Do you like your ass kicking to be of the female variety? EA is listening. They have revealed that female fighters will join the roster of their UFC game next year. Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate were the first two fighters announced with more coming before the game launches next spring.
If you have not watched any female MMA fights, you are missing out because they are regularly some of the best or the best on the card. Also, if you think their fighting style is any less brutal than the mens, check out what happened the last time Tata and Rousey fought.
Soccer is the most popular sport in the world for a reason, but I am thinking that if Patrick Stewart narrated every video involving it that there would be a hell of a lot more adopters. Hell, Capt. Picard makes me want to play this damn game just because of this video. I wish he would take paying jobs to narrate people’s days.
“He wakes up feeling lonely and cold. Yet, he realizes that when he heads out into the vast world just beyond his door that his feelings will quickly change, for everyday is a new adventure, a journey that is wrapped inside of a single day. There is nothing more important than the realization that there is only one you and you can change…everything…everyday.”
And that’s just waking up in the morning!
Also, Microsoft announced that everyone that pre-orders an [amazon_link id=”B00CMQTVMI” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Xbox One[/amazon_link] in Europe will get a copy of [amazon_link id=”B00CX7FMDS” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]FIFA 14[/amazon_link] for free. Of course, that helps us here in America as much as putting on socks to walk on glass.
EA may have thought they were past the drama for their yearly college football game, but not quite yet. The SEC has announced that they will join the NCAA and end their agreement with EA Sports to have their logos and their championship game represented in future titles in the EA series.
Schools within the SEC are free to work out their own deals with EA for the use of their names, logos, stadiums, etc. This will almost certainly make the development of the game a more expensive venture for EA since they now have to work out individual deals with all schools within the SEC. Could some schools ask for more (Alabama, LSU) than others? Could some schools overestimate their value (Missouri) and try to play hardball with EA and get left out of next year’s college football game? These are the days of our lives.
Will the SEC be the only conference to pull this move? This can not be seen as anything but a setback as EA tries to move forward with their new game. The SEC is the powerhouse of college football (Yes, that will change. Take it easy bleeding hearts.) and the loss of conference support will hurt EA. Not cripple it mind you, just hurt.
One of EA’s most anticipated games is easily Star Wars: Battlefront which is being taken over by Battlefield developers DICE. A teaser was shown at E3 and nerd joy was renewed knowing that we will one day again be able to kill as many Ewoks as we want in team-based combat.
During the EA annual stockholders meeting, CFO Blake Jorgensen gave a possible release window for the revival of the title. He said the title “most likely come out around the same time that the Star Wars movies start to come out, probably in the summer of ’15.”
I’ll leave this handy video here to remind everyone of how much time was lost by me and others to the Battlefront series.
I am genuinely excited about NBA Live 14. I have never been able to latch onto the 2K game and yes, I realize that I must be one of the minority. Live used to be a yearly buy for me going all the way back to NBA Live 95 on SNES, to NBA Live 97 on my Sega Saturn and on into the PS2 days. So it hurt me to see the franchise fall so hard on its face the past five years.
Now after false starts and cancellations weeks before release, EA is set to bring back NBA Live to the PS4 and Xbox One. I am not expecting it to beat the 2K series or even compete, but I hope that it will be a fun restart to the series.
Today, the cover for the game was officially unveiled with Cleveland Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving. There is also a short announcement clip below using the game engine to introduce Irving to the masses.
[amazon_link id=”B00CYS5GEQ” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]NBA Live 14[/amazon_link] will be a launch day title for the [amazon_link id=”B00CMQTVMI” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Xbox One[/amazon_link] and [amazon_link id=”B00CMQTVQO” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]PS4[/amazon_link].
It seems that college football will continue in video game form through EA Sports just without the NCAA name or logo.
EA has signed a three-year deal with Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), the company that handles marketing and trademark licenses for various universities. With this new deal in place, EA can continue making their yearly college football game, but it will have to be renamed since they will no longer be allowed to use the NCAA name or logo.
The deal is also non-exclusive meaning that other publishers are open to negotiate with the CLC and reach deals to produce their own video games with colleges. This could end up being the best part of the entire NCAA/EA fallout. Competition brings better games to the table and maybe if another company makes a deal to get another college football game out we, the consumers, may get multiple good games out of it.
Even if you are not a big fan of hockey, if you grew up in the 80’s and early 90’s, chances are you played (and loved) NHL 94. It was the best hockey game of the 16-bit era and was a source of many late nights for friends around the world.
Now to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the classic, EA Sports is re-releasing NHL 94…sort of.
When you purchase a copy of NHL 14 you will be able to play the game in the style of NHL 94 complete with retro soundtrack, old-school star indicators under players and even helmets popping off the players heads. The game will be running on the NHL 14 engine, but will give a classic view to capture the essence of the game. Glass will shatter from pucks and hits and if you really, really have a goalie you dislike just smash his face in.
This is a great addition to NHL 14 and may have some people thinking about purchasing the game that normally would not (raises hand).
[amazon_link id=”B00CEGPXM8″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]NHL 14 [/amazon_link] releases on September 10th.
How was that for an E3? After a lackluster event last year, things sure did take a massive upswing this year with Sony and Microsoft bringing out the big guns for their new consoles. And it wasn’t just new shiny black boxes that stole the show. Developers brought their full support with a host of shiny new next-gen offerings. So let’s take a look at who the big winners and losers were from E3 2013.
WINNERS
*Sony
To say Sony won E3 is an understatement. They knew what they had to do to get people talking about the Playstation 4 and they did it. Show off the console. Check. Bring a quality lineup of games including a number of wonderful looking indie titles. Check. Punch Microsoft directly in the mouth when it comes to used games and online restrictions. Check. Absolutely floor everyone, me included, with an insane price point ($399). Check. Mission accomplished Sony. You have my pre-order.
*CD Projeckt Red
The Witcher 3 had already been revealed a few months back, but when you actually see the game in motion and realize that this is just the first generation of next-gen games, it truly excites to know what is coming. Plus, you know Geralt will probably totally bang one of those mermaids.
*EA
Talk about a surprise. I knew EA would be bringing their EA Sports lineup and a new Need For Speed to the table, but then they announced two of my most anticipated dream games ever I knew this was a different EA. A new Mirror’s Edge is coming to next-gen and even though it will not be a true sequel, but a reboot of sorts that gives Faith’s back story, I could not be more excited. Wait…now I am more excited because EA also hit us with the news that DICE is hard at work on a new Star Wars: Battlefront. Nicely done EA.
*Bungie
Bungie showed off the first gameplay for Destiny and showed just how ambitious this project is and how they how trying to blur the lines between single and multiplayer gaming.
*Crytek
Say what you will about quick-time events in games, I easily overlooked the abundance of them when I watched the Ryse: Son of Rome demo. That game caught my attention in the best way. Maybe it is the sheen of next-gen or just the fact that I would like a game to fulfill my bloodlust now that Spartacus is done, but either way, me likee.
*Ubisoft
Yes they have another Assassin’s Creed this year. And yes it looks beautiful. Here is hoping that the pirate setting can freshen things up. Ubisoft is on the win list because of Watch Dogs…for the second E3 in a row. The new demo gets me excited for a new IP from Ubisoft. Kind of like when the first Assassin’s Creed was released. Enjoy it now, because we will be complaining about Watch Dogs V in 2018.
LOSERS
*Microsoft
This is not an indictment on the quality of the games Microsoft showed off at E3. They did a great job with the titles that were shown and there are some that I would genuinely consider purchasing an Xbox One for. This is for Microsoft’s complete lack of tact in the way they have handled the blow back from the perceived “problems” of the Xbox One. From Don Mattrick’s completely asinine statement about buying an Xbox 360 if you have no internet to the incomplete list of countries that can “enjoy” Xbox Live on Xbox One come launch, it was one stumble after another on the PR end. It was a weird week for Microsoft. So weird in fact, that I am not sure if it was a solid showing for a new system or a complete clusterfu** that gave control back to Sony.
*Nintendo
Photo courtesy wiiudaily.com
This was the second E3 Nintendo needed a home run and it is the second time in a row they fell short. Last year they failed to sell people on needing a Wii U and this year they did the same thing. You would think that with what was delivered people would be clamoring for their own Gamepad and system. Mario Kart 8, Super Mario 3D World, a new Donkey Kong game from Retro and yet it felt…flat. I liked the new gravity defying antics of Mario Kart and after that it gets disappointing. While Super Mario 3D World is a 3D Mario game (which was promised), I think we were all expecting something more along the lines of Super Mario Galaxy and not a sequel to a 3DS game. Retro doing Donkey Kong is great and all, but the way it was being teased you would think they were bringing back Metroid or working on a new StarTropics game. And there was no Zelda which is cool if they did not have anything ready…but they did! Nintendo has said that they were going to show off the new HD Zelda and decided not to. They do realize their system is tanking and they HAVE TO give gamers a reason to be excited, right?
Well, at least there is Smash Bros.
*Ouya
Yeah, the Kickstarter darling was at E3, though not in a traditional way. It is quite the funny story of tit for tat that makes both the Ouya and ESA look a bit childish. Just give this a read and see that the most fun stuff may have been happening outside the complex.
Yeah, so instead of posting separate articles about these I am just going to save the time and put them all here.
Madden NFL 25
The 25th anniversary title for Madden will be a launch title and while it may look full of pretty, I think we all know from EA’s track record that it will be stripped of features available in the current-gen versions. The “Madden rule” for next gen consoles. Wait for the third game.
NBA Live 14
I have always been a fan of the NBA Live series over NBA 2K (but even I can’t accept the last few Live games). Here is hoping EA can actually get this game to a finished product because if it sees one more setback, EA should just consider their NBA franchise dead.
FIFA 14
If there is one franchise EA has to take care of, it is FIFA. It is the biggest selling game in their sports library and they always have to look over their shoulder to make sure they are still ahead of Pro Evolution Soccer.
UFC
Despite THQ’s woes, their UFC games were very fun and always impressive looking. Now EA looks to bring the feel of the Octagon to their UFC franchise. They had a good start with their own EA Sports MMA a few years back so let’s hope they can have good momentum going into the first game with UFC.
EA basically went into my dreams yesterday during their press conference and decided to grant them.
They FINALLY announced a new Mirror’s Edge coming to next-gen consoles. The game will not be a sequel, but a reboot of the franchise that will tell Faith’s origin story. I honestly don’t care if it is a sequel, a prequel, or a side-story of Faith having to get to a cross-town market to pick up some cantaloupes. It is more Mirror’s Edge.
