Tech Blog

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Now I'm sitting in the gorgeous, historic Orpheum theatre, waiting for the E3 press conference to start. Just like the earlier Microsoft Media Briefing, I can't get the wifi to work so this liveblog isn't exactly going to be very live, unless things change suddenly, I guess.

2:06 pm - A little late to start, and then they make us sit through a pre-rendered sequence from Dante's Inferno, otherwise well known as the weirdest choice of adaptation ever. It still looks as exactly as stupid as we all imagine.

2:07 pm - Sims 3 trailer, because it's being released tomorrow. It looks neat, but it's not exactly that exciting a reveal.

2:08 pm - John Riccetello says "The Wii is a spectacular platform." Feels like all the wind has gone out of the Wii's sails already thanks to Project Natal, though...

2:09 pm - Chip Lang has come on stage to share some stuff about Littlest Pet Shop. Fair enough, it makes them money, but he must be mortified to be describing this to an E3 audience. Unless he's going to reveal that there's a new Littlest Pet Shop game coming that has extra gory head shots or something.

(He doesn't, instead revealing Littlest Pet Shop Online.)

2:12 pm - They have literally brought out a group of little girls to play a game in the new EA Girls brand, Charm Girls Club. The girls are playing "speed hair teasing" which is a dumb game that involves a lot of Wii remote waggling. Again, in front of a typical E3 audience, this feels so wrong.

2:14 pm - The audience of mostly men are reacting in an over-the-top fashion to the Charm Girls Club trailer.

2:16 pm - Patrick Soderlund is here to show us Need for Speed Shift. There hasn't been a good Need for Speed game in years, so I've stopped paying attention, to be completely honest.

2:20 pm - Bioware's Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuck are here to discuss Dragon Age Origins. I have started paying attention again, but they're not saying very much right now.

They are showing us a gory trailer with a heavy metal soundtrack. There's some sex, too. It looks like exactly what a 12 year old boy would want the Lord of the Rings to be, and is therefore almost offensively moronic.

Now they're discussing Mass Effect 2... Again, they're not saying very much of content, but they're really just leading up to the trailer. It's much stronger than the trailer for Dragon Age - actually quite dark and atmospheric - and makes me more interested in the game than I was before.

2:25 pm - Fan favourite Peter Moore pops out to talk up EA Sports' new stuff. First up, Fight Night Round 4, which we all know about, but the big reveal for many is EA Sports MMA, coming in 2010.

2:30 pm - No trailer or anything though.

2:35 pm - Apparently EASports.com has just launched today. Oh, and teambuilder.easports.com has also launched.

2:37 pm - Now they're talking up EA Sports Online Madden Franchise, a sort of online fantasy football thing. Hooray, I guess.

2:41 pm - They've been talking about EA Sports Active for a while. It doesn't really need recounting.

2:43 pm - EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis now - you know, the new Wii MotionPlus tennis game. Again, it's out next week or something, so, you know; reminds me that you only really get the amazing reveals at the big three.

2:45 pm - Of course, the minute I say that, Pete Sampras walks out on stage. Turns out he's going to be bundled with every copy of EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis. Or not.

2:46 pm - I just realized how annoying it is that every EA Sports game seems to have "EA Sports" as part of its name.

2:48 pm - Pandemic's Tom French has come out to discuss The Saboteur.  Oh god, I completely hate the people that are sitting behind me. 

2:49 pm - I like how the Nazis in this trailer have been polite enough to wear armbands that don't actually have swastikas on them.

2:51 pm - The in-game footage is nice, though. All black and white with strikes of color, and a very neat open world. This will probably be better than Inglorous Basterds, if we're in a mood to compare works in completely different mediums.

2:54 pm - YES TIM SCHAFER IS ON STAGE NOW

2:55 pm -  Rob Halford is in Brutal Legend. Awesome. So is Lemmy. Awesome.

2:57 pm - So is Ozzy. Anyway, Brutal Legend does look good. I hope it is!

3:03 pm - They've just announced Crysis 2. But actually, the big reveal is just coming, which is that Realtime Worlds has joined EA Partners for APB. Dave Jones is on stage. Mon' the Scotland!

3:07 pm - APB looks pretty great. But now they've literally brought out about 30 dudes dressed as Jedis to stand behind Ray Muzyka (again) and a LucasArts dude to discuss The Old Republic.

3:09 pm - The Old Republic is to be the first ever fully voiced MMO. Goodness.

3:11 pm - It's pretty neat that all of these Jedi are dressed uniquely. And they're so still!

3:15 pm - Anyway, this (fully pre-rendered) trailer for The Old Republic was pretty awesome. Made Star Wars look pretty cool again, which is, yes, quite surprising. And that was it! The conference is over!

Message Edited by MathewKumar on 06-01-2009 03:26 PM

Message Edited by Julez on 06-01-2009 08:22 PM

Message Edited by Laura on 06-02-2009 02:15 PM

Message Edited by ElizabethS on 09-10-2009 07:40 PM