EA underlines sporting promise at E3: FIFA, NFL, UFC, PGA

Soccer, NFL football, mixed martial arts and golf were featured as Electronic Arts’ sporting label outlined its end of year slate at the Electronic Entertainement Expo in Los Angeles.

In a World Cup year, FIFA 15 might be expected to receive top billing, but in fact it was the hand-to-hand combat of more imminent release EA Sports UFC that was first up out of EA Sports’ selection of titles, due for release the week of June 17.

It’s the debut release of a partnership between EA and the televised mixed martial arts organisation, the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The game’s well-muscled creative director Brian Hayes provided commentary on footage from an in-game bout between Bruce Lee — offered as a pre-order incentive — and BJ Penn, a UFC lightweight and welterweight champion, now retired.

Ice hockey title NHL 15 was next in line, touted for its increased realism in terms of player animation, physical simulation, and “more control than you’ve ever had to embarass your friends,” said the studio’s GM Dean Richards.

Talk centered around the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game, though it releases on the older Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 during that September 9 launch week.

Later in the show, studio group GM Cam Weber then introduced EA Sports PGA Tour and Madden NFL 15.

Currently, the March 2015 golf game lacks a figurehead, after Tiger Woods departed following March 2013’s Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14.

PGA Tour proposes to rectify that by not only allowing players “to experience real world courses in stunning detail” by running on tech that powers the Battlefield games, but also “pushing the boundaries of golf to places you’ve never been”; its trailer took traditional golf course beauty and spliced in a tumultuous event from Battlefield 4.

Of the remainder, Madden NFL 15 and FIFA 15 can depend on a solid worldwide fanbase to buoy their sales each year.

NFL 15 offers a redesigned defensive aspect to improve enjoyment without the ball, plus a new raft of player reactions that combine with camera angles proposed by an NFL Films cinematographer for an amped up dramatic effect.

FIFA 15 ran just prior to show closer Battlefield: Hardline, and executive producer David Rutter was on hand to highlight football’s emotional pull and the combined effect of a range of improvements that let players “feel the game.”

“Incredible visuals blur the line between the virtual and real world, and an emotional intelligence that connects every player on the pitch,” enthused Rutter of the Xbox One, PS4 and PC versions, with the game due the week of September 23.

“It’s a level of creative expression as a game developer that we’ve only ever dreamed of, but now it’s alive in‘FIFA 15.” — Relaxnews 2014