E3: Electronic Arts Press Event Showcases Criterion's Need For Speed, Crysis 2 in 3D

At a Gamasutra-attended event at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles during E3, Electronic Arts kicked off the showcase with a loud, police chase-heavy trailer for Criterion's Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. Criterion's creative director Craig Sullivan showcased the title, due to ship in November, which brings the Burnout creators to the Need For Speed franchise for the first time. It uses Autolog features to showcase friends' prowess with comparisons of their achievements. Sullivan ended with a two-player cops vs. robbers showdown which brought crash-based takedown mechanics even further into the franchise. Next up, EA CEO John Riccitiello stepped on stage, introducing the press event as simply 10 high-profile titles minus the staging glitz, intimating that the showcase was "more Sundance... than the Academy Awards." The next title to be showcased -- although perhaps not very Sundance-like -- was Visceral Games' Dead Space 2. This title is scheduled for January 2011, and demonstrated impressively "visceral" real-time footage, with protagonist Isaac up against even more fiendish enemies. Riccitiello then introduced the DICE and EA Los Angeles co-produced Medal Of Honor by saying the firm wanted to bring to the first person shooter "a higher bar for quality than has ever been set in the genre." Finally, a live onstage 24-player demo showcased the DICE-created multiplayer -- the game's online beta is due June 21st and the game out in October, with a "Step Up To Tier 1" tagline apparently taking a pop at the competition in Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops, with which it'll go head to head in the same launch window this Fall. The company then unveiled the quixotically named "EA Gun Club", a reward-based system that rewards repeat EA game purchasers with early beta access to games like Medal Of Honor. EA Sports boss Peter Moore then came out to detail the label's titles, revealing a new EA Sports Live Broadcast mode for EA Sports MMA, fighting online for real-life prizes with live commentators. EA Sports Active 2 also got a showcase, adding a heart rate monitor and shipping for Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 with Kinect, and a web-based method of sharing data on exercise and heart rate. Football hero Joe Montana came onstage to introduce changes to EA Sports' crown Madden franchise, including easier play calling. The Sims Studio head Rod Humble came onstage next for an intriguing Will Wright-like musing on free will, discussing The Sims 3 for Xbox 360, Wii and DS shipping this October. Next, EA Partners titles got their turn, with Crytek's Cevat Yerli on stage to show off Crysis 2 with a trailer set around Grand Central Station -- ending in a traumatic skyscraper collapse. The title is also confirmed to ship in stereoscopic 3D for console and PC this holiday season. Next up, Bulletstorm, with Epic's Cliff Bleszinski and People Can Fly's co-founder showcasing the over-the-top first person shooter, which ships in February 2011, and a gloriously over the top gameplay demo flaunting wisecracking goriness. Finally, a segment for the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO revealed that every player in the upcoming PC Online game will get his or her own starship - before an epic CG trailer teased the concept behind the title.