Info on EA Sports Ignite (Live 14's Engine)

[JaoSming]

via the press release
http://news.ea.com/press-release/ea-spo ... n-consoles

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) announced today that it has developed EA SPORTS™ IGNITE, a new game engine that will power EA SPORTS games on Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PlayStation®4. Fueled by EA SPORTS IGNITE, EA SPORTS games will be alive with players who think, move, and behave like real athletes and dynamic living worlds, transforming the way people play and experience games on next gen consoles. Created with the EA SPORTS IGNITE engine, Madden NFL 25, FIFA 14, NBA LIVE 14, and EA SPORTS™ UFC, will each launch within the next 12 months.

EA SPORTS IGNITE blends new technology with the best rendering, run-time physics, animation, intelligence, locomotion, and online systems from across EA into one powerful, new engine. Athletes will possess human-like intelligence for advanced decision-making, players will have the agility required to change speeds and directions with true athletic motion, and living worlds will make the game experience as rich and dynamic as real-world stadiums and arenas. A video showcasing how EA SPORTS games will look and play on Xbox One can be viewed here.

“Through years of investment and innovation, we have built technology across EA SPORTS to create a game engine that will deliver stunning accuracy, realism and experiences that we previously could only dream about,” said Andrew Wilson, Executive Vice President and Head of EA SPORTS. “With EA SPORTS IGNITE and the power of next generation consoles, our games will come alive—with more authenticity, more emotion, more connectivity, and more fun.”

Athletes in EA SPORTS next gen games will be able to make intelligent decisions with human-like reaction times. EA SPORTS IGNITE computes four times more calculations per second than previous consoles, unlocking nearly infinite potential for how players think, and enabling them to make more difficult decisions faster. Players are alive with contextual awareness and instincts—thinking, anticipating, and reacting—just like real athletes, and players are conscious of their environment. In FIFA 14, for example, a player’s sense of urgency increases as the match draws on and a goal is needed, rushing to take a free kick, corner, or goal-kick if time is running down.

EA SPORTS IGNITE will deliver the dynamic movements and biomechanics of the world’s best athletes. With 10 times more animation depth and detail than previous consoles, and thousands of new sport-specific animations to drive new locomotion systems, players now plant, pivot and cut, quickly change speeds, and shift momentum with the agility and explosiveness of superstar athletes.

EA SPORTS games for the next generation will have stunning accuracy and visuals. By creating living worlds, the in-game environment is now as dynamic as real-world stadiums and arenas that change throughout a match. For the first time ever, 3D crowds and dynamic sidelines will impact the experience, and rich sports atmospheres will change organically based on the progress of a match. Player actions will change depending on the situation, and crowds will have an expectation of how a game is likely to play out, and react accordingly.

Madden NFL 25, FIFA 14, EA SPORTS UFC and NBA LIVE 14, will release worldwide within the next 12 months on Xbox One and the PlayStation 4, and will be available for pre-order soon. Madden NFL 25 will release in North America on August 27 and worldwide on August 30 on the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system. FIFA 14 will also be available on the Xbox 360, PlayStation3, PC and additional platforms. The release date has not yet been announced.

For more information about EA SPORTS IGNITE, watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxE5MaKuCEc, visit www.easports.com/ignite or join the EA SPORTS community at http://www.facebook.com/easports. Follow us on Twitter @easports and use the hash tag #EASPORTSIGNITE. For information about EA SPORTS games visit www.easports.com.

FIFA 14 and EA SPORTS UFC are in development at EA Canada. Madden NFL 25 and NBA LIVE 14 are developed in Orlando, Florida by EA Tiburon. The games have not yet been rated.

EA SPORTS is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, fan programs and cross-platform digital experiences. EA SPORTS creates connected experiences that ignite the emotion of sports through industry-leading sports videogames, including Madden NFL football, FIFA, NHL® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAA® Football, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® golf, SSX™, and Fight Night boxing. For more information about EA SPORTS, including news, video, blogs, forums and game apps, please visit www.easports.com.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. The Company delivers games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, personal computers, mobile phones and tablets. EA has more than 285 million registered players and operates in 75 countries.

In fiscal year 2013, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.8 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality blockbuster brands such as The Sims™, Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer, Need for Speed™, Battlefield™ and Mass Effect™. More information about EA is available at www.ea.com/news.

The Sims, Need for Speed, Mass Effect and Battlefield are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. and its subsidiaries. John Madden, NFL, NBA, NCAA, NHL, Tiger Woods, and PGA TOUR and FIFA are the property of their respective owners and used with permission. “PlayStation” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

[benji]

But will it have V-Polys and Liquid AI?!?

[Gigabyte]

Ignite looks promising, especially on FIFA 14. Can't wait to see what they're throwing at 2K, hehe.

[Andrew]

While the snippets we saw in the pre-rendered video are causing some concern, these elements of the engine are certainly intriguing.

Animations are important and do need sufficient polish, but if things like the AI and player movement pans out, the environment looks nice and the game itself plays well and has a good feel, then it could at least score points there while they continue to work on player animations, models and other such aesthetics.

Additional trailers:

phpBB [video]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=IYXb5dDsK3U

phpBB [video]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cHulyPN0QA

phpBB [video]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkfskHzm2_E

[Ermolli]

While the snippets we saw in the pre-rendered video are causing some concern, these elements of the engine are certainly intriguing.

Animations are important and do need sufficient polish, but if things like the AI and player movement pans out, the environment looks nice and the game itself plays well and has a good feel, then it could at least score points there while they continue to work on player animations, models and other such aesthetics.

I'd agree with you Andrew if the last Live games had good or decent animations and player models and I'd give them the benefit of doubt since they are getting to a new console generation, however, the problem is that we have been having mediocre animations since the beginning of this current generations, it's been too much time for them to make the animations look good and fluid. I want Live to have a good game as the next guy but we shouldn't conform ourselves with less than acceptable, I know gameplay is the numer one priority but that doesn't mean we can give them a pass in the animation and graphics area of the game.

[Gigabyte]

I'd agree with you Andrew if the last Live games had good or decent animations and player models and I'd give them the benefit of doubt since they are getting to a new console generation, however, the problem is that we have been having mediocre animations since the beginning of this current generations, it's been too much time for them to make the animations look good and fluid. I want Live to have a good game as the next guy but we shouldn't conform ourselves with less than acceptable, I know gameplay is the numer one priority but that doesn't mean we can give them a pass in the animation and graphics area of the game.

Soooo, if the graphics were just pre-rendered, we can expect pretty much more with this new engine. The problem with be this, though: will our expectations meet up with what's in store? I sure hope so, with all these new next-gen console things and all.

[Andrew]

I'd agree with you Andrew if the last Live games had good or decent animations and player models and I'd give them the benefit of doubt since they are getting to a new console generation, however, the problem is that we have been having mediocre animations since the beginning of this current generations, it's been too much time for them to make the animations look good and fluid. I want Live to have a good game as the next guy but we shouldn't conform ourselves with less than acceptable, I know gameplay is the numer one priority but that doesn't mean we can give them a pass in the animation and graphics area of the game.

I wouldn't say give them a pass per se, but if there's good elsewhere and the animations aren't quite right, that's something to work with. I could play that game because the experience is still good for the most part, there's just some quibbles with the animations. Ideally they'd at least be satisfactory though, I'm not suggesting that we should settle and shouldn't critique.

That said, we've also seen the problem with animation heavy games, like 2K. I love 2K13 and have really enjoyed playing it this year, but there are out of control moments, times where the game feels clunky, the players too heavy like they're running in mud. Both companies seem to be striving for the same thing, a good balance between responsiveness/feel of the game and animation quality, each coming from the opposite end of the spectrum.

[julsnice]

We've heard this song and dance before though.

So far I'm hearing nothing but your typical PR hype talk

"blah blah blah MORE REALISM, blah blah blah INTELLIGENT ACTIONS AND LIFE-LIKE MOVEMENT blah blah blah"

And then the actual product turns out the exact opposite. Sounds like a lot of hot air to me.

Sorry to sound so pessimistic, but if there's one area I expect NBA Live to fail in miserably, it's the graphics/physics department, and I'm not seeing anything to convince me otherwise.

I'm not as hard on them when it comes to gameplay though; Live has done some neat stuff in the past and overall they do a good job of making a FUN bball game to play and immerse yourself into. So I'm anxious to hear what they have planned on that end, but at the same time EA has been know to keep the 1st sports game in a new generation of consoles pretty bare-bones.

[Andrew]

I'm not as hard on them when it comes to gameplay though; Live has done some neat stuff in the past and overall they do a good job of making a FUN bball game to play and immerse yourself into. So I'm anxious to hear what they have planned on that end, but at the same time EA has been know to keep the 1st sports game in a new generation of consoles pretty bare-bones.

But that is the kind of stuff they're referring to when they say:

"blah blah blah MORE REALISM, blah blah blah INTELLIGENT ACTIONS AND LIFE-LIKE MOVEMENT blah blah blah"

[JBulls]

Does anybody remember the rumors claiming Live 14 is going to use the same engine as Fifa and Madden in this thread?: viewtopic.php?f=131&t=88377

Should chalk up one point for the rumor mill because this turned out to be correct. Also of note is that how quickly the rumor was squashed.