Hey Ranters! EA's press conference for E3 2010 starts at 2PM, and I'll be there covering it live! I'll do my best to share any information with you as soon as it happens, and I'm going to attempt a live chat while blogging. It's our first time trying this so I apologize in advance for any hiccups we may experience.

EA has a killer lineup this year, including blockbuster games like: Bulletstorm, Crysis 2, Dead Space 2 and their full line-up of annual sports titles. Then, hopefully, they have a slew of surprises in store as well.

Stick around, leave your comments! I'll do my best to answer any questions and they come up.

EA's press conference starts of with a trailer for a new racing game. Police are in the midst of a hot pursuit, and employ a number of tactics to slow the criminal. Spike strips, helicopters, road blocks, none of it works. Finally another police officer joins the fight, and as they are about to stop the pursuit, more getaway vehicles arrive to help them escape. This is Need for Speed Hot Pursuit.

Craig Sullivan, creative director for Need for Speed comes out to give a live demo of the game. It's a 1v1 match that involves a lot of small bumps, spinning around and changing directions on the map, and your usual great looking car damage. At one point a line of cop cars appears to block the criminal, but it's unclear whether the police player initiated this or if it was random. The police officer finally gets a good angle and destroys the criminal's car, and the demo ends.

At this point John Riccitielo, CEO of EA, struts up onto the stage. He states that EA is aiming to be the Sundance, rather than the Academy Awards, then goes to on to say we'll be seeing 10 games during the briefing.

Dead Space 2

We're told that now Isaac is calling the shots, but I'm not exactly sure what that is supposed to mean. Then we move straight into the live demo.

While, I don't have any experience with the first Dead Space, the sequel managed to freak me out in the first 10 seconds of the demo. There's a large monster, and instead of some combat, the monster throws Isaac to the ground and attempts to tear the flesh from his bones. It turns into a quick-time event, but visually it's all very savage and intense.

The large monster escapes, and Isaac is best by a number of tiny Gollum-like oompa loompas. Isaac either blows them up with a grenade launching weapon, or the approach and latch on to Isaac, forcing him to quick-time-event himself and tear off their tiny heads. The level continues, showing a saw-blade weapon, a tazer-like weapon, and a fancy curb-stomping action are employed.

I was just beginning to admire the atmosphere, a very gothic setting in an space colony, when a helicopter-like enemy shoots out the windows. The vacuum of space pulls at Isaac, but he pulls his way back inside and falls down a long chute. Naturally, out of frying pan and into the fire. The new "Scrawl" enemy is waiting for him, and it looks ugly. The flesh looks like it's falling off it's bones, like it was boiled alive.

Cut to black, Dead Space 2 will be released Jan. 25, 2011.

Medal of Honor

The Medal of Honor lead-in talks about how DICE is making the multiplayer, and EA LA is making the single player. They're aiming for a gritty, realistic approach to their war title. Each map in the game will be inspired by a real-life locale.

The live demo starts with a live 20 person match-up, set on a map that's reminiscent of Kabul. The key to combat is quick, tactical movements, and camping is likely to get you killed. Gunfire kills quickly, but a rocket blast barely hurt the player we were watching, despite it blowing up inches from his face. Perhaps this is a result of noob tubes in Modern Warfare 2? There goes realism!

Looks very much like Modern Warfare 2, with kill streaks and the like. Not necessarily a bad thing, but they'll have to do more than that if they want to resurrect the Medal of Honor franchise.

The multiplayer beta begins June 21, for Xbox, PS3 and PC. You can register with the new "Gunclub" EA social hub to get early access. The Gunclub will grant you access to a variety of rewards, including early demos and exclusive weapons.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam Expansion

A short trailer is shown, and the announcement that the expansion will be released in winter of 2010.

The head honcho Peter Moore comes out to some manly music; it's time to talk sports.

EA Sports MMA

The new MMA brand will feature Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko will grace the cover. The game is said to host a variety of different MMA styles. This also ties into the variety of different world locations you should be able to fight in.

What Peter really wants to talk about though, is EA Live Broadcast. Broadcast is a new system that allows you to customize your own fighter, and then take him online to potentially fight in from of thousands of spectators. You'll need to create your own, live smack talk video, and if you catch the attention of an EA Promoter you may be put into one of their live broadcasts.

All coming on Oct. 19.

EA Active Sports 2

Ruh roh, we have another vitality sensor. Three different exercising models take the stage to show off EA's new multi-console vitality censor. It's three different versions of the thing though, not just one universal vitality censor.

The new fitness game is meant to be wholly wireless. What this means is the Wii version will use the motion controllers, the PS3 version will just use the vitality censors (she has two on for a running game, one on her leg, one on her arm), and Kinect for the Xbox 360. The PS3's Move is surprisingly absent. The Kinect demo looks very sluggish, and not full motion capturing at all, just static animations attached to different body movements.

The models are all sweating though, so that's saying something. It's practically 100 degrees in here.

Madden NFL

The new Madden is changing the fundamental ways in which you call plays. He'll get into more detail later. The new Madden will also feature games that last half as long as in previous iterations. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

To talk about the Gameflow Play Calling Engine, Peter Moore calls out legendary football star Joe Montana. Round of applause everyone! Joe tells us how coaches and quarterbacks have succinct, well organized sheets for play calling. He also talks about the QB's ability to change the play at the line of scrimmage.

As we watch a demo, Joe calls out the different defenses and how the QB should react (which it does). He's still got the touch!

The Sims 3

The new trailer and demos don't showcase anything new. They're just trying to show how your Sims each live very full and eventful lives. A child's parents die and he grows up into poverty, then miraculously wins the lottery. It's all very dramatic, or would be if it wasn't a game where killing your Sims is likely the most enjoyable part.

At this point Peter makes some shoutouts to two new friends in the audience, Respawn Entertainment and Insomniac games. The two companies have just signed lucrative contracts with EA, but they have no announcements for the show.

Crysis 2

Crysis 2 is meant to bring about a new style of open world gameplay. It takes place in the very real city of New York, and your mission is to rescue it. We're told that the AI is super-intelligent, and is the best you've ever seen in an FPS before.

The live demo features a God Mode player wandering about trying out weapons on a a horde of enemies. Hard to sell your excellent AI when you don't have to apply and strategy.

Now comes the 3D trailer for Crysis 2. I accidentally put my glasses on backwards and think something is wrong with the trailer, but then fix them and can't focus my eyes appropriately. The whole thing is kind of a let down, but I'm sure it would have been great if it wasn't so ridiculous. The trailer ends with a moral choice (whether to save a trapped citizen), but ends before a decision is made. Kind of anti-climactic!

Bulletstorm

Cliffy B is back to talk about Bulletstorm, and boy does this guy have a slew of PR gibberish to throw at us. He talks about pulp and all sorts of other stuff. I think he means it's a fast paced FPS with tons of action and juvenile humor. It might just be Cliffy B as a game. Oh, and it will be releases 2-22-11!

The live demo comes through on all of Cliffy's promises. There is much kicking into environmental hazards, much more explosions, and a ridiculous amount of cheesy, elementary school style humor. I'd try and quote something, but none of it left a lasting impression. An NPC companion is a robot though, that's pretty interesting!

Star Wars The Old Republic

Awesome! I didn't think they'd be showing this, since it was at last years E3. Unfortunately, no beta announcements, but they do have some juicy information. Each and every play in The Old Republic will have their very own space ship. Hell yes, who needs a horse when you can have your own ship? Cue the creation of a billion variants of the Millennium Falcon.

The devs also talk about how PvP will be held in areas called warzones, the first of which will take place on the war-torn planet of Alderaan.

Cue a new trailer titled, "Hope." I won't spoil it, but the trailer is epic beyond any comparison. Make sure you check it out when we get it up on the website.

That concludes the E3 Press Briefing! Thanks for sticking around, despite the net troubles!

E3 2010: EA Press Conference