IN A TRENDY winery on a cobbled lane just off London Bridge, journalists from across Europe gathered for the EA Winter Showcase were brought around a showroom decked out with consoles, PCs, iPads and one friendly zombie (more on him later).
The event highlighted a number of trends – both with the gaming titan and the industry at large. EA, the biggest player in an industry that now outsells Hollywood, showed its fearlessness in the face of competition.
Its Fifa football simulator was once a close rival to Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer series, but it now outsells Konami's football game by a huge margin. FIFA Street, a spin- off, will be released in the new year.
In the same vein, EA is now tackling another franchise, this time against greater odds: Battlefield 3(now in stores) is going head-to-head with the Call of Dutygame, Modern Warfare 3.
Activision's Call of Dutyis one of the biggest gaming series of all time, routinely breaking sales records with every new release. Battlefield 3has critical acclaim on its side, healthy advance orders and early sales approaching three million unit.
Its marketing campaign directly addresses Call of Dutyand its release date precedes its rival by less than two weeks. Battlefieldis unlikely to dethrone Call of Dutythis year, but the war is just beginning.
EA executives also showed advances in online multiplayer gaming. The snowboarding game SSXintroduces "ghosting". This neat innovation lets you play a level of the game and send it to your friend. Your friend will then play against your onscreen "ghost", so essentially you can play against your friends any time – even when they're not at their console.
The Mass Effect 3multiplayer got a more mixed reception, with team-based elements added to the game. Some welcomed the new variation on the critically adored sci-fi saga, but others thought it was unnecessary and complicated.
The aforementioned zombie was there to represent EA's latest acquisition, PopCap. EA bought the creator of Plants vs Zombies, Bejewelledand Pegglefor a reported $750 million (€538 million).
PopCap's presence, alongside Battlefield, Mass Effect, FIFAand returning franchise Syndicate, is an acknowledgement of the power of casual and mobile gaming. The zombie claimed he was just in it for the new juicy brains.
