Gamescom 2014: EA Main Event

Gamescom 2014 finishes its opening salvo with the EA Press Conference!

Welcome back to Gamescom 2014!

Gamescom's third live event (3 of 3) is from EA. We'll be covering it live, keeping this page fresh. Open the stream and keep refreshing this page!

When: 4:00AM Eastern / 1:00AM Pacific — Watch on Twitch.tv!
All Events: Xbox, PlayStation, EA


 Times below are in Eastern Time.

Post-Show Note: We'd recommend watching segments of the broadcast for games
you're specifically interested in, as many trailers are missing main elements of the show.


4:02 - The stream flickers to life! Wait, they already started?

4:03 - First up is Dragon Age: Inquisition. Largest cast in Dragon Age to date; huge world to explore; extensive character customization; over 200 spells and abilities. They jump into a gameplay demo, although we've seen lots of gameplay before. Game still looks great. The occasional bits of slow motion in combat are a nice touch. In the spirit of Gamescom 2014, the stream has issues.

4:13 - The stream completely falls apart. The long Dragon Age: Inquisition demo continues.

4:19 - "With almost a million words of dialogue, it's the biggest story we've ever told." I'd say! The demo finishes off with a trailer, shown above. "Lead them or fall."

4:21 - Now on-stage is Titanfall! They discuss what they've done already since launch: Burn Cards, customization, and new game modes. Now they reveal their newest map pack: IMC Rising with 3 new maps. Afterward, they jump straight into a Titanfall cinematic. It's meant to be dramatic, but it doesn't quite hit the note you'd want it to.

4:24 - It's time for NHL 15 to hit the screen. "Built from the ground up." ... "More freedom of control." ... "Physics on all 12 players and the puck." ... "Over 9,000 individual crowd models."I have to say, I'm impressed. For any fans of hockey and gaming, this seems like a must-buy. No gameplay, but you can try the demo starting August 26th. Full game coming September 9th in NA, 12th in EU.

4:29 - Peter Moore (COO) comes out and speaks some German. Nice! Sounds good.

4:30 - The Sims 4 is up! Ooh, it wil be a live gameplay demo...and Moore is gonna stay on-stage! This could be good. They start crafting a sim, and it's...Angela Merkel? They switch over to another sim...it's an ab-rippling Peter Moore! This is great so far, a fun presentation. For the game itself, the character customization is a high point.

4:33 - They start up Build Mode. You can move rooms, move the whole house, etc. They start up the Gallery and load up an entire soccer stadium. Looks good.

4:36 - They load up a scenario, "The Hungry Games", where super-hungry characters are set to run through a maze for food. I won't spoil it, but it immediately goes wrong in all the right ways.

4:38 - A sad dude eats pancakes while his energetic wife won't stop talking. Peter's sim walks into the room to cheer up Pancake Bob, and dancing is involved.

4:41 - They start showing off a bizarre rare plant in the game with an interesting interaction.

4:43 - The Sims 4 Create a Sim Demo is live now. Characters can be imported on-launch. They launch into a closing trailer, and it's a pretty good summary of the title. Coming September 2nd.

4:44 - Jumping straight into FIFA World, something we're not familiar with. It has half a million games per day, so it seems others have! Oh, apparently it's free-to-play FIFA on PC. They mention they're going to be launching a new engine for the game.

4:47 - Getting into FIFA 15 now! "Feels more responsive than ever before."They show off a ton of teams that'll be in the game. They quickly gloss over a load of game's general details. One of the biggest changes from previous games: goalkeepers have been overhauled and are now more realistic than ever. Seems like they've gone through the work to make that true. They finish FIFA 15 with a trailer tribute to the game's keepers.

4:54 - Falling from the skies is Star Wars: The Old Republic! They go over their biggest recent changes, and mention they've got 1 million players each month playing. They start a trailer showing what's to come: "Galactic Strongholds" (housing) and Guild Flagships. No reveals, just a promo.

4:56 - Dawngate comes over the horizon. Announcement: The alpha version of European servers are coming online. You can also sign up for the beta right now. Just another promo of what they already have out there.

4:58 - Original IP! It's the original IP from Bioware Austin! It's "Shadow Realms", and that's the official title. It's an online ARPG, with "dynamic co-op 4v1 gameplay." You're pit against a player-controlled enemy, the Shadow Lord (the Insidious One) who controls the battlefield. It will have a continuously-updated story and an ever-changing world. Content will be released episodically.

5:01 - Available for PC late next year. Sign up for the alpha at ShadowRealms.com; alpha starts next month. Perhaps not what we were hoping for, but we'll have to see how it plays. For more information, check out their multiple dev blogs already on the official site.

5:03 - Battlefield: Hardline is up to finish the show. They dive into the campaign with a slideshow, but head into a cinematic. It's actually a bit compelling. Oh, and a little bit of gameplay? They mention that the pacing is a lot different this time around; it's true, it's slower and more tense.

5:09 - Apparently you can play with a bit of stealth. Hmm, nice!

5:10 - A gunfight breaks out. The person playing the demo intentionally aims his shotgun away from a target to shoot a couch. The couch blasting apart was flashy, but really? I guess it is a demo!

5:11 - Continuing with the stealth approach, you can takedown people by flashing your badge and handcuffing them. Interesting, looks like the campaign's taking a great direction. They finish off the scene with a cinematic trailer, showing some campaign level diversity.

5:16Announcing "2 new multiplayer modes, created from the ground up for Hardline." First up: Hotwire, with high-speed chases. Second: Rescue, an "eSports-focused mode." 5 criminals, 5 cops, 3 minutes, 1 life, and a few hostages to rescue. Fees like a direct response to Rainbow Six: Siege.

5:20 - EA wrap-up trailer as people file out. There we go, EA conference in the books!


Colt "ShdwFlm" Casey
Deputy Editor

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