EA GamesCom Press Conference Wrapup

GamePro was at EA's GamesCom press conference and was able to see the developers of the company's top titles show off new features while making a bevy of announcements. Read on to learn more about Harry Potter on Kinect, the international sports star that will help create EA Sports Active 2, and the rest of the company's upcoming release slate.

The EA Press Conference at GamesCom 2010 started with Jens Uwe Intat, the Senior VP of European Publishing welcoming the crowd and revealing that 10 developers would have 10 demonstrations of 10 games at the event, promising a different variety of titles from the company's E3 event.

The first batch of games to be shown were from the Sims franchise. First was the Sims 3 on consoles, shown by John Buchanan, the VP of Marketing for the EA Play Label. Sims 3, which will debut on consoles on October 26 aims to differ from the computer versions of the game by including Karma to allow you to unleash positive and negative events on your Sims, as well as a community element to share creations with your friends. The next Sims title to hit the stage, was the The Sims Medieval, demoed by Rachel Bernstein, a senior producer on the project. The demo included a variety of Middle Age activities like healing a sick man with leeches, being held in a stockade and having tomatoes thrown at you, knight dueling, and maiden-wooing.

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GamePro was at EA's GamesCom press conference and was able to see the developers of the company's top titles show off new features while making a bevy of announcements. Read on to learn more about Harry Potter on Kinect, the international sports star that will help create EA Sports Active 2, and the rest of the company's upcoming release slate.

The EA Press Conference at GamesCom 2010 started with Jens Uwe Intat, the Senior VP of European Publishing welcoming the crowd and revealing that 10 developers would have 10 demonstrations of 10 games at the event, promising a different variety of titles from the company's E3 event.

The first batch of games to be shown were from the Sims franchise. First was the Sims 3 on consoles, shown by John Buchanan, the VP of Marketing for the EA Play Label. Sims 3, which will debut on consoles on October 26 aims to differ from the computer versions of the game by including Karma to allow you to unleash positive and negative events on your Sims, as well as a community element to share creations with your friends. The next Sims title to hit the stage, was the The Sims Medieval, demoed by Rachel Bernstein, a senior producer on the project. The demo included a variety of Middle Age activities like healing a sick man with leeches, being held in a stockade and having tomatoes thrown at you, knight dueling, and maiden-wooing.

Jonathan Bunney the VP of EA Bright Light then came on stage to show Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The game will be Kinect-compatible, allowing players to cast spells offensively and defensively. James and Oliver Phelps, who played the Weasely Twins in the film franchise, entered onstage with a small firework explosion and demoed the game. The twins shot spells by moving their hands in the way they would a wand, while casting defensive barriers by holding up both hands. The game is due out in November.

Steve Papoutsis, the Executive Producer for Dead Space 2, then came onstage to show a new gameplay segment of the survival horror title. In order to take on his new quest to quell an evil corporation set on resurrecting the Marker, Isaac has been sped up and made stronger, Papoutsis said. Another producer then came on stage to demo a new section of the game in which Isaac had to restore power to The Sprawl. The demo began with Issaac floating around in zero-g outside, using Kinesis to set up circuits. After completing it, he entered a pod while taking an intercom call stating that he needed to get off out of the area, Isaac shot himself out of the pod, having to avoid debris while shooting through space. The game is coming out on January 28, 2011.

A producer for the Need for Speed series showed off the Autolog that will debut in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. The producer pulled up the Autolog to find that a friend had set a new top score in a specific race, which he was abile to jump in and challenge him with using the German exotic Porsche 911 GTS. Taking on competitors and cops utilizing classic moves like spike strips, the producer was able to beat his online nemesis' high score, sending the information back to the Autolog. Due on November 16, pre-orders of Need for Speed will get two bonus cars, as well as early access to four additional vehicles.