E3 2017: Mavericks set up EA Play in Los Angeles parking lots for three days

Electronic Arts, flying high with the continuing successes of its sports franchises and the blockbuster appeal of Battlefield 1 and Star Wars Battlefront, was in full celebration mode in Los Angeles on Saturday.

The game publisher set up in a couple of parking lots surrounding the Paladium in Hollywood for EA Play this year. The event was held over the three days prior to E3 2017, and the free tickets made available to the public disappeared quickly. 

The event, the second to be held by EA after deciding to not have a display at the E3 trade show, kicked off with a live show that was widely streamed and began with the entrance of a drum line all wearing Tom Brady Patriots jerseys. Brady, of course, is on the cover of Madden NFL 18, which has a story mode, Long Shot, built into the sport sim.

The football game isn't the most popular of EA Sports titles. That would be the FIFA franchise, which has Cristiano Ronaldo on the cover this year. Alex Hunter, the protagonist of the story mode in last year's game, returns in FIFA 18 with "The Journey," which continues his story. 

EA Sports is working to rebuild the profile of its basketball game. There's a free demo for NBA Live 18 coming in August, and any progress players make can be carried into the full game when it's released. 

Battlefield 1, the first-person shooter set during the First World War, is still a strong performer for EA, and the publisher will be supporting the game with eight new maps, including a new expansion that takes place on the Eastern Front. "In the Name of the Tsar" will be released in September.

Something interesting and new in Need For Speed: Payback is that during the story mode, the game will switch players into one of the three protagonists. In a clip from the game aired during the EA Play event, the player started out driving a vehicle chasing a semi-trailer, and they became a diffferent character stealing a car from the trailer. Payback also features abandoned classic cars—like a vintage Volkswagen Beetle—that players can salvage and rebuild. 

EA Originals, the division that supports independent game developers, has dozens of new projects in development, accoriding to EA's Patrick Soderlund. The next project being published by the line comes from the creator of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, which introduced a new mechanic for cooperative play. 

The new game is also cooperative, and is only playble in split screen with another person. A Way Out is about two men who need to rely on each other to escape prison, and it allows players to approach situations in different ways and with either character. 

The live event at EA Play ended with almost 30 minutes of attention on Star Wars Battlefront II, including a llve multiplayer demo with 40 players in the Palladium going head to head. 

In his opening remarks, Andrew Wilson, EA's CEO, talked about the importance of fan feedback to the process of creating and improving games. 

"All of us share one fundamental belief: games are the best form of entertainment on the planet," he said. "They connect us...They inspire us...They allow us to do extraordinary things...They enable us to be our most creative selves...Games put the power of play in our hands."

Star Wars Battlefront is a good example of what Wilkinson was talking about. Despite the game's success, it was criticized for not having a single-player or story mode. 

That changes with Battlefront II, which has a new Star Wars story that is set between the events of the films Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. The single-player mode, which flips the perspective and puts players in the role of a character that grew up as part of the empire and believes the rebels to be terrorists, is being developed in Monteal at EA's Motive Studios.

There's still a multiplayer mode, and it introduces a new class system and ability customization and will have content that ranges across all three eras of Star Wars. 

In an update to Battlefront II planned for the holiday season, Finn and Captain Phasma will be added as playable characters. That update, and all updates to the game, will be free for all people who own the game.