Both Ubisoft and EA are big enough to have their own press conference alongside the Big Three and seem to use them better than the console manufacturers. There is very little talking in them and a big focus on the games and developers. Which is good. EA started theirs with a trailer for the new Need for Speed. After the rather bad previous games in the series, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is being made by Criterion, the team most well known for the Burnout Series. As well as the a new social network setup, the team also showed off a two player mode between a cop and a criminal. It looks pretty good and the cop chase mode could potentially be brilliant to play online.   Next up is a sequel I’m looking forward to – Dead Space 2. The first game was one of the scariest games I have ever played and combined it with a good story and solid mechanics. The second looks like it is taking further being set on the Sprawl, a huge city. The demo levels are set in a gothic cathedral and the necromorphs are back. The shooting/statis looks pretty similar but also fun and the new bad guys look great to fight with. The setting still looks as grim as ever, but with some stunning architecture. And it still has the scary “just walking but oh shit something bad is about to happen” sections. After that was the new Medal of Honour (or Honor to you Americans). Set in Afghanistan, the main focus of the presentation was the 24 player multiplayer made by the genius minds behind the Battlefield games at DICE. They actually showed a live 24 player team deathmatch set in Kabul, with all 24 people on stage. It looks a lot like Battlefield Bad Company 2 to the point where I am actually thinking it runs a modded version of the Frostbite engine which makes it vital that the unlocks are very different from those of Bad Company 2. For those interested in preordering Medal of Honour and already own Bad Company 2, then if you put it into the new EA Gunclub (a cross platform unlock system similar to Uplay) and you can be playing the two map beta on the 17th while the rest of the world waits until approximately the 21st. It looks rather good.   Even better for me is the news that Bad Company 2 is getting an expansion – we are going back to Vietnam in Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam. They didn’t show much apart from a huey flying over some jungle but the Hanoi Rose propaganda over shows they are going for a pretty good atmosphere. If its even half as a fun as Battlefield 1943 (the last game of a similar size), then it will be money well spent. And then Peter Moore came out and I went to sleep and it went on to EA Sports. I’m not a fan of the sports genre but EA always do something crazy with each game so I actually watched this bit. EA MMA was there (it featured men grappling) as was EA Sports Active 2 on the HD consoles as well as the Wii. Worryingly for some, it also dumps the information up onto the net. Also there was Madden 11 which was labelled as being the simplest, quickest and deepest game in the series so far. The mode I’m most intrigued by is the new 3 on 3 mode, previously seen in NHL. It looked good but in my lack of knowledge on American Football I didn’t have a clue what's going on.   After  a brief showing of The Sims 3 console version, EA moved onto the partner program. Jason West and Frank Zampella were brought out to say they are working on something before shuffling off stage to bring on Cevat Yerli of Crytek to show the brand new Crysis 2. It takes place in Grand Central Station in New York and focuses on a boss battle against one of the new aliens. I’m really excited about the next game in the Crysis series and based on previous previews from PC Gamer it looks to be a really good change. It seemed to look really good as well and it is available to be played in 3D.   Mr Cliffy B was brought back to the stage to show off Bulletstorm, a new game from the brilliantly named People Can Fly studios. This game looks absolutely bonkers. Like Bizarre Creations' The Club, the game is not just about killing people but killing people with style to gain points. It looks much brighter with all the alien flora than most other Epic games but still has the look of meaty men scrapping. It also a game for men with some of the filthiest dialogue I’ve in games for a long time (“you scared the dick off me” was an actual line) as well as fart jokes which will probably go down in gaming history. But it looks pretty good and People Can Fly are makers of some of the most competent first person shooters. I’m looking forward to this.   Finally EA came to one of the most eagerly awaited games of the year – The next Star Wars MMO, Knights Of The Old Republic. Very little was talked about, but it was mentioned that every player would have their own ship and the first PvP battlezone is Alderan. But the most impressive part was the new CG trailer for the game. If you interested go find it on Gametrailers and enjoy it as its rather good. EA has a pretty strong line up for the next year, with a big focus on the mainstream despite the increase in motion controls. In fact, only EA Active really uses the new accessories for the consoles, with the rest all using the normal control setup. I get the feeling EA will be the sanest publisher at this E3. (Gametrailers will be having all the trailers and gameplay from the live events up all week and eventually the complete streams later if you want to watch. Thanks to Joystiq, Destructoid and IGN for most of the pictures and Giant Bomb for the reference live blog)

Both Ubisoft and EA are big enough to have their own press conference alongside the Big Three and seem to use them better than the console manufacturers. There is very little talking in them and a big focus on the games and developers. Which is good.

EA started theirs with a trailer for the new Need for Speed. After the rather bad previous games in the series, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is being made by Criterion, the team most well known for the Burnout Series. As well as the a new social network setup, the team also showed off a two player mode between a cop and a criminal. It looks pretty good and the cop chase mode could potentially be brilliant to play online.

Next up is a sequel I’m looking forward to – Dead Space 2. The first game was one of the scariest games I have ever played and combined it with a good story and solid mechanics. The second looks like it is taking further being set on the Sprawl, a huge city. The demo levels are set in a gothic cathedral and the necromorphs are back. The shooting/statis looks pretty similar but also fun and the new bad guys look great to fight with. The setting still looks as grim as ever, but with some stunning architecture. And it still has the scary “just walking but oh shit something bad is about to happen” sections.

After that was the new Medal of Honour (or Honor to you Americans). Set in Afghanistan, the main focus of the presentation was the 24 player multiplayer made by the genius minds behind the Battlefield games at DICE. They actually showed a live 24 player team deathmatch set in Kabul, with all 24 people on stage. It looks a lot like Battlefield Bad Company 2 to the point where I am actually thinking it runs a modded version of the Frostbite engine which makes it vital that the unlocks are very different from those of Bad Company 2. For those interested in preordering Medal of Honour and already own Bad Company 2, then if you put it into the new EA Gunclub (a cross platform unlock system similar to Uplay) and you can be playing the two map beta on the 17th while the rest of the world waits until approximately the 21st. It looks rather good.

Even better for me is the news that Bad Company 2 is getting an expansion – we are going back to Vietnam in Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam. They didn’t show much apart from a huey flying over some jungle but the Hanoi Rose propaganda over shows they are going for a pretty good atmosphere. If its even half as a fun as Battlefield 1943 (the last game of a similar size), then it will be money well spent.

And then Peter Moore came out and I went to sleep and it went on to EA Sports. I’m not a fan of the sports genre but EA always do something crazy with each game so I actually watched this bit. EA MMA was there (it featured men grappling) as was EA Sports Active 2 on the HD consoles as well as the Wii. Worryingly for some, it also dumps the information up onto the net. Also there was Madden 11 which was labelled as being the simplest, quickest and deepest game in the series so far. The mode I’m most intrigued by is the new 3 on 3 mode, previously seen in NHL. It looked good but in my lack of knowledge on American Football I didn’t have a clue what’s going on.

After  a brief showing of The Sims 3 console version, EA moved onto the partner program. Jason West and Frank Zampella were brought out to say they are working on something before shuffling off stage to bring on Cevat Yerli of Crytek to show the brand new Crysis 2. It takes place in Grand Central Station in New York and focuses on a boss battle against one of the new aliens. I’m really excited about the next game in the Crysis series and based on previous previews from PC Gamer it looks to be a really good change. It seemed to look really good as well and it is available to be played in 3D.

Mr Cliffy B was brought back to the stage to show off Bulletstorm, a new game from the brilliantly named People Can Fly studios. This game looks absolutely bonkers. Like Bizarre Creations’ The Club, the game is not just about killing people but killing people with style to gain points. It looks much brighter with all the alien flora than most other Epic games but still has the look of meaty men scrapping. It also a game for men with some of the filthiest dialogue I’ve in games for a long time (“you scared the dick off me” was an actual line) as well as fart jokes which will probably go down in gaming history. But it looks pretty good and People Can Fly are makers of some of the most competent first person shooters. I’m looking forward to this.

Finally EA came to one of the most eagerly awaited games of the year – The next Star Wars MMO, Knights Of The Old Republic. Very little was talked about, but it was mentioned that every player would have their own ship and the first PvP battlezone is Alderan. But the most impressive part was the new CG trailer for the game. If you interested go find it on Gametrailers and enjoy it as its rather good.

EA has a pretty strong line up for the next year, with a big focus on the mainstream despite the increase in motion controls. In fact, only EA Active really uses the new accessories for the consoles, with the rest all using the normal control setup. I get the feeling EA will be the sanest publisher at this E3.

(Gametrailers will be having all the trailers and gameplay from the live events up all week and eventually the complete streams later if you want to watch. Thanks to Joystiq, Destructoid and IGN for most of the pictures and Giant Bomb for the reference live blog)