E3 2014

Have you ever wanted to create a world where you can have free reign over your characters’ emotions? Control their hearts? Define their personalities? EA proposes that, in the next iteration of The Sims, you can. The Sims 4 allows you to completely craft your Sims through traits and aspirations, which determine how they interact in their world. Personality drives behavior, and through the varied emotional states that your Sims will go through, they will find themselves in situations that are completely dependent on their world and the ways that the player ...

Hockey is a religion in Canada. Unlike in the United States, where football, baseball, and basketball compete for viewers, Canadians universally place hockey above everything else. So it is no surprise that EA Sports NHL franchise continues to be developed in beautiful British Columbia, and the group there continues to innovate.

Fifa 15, the newest installment to the ‘everlasting’ franchise, seems to differentiate itself from the long stream of Fifa’s released over the past few decades. The game adds new features, such as the footballer’s ‘emotional intelligence’ and a more living stadium.

Bioware gave the first details on Mass Effect 4 today, and while there was a lot of flowery words used about moving the franchise forward, very little space was given to actually discussing the potential of the game itself. With that said, we got a nice look at some of the artwork for the title, and it looks like it's heading in the right direction.

The Call of Duty franchise is back, but this time with a future twist. At Microsoft’s conference we got a glimpse of the single player gameplay and, as per quota, there were huge set pieces, explosions, and highly detailed faces. Yet with the future comes new gadgets and interfaces.

At the end of EA’s conference, we were given a detailed look at the previously leaked Battlefield Hardline. It looked a lot like the Battlefield we're familiar with but with a simple twist: cops and robbers. While this small change might just seem like a big company trying to differentiate itself from the competition, we think it's more than just a gimmick.

With one press conference down, and a few more to go, it appears as if downloadable content is going to once again be a big thing at E3 2014. DLC comes with its own praises and criticisms, but in general, it is a idea that has worked out for both developers and gamers. Developers can extend the life of their titles while also gaining more revenue, while players get more content for the games they love. There are a few issues that have always, and will always, surround DLC.

Today Battlefield Hardline showed up at E3. I’ve not been a huge fan of the franchise, but this game immediately caught my attention. Hardline combines the gameplay of Battlefield with the well-known ‘catch me if you can’ game mode. The result seems to be a fast paced shooter with many decisions which can influence the outcome.

Criterion, developer of the Burnout and Need for Speed games, hit the stage of EA's E3 press conference to give an incredibly early look into their next project. The still untitled game has a first person, action sports mind-set and promises a wide open world with numerous terrain, allowing you to take control of everything from ATV's and snowboards to jet ski's, helicopters, and Parachute-suits.

The third party pressers are never as interesting as the first party conferences, but this year we knew EA had a lot to show us. Did they manage to live up to the potential of Mass Effect 4, Star Wars: Battlefront and a brand new Mirror's Edge? Our staff pass their verdict.