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EA / Ubisoft E3 2014 conference round-up: Prototypes and push-ups
The big three console manufacturers aren't the only ones having all the fun at E3; Ubisoft and Electronic Arts are known to get in on the party as well. These two publishers can do many things, but one thing they can't do is take you back in time in the event that you missed their press conferences. Fortunately for you, Joystiq does what reality don't. Ready to travel with us and wrangle up all the news from the Ubisoft and EA pressers? Let's go!
See the Mirror's Edge sequel in action
Though EA failed to offer a release date, gameplay details, or really any solid information on the in-production, as-yet-unnamed Mirror's Edge sequel, the publisher did send over the above video. Keep in mind though, this is all conceptual footage, and is thus subject to change.
Mirror's Edge co-story designer Rhianna Pratchett not working on reboot [update]
EA hasn't approached Mirror's Edge co-story designer and writer Rhianna Pratchett about returning to DICE's upcoming reboot, the author revealed this week. Pratchett, who served as lead writer on the recent Tomb Raider and as co-story designer and writer on Heavenly Sword, went on to say the Mirror's Edge story "didn't review that great," and that she considered herself a "casualty of the development process." Pratchett has spoken about her disappointment with the first game's story before. Talking to ActionTrip in 2012, she said, " DICE was a great company to work with, but Mirror's Edge was a challenging project and an important learning experience for me. Unfortunately, because of the timing when I was brought in and a large amount of the script being cut (due to the late decision to remove level dialogue) the narrative wasn't what I would've liked it to be. Thankfully, I got the chance to remedy this a little bit in the Mirror's Edge comic series with DC. The story in those was much more along the lines of what I would've liked to have developed for the game." Pratchett added, "I've been quite candid about what happened with Mirror's Edge, because I know some players were disappointed with the narrative in the game. The upshot of that is that I've probably blotted my copy-book with DICE. I'd love the chance to do it again under the right circumstances, and I have plenty of ideas, but I doubt that's going to happen." After years of speculation, EA finally unveiled the Mirror's Edge reboot at last year's E3 conference, and the game is currently in development for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. It'll feature a new origins story for lead character Faith, although the publisher is keeping that under wraps for now. As for Pratchett, she's being kept busy with upcoming TV and film adaptations of her father Terry's work, including a movie of The Wee Free Men and a BBC series of The Watch. And how about the Tomb Raider sequel, hmmmmm? "Can't say, sorry." is the answer to that. Update: Following today's news, we got in touch with Rhianna Pratchett to ask whether or not she'd be prepared to work on the new Mirror's Edge game if asked, and what she'd want to do differently second time around. "A lot of it would depend on the time frame involved, the attitude of the team and what they were looking to do with the characters and world this time around," she told us, while noting she'd outlined some of what she'd do with a prequel with the comic series she wrote for the first game. Check out what Pratchett had to say in full after the break:
EA working on new IPs to avoid 'life support' scenario
EA is working on an indeterminate number of new intellectual properties, EA Games executive VP Patrick Söderlund told MVCUK. "We have six to eight completely new IPs in the works," Söderlund said. "The day we stop making new IP is when we go onto life support." EA's definition of a "new IP," however, may be a bit more liberal than what that term implies at first blush. "We are working on a new Mirror's Edge game, and although that's not a new IP, it is a revival done in a new way," Söderlund said. "We are developing Star Wars: Battlefront, which to us is a new IP, even though it isn't technically." So by "new," EA doesn't necessarily mean new new, but rather new-ish, or new enough, perhaps. In any case, it does make us wonder what that other handful of fresh IPs are all about. The sky is practically the limit! In fact, there are so many incalculable variables to consider when predicting that sort of thing that we're just going to stop thinking about it. Ah, that's better.
Real-life Mirror's Edge parkour isn't new Mirror's Edge, really
Many of us at Joystiq were excited by the long-awaited announcement of the Mirror's Edge next-gen reboot, as was UK parkour production house Ampisound, who put together this hugely impressive head-cam vid of Neil Cointet leaping about the rooftops of Cambridge. We also reacted to the news by skipping across incredibly narrow ledges a mere 60 feet away from our certain deaths, but sadly we forgot to record any video of it. Sorry!
Mirror's Edge reboot held back by DICE, not EA
Fans have wanted a follow-up to Mirror's Edge since the original game hit shelves in 2008. Why then has it taken more than four years for that follow-up, which was constantly teased and hinted at, to be officially announced? According to Patrick Bach, executive producer at developer DICE, it's because the studio didn't have a strong enough pitch to sell to parent company and publisher EA. In an interview with VideoGamer.com, Bach said that DICE didn't pitch the Mirror's Edge reboot - often referred to as Mirror's Edge 2 despite not being a sequel - until they were happy with it. "... I think we are the bad cop in most cases when it comes to scrutinizing ideas and IPs and features, or whatever it might be," Bach said. "We would not try to pitch something that we didn't believe in, and that takes time." Bach also spoke well of EA and its treatment of IPs like Mirror's Edge. "... in general, EA is very positive about us, like [asking us], 'What do you want?', instead of someone telling you, 'Build this, do that'." The Mirror's Edge reboot is slated for both next-gen consoles, as well as PC, and will release "when it's ready."
EA's Söderlund discusses Star Wars: Battlefront, Mirror's Edge reboot
EA Games Label vice president Patrick Söderlund revealed new details and insight regarding DICE's upcoming Star Wars: Battlefront and Mirror's Edge games in a recent interview with CVG. Describing DICE and Star Wars: Battlefront as "a match made in heaven," Söderlund explains that the next Battlefront game was approved at DICE's insistence. "It was almost not happening," Söderlund recalls. "It was just something as boring as resources and availability. The DICE guys Karl Magnus Troedsson and Patrick Bach were talking and I told them we were in dialogues with Disney over this deal and they just looked at me and said, 'Why haven't you spoken to us? What are you doing? We want to make Battlefront.'" "I didn't anticipate them wanting to work on a license – they've always been new IP or their own IP," Söderlund continued. "But they were just like, 'we would kill to make this game' and the whole studio started talking about it like, 'please give us this game'. That's when I called Frank [Gibeau, EA Labels boss] and I realised we had something here. [...] They begged to do it, the opportunity was there and that's exactly why you'll see a game that will be what it needs to be."
New Mirror's Edge is a reboot, coming to PS4, Xbox One, PC
The new Mirror's Edge unveiled at E3 today is a reboot. EA's press release reveals the game "reboots the franchise for the next generation with advanced visuals and an all-new origins story for Faith." The game is "coming when it's ready" to the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. "We introduced Mirror's Edge and Faith to gamers five years ago, and we've waited for the right moment to reunite them," said DICE Senior Producer Sara Jansson "Thanks to the Frostbite engine and a new generation of platforms, we are now able to deliver a richer world that players will be able to explore with a new level of freedom in both movement and action." %Gallery-190957%
Mirror's Edge follow-up coming 'when it's ready' from DICE, EA [update: trailer, details]
The Mirror's Edge follow-up is real and it's coming from DICE and EA "when it's ready," according to the trailer shown at EA's E3 press conference today. It runs on Frostbite 3. EA launched Mirror's Edge in 2008 on the Xbox 360 and PS3, and later on PC. Since that release, fans have clamored for a sequel and found hope in scattered rumors over the years. The most recent, most concrete rumor was an EA help page for Mirror's Edge 2 that went live briefly a few weeks ago. It looks like dreams do come true. Update: EA's press release reveals the new Mirror's Edge is a reboot for the franchise, and that it's coming to the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. %Gallery-190957%
Mirror's Edge 2 help page goes live on EA site, swiftly removed
A help page for Mirror's Edge 2 emerged on EA's website this morning, before it was promptly removed. We took the above screencap of the page, which was live at this URL. Today's discovery follows the game popping up on Xbox One listings (also removed now) on Amazon's German and Italian portals, and of course a few years of pseudo-confirmations and protracted speculation that DICE's 2008 first-person platformer is getting a sequel. With E3 just around the corner, maybe Mirror's Edge 2 is summoning up the courage to make the jump into official-dom very shortly.
EA: DICE doesn't want to be a 'Battlefield factory'
DICE's Stockholm studio has 300 people and no, not all of them are working on Battlefield content, EA Games Vice President Patrick Soderlund tells OXM. DICE launched Mirror's Edge in 2008, but since then it's been all Battlefield, all the time, with Battlefield 4 scheduled for beta next fall.Asked whether taking a risk on a Mirror's Edge-type game is worth it when Battlefield is so lucrative, Soderlund responds, "Well it depends, right? Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. It's also important for us – the DICE guys are roughly 300 people in the Stockholm studio; not all of them are working on Battlefield things, and that's intentional, because we don't want to become a Battlefield factory."One way to circumvent the transition to "Battlefield factory" is to develop a sequel to Mirror's Edge – which is exactly what former Battlefield executive producer Ben Cousins says DICE is doing. "It is general knowledge in the Stockholm dev scene that Mirror's Edge 2 is in production at DICE," he tweets.It's worth noting that Cousins isn't with EA anymore, but he is based in Sweden.
Battlefield 3 and Bad Company 2 lead designer David Goldfarb exits DICE
Having worked on mostly Battlefield games for the past five years, the man who lead design on both Battlefield 3 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2, David Goldfarb, has left EA's DICE studio. "5 years, 4 games. Grateful to have worked with such awesome people on awesome games. Farewell + Onward," he tweeted yesterday afternoon.Goldfarb told Joystiq of his exit, "I was ready to move onto new things and do something different." He wouldn't tell us where he's headed next.Goldfarb's not the first high profile DICE dev to leave the company in the past few years. Gordon Van Dyke left back in 2010; he's now with Paradox Interactive working on a Battlefield-flavored third-person action game from developer FatShark, War of the Roses. The other third of Battlefield's recent dev leadership, Patrick Bach, is currently serving as company CEO while Karl Magnus Troedsson takes paternity leave.Beyond various DLC plans for Battlefield 3, it's unknown what DICE is currently working on. The studio's Frostbite 2.0 game engine is used in several EA properties (including the other first-person shooter from EA, Medal of Honor: Warfighter), and the only other game it has made outside of Battlefield in recent years is Mirror's Edge. Troedsson told us during GDC that DICE has "ongoing plans" to differentiate its game portfolio, but we've yet to see that promise play out. EA Studios president Frank Gibeau has repeatedly noted his interest in a sequel to ME, but we've yet to hear anything more official than that.EA reps didn't respond to request for comment regarding Goldfarb's exit as of publishing.[Image credit: 'jontintinjordan']
Mirror's Edge 2 isn't not a possibility more than ever
DICE knows its Mirror's Edge fans want a sequel with a desperate, craven passion, but with the focus on launching Battlefield 3, we haven't gotten more than vague hints that a second isn't impossible. With Battlefield 3's release around the corner, now DICE is offering slightly less vague comments about continuing the Mirror's Edge story. "I think it's something that people are ready to get into again," producer Patrick Liu said. "We see that there's a huge fan following -- it's almost like a cult. And we know what strengths we had, and what weaknesses we had in that game. If we were to release a new game, we'd know what to improve and how to reach a broader audience. So I definitely think there's a market there." The story here is what Liu isn't saying -- he isn't saying that DICE has given up on Mirror's Edge; he isn't saying a sequel will never happen; he isn't saying Faith will return as a 7-foot male cyborg with tribal tattoos and a pot belly. Not that that's something he would say, but still, he didn't say it.
Rumor: A Mirror's Edge sequel could get cooler with Frostbite 2 engine
The Mirror's Edge and Battlefield franchises are related through more than developer-publisher relations -- they're poised to share digital DNA. If it is made, a sequel to Mirror's Edge may use Battlefield 3's Frostbite 2 engine, according to Official PlayStation Magazine, which writes, "The Frostbite 2 engine will pave the way for Mirror's Edge to make a free-running return." We don't know much more about the potential sequel or OPM's "inside whispers," besides the fact that Mirror's Edge is an "important franchise" to EA. We may have to wait until EA and DICE stop coddling Battlefield 3 for confirmation of another game or details about its engine. For now, dreaming about free-running on Frostbite 2 will have to tide us over. Mmmm...
EA 'figuring out' how to continue Mirror's Edge
Like the Gap and cargo shorts, EA is "trying to figure out how to bring Mirror's Edge back." EA Games label president Frank Gibeau told CVG that the Mirror's Edge franchise is unequivocally not dead. "I greenlight the games. I did not kill it -- as God is my witness," he swore. According to Gibeau, the publisher is looking for ways to bring back the franchise in "a way that fans will be excited," while still reaching a larger audience. "We need to go from version one to version two so that it sells two to three times as many, it finds a much bigger audience." DICE, developer of the first game, is currently working on Battlefield 3. According to earlier reports, EA requested that the developer focus exclusively on that game, instead of a Mirror's Edge sequel. A EA spokesperson later commented that Mirror's Edge is an "important franchise," but there was "nothing further to announce."
Report: Mirror's Edge 2 rejected by EA (oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!)
In late 2008, EA released two new intellectual properties; while both failed to break sales records the world over, they went a long way towards proving to the world that EA was serious about changing its image. The more successful of the two games just saw a sequel released: Dead Space 2 opened to strong reviews and is outselling its predecessor two to one. The other game, however, hasn't had such an easy time of things. According to a Press 2 Play TV report – translated by Eurogamer – "EA was shown a prototype" of a Mirror's Edge sequel but "declined" to pursue it, ostensibly opting to focus all of developer DICE's efforts on the upcoming Battlefield 3, as previously reported. Nearly two years ago, EA's Patrick Soderlund said, "You will see another Mirror's Edge for sure. It's just a matter of when that time is and what we do with it. We have a small team on it and I'm excited about what we do." While Soderlund could have been talking about EA Mobile's better-than-it-should-be Mirror's Edge for iOS, the name Mirror's Edge 2 popped up on a DICE lighting artist's portfolio a few month's later. EA CEO John Riccitiello even said "it's a game that deserves to come back," and we don't think he was referring to mobile. So has Mirror's Edge 2 been rejected by EA? We'll have to wait for EA to get back to us before we know anything for sure but, if it has, we just wanted to say thanks, EA. For breaking our hearts. On Valentine's Day. [Update 3:05pm:An EA spokesperson got back to us with this: "Mirror's Edge is an important franchise built by the DICE studio in Stockholm. DICE is currently producing Battlefield 3. Nothing further to announce." With just one full title under that name, and the aforementioned mobile game, franchise sounds like an awfully strong word for Mirror's Edge. With that in mind, we'll try to keep our hopes up.]
Riccitiello: Mirror's Edge deserves second chance, EA still pushing new IP
EA CEO John Riccitiello told IndustryGamers that the company has no intention of reducing its reliance on new IP. "Does this mean EA is backing away from investing in quality and innovation?" Riccitiello asked. "Absolutely not. It's religion for me; I believe quality and innovation is what works." EA faces a difficult task now: finding room in EA's now-reduced slate for the new content Riccitiello promises and the sequels the company must produce. But it's a task Riccitiello seems to believe is worth undertaking. "I believe there are publishers out there that are milking franchises at their peril," he said. "I do think you can sort of stop innovating and do well while you coast for a couple of editions before a product starts to fall apart or a sector starts to fall apart." The juggle involves sequels like Mirror's Edge 2, perhaps. "There are some things we learned about that [first] game," Riccitiello told Kotaku. "It was, I think, a massively innovative product. To be honest with you, I think it's a game that deserves to come back." The CEO said he's "had several very lively debates" with the dev team about the design of a future game. "And they are working on it."
DICE lighting artist lists Mirror's Edge 2 on portfolio
Oscar Carlén, a lighting artist at EA's DICE studio, lists two "2009-present" projects in his portfolio: Battlefield 3 and Mirror's Edge 2. Not only do those games possibly exist, you'll be able to see what's going on in them. Battlefield 3 was first mentioned in June at a conference by EA COO John Pleasants. At that time, Pleasants also revealed a Criterion-developed Need for Speed game, which was announced again during EA's latest financial conference call -- so Battlefield 3 is somewhat of an expected property, lending credence to the existence of Mirror's Edge 2 by association. The last we heard about a follow-up to Mirror's Edge was that a "small team" was working on something back in June. Carlén could be part of that small team. It's possible, given EA's recent layoffs and turn toward more surefire franchises, that Mirror's Edge 2 did exist but no longer does. We're checking with EA to verify the information found on this portfolio and to determine the current state of the franchise. [Thanks, Tim]
EA VP: 'Small team' working on more Mirror's Edge
Joy be thine, as EA has confirmed Joystiq GOTY Mirror's Edge won't be the last we see of Faith. In speaking with Videogamer back at E3, EA's senior VP of EA Games Europe, Patrick Soderlund, stated, "You will see another Mirror's Edge for sure. It's just a matter of when that time is and what we do with it. We have a small team on it and I'm excited about what we do."Of course, one mustn't jump to conclusions and automatically label this as a sequel. Soderlund could've meant anything based on that comment. EA could be working on a full-fledged sequel (something we desperately need), sure, or could be adapting a port for some other system. Or, the company could be making a spiffy new Flash game for all we know. Only time will tell, but the important thing is that no matter what this project turns out to be, we all have more parkour-based gameplay to look forward to down the line. And that's a very good thing.[Via VG247]
