E3 2007: EA Press Conference Wrap-up

To say it was underwhelming might be giving more power to underwhelming than it deserves.

Ryan sat through the Electronic Arts press conference earlier today and found that the publishing giant was wearing a different face than many folks might expect. Rather than strut and promote its mainstream game offerings like Army of Two, EA Mythic’s MMORPG Warhammer Online or even the elusive Spore, the company instead turned its sights on the Casual Games market.

While screens from the mysterious Stephen Spielberg project that has EA employees banned from the 4th floor of their Santa Monica offices were shown there was little to no detail. The second Spielberg title turned out to be a puzzle game where users are encouraged to build with blocks and the fully implemented physics will allow them to knock them down or manipulate them in fantastic ways. While the concept has great merit it was a bit strange to hear about.

We had warning last week from EA insiders that E3 would not hold many big revelations, instead the company is focusing on its Gamer’s Day press junkets for those sorts of messages – an arena where they can control the attention given to their upcoming titles a little more directly. Apparently our source was telling the truth.