Last night we were finally treated to some more gaming news from EA during the EA Play Live event. Like most events during the pandemic, this one was an online-only event. If you want to watch the whole thing then it’s still available but we’ll warn you that there’s a lot of fluff and you’ll need to skip through 30 minutes of waiting. Why would you want to put yourself through that when we’re here to give you all the highlights?
EA Play Live sped off to a great start with Codemasters
In case you missed it, earlier this year EA acquired Codemasters and with it, most of the big names in racing sim and arcade franchises including Grid, Dirt, Project Cars and the F1 series. Now, under the new partnership, the next racing title we’ll be getting was revealed at EA Play live. Grid Legends will be arriving with a narrative-driven story mode with sim-style racing to pull the player into the experience. It was also revealed that in order to capture the live-action shots, the team opted to use extended reality, like what was used in Disney’s The Mandalorian — basically massive LED screens and clever processing trickery in Unreal Engine, instead of all the greenscreens. If you’re at all a fan of racing games you’ll not want to miss this one.
Apex Legends gets a new cinematic
Next, we were given a slightly extended look at Seer, the new legend coming to the Apex Legends with the next major update in a really cool animated cinematic. Not in the same style as the first one we got, but cool nonetheless. You’ll need to wait just a few more days for the gameplay trailer that releases on the 26th, but what we do know for now is that he is going to be some kind of tracker similar to Bloodhound, but with a possible focus on stealth. The Emergence update launches on the third of August.
Knockout City gets a new update
The delightfully unique multiplayer dodgeball game, Knockout City, is getting a big Hollywood-inspired update “Fight at the movies”. That’s starting 27 July and features a whole new map with a wide range of sections that all look like Hollywood movie sets. Go figure.
New Battlefield 2042 experience
We’ve been keeping an eye on Battlefield for the last couple of months since the trailer dropped. We’ve been looking forward to EA Play Live ever since it was revealed at E3 that we would see more of Battlefield. Now we can add another piece to the puzzle of what EA and Dice’s next shooter will look like. Much to everyone’s surprise that looks like it’s going to be some sort of creative mode.
Called Battlefield Portal, the gameplay ‘experience’ (as EA calls it) will feature all seven maps from 2042 as well as six classic maps from previous Battlefield titles. These, along with the soldiers, weapons, game settings and other content can all be combined in different ways to create your own era-spanning adventure. Players can upload their creations and try others out as well. Battlefield Portal will be included with Battlefield 2042 which launches 22 October.
The Dead Space rumours were right
EA Play Live saved the best surprise for last, although it wasn’t all that big of a surprise as there have been rumours about a new Dead Space game going around. We weren’t given much in the way of details, only that it will be for the newest consoles and PC. So hopefully, there will be more to come in the near future. Be warned: this trailer is particularly chilling. We recommend watching it with all the lights on.
