Live Blog: EA’s E3 2009 press conference

“A dozen great games, twelve incredible developers.”

Well that’s all for EA’s conference.

“You were deceived, and now your Republic will fall.”

Looks like bounty hunters have flame thrower arms. A battle between the best Sith and Jedi is underway. And the Jedi loses.

A Sith has just owned a few guards. A ship has crashed into a building. It’s a Sith, Jedi showdown. The Sith have returned.

Different classes will have totally different stories from others. The fourth pillar of story telling is being forged through BioWare and Lucas Arts. Now is the first cinematic trailer for The Old Republic.

Thousands of roles and hundreds of thousands of lines of dialogue. That’s a lot of production (and employed voice actors).

The Old Republic is the first ever fully voiced massively mulitplayer game. Everyone in the game will have an unique voice.

That was a lot of people marching on the stage in Jedi capes, followed by an anticlimactic reveal.

BioWare and Lucas Arts are going to show Star Wars: The Old Republic.

APB stands for All Points Bulletin. Horns are playing. A bunch of hooded guys are walking around the stage. It’s Star Wars for sure.

Imagine a game where GTA meets Crackdown meets an MMO. This is APB.

APB is about a bunch of people who want fame and fortune. Some will be bad and some will be enforcers. Every character is unique to the player. And now a trailer.

Jack Black – How much fun was that making of Microsoft’s Natal project? A lot, without saying so.

Hello Riccitello. Nice to see you again. APB is about to be shown. Dave Jones the founder of Real Time Worlds takes the stage.

The CEO and President of Crytek is on stage. Yet another hoodie wearer. He’s talking about Crysis 2. The game is coming for PS3, 360 and PC.

And now Brutal Thoughts with Jack Black. Jack’s now the human videogame. Don’t try this at home. Lots of wires involved.

Rocktober 13, 2009 is the release date. I wonder if Jack Black is backstage… Oh wait he’s not.

A cover of “Am I Evil” from Metallica is playing in the trailer.

I like the AE-skull logo. Very badass and Punisher-esque.

Ozzy is playing the guardian of metal in the game. Very nice. And now a trailer.

Schafer is wearing a Double Fine hoodie. The Killmaster is being played by Motorheads Lemmy Kilmister. Lita Ford is giving her likeness to the game too.

Tim Schafer talks about Brutal Legend (and don’t forget that umlaut over the “u”).

This is turning out to be a very stand-and-deliver press conference.

Riccitello is back on stage. He’s saying good things about Valve, MTV and Harmonix. Tim Schafer is about to show off Brutal Legend.

The red light district is a lot of red lights. (and the developer has a mondo beard – wonder if it was a bet he lost).

After blowing some stuff up, the character gets in a car and is hiding in store until things calm down.

A stealth game where running away may be the best tactic.

It’s an open world and you can climb the Eiffel Tower if you want. It’s meant to be played as a stealth game.

Now for some live gameplay. The will to fight is why it’s black and white. As you take out Nazi’s colored is restored to the world.

So this guy is smoking in Paris at night. Cool song playing in the background. It’s in black and white, except blood, lights and Nazi armbands.

That does it for EA Sports. You can all wake up now. And now for The Saboteur.

McEnroe in the game(an exclusive character) is in his ’80s headband and long hair. He stomped a bit when he missed a shot, too.

Sampras thinks this is easier than Wimbledon. Confirmed.

First time all four Grand Slam tennis events are in one game ever – first time for Wimbledon has been in a game “in years.”

Pete Sampras is now playing.

The Wii version, Splitscreen multiplayer Camera moved to give you a batter viewing angle. The audience is laughing a bit. With Pete Sampras sneaking on stage.

Hmmm. Awkwardness on stage.

Live game play on stage of EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis.

More specifically the expansion will be out this holiday season. And Allison the hot blonde mom leaves the stage. EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis is being talked about now. It comes out next week.

30 new exercises, more activities, squash, water skiiing. Tropics will be one setting.

Over 600,000 copies of EA Sports Active have been sold so far two weeks in. The first expansion for EA Sports Active will be out later this year.

Naturally she’s in great shape. That means we all can be beautiful too if we use EA Sports Active!!

BTW: EA Sports Active will apparently make you a hot blonde mom.

And now a live testimonial from a mom who loves EA Sports Active.

EA Sports Active is already out, but Moore feels the need to tell us how successful it is.

EA Sports Active – “Get people off the couch, breaking a sweat and live healthier lives.”

Madden 10 promo is followed by a few hoots and applause.

Madden 10 Online Franchise will make us more unproductive at work.

Changes made online with TeamBuilder are reflected within the game.

Chiang (Cofoudner of Tiburon) – “More touch-points that even before” like Tiger Woods PGA Online, streams to browser without game disc, installation or peripherals. New EASports.com site launches today to share content, etc.

Team Builder is available at teambuilder.easports.com You can build your own team.

Another promise of instant games without discs or installation.

Steve Chiang is on stage. Senior VP for EA Sports.

Moore teases about getting an MMA tattoo as he did with Halo. “My wife would kill me” he says.

EA Sports MMA comes out in 2010. It’s a mixed martial arts game.

The sweat realistically pours off each fighter’s body. Very well done. Fight Night Round 4 comes out June 25, 2009. One week earlier than expected.

It’s apparently live game play – they paused the game on command and went back for a few seconds of “instant replay.”

The game camera bounces as you exchange blows. Round 4 is about getting up close and personal.

Camera is extra jittery with a lot of slow motion and jostling with each big hit.

It runs at 60 FPS as opposed to 30 FPS in Round 3. Tyson goes down!

At 60 fps

It has a “genre defining physics engine.” -Moore. Now a live demo is about to be shown. Mike Tyson vs. Muhammad Ali is what we’re seeing.

“There’s no win like a sports win.” – Moore. He’s going to show Fight Night Round 4.

Ode to Joy is playing in the background. There’s a PS3 controller in several shots. Peter Moore is on stage now.

Sports commercial with real people mixed in with pro athletes in various sports.

EA Sports is up next. We see live action sports such as soccer, tennis, golf and boxing.

This is the trailer that was released last week. Seth Green is back as Joker.

Plenty of multicolored projectiles and plumes coming from weapons.

Early in 2010 is when Mass Effect will be out for Xbox 360 and PC. No mention of a PS3 version. Now a trailer for Mass Effect 2 is playing.

In Mass Effect 2 you take your crew on a suicide mission to save mankind.

Bioware guys are Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk.

October 20 is the release date. And now it’s time for Mass Effect 2.

Dragon Age: Origins is showing a brutal trailer with Marilyn Manson playing in the background.

Someone will be driving home in that thing this Thursday. Now BioWare is showing Dragon Age: Origins. First console gameplay is at E3.

“That’s pretty cool, I think.” – best press conference quote. Attending media might be able to win a BMW.

Hmmm. EA is giving away a new BMW M3 at its booth.

Everything goes gray when your crash really badly.

The game demo is showing driving from the cockpit. The speedometer is on the right of the screen.

Now showing game footage. The audio is ramped up and sounds really good. Includes some ambient noises and scraping. Might even be direction according to the driver’s head.

Player rivalries can unlock new vehicles and challenges. You get profile points based on the way you drive. The driver profile gives each gamer an unique experience. It’s based on personality, success, profile points and badges.

From the video it looks like cars take damage. Nice.

Now they’re showing the driver profile. The video is having trouble. Whoops!

Need for Speed Shift – Another car game that process that shows how great cars can look on a game system.

Shift is the first game to be released under the new Need for Speed direction. Shift is extremely deep. It recreates the emotion and power a driver gets from driving at high speeds.

The Charm Girl’s Club trailer is something from a tweens day dreams. Now Need for Speed Shift is being shown.

The smattering of post-trailer applause was accompanied with giggles

The girls are using the Wii Remote to play a game where they tease the hair of the character on stage. Lot’s of waggling in this game probably.

These games are all about, “Friendship, fun and charms.” “Celebrate what’s great about being a girl.” Speed Hair Teasing, the minigame (yeah, you read that right). Earned charms unlock other items.

Diane Williams from Charm Girl’s Clubs is on stage. Three young girls are on stage. Four Charm Girl’s games are being released this Fall.

Plenty of cute creatures, rainbows and minigames. You earn “kibble coins” (?). Of course there will be stuffed counterparts where you get a code to enter online.

Now the trailer for Littlest Pet Shop Online is playing. You can create your own pets and play mini games to earn rewards. You can team up with friends and explore together. Subscription services are optional.

He’s taking inspiration from his daughter and announces Littlest Pet Shop Friends on Wii and DS. Littlest Pet Shop Online launches this Fall. These games are geared towards girls.

Behind him was a video of two cutesy Littest Petshop characters as he walked on. They are continuing to target “girls” with cute and cuddly games.

Chip Lang is the GM of EA’s Habro label. He’s on stage now. He’s worked on everything from Madden to Medal of Honor.

Sims 3 – Will have a midnight worldwide “introduction” in dozens of countries

It comes out tomorrow (June 2). EA has 12 games to show today.

“The Sims 3 is expected a be an incredible success.” John Riccitello. The Sims 3 trailer is playing now.

Dante’s main weapon is the scythe he somehow stole from Death. He’s out to find his beloved and must fight hordes of demons to do so. Looks like he’ll be fighting people from his past too.

first up is a trailer from visceral games. it’s dante’s inferno.

And so it begins…

Minutes from the start of the press conference.

EA’s press conference starts in under 5 minutes.