E3 – EA and UbiSoft

Yesterday Afternoon, EA and UbiSoft both held conferences on their upcoming plans.. Most of what the two companies showed was already known before E3, they simply went more into depth with what they had. Of course, like Sony and Microsoft, there were a few surprises as well. We meant to have this sooner, but we got hit with some technical difficulties. We’ll have Nintendo and Square-Enix up here early tomorrow. For now, click below and see what EA and Ubi Soft have in store for gamers.

EA Sports and the Hoop Gawd
As expected, much of EA’s focus was concentrated on its upcoming slate of sports titles. Need for Speed, the company’s flagship racer would have an open world mode for street racing, similar to Forza Horizon. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a whole lot revealed about this years edition of Madden, other than the return of Ultimate Team, and modes designed to make it easier for players of all skill levels to jump into the game. Roy McIlory PGA Tour Golf was also shown, and Brazilian soccer legend Pele joined EA’s presenters to give an interview about his career and as an introduction to the newest installment of EA’s FIFA. NBA Live 2016 would feature new gameplay focused on the individuality and style of NBA players, complete with a new mobile app that can import a player’s face into the game. Hopefully we’ll see it pop up in more games, because lord knows it will work out better than that god awful Gameface. For now, meet Hoop Gawd.

Fun for the whole family!
EA’s presentation wasn’t all sports. EA demoed more of Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare II which had already been shown during the Xbox conference. This new installment will see the plants go on the offensive, as there are several new zombie classes to take them on with. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst was shown as well, and was given a release date of February 23 of 2016. EA also debuted an original IP, Unravel. Unravel is a puzzle-platformer in which players take control of a little yarn creature. The yearn string he drags along will become instrumental in traversing the environment and solving problems. EA also displayed a new free-to-play mobile game, Minions Paradise. Starring the minions from Despicable Me (and soon to star in their own movie) players must build an island paradise. It’s available now for iOS and Android.

EA’s Space Adventures

Star Wars was also on display. Along with new footage from Battlefront, the company also showed a demo for the upcoming Old Republic expansion, Knights of the Fallen Empire. And because we clearly didn’t have enough free-to-play Star Wars mobile collectible card games (this will be the third game in a little over a year), Galaxy of Heroes is on its way later this year for iOS and Android.

Last but not least, we got our first look at the newest Mass Effect. Entitled Mass Effect: Andromedia, the new game will put players in a new galaxy. Not much is revealed from this teaser, but there’s a new Mako vehicle, the game probably won’t star Commander Shepard, and the game will be powered by Battlefield’s Frostbite Engine. The game is expected in holiday of 2016.

Ubisoft: Tom Clancy Everything
Tom Clancy may have died almost 2 years ago, but his name lives on as UbiSoft continues to make new titles bearing his name. This year’s E3 saw no less than 3 new titles carrying his name. We’ve already known about the post-apocalyptic rpg-shooter shooter The Division and Rainbow Six:Siege, but it was nice to go further into depth with them. Actress Angela Basset will have a featured role in R6 playing as the director of Team Rainbow, a Nick Fury-like woman known as Six.

Oh, and Ghost Recon is back as well, in a brand new sequel known as Ghost Recon Wildlands. Taking place in a massive open world, players fight to stop a South American drug cartel. It will be interesting to see if the game can bring the series back to the glory days of Advanced Warfighter on Xbox 360. Interestingly enough, this game seems to have abandoned the futuristic aspect of the past several Ghost Recon titles in favor of a more modern presentation.

The Rest of UbiSoft
UbiSoft also showed some of this year’s Assassin’s Creed. Assassin’s Creed The Syndicate takes place in London around the time of the Industrial Revolution. The trailer they showed contained no gameplay, but it did show some possibly new gameplay mechanics, such as gadgets and disguises. While the setting will make the game unique, I fear that the series may begin to suffer from the law of diminishing returns.

Other titles UbiSOft had on display were new installments to Just Dance, A Trials Fusion Expansion, and a console and PC re-release of Trackmania Turbo, an installment of the racing series that was released on Nintendo DS in 2011. Most intriguing of all, is For Honor, a new title featuring vikings, knights, and samurai slashing each other up. It’s difficult to tell what kind of game it is however. It is a MOBA? A Massively Multiplayer hack and slash? A gory Dynasty Warriors? Check out the trailer below:

Be back later, and we’ll have a summary of Nintendo and Square-Enix’s E3 reveals. For now, check out these trailers and let us know what you think.