have topped the lot regardless.”

IGN.com were big fans of SHIFT as they crowned it the Best Racing Game for PS3 at E3. In their summary they said: “There was a lot of good competition on the racing front this year, but Need for Speed SHIFT outpaced everything else thanks to its incredible dashboard view. Your vision blurs, kicks and reels with smacks from other cars and the environment, and the engine feedback even while you're racing clean is top-notch. All other racers need to take note at how to handle a realistic driving perspective.”

After E3 the Nielsen group ran a survey to find out which games had impressed people enough for them to become ‘instant buys’ upon their release and both SHIFT and Nitro were in the top ten for the most interesting games at the show beating such games as Beatles Rock Band.

Today the Game Critics announced their awards for the Best of E3!  EA, BioWare and Valve, an EA Partner studio came away with awards as listed:

Best PC Game: Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin/LucasArts)

Best Role Playing Game: Mass Effect 2 (BioWare/Electronic Arts for Xbox 360, PC)

Best Sports Game: Fight Night Round 4 (EA Canada/EA Sports for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Online Multiplayer: Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve/EAP for Xbox 360, PC)

Check out the full list of winners on the Game Critics Awards site.

What games from E3 2009 are you most excited to get your hands on??

Well, the annual Game Critics nominations are out for the Best of E3, and, as you can see in the post below,  EA did very well.  Go us! Of course, it doesn't hurt when you're like the biggest publisher in the universe and have all sorts of partners who help pad your nomination count.  It also doesn't hurt when you have a huge expense account that you can use to bribe the so-called "judges."    Just kidding!  Really!

So while I'm happy for all the deserving nominees, both from EA and (a little less) from elsewhere,  I do have one particular bone to pick.  Where is MySims Agents?  Look, I was one of those official Game Critics for many years, so I know from good games.  Never mind the fact that I work on the game every day and have a completely biased and vested interest in it.  Just ignore that part.  The truth is that I'd have totally voted for this game if one of MY fellow former game critics worked on it.   I thought we were like a club, guys!  What's the point of the secret handshakes,  the private underground nightclub, the chanting, if you don't support a brother in his time of need?

For next year's E3 voting, let me humbly suggest the addition of the following category:  Best Game That Jeff Green Worked On, which will totally prevent this kind of embarrassing oversight in the future.  Still, I'll be rooting for all my nominated co-workers before the votes are tallied next week.   To whoever wins, you're totally the one I was hoping should win!

The Game Critics Best of E3 Awards Nominees were named today, an EA was the publisher with the most games nominated!  (18 nominations total!) Stay tuned, winners will be announced Tuesday June 23.

In the meantime take a closer look at EA's nominees for the Best of E3!

In case you haven't seen the trailer, it's what one might call must-see-tv!

APB is an massively multiplayer online game that where players form alliances and develop rivalries. The game is from Realtime Worlds, creators of Crackdown. The game features 100 player district maps and approximately 10,000 players per world. The mission is simple - achieve fame and fortune, and achieve it fast.  APB utilizes cutting edge technology of Unreal Engine3™ to bring the polish of next generation art and gameplay into the online space.  Stay tuned to EA.com for more info!

Fresh off a successful E3, Producer Jesse Abney sat down with EA.com to talk about the upcoming Need for Speed SHIFT, shipping this fall on PC, PLAYSTATION 3, PSP, and Xbox 360. Read on to learn more about one of the most ground-breaking entries in the legendary Need for Speed franchise.

Q: What’s the concept behind the game and how did it come about?
A: Need for Speed SHIFT is all about the true driver’s experience. The game replicates the true feeling of racing high-end performance cars like never before. Players are thrust into the heart of the action with immersive and exciting features including a stunningly realistic first-person cockpit view camera and an all-new crash mechanic, providing an unrivaled sensation of the speed and feeling of racing a car on the extreme edge of control. Players are rewarded for the way they drive--from moment to moment and from race to race whether you’re online or playing through your career.

Q: How does Need for Speed SHIFT differ from other titles in the franchise?
A: One of the features that Need for Speed SHIFT really delivers is the feeling of being behind the wheel. Yes, first person has been done before in other racing games but not to the level of sophistication that Slightly Mad Studios has created. Need for Speed SHIFT uses real-life forces and several mechanisms to communicate the feeling of actually driving a real race car. The player’s head is affected by G-forces that result from heavy breaking, accelerating and cornering. We’ve also added a depth-of-field effect the shifts the driver’s focus depending whether they are speeding up or slowing down. The subtle details are also very important to reinforce the tension and the emotions of racing. For example, the driver’s grip on the steering wheel changes depending on the situation you are in.

There is also an all-new crash dynamic that is a combination of exciting and disorienting screen effects and audio. When the player hits a static object or opponent car, they should feel somewhat hindered by the experience—I liken it to being shot at or a grenade going off in a modern first-person shooter.

Q: What are some of the premier cars we can expect to see in the game?
A: Need for Speed has a long tradition of featuring some of the world’s top cars. With nearly 70 cars available in Need for Speed SHIFT, there’s a ride to suit every player’s taste and driving style. Some of the premier cars in the game include the Lamborghini Reventón, the Bugatti Veyron, and our hero car, the BMW M3 GT2.

Q: What can you tell us about the hero car?
A: The BMW M3 GT2 is a one-of-a-kind race car that competes in American LeMans Series. Without a doubt this spectacular cover car is one of the fastest, most powerful cars ever to be featured in a Need for Speed game.

Q: What's the one thought/feeling about the game you want people to come away from E3 with?
A: Need for Speed SHIFT is the most intense and immersive racing game ever. From perfectly modeled cockpits to an ultra-realistic physics engine, players will feel every bump as they race around some of the world’s top tracks. Plus, our driver profile system analyzes a player’s driving style to create rivalries, trigger specific challenges and even unlock vehicles and customization options for an even more amazing racing experience.

EA's blog coverage of E3 2009 includes more interviews, more blogs, (and more booth babes) than ever!

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One of the most popular games of all time, Tetris®, is celebrating it's 25th Anniversary this month. To mark the occasion, EA Mobile's Chris Dreyer talks about Tetris® for the iPhone™

EA Mobile's Product Marketing Manager, Chris Dreyer, shows off character creation in The Sims™ 3 for iPhone™ and iPod® touch.

At E3, Need for Speed SHIFT held a competition to win a brand new BMW M3. Mitchell Francis was the eventual winner but we wanted to show you some highlights of the competition.  Check out our video at NeedforSpeed.com...

Hi kids!

I am out of my annual post-E3 sleep coma and back amongst The Living again.  I've been to 13 of these things now, and it's been both great and exhausting every time, but this time---my first time on the developer side---may have been the greatest and most exhausting of them all.   I can tell you from over a decade of experience that E3 is not an easy time for the press.  They have WAY too many games to see in too little time, and then have to write articles as fast as they can that hopefully don't sound like everyone else's articles.  Trying to grasp the full breadth of the show while also drilling down and getting details on specific titles takes a lot of energy and talent.  Which is why most of the press is drunk all the time!  Just kidding!  Or am I?

Anyhoo,  this E3 was different from all other E3s for me because, rather than running around like a press monkey,  I spent the entire time, in my new role as Producer,  planted in front of the MySims Agents demo stations, demoing the game something like 8 billion times over the course of three days. I did get breaks, of course, because, if nothing else, putting a bucket by me so I could relieve myself not only would have been somewhat gross, but it might have discouraged at least a couple folks from stopping by.  And while I didn't get to wander as much as I normally do, I did get out to see some of the show highlights.

But in lieu of having to write any more actual paragraphs, I present you instead with a top 10 list, which is something else I learned to do in the exciting world of videogame journalism!

Here's the Top 10 Things I Learned at E3 This Year (in no particular order):

1.  Standing in a booth for 8 hours is just as tiring (if not more so) than running back and forth all day.

2. The best way to get a press person  to avoid you and your game is to make direct eye contact as he/she walks by.

3.  Scribblenauts is going to be freaking amazing.

4. "Kids' games"  and casual games may not appeal to all the hardcore press, but, boy, the retailers are all over 'em.

5.  Boy's Life magazine is still in print! I had no idear!  And the editor I talked to was totally cool.

6.  Everyone and their grandma now apparently has their own gaming website.  D.I.Y democracy...or unfiltered chaos?  YOU MAKE THE CALL.

7.  OMG I can't wait for Beatles Rock Band.

8.  However long your prepared demo/script is,  have a 1-minute version ready.   For some folks, that's literally all they'll give you.  "HAI IT'S MYSIMS AGENTS YOU'RE A SECRET AGENT YOU INVESTIGATE STUFF IT'S FOR THE WII IT COMES OUT IN FALL KTHXBYE!"

9.  "Booth babes" are a guaranteed way to attract a certain subsection of dweebs, as evidenced by the folks jammed in to see the Need for Speed game just a few feet away from us.  I mean, yeah, I'm sure the game is great, too.  I'm just sayin'.

10.  Every year I'm sick of it by the end and can't wait to leave, but man....it's a fun show.

To everyone who stopped by and said hi--thank you!  Kisses!

Community manager Ben Swanson spoke with Steve Papoutsis, producer on Dead Space Extraction. Check out the video to see more on his thoughts, as well as see a little of gameplay in the backround. Don't miss this title when it comes out September 29th, 2009.

Mass Effect was one of the highest rated games when it was released on the Xbox 360 and the PC subsequently after.

Mass Effect 2 is the highly anticipated sequel that answers the question of what was the fate of Commander Shepherd and does so with a bang!

The demo itself was about fifteen minutes in length but did an amazing job showcasing the improved visuals, squad commands, weapons and classes and the real kicker in that if you played the first game, Mass Effect 2 will import your saved decisions from the game as an additional hook to continue you on the path you've already started.

The game has undergone a number of enhancements from the previous iteration including little nuances such as how conversations between characters is part of the in-game cinematic so as not to disrupt the gameplay experience.

Along with the visual upgrades to the game overall as well as player models, weapons have also enhanced with nine new weapons and a class system for heavy weapons which in combat can be used for the other new addition of location based damage such as targeting to arms, legs, etc.

The last last aspect of the game that was subtlety hinted at, but became very clear at the end of the demonstration is the element of building a strong, core team that can help you survive. As we've obviously seen in the first game, death is a very real possibility in the Mass Effect universe, so it's crucial that you build a team that you can trust as much as can kick @$$ and take names.

Mass Effect 2 releases early next year for the Xbox 360 and PC systems.  You can pre-order the game now at its official site.

Lisa Leyba, product manager of Littlest Pet Shop Friends, tells us about the new game. The story is all about the pets preparing for the ultimate party of the year. Bake cakes, make invitations and customize your accessories with your best friends!

EA.com's Jon Long caught up with Jason Enos of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.