E3 2009: EA Press Conference Highlights

Our own Fruit Brute was at the EA Press Conference yesterday at E3 and was set to LiveBlog from the event until some unforeseen technical difficulties came into play (apparently having WiFi at a Press Event is crazy talk); nevertheless, there were a number of juice tidbits released that I'm here to share with you. So open up your chickadee mouths, mother bird Pixel Poet is gonna do some nutritious regurgitation.

First up was Sims 3, which is out in stores today. They showed off some trailers (that'll we'll have up later today) and discussed the many new ways in which you can controll the lives of your sim folk. They then showcased two games for the kid and teen audience with Little Pet Shop Online and Charm Girls Club (which has no affiliation with VH1's Charm School).

One of the biger games shown off was Need for Speed Shift, the next game in the infamous Need for Speed series. Apparently this one features 'driver profiles' which give you a unique persona based on how you play the game. They also announced that the winner of the Need for Speed Tournament going on at their both during E3 will walk away with a brand new BMW M3 (note to self, enter tournament).

Another pony they were showing off that has me excited is Dragon Age: Origins which should release on October 20 on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 platforms. I got a sneak peak of the game at PAX, and I'm really excited about how they are working character choices in the game. They also showed a trailer for The Saboteur,Pandemics upcoming stealth-action game set in a WWII setting.

Another big game that I know Fruit Brute was excited about was Brutal Legend which Double Fine is working on. They even have Ozzy Osborne as voice talent on the game along with Jack Black, which should be interesting to say the least.

The show was topped off with a lovely whipped topping of Bioware's Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO. They told audiences that the game will be a fully voiced game, making it probably one of the largest voiceover projects ever. Along with that they plan to make the game's story a big part of the game, which would be a change of pace for the MMO genre.

So there are the highlights from the EA press conference, but be sure to keep your eyes on the frontpage as we put up various trailers from these games.