Monthly Archives: June 2018
EA Is Surprisingly Frank on Battlefront 2 and Anthem Loot Boxes
EA’s E3 2018 showcase might not have had a whole lot of surprise reveals, but it certainly had a very important message that permeated through the conference. At times, EA said and showed things that seemed to point towards a publisher and developer who has learned a lot of lessons from a very rough 2017, a lot of which is thanks to the controversy surrounding loot boxes and games as services. However, its silence in other portions, specifically when it came to sports games, sent a mixed message.
One of the defining news stories of 2017 revolved around the drama of Star Wars Battlefront 2, specifically its implementation of loot boxes and microtransactions. The road there was a long and strange one, filled with mixed messages and confusing rhetoric that ultimately came to a boil when the world got its hands on the beta in October 2017. And, of course, EA completely removed microtransactions for a period of time just hours before Battlefront 2 officially launched (after a week of negative reviews and feedback from early access for preorder customers).
Watch a Full Match of FIFA 18 World Cup Gameplay
Anthem Will Not have PvP at Launch, Will Require Online Connection
Anthem will not have a player-vs-player mode at launch and will require an online connection to play, executive producer Mark Darrah confirmed on Twitter Saturday.
After EA debuted new gameplay footage of Anthem at its EA Play event, Darrah took to Twitter to answer fan questions.
“You need to be online to play,” Darrah answered to a Twitter user. When asked if Anthem would feature PvP modes, Darrah responded “no PvP at launch.”
The Rise of Streamed Gaming Is Video Games’ Scariest New Trend
This article was originally published during E3 2018 after several developers announced plans for a push toward streamed gaming. We are refreshing and republishing it now with the announcement of Google's streamed gaming platform, Stadia. Streamed gaming continues to be a growing topic, but the concerns expressed here a year ago are still as prevalent as ever.
Last year's E3 was full of signs pointing toward the coming rise of streamed gaming. EA announced a push toward it at its press conference, followed by Microsoft announcing similar plans of its own (which have been repeatedly backed up by rumors). Those both came hot on the heels of the very unexpected release of Resident Evil 7: Cloud Version, an exclusively streamed version of a game that assumedly wouldn’t have been able to run on the Switch’s hardware natively.
Anthem Will Not Feature Romances
A hallmark of BioWare games won't be making it into Anthem, as the developer confirmed there will be no romances in the game.
Revealed by GameInformer, lead producer Mike Gamble has said:
“There are no romances. There are friendships. Some of the stuff we did with Mass Effect – the Citadel DLC specifically – there was a lot of friendship moments. You and Garrus sitting up, shooting – that kind of stuff, we want to lean into that. The romantic stuff, we’re moving away from that for Anthem.”
There are relationships created in the course of the game, but they won't lead to romantic encounters as in Mass Effect and Dragon Age.
E3 2018: Anthem Is BioWare’s Whole New World
Anthem is a smorgasbord of water cooler moments. At least, that’s how I felt when we were invited to BioWare Edmonton to spend a day with the development team, learning as much as we could about Anthem. I’ll be honest, I know pieces of what Anthem is going to become when it’s finally finished and released on February 22, 2019 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. But like everyone outside of BioWare, the whole that all those parts amount to is still something of a mystery.
But here’s what I know. Anthem is an incredible buffet of stuff you know and love from the past decades of games and movies, realized in this cryptic, shared-world shooter. It’s part Iron Man, I thought, as I jetted around and barrel-rolled in a super-powered rig with the kind of locomotion that would make Insomniac Games (Sunset Overdrive, Marvel’s Spider-Man) give a knowing nod of approval. It’s part Halo -- a science-fantasy story about “the Gods” who started the planet and disappeared, leaving their mystifying and errant construction tools lying around to the welfare and woe of the inhabitants.
Anthem Release Date Announced
At EA Play today, BioWare revealed that Anthem will be released on PS4, Xbox One and PC (via Origin) on February 22, 2019.
A new gameplay demo shown during EA’s conference featured new footage of Iron Man-like flight in Anthem’s Javelin exosuits, including combat and traversal.
BioWare also confirmed Anthem will have no loot boxes and no ability to "pay for power." There is, however, a heavy emphasis on exosuit customization, which leaves plenty of room for cosmetic microtransactions.
Anthem was revealed at EA Play last year and EA previously teased an early 2019 release, though we didn’t have an official date until now.
EA Announces Origin Access Premier
During EA's press conference today at E3, the company announced Origin Access Premier, a new, premium tier for its existing PC subscription service.
Origin Access Premier subscribers will have full access to new EA games ahead of their scheduled release dates. This includes access to Anthem on February 15, 2019; Battlefield V on October 11; Madden NFL 19 on August 2; and FIFA 19 on September 20.
The new subscription tier launches this summer for $15 per month or $100 per year, compared to $5 per month or $30 per year for Origin Access Basic.
Origin Access Premier will also include the same benefits of Origin Access, which features a vault of over 100 games and a 10 percent discount on Origin purchases.
NBA Live 19 Release Date Announced
At EA Play today, EA announced that NBA Live will be released on PS4 and Xbox One on September 7, with a free demo coming on August 24th.
A trailer shown during the conference featured the return of The One, the career mode introduced in NBA Live 18. This time around, a trailer showed off new features including building a squad to take on the road.
The game seems to have a more international outlook, adding courts in Paris, Brazil and the Philippines, "offering unique rules and challenges specific to those courts."
A so-far unspecified new progression system will also be introduced, and there are now more choices of cosmetic customisation for your players, including clothes, shoes and gear.
EA’s Sea of Solitude Coming in Early 2019
At EA Play today, EA revealed that Sea of Solitude will be released in early 2019.
Sea of Solitude is developed by Jo-Mei and is the next title in the EA Originals lineup, which EA uses to publish smaller titles by independent developers. Previous EA Originals titles include Fe by Zoink Games and A Way Out from Hazelight.
EA first announced that Sea of Solitude would join the EA Originals lineup back in 2016, though today was our most significant look at gameplay in a new trailer.
For more, read about why you shouldn’t dismiss EA Originals as well as IGN’s Fe review and A Way Out review.