http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/blogs/360248-garethj/ The home of Electronic Arts Community en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:34:09 GMT vBulletin 60 http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/images/ea_images_main/misc/rss.jpg http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/blogs/360248-garethj/ http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/blogs/360248-garethj/506-daily-blogs-ea-stand-i35.html Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:48:48 GMT Day One - i35 - Setup. We arrived on site bright and early on Thursday morning to begin setting up. After building two walls with embedded... Day One - i35 - Setup.

We arrived on site bright and early on Thursday morning to begin setting up.

After building two walls with embedded screens, 6 PlayStation® 3s and 6 Xbox360™s as well as a central desk containing 8 PCs and two large plasma screens on a central column we took a break for lunch.

After lunch we tested and installed software and blasted out some Rock Band tunes over the PA system and tried to find places for the four huge beanbags we bought with us.

With all the consoles set up and the PCs busy installing updates we set up Left 4 Dead on 4-player co-op and we were all blown away by the quality of the game, suddenly hundreds of people began to stream into the exhibition hall with computers, screens, chairs and pot noodles so Left 4 Dead had to be turned off and we made our way home. ]]> garethj http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/blogs/360248-garethj/506-daily-blogs-ea-stand-i35.html http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/blogs/360248-garethj/292-ea-mfest-sunday.html Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:04:06 GMT Sunday was hectic on the EA Stand.

We had challengers taking on Apollo in a 4 way FFA match on Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™ 3, several players, including the UK WCG FIFA 08 Champion Chrissy B take on Baker011 and Omni at FIFA 09, Dead Space and Mirror's Edge Demo's and the EA Staff on Rock Band.

PLAY Apollo @ RA3..

6 people had the chance to take on the UK WCG Command & Conquer 3 Champion in two 4way FFA games, apollo was lightening quick and couldn't be beaten, demolishing the first two opponents in the first game within minutes, the remaining player held on for as long as he could but pretty soon it was game over and time for the next 3 players to get involved.



The next game was a little different, apollo, in yellow, started to attack the green base, he then scouts out the blue base, see's an army being readied and backs off, the blue player seemingly oblivious to this activity. Not long later apollo returns with more units and war breaks out between the two factions, suddenly the green army becomes involved again, then orange and soon green and blue are defeated leaving apollo free to attack the orange base.

Later that day we had more challengers in the PLAY EA @ FIFA event. The score to beat was 4 goals which remained the winning score, despite EA taking on Chris Bullard who later picked up a gold medal in the WCG Awards and who will be representing the UK at FIFA in the World Cyber Games. Chris won the game 1-0 but struggled, as many others did, to break down the EA Defence.

Sunday also saw a repeat of the Mirror's Edge demo, an eager crowd turned up early to see a run through of a level and were rewarded with Mirror's Edge Comics.



The demo went down well again, despite our demonstrators hangover and tendancy to fall off the level, many people hung on at the end to ask questions and talk about the game they are so excited about.

A similar thing happened later on in the day when we had a private over18s only viewing of Dead Space. Two PS3s were set up and a couple of pads were passed round the 8 or so people who came along to play for an hour, gasps and squeels were heard as monsters were squished and blood filled the screen.

This was a nice gentle end to the evening after the previous couple of hours saw an EA Staff band take on a few songs in Rock Band, to a sizeable audience.

Away from the EA Stand Sunday saw the WCG Awards, with Apollo, Chrissy B and Stune picking up gold medals in C&C3, FIFA and NFS.

They took home £100, a 26" Samsung TV, a bottle of champagne and a tiny little trophy. More importantly they will be heading off to Germany to represent the UK in the World Cyber Games, so congratulations is in order!

Its now monday and things are starting to wind down, we have given away boxes and boxes of Spore T-Shirts and Battlefield:Bad Company smiley grenades this morning as the departing gamers collect up swag to take home.

Thanks to everyone who has visited the stand, we hope you all enjoyed it!

Pictures can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29402414@N06/ ]]> garethj http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/blogs/360248-garethj/292-ea-mfest-sunday.html http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/blogs/360248-garethj/285-ea-mfest-saturday.html Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:57:14 GMT Today has been jam packed with action at M Fest, we have seen Apollo, Chrissy B and Stune win thier WCG matches to go through to represent the UK in... Today has been jam packed with action at M Fest, we have seen Apollo, Chrissy B and Stune win thier WCG matches to go through to represent the UK in the world finals, covered the exhibition hall with smiley face grenades and shown a live demo of Mirror's Edge™ to a packed audience.

First off Mirror's Edge.. We demo'd the two levels people have seen in the trailers on the video wall, there were gasps and laughs and a standing ovation (although to be fair, not many people were sitting down to begin with :p).

Once this was over we saw the WCG Need for Speed: Pro Street final. Stune from London Mint took on Gunsmith with both racers using a Porsche 911.

Stune was using a standard pad while Gunsmith used a racing wheel, pedals, gearbox and manual clutch.

Stune went ahead in the first lap and kept that lead for the whole time, eventually winning the race by a large margin after 5 laps.

Next up Apollo, the current world champion, took on Stinezy at Command & Conquer™ 3 and eventually won the right to represent the UK.

In the final game it was an easy win for Apollo, he was the more experienced player and won the game within 8 minutes.

Finally we watched Chrissy B of London Mint take on Bazza of Birmingham Salvo, the current CGS World Champions.

Both players were using Barcelona, with Chrissy B using the home strip and Bazza using the blue away strip.

The game started well for Chrissy B, he caught Bazza on the break a couple of times and went 2-0 up in the first half.

In the second half Bazza dominated posession but still conceeded a third goal after Chrissy B broke down the left and tapped it into the box for the striker to score on the rebound.

On the stroke of 90 minutes Bazza got a concelation goal only to concede again in injury time to make the game 4-1 which is how it ended.

I'll be posting up interviews with the three final winners on the EA UK Homepage next week.

The last activity of the day was Play EA @ Fifa09 with the player who scores the most goals against Baker011 and Omni winning a Nintendo Wii and a selection of EA games.

The challenge continues today with the score to beat being 4-0 so if you are at MFest come along later to take part. ]]> garethj http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/blogs/360248-garethj/285-ea-mfest-saturday.html http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/blogs/360248-garethj/282-ea-mfest-friday-part-2.html Sat, 09 Aug 2008 09:22:27 GMT At 6pm we moved over to the main stage full the official M Festival Launch event. The four top bands from our Rockband™ qualifiers came up on stage... At 6pm we moved over to the main stage full the official M Festival Launch event. The four top bands from our Rockband™ qualifiers came up on stage to perform two tracks infront of the panel of judges.

The Judges were Craig Fletcher from Multiplay, Gemma Atkinson and our very own Baker011.

While we were waiting for the event to start one clan who were sitting in the row behind me attempted to start a mexican wave with varied success, shouts of "FAIL" were heard until Gemma was bought on stage and asked the crowd, at the request of "MissSpoons", to get the mexican wave going, soon the entire audience around the circular stage was up and down in their seats. Then it was time to bring out the first band

The Last of the Narcoleptic Wombats are a Multiplay Staff team, they performed "Should I stay or should I go" and "Be my girl".

Craig thought that Inferno and Iggy(sp?) were good but that the rest of the band was "boring". Gregg was bored and while Gemma said she enjoyed the performance, she didn't feel it was "rock" enough.

The Second band, 'I stole your car and ran off with your sister', performed "Learn to fly" and "Rock and Roll star".

There were some minor technical difficulties during the first song with the drummer leaving his seat and encouraging the crowd to sing along to mask the problems.

While the technical difficulties were being ironed out the judges were asked thier opinions, Craig thought it was hard to judge given the problems, Gemma was encouraged by thier attempts to carry on and Gregg though that the drumming could have been less "enthusiastic".

During the second track the singer ran out into the crowd, offering his hand for high fives, unfortunatly the audience didn't seem impressed.

Craig thought that again, only two of the band members were performing, Gemma got bored towards the end and Gregg would have rather been having a pint and wasn't sure he could listen to any more.

Next up wlalalalalalaners Bassoon, performing "Dani California" and "hysteria".

The band enter in some style with the drummer launching a chair off the stage.

After failing the first song the drummer screamed at the band to "use the star power". On the second attempt and the second fail the crowd started to chant "off off off".

The second song doesn't go much better and after failing again the drummer proclaimed "I AM METAL" before leaving the building.

Craig was "speechless", Gemma found it frustrating.

Following Shatners Basson was "The Jokers" who entered the stage to much applause, dressed in Joker outfits with full make-up the band take thier places and the singer begins to laugh manically while the audience shouts "show us a magic trick".

They performed "Epic" followed by "Go with the flow"

The band are animated throughout and play up to the cameras with one of the guitarists finding time to harass the other band members, the camera men and the audience.

Craig thought it was the best performance so far, but didn't think that was saying much. Gregg wished he was getting married so that he could book them for the ceremony and Gemma enjoyed the performance.

After the final performance all the bands came back on stage and the results were announced.

Shatners Bassoon, who's drummer was now restrained and gagged! came in fourth place, followed by I stole your car and the Narcoleptic Wombats.

The winners were The Jokers who left the stage to a standing ovation, but not before asking Gemma to marry them.

With that Friday came to an end!

Expect pictures from the day soon..

Gareth Langston
Web Content Coordinator. EA UK. ]]> garethj http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/blogs/360248-garethj/282-ea-mfest-friday-part-2.html