How many of you remember when EA was good?

[shortylickens]

The only reason I ask is I got Janes F-15 from Amazon.

 

[Mem]

The only reason I ask is I got Janes F-15 from Amazon.

I think they were decent back in Amiga/Atari ST days but so was a lot of companies back then,nowadays their reputation is poor.

 

[Borealis7]

NBA95 was good. that's about it...

 

[lamedude]

I remember seeing this.

And not thinking bad things.

 

[KentState]

EA games used to be the higher standard. Now they are another big company with good and bad parts. Unfortunately, to fuel such a big company, it always comes down to dollars and has little room for a customer focused approach.

 

[Lonyo]

http://www.metacritic.com/feature/game-publisher-rankings-for-2012-releases

Not the be all and end all, but hardly the worst publisher in the world...

Every company is pretty much the same when it comes to post other things. Producing sequels, buying developers.

Remember the last original Valve game? I think it was called Half Life, released in 1998 or so. Pretty much everything else was bought in or is a sequel. (Because I know someone's going to say "but Valve are so original!")
Some of the core Narbacular Drop (Portal) people? Left.
The Left 4 Dead guys? Left. Etc.

 

[shortylickens]

http://www.metacritic.com/feature/game-publisher-rankings-for-2012-releases

Not the be all and end all, but hardly the worst publisher in the world...

The fact you are using Metacritic tells me you dont remember back when EA used to be good.

 

[wanderer27]

I remember looonnnnnggggg ago, they had a saying something to the effect that their goal was to make games so good that you'd nearly cry when you finished/quit them . . . now you cry when you see what they've done to gaming :'(



.

 

[Lonyo]

The fact you are using Metacritic tells me you dont remember back when EA used to be good.

I was pointing out it's not an EA thing.

"How many of you remember when *THE INDUSTRY* was good?"

 

[DooKey]

I was pointing out it's not an EA thing.

"How many of you remember when *THE INDUSTRY* was good?"

Pretty much this. Just like everything else once a product goes mainstream the companies see the massive profit available if they make it accessible (in the case of games, easy) for all. Lowest common denominator.........

 

[Thump553]

EA games used to be the higher standard. Now they are another big company with good and bad parts. Unfortunately, to fuel such a big company, it always comes down to dollars and has little room for a customer focused approach.

This. Believe it or not when EA started they were pretty much the gold standard with the best games-but we are pretty much talking about the days before any real gaming on the PC.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I remember they made some kick ass Atari 2600 games. Did they publish m.u.l.e. too?

 

[Red Storm]

NBA Live 2000. Ah, memories.

 

[Zenoth]

They were good developers during the early and mid 1990's from what I can remember myself. I probably didn't play much if none of their older-than-'90's games though. I have great memories of the Road Rash and Strike (Jungle Strike and Desert Strike) games, and also some of the early Need for Speed games were good (really liked Hot Pursuit back then). I also remember seeing (not playing) Shock Wave on the 3DO in 1995 or '96 I think, not sure... but I was very impressed, it was at my local games store and was in demonstration (although I didn't know back then that it was developed by EA, only knew about that years later).

They developed a bunch of other nice games that I can't recall by heart, but even within their best years (as a developer) they ended up publishing more games that were significantly better than anything they could develop by themselves... but they did have their "golden days" I guess, but that's like any companies would have had after so many years of operation in the (or any) market.

 

[EvilManagedCare]

Oh man back in the 8 bit era you could more often than not buy an EA title and know it was going to be good. They had the best games for the C64 & Apple. Plus for the times you would buy the games the packaging was fun.

 

[HeXen]

I still don't think anything bad, they did anything to me personally. All the games i've purchased from them ran very good. As far as "bad games" go, that is the developer's fault, history is full of crap games published from a wide variety of companies that are now defunct.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Back when I had a Sega Genesis console, I remember EA getting around some licensing fees by designing their own cartridge that would work in the system. It made their games seem unique and they were always good quality.

I still think some of EA's games are good quality but they have simply gotten big and greedy.

 

[KeithP]

How many of you remember when EA was good?

I remember. It was just before it became cool to over react and mindless bash them for anything they did.

-KeithP

 

[jimhsu]

Before the concept of "DLC" came into being (around the time of the release of the Xbox, according to wikipedia). In other words, switching from a model that provides post-release support, to one that charges for doing so. The larger problem not being that such content exists, but that paywalls blatantly exist even in the vanilla game without any DLCs... (this being the distinction from "expansion packs").

Or in general, any time that direct connections are made between real world concepts such as money and in-game concepts (aside from the initial purchase of the game of course). That totally throws immersion out the window.

 

[Phynaz]

I remember. It was just before it became cool to over react and mindless bash them for anything they did.

-KeithP

:thumbsup:

 

[fixbsod]

One of the very first games I remember enjoying to my heart's content was EA's Pinball Construction Set. Also had some of the coolest box art/design I can recall...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pinball_Construction_Set_Coverart.png

 

[shortylickens]

I remember. It was just before it became cool to over react and mindless bash them for anything they did.

-KeithP

Hypothetically if I ever overreacted and was mindless I might remember that day.

 

[DaveSimmons]

The original Wasteland was an EA release, what more proof of their past glory could you need?

Then they grew, and began to absorb and destroy other companies like Origin.

 

[shortylickens]

The original Wasteland was an EA release, what more proof of their past glory could you need?

Then they grew, and began to absorb and destroy other companies like Origin.

And bullfrog.

And I'm still jonesing for a Dungeon Keeper 3.

 

[Veliko]

I remember when the EA cartridges for the Mega Drive had that weird yellow bit on them.

Desert Strike was awesome stuff.