IN DEPTH: WHAT WII U MEANS THE WII U E3 2012 REVEAL: WHERE WAS ELECTRONIC ARTS?
AT E3 2011 EA CEO John Riccitiello made a surprise appearance at the close of Nintendo’s press conference to announce an ‘unprecedented partnership’ between the publisher and Nintendo for Wii U. “This a breakthrough in our relationship based on a breakthrough in games development,” he said. “We look forward to seeing great EA content on this innovative new platform. Nintendo’s next console is truly transformational.” He said a shooter ‘like Battlefield’ would be ideal for the platform, whilst hailing the console’s ‘jaw- dropping graphics’ and ‘deeper online functionality.’
One year on, and the only EA title announced at E3 2012 for Wii was Mass Effect 3. Er… is that it? For now, yes. But EA seems to have its eye on the longer game with Wii U, and will announce its games later on.
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“Any time we get an opportunity to deliver a consumer experience in a new and fresh way is exciting because it is a challenge, it is new and presents a different way to deliver the game,” EA Sports VP Andrew Wilson tells MCV. “Wii was tremendously different in terms of
Any new platform represents new game- making challenges. Andrew Wilson, EA Sports
how we had to build and how we ended up playing. The Wii U will represent the same thing. The notion of the tablet is representative of how gamers are playing. Nintendo is just packaging it up, just like it does very well, and delivering it in an innovative fashion. “We had Mass Effect 3as part of the Nintendo montage. We were on
3looks amazing and I am sure we will have other titles to announce soon. But that’s to come. New hardware, new ways of playing games, helps draw attention to our category.”
EA execs Laura Miele and Andrew Wilson say the firm is embracing Wii U
stage last year to announce we would be supporting Wii U, and we will have announcements on that front in the not-to-distant future. But any new platform, whether it is iPhone, Android, Facebook, Kinect, Wii U, 3DS, Vita, they all represent new game making challenges for us. And that’s what keeps us employed.” Group vice president of marketing for EA Games Laura Miele also hints at more announcements to come: “Any time new hardware comes into the market it freshens up the market place a little bit. I know it will be a big hit in my house because Nintendo always does a great job. Mass Effect