EA E3 2012 Press Conference round-up

The EA E3 2012 Press Conference has just ended, so here’s a quick summary of all the goings-on.

It was mostly the usual suspects on show, with some rather tasty gameplay footage from Crysis 3, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, and Dead Space 3, with the latter showing off the previously leaked co-op mode. There was also a fair bit of truly spectacular footage from Criterion’s forthcoming Need for Speed: Most Wanted on display (complete with release date), and details on the annual updates to the Madden and Fifa franchises.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the revelation that, in the wake of THQ’s financial issues, EA has acquired the UFC license. No word on what the first game making use of this will be, but I doubt it’ll be long before EA puts that particularly lucrative brand to work.

There was also some talk about forthcoming content for Star Wars: The Old Republic – including mention that the first 15 levels of the game will be free to everyone in July – and a notice that Battlefield 3 Premium is actually available now.

Oh, and we shouldn’t forget about the announcement of Facebook game SimCity Social. Or maybe we should.

Those stories in full:

• Dead Space 3: Co-op and giant monsters confirmed
• Madden 13 to adopt Fifa impact engine
• Maxis announces SimCity Social
• Battlefield 3 Premium available now, PS3 users play first
• Medal of Honor: Warfighter gameplay demoed by EA
• BioWare talks forthcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic features
• Fifa 13 lets you carry over your exp and level from Fifa 12
• EA Sports acquires UFC license, THQ’s catalogue gets smaller
• Become Need for Speed’s Most Wanted in October
• Crytek demos Crysis 3