Electronic Arts (EA) just can't wait for the Electronic entertainment Expo (E3) to begin on June 13. Its press conference was held two days before the event begins, but what kind of message did they have to convey so early?
First announced was Madden NFL 18, a game about American football, which most Chinese people don't really know or care much about.
If you type "NFL EA" in Chinese search engine Baidu, you'll see one lonely guy asking for a walkthrough of an NFL mobile game back in March last year.
Poor guy got no reply at all. /Baidu Screenshot
On Weibo, @NBA has more than 33 million followers, while @NFL has just 0.7 million. It's the same for EA's basketball and football games. Sorry American football. Maybe it's time to learn from the NBA, and invest in a potential Chinese audience.
EA has always been good at making popular sports games. "E-A-Sports" is a very familiar sound to even the most casual of gamers. Now EA has become more serious than ever in creating a better e-sports arena. This year EA teamed up with some major TV networks to broadcast their future competitive gaming events. Maybe there is a virtual Super Bowl coming up?
Moving beyond sports
Battlefield 1 in September extend the popular simulated war series to Tsarist Russia. Six new maps, night maps, and First World War-style Russian elements are all being introduced for players to experience.
The game expansion's trailer. /EA Screenshot
That's one cool opening for a trailer. /EA Screenshot
Super car street racing game Need for Speed has got a cool name for its 20th release: Payback. This time you'll get something more like an action movie, with three characters to play as.
An action movie, I mean it. /EA Screenshot
There's A Way Out
EA has also incubated a co-op game (which you cooperate with your friend in a couch) named "A Way Out". The game tells a violent story of two guys with strong personalities.
"I know I sound cocky, but it's gonna kick ass," said Josef Fares, the game's plot writer.
Yes, this game even has a plot writer, who was previously a movie director.
The screen is split up for each of the players, who help each other achieve their goals. Unlike other similar games, A Way Out sometimes get the two players doing completely different things.
In this scene, one player is pushing a cart, in which the other player hides. /EA Screenshot
New ways of gaming?
EA spoke highly of the future of gaming, stressing on there being more ways of interactions than just VR or AR. Then it introduced Mass effect franchise's successor: Anthem.
However the introduction video showed almost nothing but a teaser directing people to watch Microsoft's event at E3, which will begin on Sunday afternoon local time. We at CGTN will cover that, too.
Finally...
The next 30 minutes of the event was dedicated to Star Wars. This title, unlike NFL, does have loads of lovers in East Asia.
EA put a lot of work into Star Wars Battlefront II, even the introduction of it.
The multiplayer mode is a mixture of melee lightsaber fights, exchanges of fire between blasters and space aircraft chasing each other.
