EA at E3 2016: all of the latest news and biggest games

High-profile games and sequels tend to launch with both standard editions (just the game) and premium-special-ultra-limited-legendary editions (the game plus a number of hardware and software trinkets that will be lost in a desk drawer or garage). Those trinkets can be posters, special jewel cases, figurines, and — what seems to be exceptionally popular today — headgear. Helmets and masks that can be adorned to a human head and worn in public places (at least theoretically) or hung on wall (preferably).

Today we have two helmets you can look forward to in the near future: a Titanfall 2 helmet (above) and now a Dishonored 2 face mask from Bethesda.

I have no shame telling you that I was never great at Titanfall, the 2014 competitive multiplayer shooter in which humans and colossal machines scrimmaged on the same battlefield. Following a brief demo of Titanfall 2, I’m more optimistic about my odds — and the odds of folks like me — in the sequel. I credit the grappling hook.

In the original, newcomers to the genre could succeed easily as one of the titular titans, robotic craft the size of a deli, loaded with enough missiles to dispatch a rival battalion in seconds. But most of a multiplayer match was spent as a "pilot," fleet-footed soldiers that fought at ground-level — when they weren’t leaping into the air, running on walls, and climbing Titans like Major Kong riding the atomic bomb.

After years of holding its press event on Mondays between Sony and Microsoft, Electronic Arts decided to kick off E3 by holding the first event of the week. So what did we get? Among others, EA released new footage and details for Titanfall 2, Battlefield 1, and Mass Effect: Andromeda, while additionally offering some vague promises for a lot of Star Wars games at some point in the future.

Here are some of our favorite trailers from EA's E3 2016 press conference. Check out our E3 hub for all of this week's news.

At the publisher’s E3 press conference, Electronic Arts showed a new trailer for World War One first-person shooter Battlefield 1. Purported to be in-game footage, the new footage showed a variety of combat scenarios involving (among others) blimps, biplanes, motorcycles, horses, and tanks. It also showed some of the "unpredictable" dynamic weather (e.g., heavy fog, rain), which will reportedly alter how a multiplayer level is played.

Last month, the first Battlefield 1 trailer received an exhaustive analysis on YouTube. Battlefield fans are known to mine the games of their tiniest secrets, so expect this new footage to be pieced for additional information in the coming weeks.

There are a lot more Star Wars games on the way from Electronic Arts. Star Wars has become a major part of EA's portfolio of games since the company signed multi-year licensing deal with Lucasfilm in 2013, and the video above provides some insight into what we can expect over the next few years — and it includes virtual reality.

Last year the publisher released a rebooted — and very successful — version of Star Wars Battlefront from Battlefield studio DICE, and a sequel is due out next year. The original game is expected to get three new expansion packs this year, including ones set on Bespin and the Death Star. The final expansion will be launching in December.

Today at its E3 showcase, Electronic Arts has unveiled a new trailer for BioWare's upcoming Mass Effect title. Based on the footage, Mass Effect: Andromeda sounds like an origin story of sorts. The premise? You're on a mission leaving the Milky Way to help humanity find a new home.

BioWare promises "more freedom" than any past BioWare games — from what we saw in the trailer, it looks like both Krogan and Asari species will be making a return. Andromeda will be using the Frostbite engine, which also powered Star Wars: Battlefront, Battlefield 1, FIFA 17, and the new Mirror's Edge, among other titles.

Titanfall 2’s E3 preview appeared online earlier this morning. Now, publisher Electronic Arts has uploaded the full trailer. The footage highlights the game’s new single-player mode, which will focus on the relationship between pilots and Titans, the mech-like crafts that battle their way through the sci-fi shooter. Here's how EA describes the setup:

Of course, the addition of a story doesn't mean that the game will be moving away from competitive play, and at its E3 keynote, EA also unveiled the first look at the multiplayer portion of the game, which you can check out below.

In a live stream test for Electronics Art’s E3 press event, happening later today, an EA representative accidentally announced details for Titanfall 2. The footage was spotted by popular video game forum NeoGAF. Rehearing the official presentation, the rep enumerated many of Titanfall 2’s new features: six new Titans, each with unique combat skills; more pilot capabilities; more character customization; and more ways to progress through the multiplayer modes. But perhaps the biggest news is the confirmation of an offline single-player campaign, something the original game lacked.

The single-player campaign is "crafted to dive deeper into the Titanfall universe," said the representative, "exploring the unique bond between pilot and Titan."