It attracts more attention and worry, and ads more validity to anti-competitive lawsuits and the like. Not to mention the US is but one of many countries that might see such things as worrisome. It would likely bite them back in some form after they suffer the pains of buying them out to begin with.Fox5 said:
EA teams up with ESPN
- Thread starter speng
- Start date
Every once in a while I sit back and think to myself: "Maybe, just maybe, EA isn't as bad as you think they are. Sure, they bougth up and ruined all of your favourite game developers and their games mostly feature mediocre gameplay with good graphics on top. But maybe you're a bit too harsh out of bitterness over Origin/Bullfrog/Westwood/... when judging them."
Then something like this happens and EA climbs striaght back on top of my "what's wrong with this industry" list. EA are both the shining beacon of success and the greates threat to the future of this industry in one and the same body IMO...
Then something like this happens and EA climbs striaght back on top of my "what's wrong with this industry" list. EA are both the shining beacon of success and the greates threat to the future of this industry in one and the same body IMO...
Hey, they did do some cool games.... Errr.... Some...
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
I don't hate EA or boycott them purposefully, but I only own two EA games - Black & White (overhyped, but I fell for it) and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (which was a cool cheap Christmas present). I'll probably buy Oddworld: Stranger as well, because I love that series.
I don't boycott companies, I boycott bad/mediocre games. This usually means I don't buy much from EA as I consider most of their products to be mediocre, although they seem to improve every year a little bit.
I don't boycott companies, I boycott bad/mediocre games. This usually means I don't buy much from EA as I consider most of their products to be mediocre, although they seem to improve every year a little bit.
No Burnout 3? Or do you just not consider it an EA game because they acquired Criterion at the last minute?
I'm not sure I own any of theirs yet (at least this gen's consoles). Maybe a random sports title I picked up on the cheap and am forgetting about. I've rented/borrowed a number, though.
Now PC is a different matter entirely... I have a longer stretch of time to work with, and a lot more games. Heh...
I'm not sure I own any of theirs yet (at least this gen's consoles). Maybe a random sports title I picked up on the cheap and am forgetting about. I've rented/borrowed a number, though.
Now PC is a different matter entirely... I have a longer stretch of time to work with, and a lot more games. Heh...
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
I passed on Burnout 3 at full price. It's really not my type of racer, but it seems good so I'll get it when it drops to $20 or so. I think that EA is slowly improving as they've acquired a lot of new talent to go with those new licenses as well.
I never said I'm boycotting EA games. If they, or one of the developers they have under contract, produce a good game that interests me then I'd certainly buy it. Considering the huge number of games EA produces every year though, I'm very surprised at how few EA games I actually have in my collection. If I look at the more recent additions to my game library I see only one EA logo. On the other hand there are 3 UbiSoft games, 4 Atari games, 2 Microsoft games, 3 Activision games and many smaller publishers (Wanadoo, Eidos, JoWooD, GoD, Empire, ...)!
That's for PC, on Xbox I don't have a single EA title among my 20+ owned games! That probably says more about my tastes than about the quality of their produts though.
Don's get me wrong, I think EA deserves credit for trying to always adhere to a certain quality standard. Ubisoft produces more crap (you should see the reidiculously crappy Biathlon games they're publishing here, that's one license I'd actually LOVE to see EA pick up, they might at least make a playable game out of this mess!), but also more outstandingly good titles. EA turns out very few truly bad games, most are at least of a decent quality, some even very good. But I do blame them for not being innovative at all anymore. EA has repeatedly demonstrated over the past decade that they care only about growing, eliminating competition and maximizing profit - creating decent games almost seems like an unfortunate necessity.
How many original games have they come up with in the past decade? One? Two? The overwhelmingly vast majority of games they turn out are either based on licenses (movie, books, sports) or sequels to existing franchises they aquired. Often those sequels are half hearted attempts to cash in on a long running and popular gaming franchise they had no hand in creating, and end up killing it forever.
EA's way of expanding their bussines reminds me a lot of MS, in some ways its worse though. In the OS market you can at least argue that there are good sides to everybody using the same OS. In gaming the end of variety and creativity would be devestating though...
That's for PC, on Xbox I don't have a single EA title among my 20+ owned games! That probably says more about my tastes than about the quality of their produts though.
Don's get me wrong, I think EA deserves credit for trying to always adhere to a certain quality standard. Ubisoft produces more crap (you should see the reidiculously crappy Biathlon games they're publishing here, that's one license I'd actually LOVE to see EA pick up, they might at least make a playable game out of this mess!), but also more outstandingly good titles. EA turns out very few truly bad games, most are at least of a decent quality, some even very good. But I do blame them for not being innovative at all anymore. EA has repeatedly demonstrated over the past decade that they care only about growing, eliminating competition and maximizing profit - creating decent games almost seems like an unfortunate necessity.
How many original games have they come up with in the past decade? One? Two? The overwhelmingly vast majority of games they turn out are either based on licenses (movie, books, sports) or sequels to existing franchises they aquired. Often those sequels are half hearted attempts to cash in on a long running and popular gaming franchise they had no hand in creating, and end up killing it forever.
EA's way of expanding their bussines reminds me a lot of MS, in some ways its worse though. In the OS market you can at least argue that there are good sides to everybody using the same OS. In gaming the end of variety and creativity would be devestating though...
Third redo's the charm, eh?
Honestly I have NO FRICKIN' CLUE what they're up to with UO. They keep wanting one, but they keep canning 'em! Bah.
Honestly I have NO FRICKIN' CLUE what they're up to with UO. They keep wanting one, but they keep canning 'em! Bah.
Take Two/MLB deal wrapped up. They will be exclusive for seven years.
Hooray!
So what odds are the bookies giving for the NBA and NHL to cash in on this, too?
Hooray!
So what odds are the bookies giving for the NBA and NHL to cash in on this, too?
I just hope the NBA Sim license does not go to NBA Live. I used to love Live... back in 95-96 :| This is one of EA's underachievers by far.
I think it could get messy with the NBA though... where do you draw the line between Sim and Arcade? So would a Arcade game like Jam or Street not be able to have 5-on-5? Would a Sim not be able to have a les-sim like mode where it is an offensive free for all?
Interesting Qs. It would be great to be able to look 5 years into the future and to look at the pro sport landscape in video games.
I think it could get messy with the NBA though... where do you draw the line between Sim and Arcade? So would a Arcade game like Jam or Street not be able to have 5-on-5? Would a Sim not be able to have a les-sim like mode where it is an offensive free for all?
Interesting Qs. It would be great to be able to look 5 years into the future and to look at the pro sport landscape in video games.
Take Two tacks on a few more deals to--I suppose--close as many loopholes as they can on the MLB franchise.
Will it all be worth it in the end? Hmm...
Well, maybe if it doesn't score big for them the likes of basketball and hockey will be saved from future hyperactive exclusivity deals.
Will it all be worth it in the end? Hmm...
Well, maybe if it doesn't score big for them the likes of basketball and hockey will be saved from future hyperactive exclusivity deals.
You probably thought EA was done with football, didn't you? Well it seems there's still more to be bought!