Electronic Arts celebrated its upcoming Rock Band 2 game by having The Who perform at its E3 party. But before that historic band took the stage at that venerable theater, EA used the venue to showcase its biggest games of this year’s show.

The Sims franchise has sold over 100 million units worldwide. EA introduced its latest spin-off, SimAnimals, which puts players in control of woodland creatures like bears and foxes who have minds of their own. This game is heading to Wii and Nintendo DS in January. Also shipping in 2009 is the long-awaited The Sims 3. This massive new game will feature a collection of the most sophisticated Sims ever. And the events on one part of town will have an impact on another.

Just in time for Halloween, EA is releasing the survival horror game, Dead Space on PC and next generation platforms. This Mature-rated game features hideous monsters, dark corridors and “strategic dismemberment.” Players will need to tear apart monsters limb by limb before moving on to the next one.

Another original game from EA heading to PC this fall is the latest first-person action game from DICE (Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment). Mirror’s Edge is a first-person game set in a future world where communication has been restricted. Players take on the role of Faith and run over rooftops and through sewers to avoid detection by the police—all in an effort to hand deliver messages. The game’s acrobatic maneuvers can be used to avoid using any guns in the game, although players are allowed to shoot as much as they like.

EA Sports brought out NBA Legend Bill Walton to introduce dynamic DNA for NBA Live 09, which uses real-time player data and updates it daily to the videogame for accurate player shooting. The game will employ player DNA and team DNA for added depth.

The EA Online Group is focusing on new community features for gamers. Nucleus is a new player profile system that gamers can carry across games and consoles to record all of their attributes and build community. There will be 30 EA games that utilize Nucleus by the end of 2009. Also in development is Rupture, a robust online experience that will allow gamers to create custom achievements for friends and will support any game (including non-EA titles).

Will Wright took the stage to talk about Spore, which ships September 7. The Creature Creator game has already had 2 million free downloads and there are millions of unique user-generated creatures already available. Every one of these creatures will be accessible in the final game. Wright said he’s surprised by the amount of original content that has flooded the Web so quickly. He’s slowly releasing additional information on the science behind the game though the Internet and he announced a documentary on the game’s science will debut on National Geographic HD at launch and will come bundled with the special edition version of the game.

EA-owned BioWare is working on a new RPG, Dragon Age: Origins. This new franchise harkens back to the original Baldur’s Gate franchise, while introducing a new universe and characters. This RPG will launch on PC and then migrate to next generation consoles. A short trailer was shown on screen.

Valve’s head honcho Gabe Newell introduced the audience to the new Left4Dead co-op horror game. Shipping November 4 for PC and Xbox 360, this dynamic Hollywood-style horror game allows four players to join forces and fight monsters run amok. The gameplay will change every time you play and the payoffs in-game will be different depending on how players cooperate as a team.