EA Sports was the most cringeworthy thing at E3 thus far

But it’s still early in the week

Tha GAWD outchea flourishing. They got my pretty mug on the big screen at #EAE3 doe!!! pic.twitter.com/ZunBINvt9e

— Hoop Gawd (@ThaHoopGawd) June 15, 2015

This is an actual tweet from an actor hired to be “Tha Hoop Gawd” by EA to pretend to be a celebrity during its conference. This was approved by someone at EA. Tha Hoop Gawd came on the stage to demo the GameFace app for NBA Live 16 that pastes your face onto the body of a basketball player. “Damn! That look just like me!” he exclaimed. I guess this is what EA thinks its core demographic for NBA Live is, so it made a character to represent them. Only it comes off awkwardly.

It would be different if this were a real person and not an actor instructed to behave this way, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

As Tha Hoop Gawd exited the stage, he gave presenter Sean O’Brien an awkward shoulder bump, as O’Brien remarked that he looked “pretty hot!”

Also added to NBA Live 16 is the option to let go of the ball when you want as you shoot it. Sean O’Brien talked about this proudly as a hot new feature; clearly he forgot that this has been in many basketball games, including my favorite Double Dribble for the NES that came out in 1986. A bit late, aren’t we EA?

On the other end of the spectrum is a new golf game, Rory McIlroy PGA Tour, that lets you play the ball no matter where it lands — also a feature on NES Golf, though there was an out-of-bounds area in that game.

The upcoming NHL ’16 features The Green Men, who are fans known to get seats by the visiting teams penalty box and taunt them in creative ways while wearing skintight green suits. So at least something positive came out of this.