EA Play E3 2016 Impressions

EA Play was part of the whole E3 split off that occurred this year where a number of higher tier publishers moved away from the event, though EA didn't move too far. Located just about a block away you could find EA Play which was this great event area that took a few floors of a building up and was filled with EA demos. This was actually great to the point that I wanted to write about just how nice this separate event was. I got to go during what I believe might have been press hours as that's how I signed up but it was relatively empty when I got to go.

This was great as I was able to play every single title there with some even multiple times. It was also much more relaxed than the regular E3 show and I wasn't being herded along to what was next. It was an open area where you could freely move between the floors and take part in the activities. Aside from just playing the games there were photo shoot opportunities or special items to remember the event with which was nice. They also had this neat tracking system on your wrist which signed you into the events you were at and even tweeted (or other social network, I used Twitter) about what I was doing or pictures of me there. It felt futuristic and other E3 publishers should actually aim for something like this.




The first thing I got to check out was Battlefield 1 in the first session of the day and that was awesome. It felt great, looked even better considering the point in development and was in a nice quiet area. They even had a theater area as well for pre-roll pump out but that wasn't needed as I'm sure everyone there had already seen the footage. Next up was heading over to the sports area where I played some Madden NFL 17 which I didn't notice much difference in honestly. I then found that NHL 17 was tucked away between the two sports games and played against a developer that was really into showing off what's new.

This was in comparison to Madden and Fifa where no developers were near and on cared to talk about the games. You would think Fifa 17 was next, but I skipped as there was a line and went right up into Titanfall 2. This was on the roof area that felt tranquil with some nice fountains and a shop area for EA swag though I'm Canadian and those prices were intense with that exchange rate. I then played a couple rounds of Titanfall 2 in their nice tent roof, took in the city from the height and headed to play Fifa 17 which did looked distinctly different due to the engine change. That aside I loved what EA Play was and really hope they do a similar event next year as it was much better than being on the show floor.

Read Our Battlefield 1 E3 Impressions
Read Our Titanfall 2 E3 Impressions
Read Our NHL 17 E3 Impressions
Check out our E3 2016 Coverage