EA Wrecking Franchises

[CP5670]

My only hope is in Valve and Steam, perhaps Epic can sway things a bit. I also happen to like Ubisoft games and if 2K wouldn't be such a bunch of fuckin clueless losers - see the complete chaos and the fuckin illegal rootkit/DRM shit around Bioshock's release - they could have a chance too.

Ubisoft on the PC is as bad as EA these days, if not worse. They release very buggy console ports on PC, complete with intrusive copy protection schemes, and tend to abandon support for their games quickly even when they're still loaded with technical problems. At least EA keeps releasing patches for most of their games.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: CP5670

My only hope is in Valve and Steam, perhaps Epic can sway things a bit. I also happen to like Ubisoft games and if 2K wouldn't be such a bunch of fuckin clueless losers - see the complete chaos and the fuckin illegal rootkit/DRM shit around Bioshock's release - they could have a chance too.

Ubisoft on the PC is as bad as EA these days, if not worse. They release very buggy console ports on PC, complete with intrusive copy protection schemes, and tend to abandon support for their games quickly even when they're still loaded with technical problems.

Yeh, Ubisoft was the main pusher of StarForce, a DRM scheme that makes SecuROM look great.

 

[miniMUNCH]

Originally posted by: Coldkilla

Originally posted by: BFG10K
They didn't ruin Crysis (thankfully).

They JUST published it. Never touched any of the games code. Thank GOD.

I just wish something could stand up to EA... who knows, maybe Crytek will create its own publishing offices, and start cranking open new studios all around the world, start creating more and more games, selling CryEngine2, then later CryEngine3 and so on. Perhaps more and more people will flock to Crytek, and the world can finally be set on its right axis again..

Games like Vigilance: http://www.iedvigilance.com/index_fl.html
I hope its available for consumers

From what I understand... that is more or less Crytek's game plan. They have started to open studios to develop some games using CryEngine2.

 

[vhx]

I have come to decipher EA's release plan for PC games:
1) Develop game.
2) Push game out early despite indications of horrible bugs or any other big issues.
3) Release 2-3 patches to add a few things (new maps, tweaks, fix horrible bugs) to appease people.
4) Work on expansion for said game.
5) Push that out early.
6) Charge same price as full game.
7) Make a few more patches.
8) Cut off support entirely to work on new projects.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
They did a pretty good job killing Black & White in the form of Black & White 2 - although Molyneux takes part of the blame there. They also killed the Dungeon Keeper franchise. KOTOR is probably dead now too.

As I recall, the reviews said B&W2 was much-improved over the first. Granted, I haven't played the second, but I thought people liked 2 better than 1.

 

[miniMUNCH]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Soviet


Dont vivendi own blizzard though?

I believe so, but the Blizzard name will sell pretty much anything. If Blizz decided to break with Vivendi and become an independent developer, they'd have no problems self publishing.

Except for the part where Vivendi owns Blizzard... so Blizzard can't break with Vivendi and go independent. All the IP and trademarks, etc. are owned by Vivendi.

Also, I would not be surprised if Blizzard employees also sign a non-compete agreement... i.e. employees can't work for a competing MMO or RTS game studio for some time after leaving Blizzard.

But I imagine Vivendi treats Blizzard really, really well and lets them have free reign.

 

[T2k]

Originally posted by: CP5670

My only hope is in Valve and Steam, perhaps Epic can sway things a bit. I also happen to like Ubisoft games and if 2K wouldn't be such a bunch of fuckin clueless losers - see the complete chaos and the fuckin illegal rootkit/DRM shit around Bioshock's release - they could have a chance too.

Ubisoft on the PC is as bad as EA these days, if not worse. They release very buggy console ports on PC,

WTF are you talking about? EA makes more ports than anybody else.
Besides pinpoint please which one of the following one was a port (assumin you know what porting actually means) and sucked so badly as you're claiming?

Complete Myst-saga including Uru
Complete Brothers in Arms series
Rainbow Six-series
Dark Messiah

complete with intrusive copy protection schemes,

Ummm you're quite confused: they have dropped Starforce immediately, almost 2 years ago when the scandal broke about its illegal practices.

Besides it's a complete BS point: every publisher uses DRm. Your comment makes no sense whatsoever.

and tend to abandon support for their games quickly even when they're still loaded with technical problems.

Every publisher does the same and I don't really see how Ubi is different from EA except the latter tends to release utter crap when it comes to bugs.

At least EA keeps releasing patches for most of their games.

Almost every Ubi game I bought in the past 2 years ran FINE here, right out of the box - unlike EA ones and their patching often just made things worse.

 

[T2k]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: CP5670

My only hope is in Valve and Steam, perhaps Epic can sway things a bit. I also happen to like Ubisoft games and if 2K wouldn't be such a bunch of fuckin clueless losers - see the complete chaos and the fuckin illegal rootkit/DRM shit around Bioshock's release - they could have a chance too.

Ubisoft on the PC is as bad as EA these days, if not worse. They release very buggy console ports on PC, complete with intrusive copy protection schemes, and tend to abandon support for their games quickly even when they're still loaded with technical problems.

Yeh, Ubisoft was the main pusher of StarForce, a DRM scheme that makes SecuROM look great.

WTF are you talking about?
I smell utter ignorance... as I said they publicly announced dropping it in early 2006.
Besides that SecuROM is just as bad as Starforce, I have no idea why would anyone claim one is better than the other.

 

[T2k]

Originally posted by: vhx
I have come to decipher EA's release plan for PC games:
1) Develop game.
2) Push game out early despite indications of horrible bugs or any other big issues.
3) Release 2-3 patches to add a few things (new maps, tweaks, fix horrible bugs) to appease people.
4) Work on expansion for said game.
5) Push that out early.
6) Charge same price as full game.
7) Make a few more patches.
8) Cut off support entirely to work on new projects.

9) Drop the whole franchise after it's been totally sunked in a few rounds of this 'plan'

10) and switch to another one and go to #1...

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: T2k

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: CP5670

My only hope is in Valve and Steam, perhaps Epic can sway things a bit. I also happen to like Ubisoft games and if 2K wouldn't be such a bunch of fuckin clueless losers - see the complete chaos and the fuckin illegal rootkit/DRM shit around Bioshock's release - they could have a chance too.

Ubisoft on the PC is as bad as EA these days, if not worse. They release very buggy console ports on PC, complete with intrusive copy protection schemes, and tend to abandon support for their games quickly even when they're still loaded with technical problems.

Yeh, Ubisoft was the main pusher of StarForce, a DRM scheme that makes SecuROM look great.

WTF are you talking about?
I smell utter ignorance... as I said they publicly announced dropping it in early 2006.
Besides that SecuROM is just as bad as Starforce, I have no idea why would anyone claim one is better than the other.

That is why I said "was" and not is. I have yet hear a report of SecuROM bricking (killing) an optical drive, unlike starforce (google it).

 

[CP5670]

WTF are you talking about? EA makes more ports than anybody else.
Besides pinpoint please which one of the following one was a port (assumin you know what porting actually means) and sucked so badly as you're claiming?

Complete Myst-saga including Uru
Complete Brothers in Arms series
Rainbow Six-series
Dark Messiah

Wow, are you some kind of Ubi fanboy? Talk about a tirade. :roll:

I haven't played any of those. I was specifically referring to Splinter Cell: Double Agent, which is probably the buggiest commercial game I have ever played and will remain in that state forever as they dropped support for it after the second patch, although I've heard people complaining about similar issues with bugs and general engine optimization with Rainbow Six Vegas.

Almost every Ubi game I bought in the past 2 years ran FINE here, right out of the box - unlike EA ones and their patching often just made things worse.

And in my case, the EA games I have played during the last year or two have actually worked pretty well while I have had various problems with the Ubi games.

Ummm you're quite confused: they have dropped Starforce immediately, almost 2 years ago when the scandal broke about its illegal practices.

Yes, and they replaced it with Securom 7. :roll: Also, I know that at least some of their existing games from that time still have it, as they never released any patches to remove it from them.

Besides it's a complete BS point: every publisher uses DRm. Your comment makes no sense whatsoever.

Some use worse schemes than others. Both EA and Ubi use Securom at this point, so there is nothing separating them now as far as that goes.

 

[TehMac]

THQ is the savior of PC Gaming.

 

[T2k]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: T2k

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: CP5670

My only hope is in Valve and Steam, perhaps Epic can sway things a bit. I also happen to like Ubisoft games and if 2K wouldn't be such a bunch of fuckin clueless losers - see the complete chaos and the fuckin illegal rootkit/DRM shit around Bioshock's release - they could have a chance too.

Ubisoft on the PC is as bad as EA these days, if not worse. They release very buggy console ports on PC, complete with intrusive copy protection schemes, and tend to abandon support for their games quickly even when they're still loaded with technical problems.

Yeh, Ubisoft was the main pusher of StarForce, a DRM scheme that makes SecuROM look great.

WTF are you talking about?
I smell utter ignorance... as I said they publicly announced dropping it in early 2006.
Besides that SecuROM is just as bad as Starforce, I have no idea why would anyone claim one is better than the other.

That is why I said "was" and not is. I have yet hear a report of SecuROM bricking (killing) an optical drive, unlike starforce (google it).

Starforce did not brick anything - educate yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarForce#Controversy

 

[T2k]

Originally posted by: CP5670

WTF are you talking about? EA makes more ports than anybody else.
Besides pinpoint please which one of the following one was a port (assumin you know what porting actually means) and sucked so badly as you're claiming?

Complete Myst-saga including Uru
Complete Brothers in Arms series
Rainbow Six-series
Dark Messiah

Wow, are you some kind of Ubi fanboy? Talk about a tirade. :roll:

I haven't played any of those. I was specifically referring to Splinter Cell: Double Agent, which is probably the buggiest commercial game I have ever played and will remain in that state forever as they dropped support for it after the second patch, although I've heard people complaining about similar issues with bugs and general engine optimization with Rainbow Six Vegas.

So you experienced ONE and heard about another?

Wow, talk about fluffing BS...

Almost every Ubi game I bought in the past 2 years ran FINE here, right out of the box - unlike EA ones and their patching often just made things worse.

And in my case, the EA games I have played during the last year or two have actually worked pretty well while I have had various problems with the Ubi games.

Now games despite you just admitted you have only played ONE (with problems)?

Gee, at least make up stuff logically.:frown:

Ummm you're quite confused: they have dropped Starforce immediately, almost 2 years ago when the scandal broke about its illegal practices.

Yes, and they replaced it with Securom 7. :roll: Also, I know that at least some of their existing games from that time still have it, as they never released any patches to remove it from them.

Ummm ROFLMAO - WTF are you talking about, seriously? First they DID release StarForce patch - I remember seeing it for BiA.
Second how do you mean removing? You mean releasing a patch that would compeltely remove DRM?
ROFLMAO you are actually funny...

Besides it's a complete BS point: every publisher uses DRm. Your comment makes no sense whatsoever.

Some use worse schemes than others. Both EA and Ubi use Securom at this point, so there is nothing separating them now as far as that goes.

Ummm then why the hell did you bring this up, pal? Seriously, it was you who accused Ubi of using "intrusive copy protection schemes ", don't you remember?
Wow, talk about not making sense...

 

[T2k]

Originally posted by: TehMac
THQ is the savior of PC Gaming.

Actually they are a nice bunch of folks, I agree. Even though they are also disorganized as hell at least they are helpful and act fairly quickly - after fuckin Gas Powered couldn't do shit with my SC copy - ominous 'cd key is in use' bug - I wrote a letter to THQ asking WTF else should I do in order to be able to play with my game and they immediately replaced it, even included an extra SC card or poster, can't recall but it was definitely a nice move.

 

[T2k]

ROFL: http://www.1up.com/do/club?Dis...h=Display&clubid=17318

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: T2k
Starforce did not brick anything - educate yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarForce#Controversy

Text

under Windows XP, if packets are lost during the reading or writing of a disk, XP interprets this as an error and steps the IDE speed down. Eventually it will revert to 16bit compatibility mode rendering a CD/DVD writer virtually unusable. In some circumstances certain drives cannot cope with this mode and it results in physical hardware failure (Most commonly in multiformat CD/DVD writer drives).

It has been reported by many users that the slowdown caused by StarForce on some recent multiformat DVD writers can cause irreversible hardware failures on those drives (they aren't recognized anymore)

and StarForce's silly contest about drive failures

Broadband Reports notes that the company Starforce, who makes copy protection for certain video games has issued a challenge to people who say their technology creates problems: they're offering $1,000 (maybe) for showing them how their product breaks things. However, as always, the important details are all in the fine print. While the headline talks about destroying your "PC," the fine print is a lot more specific. In order to win this $1,000, you have to go to their headquarters in Moscow ("at your own expense") with a PC that is still under warranty. You need to show that the PC is fully functional at that time. You then have to install their copy protection software -- after which you need to show that the CD/DVD drive no longer works. Note that this has absolutely nothing to do with mucking up other aspects of your computer. It's just that the drive doesn't work. Then (no, we're not done yet), you have to remove that particular drive from the computer, and put it in another computer that has none of their software on it, and see if the drive still doesn't work. If it still doesn't work, then you'll win the contest

 

[TehMac]

If THQ continues to grow, EA has competition.

 

[badnewcastle]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
They didn't ruin Crysis (thankfully).

PLEASE ADD CRYSIS - CRYTEK TO YOUR LIST...

If you have finished the game, then you know that EA obviously rushed Crytek to finish the game so it could be sold before Christmas... So much more could and should have been done for this game... Despite the graphics it was a major disappointment.

Publishers may not be directly influencing content, but they can indirectly by implementing time frames.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: TehMac
If THQ continues to grow, EA has competition.

Oh as much as I would like, I doubt it. Those sports franchises is pretty much the immovable mountain no one can overcome.

 

[CP5670]

Originally posted by: T2k
So you experienced ONE and heard about another?

Wow, talk about fluffing BS...

It's not like I'm about to get another of their recent games after playing SCDA and seeing their level of support for it.

Now games despite you just admitted you have only played ONE (with problems)?

Gee, at least make up stuff logically.:frown:

I had a fair share of technical issues with the earlier Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory as well, even though that game was generally outstanding otherwise. Some of those issues also revolved around bad technical design decisions than unintentional bugs.

Ummm ROFLMAO - WTF are you talking about, seriously? First they DID release StarForce patch - I remember seeing it for BiA.
Second how do you mean removing? You mean releasing a patch that would compeltely remove DRM?
ROFLMAO you are actually funny...

Show me a patch that removes Starforce for Chaos Theory.

And FYI, there are companies that remove the copy protection in their games entirely through a patch after they have been out for a while. id and Epic are some examples.

Ummm then why the hell did you bring this up, pal? Seriously, it was you who accused Ubi of using "intrusive copy protection schemes ", don't you remember?
Wow, talk about not making sense...

You think that makes it better just because EA does it too? As I said, they're comparable to EA but with crappier product support.

I like how half of your post consists of irrelevant insults rather than actually having anything to do with the subject matter. I guess every company must have its rabid, drooling fanboys somewhere.

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: badnewcastle

Originally posted by: BFG10K
They didn't ruin Crysis (thankfully).

PLEASE ADD CRYSIS - CRYTEK TO YOUR LIST...

If you have finished the game, then you know that EA obviously rushed Crytek to finish the game so it could be sold before Christmas... So much more could and should have been done for this game... Despite the graphics it was a major disappointment.

Publishers may not be directly influencing content, but they can indirectly by implementing time frames.

That is true, the last 1/3 (alien) definitely seemed rushed, it could have been sooooooo awesome

 

[Regs]

Why don't they publish Duke Nukem Forever?

C&C 3 I thought was not bad at all. Even Zero hour had some...flavour in single player. Though for multiplayer it was completely off balance.

Sim City 4 had a lot of promise but had a lot of traffic bugs and the fact you were limited to a population of 100k. My town has a pop of 45k and we don't need subways and 1000 bus stops to help traffic move. The zoning was also off balance as you never had enough residential to supply the commerice, and you never had enough commerice to supply any jobs.


Crysis is yet another game that doesn't finish but I guess that's an acceptable trend now-a-days. I'm sure the 2nd episode will be 39.99 in 6-8 months. But it was good until the aliens came and the game was "average".

Battlefield 2? Not a big multiplayer fan, and BF2 will not be my first choice any way. COD4 beats BF2 anyday.

Madden on PC? Nah. Been playing it on PS2 and enjoying it.


I've never grown a hatred for EA. Don't have any reason. All they did was extend the life of a franchise that developers were going to dump anyway. They buy the rights of a game and sell it. Shit, that's the way of life. Most of what we buy today come from some other supplier, vendor, or manufacturer then it's original creator.

 

[tvdang7]

bf2 was really good. can some one paint me a picture on who does what? whats publishing and all that junk. i dont get it really.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: Soviet

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Coldkilla

Originally posted by: BFG10K
They didn't ruin Crysis (thankfully).

They JUST published it. Never touched any of the games code. Thank GOD.

I just wish something could stand up to EA... who knows, maybe Crytek will create its own publishing offices, and start cranking open new studios all around the world, start creating more and more games, selling CryEngine2, then later CryEngine3 and so on. Perhaps more and more people will flock to Crytek, and the world can finally be set on its right axis again..

Games like Vigilance: http://www.iedvigilance.com/index_fl.html
I hope its available for consumers

You think Crytek has that level of influence already? They've only released two games so far, FarCry and Crysis.

If any company had the clout to tell EA to fvck off, I'd bet money on Blizzard and Valve. Stardock is already self publishing, though their games are hardly mainstream.

Dont vivendi own blizzard though?

Vivendi owns Valve or at least serves as their main publisher as well I believe but yeah they do own Blizzard.