A glorious time was to be had at the National Museum of Singapore yesterday, as the good folks at EA invited the press for a hands-on at what’s coming out from their side in the coming weeks and months. Dubbed the EA South East Asia Showcase ‘09, Kichigai and I had a hands-on on a lot of things. Mostly on games and food.

Brutal Legend (Xbox 360, PS3)

The demo on tap is the same one from E3. To quote from my preview:

“(It’s) A rock odyssey of epic proportions. Well, that’s laying it on a little too thick, but if you’re an old-school Tim Schafer games fan like me, you might think that this could have been Full Throttle’s metal-wearing fantasy cousin.”

The Beatles: Rock Band (PS3, XBox 360)

Still the same old Rock Band, but with Beatles music. That’s all there is to it summing this game up. Yours truly manage to play “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, “Back In The USSR”, “Here Comes The Sun”, “I Am The Walrus”, and “Octopus’ Garden”, all on both Hard & Expert on guitar and bass. The guitar note charts feel natural on the highest setting, but will definitely give you a workout on some of the higher-tier songs (Back In The USSR).  Yours truly isn’t so good with the drums and is usually laden with stage fright.

Dragon Age: Origins (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)

The demo here is more or less the same one from E3, only instead of starting off in the midst of combat, you start off at the beginning, so players can check out how the dialogue tree works and check out the options available. Still not a fan though.

Need For Speed: Shift (PS3, Xbox 360)

For those who are about to race hard, we salute you. Need For Speed: Shift is touted to be a realistic take on the racing genre. Whether it’s because of peer pressure from Gran Turismo and Forza remains to be seen, but from what I saw (not played, Burnout’s still my baby), it looks good and seems to be subtly complex, what with the traction control and antilock brakes features you get if you go through the game’s career mode.

Another nice touch is that if you mess up, your on-screen HUD reacts to you. Call me crazy, but it’s sometimes the little things that can make or break a racing game for me.  Game’s coming out September 15th, so those disappointed with Undercover might want to check this out.

Need For Speed: Nitro (Wii)

Essentially Need For Speed for kids, the game pits you against the usual “race against the clock while outrunning foes and cops” action that’s part of the series. Bonus features include a simple Wiimote+Nunchuk control scheme, power-ups ala Mario Kart but with a slightly serious tone, and Singapore’s very own Keppel Road as a track in the game. Shame the game looks like a high-poly count version of Cruisin U.S.A.

Dante’s Inferno (PS3, Xbox 360)

All we got was a trailer showing off Hell, Dante being all bad-ass and killing things, and a bit of quoting from the original poem. It’s coming out on February of next year; kinda ironic as its inspiration, God of War, has its third game out the following month. It’ll be interesting to see how Dante’s Inferno’s sales would turn out in advent of this.

The Buffet (On The Table, On Our Plates,  Into Our Digestive Systems)

Due to technical issues we could not get any pictures of the review unit of food, but suffice to say that there was sushi, finger food like Salmon on Circle Bread (not actual name, mind you), and a neat shepard’s pie complemented with cocktail sausages wrapped with bacon and finely-crafted meatballs. Dessert wasn’t too shabby, as the green tea cheesecake helped capped off this review unit(s) of food. The only thing missing is a bit of fine wine to complement the solids; we had to make do with red punch which is at least given the correct amount of juice/water ratio. Overall, the food is worth the price point and time used for your mouth to chew and digest.

Features: 10.0

Food Quality: 10.0

Design: 8.0

Performance: 8.0

Rating: 9.0/10.

Jesting aside, hat’s off to EA for pulling off this event, and hopefully they’ll have something for the public.