EA Play

Drinks, food and games!

NZGamer.com head man Aaron Scott and myself were recently invited up to Auckland to attend EA’s launch party for Beatles: Rock Band. With journalism’s biggest weakness (read: free alcohol) being dangled like a slightly damp carrot in front of us, we dashed up north to see what was going down.

The event celebrated not only the impending release of the Fab Four’s debut video game, but also other important EA titles coming out in the next few months. Join us, then, for a whirlwind tour of what we saw. Actually, before I go on: does anyone know whether this really is the first game starring The Beatles? Perhaps there’s an unofficial game out there somewhere? If you know, post it in the comments!

The church where the event was held.

The Beatles: Rock Band

This was undoubtedly the star of the show, and with good reason: beyond the hype for the game itself, this is the first Rock Band title – and one of the first music games in general – to be released in New Zealand at the same time as its US release. The game and its accompanying hardware are available as we speak, which makes a nice change.

EA kicked things off by gathering members of Opshop and Autozamm together to try and fuddle their way through Beatles: Rock Band. Actually, the drummer turned out to be pretty awesome – it looked like he was playing on Expert, which certainly isn’t something I can do. The guitar players, of course, donned sheepish grins as they plinked their way through on Easy. After a couple of songs, the stage was opened up to the audience.

Members from OpShop, Autozamm and Shotgun Alley try their luck at The Beatles: Rock Band

I must say, it’s not a super thrilling game to watch. Well, the game itself is fine (and entertaining, even), but your eye naturally gravitates to the players themselves on the stage – and of course, they’re standing there without moving, concentrating on another screen. It made me realize how ridiculous it was – picture someone playing Metal Gear Solid 4, say, then imagine that you’re watching them instead of the game. Actually, that’s pretty funny…

For more on the game itself, check out our Beatles: Rock Band review. Has anyone picked this thing up yet? How are you finding it? Are the instruments good? Post below!

Fifa 10

Aaron’s a big fan of Fifa, and I myself enjoy some indiscriminate footballing action every now and then – so getting some time with this one was a no-brainer. However, while in the past I may have caused an upset and won some games against the Fifa-crazed faction of NZGamer.com’s staff members, my luck wasn’t with me this time around.

Things went downhill pretty quickly when I gave away a penalty right in front of my goal. I had forgotten to be more circumspect in my use of the slide tackle ability, you see. Aaron slotted one in past the goalie, then managed another before full time. Not Chelsea’s finest hour, I’m thinking.

We didn't grab a snap of Fifa '10 in action, but hey, it's David Farrier (3 News!)

And the game itself? Well to be honest, it was hard to tell it apart from Fifa 09. The graphics and animations had an extra sheen of polish on them, and controlling the players themselves felt smoother, but it’s all a collection of small tweaks and improvements. However, I did mange to pull off a couple of moves that, Aaron assures me, weren’t in the previous iteration. Hurray for button mashing!

Regardless, this one looks like a must-have for football nuts in the country. If it merely build slightly on the solid foundation that is Fifa 09, it’ll be doing well for itself.

You can check out the demo which is available for download on Xbox Live and Playstation Network now.

Brutal Legend

I had played this one a few months back at E3, but I was eager to give it another shot. I’m a longtime Tim Schafer fan – you know, the main guy behind this game – so the part about Brutal Legend I’m most looking forward to is the (hopefully hilarious) writing.

Not quite Eddie Riggs...

Thankfully, he seems to be on top form – watching the intro had me cracking up a lot. Main character Eddie Riggs (voiced by Jack Black, in case you hadn’t heard) is a super good roadie for a super crap “metal” band – and by metal I mean emo. They don’t want to do anything to alienate their ultra important tween audience – and they’re worried that Eddie’s sets (such as the inevitable Stone Henge one) are just a bit too antiquated.

Schafer’s mocking of trendy “hardcore” trendy bands is perfect, and gives me hope that the rest of the game will be just fine. Rather looking forward to this one when it comes out in (sigh) Rocktober.

NBA Live '10

Over the past 2-3 years it could be argued that EA Canada’s release of the NBA franchise has felt at times a little chunky and the ugly step sisters of its pretty looking siblings FIFA and Madden. The good news is the NBA Live series has had a makeover and not one of those ten minute jobs where the rosters have had an update and there’s some type of new function with the right analog stick, but an in game graphics polish and overall gameplay mechanics change for the better.

This comes as a bigger shock than Ron Artest’s move to the LA Lakers, this series has undoubtedly been a big one for Electronic Arts for years and the developers probably didn’t need to change too much to ensure it remains popular. Surprisingly the gameplay has had an overhauled and we found the result rather pleasuring with players now performing like their real life counterparts – Kobi is ever staunch on defense, Fisher can nailed that all important 3 point just beyond the arc and Howard is ever dominant in the key.

Again, no photo, but Drew was there.

The game has had an upgrade in the presentation and pre game areas, you’ll find yourself (much like Madden ’10 this year) doing a double take between a live broadcast and the game. Prior to waiting to take the court you can shoot a few hoops with multiple players from different teams within the practice gym. It’s our understanding you can set who you want in this pre game area within the settings menu.

So, in closing this new version of NBA Live is biggest jump in gameplay since NBA Live 2004 and is well worth a look when it arrives in NZ mid October.

You can check out the demo which is available for download on Xbox Live and Playstation Network now.

Be sure to check out NZGamer.com's reviews for all these games when they drop!

Credit to Talia Stephens for the photos