What We Want To See From EA During Not E3

With the summer game season almost upon us, we're starting to see announcements about games showcases that will be taking place. Those usually include showcases from big publishers, but EA has announced that it will be skipping its usual EA Play Live presentation in 2022. Despite that, we already know that the publisher has some exciting games in development, so there's plenty to look forward to with or without the event.

We may see EA announcements made at Summer Game Fest Live, or possibly the Xbox conference since the publishers share a close relationship for initiatives like EA Play. Whether there or somewhere else, we'll be closely watching this year's Not E3 events for games from EA. Here's what we're hoping to see.

The return of Burnout

EA clearly believes in racing games, having acquired Codemasters last year. Yet it's allowed one of its own marquee racing franchises, Burnout, to go effectively unused for more than a decade--a timespan that has only a seen a remaster of Paradise and a forgettable mobile game. While Paradise's signature open world has been outdone time and again by Forza Horizon, the earlier games in the series provided a style of high-stakes, destruction-centric racing that no competitor has been able to replicate, with the highlight being the Crash mode that is less about racing and more about embracing the chaos that it excelled in.

Now is as good a time as any for Burnout to make a comeback by leveraging the power of the new generation of consoles to take those physics and destruction systems to a new level. -- Chris Pereira

It's time for Peggle 3

Peggle 2 was a wonderful follow-up to the original, but the franchise has now been languishing for years. That Peggle doesn't have more of a presence on mobile in particular--Peggle Blast is a microtransaction-filled game that doesn't hold a candle to its predecessors--remains a shock. PopCap Games in general feels like it's strayed far from its origins (as good as some of its Plants vs. Zombies shooters have been), but Peggle 3--a genuine Peggle sequel that doesn't make you wonder if levels are hard only so that you'll buy power-ups--would be the perfect way to remind people of how the developer rose to prominence. The core gameplay doesn't need to change: just deliver new levels, some new characters, and release it for modern platforms, and I and many others would be positively delighted. -- Chris Pereira

Titanfall 3, please

Look, I know this one is not likely to happen given that we heard as recently as last year that a new Titanfall game is not in development, but plans can change over the course of several months. The series that put Respawn Entertainment on the map was dealt a bad hand in 2016 when Titfanfall 2 launched just a week before EA's own Battlefield 1, and it failed to meet sales expectations despite being one of the greatest first-person shooters of all time. Of course, the IP has lived on through Apex Legends, which has unquestionably been a bigger hit than the mainline Titanfall games ever were, but it has only made my appetite for a full-fledged Titanfall 3 more insatiable.

EA isn't doing a full-scale press conference this year as it has via EA Play over the last several summers, but just dropping a logo or a tiny teaser video is enough for me right now. I just have to know Titanfall 3 will eventually exist, because dropping into a Titan and unleashing absolute mayhem on the other team is something I'm dying to do again. -- Gabe Gurwin

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was a surprisingly great game, and now the time seems right for a sequel. It's rumored to be called Jedi Survivor, and aiming for an early 2023 release date. That would make this summer the ideal time to start teasing the further adventures of Cal Kestis. If those release rumors are true, this is almost guaranteed to show up somewhere over the next few months. The question is really whether it will make an appearance at a platform showcase like Xbox or PlayStation, Summer Game Fest, or if EA will hold its own event. -- Steve Watts

PGA Tour

EA is getting back into the world of PGA Tour golf games, and as a huge fan of the sport, I am very excited about it. Sure, EA no longer has Tiger Woods as the cover star (he jumped to 2K for its own golf games), but EA's new game boasts something no other golf game has: all four Majors. EA's game will be the only one where you can play The Masters, The Open, The PGA, and the US Open. The biggest get of them all is The Masters and its course, Augusta National, and I can't wait to virtually stroll down the iconic hills in Georgia and try my best to make some Sunday magic. EA has yet to fully discuss or show off the game, so we don't know specifics like a roster of players, full course and equipment lists, and all the information on the career mode. But I am excited all the same, and here's to hoping one of the upcoming summer games showcases has the goods. -- Eddie Makuch

The necromorphic reanimation of Dead Space

As a horror game fan, I'm all about Dead Space, and the forthcoming remake from Motive Studios looks like a good time, capturing everything that made Visceral Games' original such a masterpiece--although I must say I'm not thrilled about the changes to the Plasma Cutter firing sound. A remake of the game is nice to have (although the original still holds up, and if you were to release Dead Space 2 tomorrow it would make a compelling run for Game of the Year, that's how great it still is), but it's also a big reminder of how tragic the end of the franchise was back in 2013. Electronic Arts unceremoniously closed the book on the unfinished Dead Space story, despite it being extremely compelling, even if Dead Space 3's co-op weakened the underlying formula that made the first two games so good.

Maybe EA will need proof that Dead Space still has fans (since the millions of us who bought Dead Space 3 apparently weren't enough a decade ago), and the remake will provide that proof. I may be jumping the gun, but whatever--I want a proper return to the Dead Space franchise. Not a cleaned-up remake of a masterpiece I know I already love and which, frankly, does not really need remaking, but a real return to the franchise to finish the story. Last time we left Isaac Clark, he was getting ready to fight a bunch of dangundead moonsmade up of people who got turned into monsters and then smashed together into one big giant orb of death, and I need that celestial body horror in my life. -- Phil Hornshaw