EA's E3 showing this year was simply flawless. Titles like Titanfall, Need For Speed Rivals and Battlefield 4 truly let their next-gen potential shine and gave plenty of hope for the industry's future.
Putting the company over the edge was their Ignite engine that's powering it's sports titles. EA held a viewing that included a few tech demos along with a playable version of Fifa 2014 on Xbox One.
The demonstration started in a room where a video described various aspects of the engine including it's Human Intelligence, True Player Motion and Living World frameworks. Most of the video was pretty much a rehash of EA's pre-E3 press briefing from Monday. It was the next room that offered the true look into how sports will work on Microsoft and Sony's upcoming consoles. Here's a breakdown of what EA demonstrated in it's Ignite room.
EA Sports UFC
From the looks of things, EA Sports UFC has replaced Fight Night for the time being. Makes since considering contemporary boxing is being outclassed by mixed martial arts anyway. During the Playstation 3's tech demo for Fight Night Round 3, the biggest technically wonder was the knock out punch that showed the force of impact rippling a boxer's face on the receiving end of a haymaker. EA Sports UFC outdoes that and more. The biggest thing is full body deformation that truly connects two combatants and even makes sure players are connected to the mat as opposed to the feeling of sliding around an opponent. Characters models also have a cardiovascular system that shows blood rushing to different areas of the body. An example of showed a fighter putting an opponent in a sleeper hold. The fighter at the end of the hold's blood rushed to the opponents face as he slipped out of consciousness. Out of all the games on display, EA Sports UFC is the earliest in development and is looking for a 2014 release. Showing off the new character animation system, a Playstation 4 unit could be manipulated to change facial expressions.
Madden 25
Madden 25 is due for current-gen systems in a few months but EA is taking a different approach to it's take on gridiron football. Instead of totally focusing on visual upgrades, Madden 25 for next-gen consoles will be about two A.I. Improvements; War of The Trenches and Player Scene. It's really hard at the moment to really tell how this will effect gameplay but the showing is the lease graphically polished from what was shown from the simple scrimmage demoed.
NBA Live
NBA Live's tech demo allowed players to fiddle with the Boucetek technology that gives the basketball its own physics by controlling cover athlete Kyre Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers in a gym by himself. Ball control was handled with the right analogue stick and felt natural with the added physics. The ball felt like it's own entity and not apart of a pre-canned animation. The clothes physics and athlete model were drop dead gorgeous.
Fifa 2014
Obviously, Fifa 2014 was the most completed game using the Ignite Engine considering that it's set to launch with both next and current gen consoles this year. Presentation wise, Fifa 2014 still has that grand feeling of a broadcasted soccer match. Can it complete with Pro Eleven Soccer's new usage of the Fox Engine? Only time can tell but it looks like another great entry.
