What's wrong with EA?

[Malak]

I don't even get this. Everyone loves to hate EA, but I've enjoyed every game I've bought from them, whereas I've gotten burned by favorites like Valve, Ubisoft, and Blizzard. Yet everyone loves those despite there major flaws! WTF! Someone sold their souls to the devil, because this doesn't even make sense.

 

[cirrhosis]

I gather you like sports games.

I've regretted every EA purchase I've made, save for System Shock 2 and Undying.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Man, i sure do love this bug in BF2 where my teamies appear red to me and in enemy uniform!

Hey.... my all seeing eye is not working with BF2... and neither is gamespy arcade.

Wait........ did i just have a crash to desktop?

Damn..... Look at what EA did to Westwood, my favorite RTS game maker is now only a shadow of its former glory and my how everything after Red Alert 1 sucked.

Damn, there goes the Wing Commander series as well as crusader.... RIP Origin studios.

What??? Exclusive deals with the sports franchises, damn... my choices will be limited this year.

Why am i having to pay $50 for a game that has not left beta stage?

It is a good thing BF1 came out of beta... 1 year after its release.

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: cirrhosis
I gather you like sports games.

I've regretted every EA purchase I've made, save for System Shock 2 and Undying.

I don't own a single sports game. Guess again.

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Man, i sure do love this bug in BF2 where my teamies appear red to me and in enemy uniform!

Hey.... my all seeing eye is not working with BF2... and neither is gamespy arcade.

Wow, that's the worst you could do for BF2? One bug that was fixed already? I've seen worse problems in Blizzard games, why don't people hate those?

Wait........ did i just have a crash to desktop?

Sounds like a personal problem, it usually is.

Damn..... Look at what EA did to Westwood, my favorite RTS game maker is now only a shadow of its former glory and my how everything after Red Alert 1 sucked.

Red Alert 1 sucked, at least IMO. I never liked it much. I loved the original C&C, and I think Generals is awesome. Renegade was neat, but nobody played it. No problems here.

Damn, there goes the Wing Commander series as well as crusader.... RIP Origin studios.

Who? Wing Commander can easily be substituted by better games, get over it.

What??? Exclusive deals with the sports franchises, damn... my choices will be limited this year.

Oh snap! Wait, EA makes the best sports games on the market... WHO CARES?

Why am i having to pay $50 for a game that has not left beta stage?

Why do you pay $50 for any game on the PC? All of them have bugs when released, not just EA games. You pay it for it's potential! If they released Oblivion early so everyone could stop throwing a fit, it'd be buggy as hell. Would anyone start hating Bethseda? Of course not!

It is a good thing BF1 came out of beta... 1 year after its release.

BF1? What's that?

 

[Continuity28]

It has little to do with the games themselves and all to do with business practice.

They treat their employees badly, they stifle competition, and they are setting a bad precedent for the future.

Also, while you may not notice many issues with your particular games today, it can only get worse from here, as the almighty $ sparkles in their eyes. They are already rushing every development team they can...

 

[Sideswipe001]

Originally posted by: Malak

Originally posted by: cirrhosis
I gather you like sports games.

I've regretted every EA purchase I've made, save for System Shock 2 and Undying.

I don't own a single sports game. Guess again.

Haven't read much about their buisness practices, have you?

EA has a bad rep because they treat people badly. It's not so much about their games as it is the attempted monopoly things they do, like paying the NFL for exclusive rights - in effect killing all football titles competing with Madden.

I dislike their buisness practices. I dislike how they killed Origin and fired Lord British. Things like this make me hate them.

Blizzard, who you seem to want to hate, on the other hand, strike me as a company who at least try to make their customers happy. I've had issues with World of Warcraft, but not many, and they have handed plenty of free time out because of lag and issues. It makes me feel better. I like them.

If you don't care that they are jerks, that's your right. Feel free to continue to buy their products. Don't expect me to agree with you though.

 

[TheUnk]

I don't have a problem with EA. Actually I don't care WHO makes the game, as long as the game is fun.

 

[pcthuglife]

Oh snap! Wait, EA makes the best sports games on the market... WHO CARES?

So is it just a coincidence that EA finally decided to buy exclusive rights to NFL licenses after ESPN's 2k series came out and received better ratings from game critics than Madden? I think not. EA was threatened by 2k sports, one, because the game play was great, and two, because the 2k sports series sold for $20.

Hey if you can't beat em, just spends hundreds of millions of dollars so they can't make game titles that compete with yours anymore. Seems kind of MS and Intelish if you ask me.

 

[Schadenfroh]

I've seen worse problems in Blizzard games, why don't people hate those?

I dislike Blizzard as a company also.

Red Alert 1 sucked, at least IMO.

Red Alert 1 was my favorite of the C&C series. The original a close 2nd. Tiberian sun was crap, Red Alert 2 was meh at best and generals was just barely better than Tiberian Sun, but i still hated it. (EA bought WestWood after Red Alert1, IIRC).

Who? Wing Commander can easily be substituted by better games, get over it.

You do not get angry when a franchise that you enjoy is ended?

Oh snap! Wait, EA makes the best sports games on the market... WHO CARES?

Then why do they feel the need to shell out millions to get exclusive licensing deals, if they have the best franchise by far...

Why do you pay $50 for any game on the PC?

That is what they cost on release. Glad some do, many cost $60 now. Unless i wait about 6 months after the release of the game i want to play today.

BF1? What's that?

BattleField 1 (useless without DesertCombat)

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Man, i sure do love this bug in BF2 where my teamies appear red to me and in enemy uniform!

Hey.... my all seeing eye is not working with BF2... and neither is gamespy arcade.

Wait........ did i just have a crash to desktop?

Damn..... Look at what EA did to Westwood, my favorite RTS game maker is now only a shadow of its former glory and my how everything after Red Alert 1 sucked.

Damn, there goes the Wing Commander series as well as crusader.... RIP Origin studios.

What??? Exclusive deals with the sports franchises, damn... my choices will be limited this year.

Why am i having to pay $50 for a game that has not left beta stage?

It is a good thing BF1 came out of beta... 1 year after its release.

This guy sums it up very accurately. RA2 was ok though, storyline didnt really tie in with RA1 but it was still pretty good.

 

[Modeps]

Probably the biggest problem with EA along with many other things mentioned, is the fact that they are single handedly destroying the gaming industry because of their business practices. Not only to they seem to buy up any no-name developer that has a glimmer of hope, but they constandly release sequel after sequel. based on purchased franchises and crushed companies.

Sequels are the easiest way to make money in any industry. You take a tried formula and update it a bit here and there. Boom, you've got a new "hit game".

EA was set to release 26 or 27 games (I forget the exact number) this fiscal year... guess how many were new games? one (that is an exact number). That new game is based on a licensed property (Godfather).

Where's the innovation? Where's the love of the industry? All I see is the love of the almighty dollar.

With EA's gargantuan resources, they should be the company trying to be innovative and try out new products... instead they work their employees' fingers to their bones updating the same tired formulas... When have they really added anything new and exciting to Burnout or Madden?


By the way Red Alert 1, in my opinion, was one of the best strategy games ever created. Their destroying of NFL2k was the last straw, forcing me to never purchase a game of theirs again.

 

[40Hands]

Electronic Arts doesn't care about gamers!

 

[pcthuglife]

Electronic Arts doesn't care about gamers!

... wow this is awkward...

 

[VIAN]

I'm pissed at Valve about their software:

-HL2 was a overhyped POS that didn't live up to expectations other than having great facial animations and amazing looking water effects. Which I'm not even sure they hyped the water. It took forever to make and released with very important features missing. Then it's released and runs like crap.

-Steam. Everyone knows how stable that crap is. It's always messed up.


EA, always problematic save for a few games here and there, like the mentioned Undying:

-MOH:AA ran very slow even on high end computers.

-MOH:AA expansions just started to get rediculously stupid gameplay and also ran just as bad. They did such a poor job on these, Breakthrough and on, that it seems that they just released them just for the sake of money and not really putting much content in the games. They were a far cry frome the greatness that MOH:AA was in gameplay.

-Battlefield, even after all this time, still has bugs.

-BF2, released half assed and at a higher pricepoint of 55 dollars, that was supposedly due to development time. Highly buggy, missing critical features that seemed like they put almost no thought in the game, other than graphics, which is also an annoyance to configure. The inconveniance that BF2 is.. is such that the game must've been beta when it was released. Still, 6 months later, many issues aren't resolved.

-BF2 expansions look like crap. Clearly something that they should've put in the regular BF2 game, but held it back so that they could sell it to you as a premium. It's not like it's a lot of content anyway. 30 bucks they will charge you for this lack of content expansion to the original game which still, by my standards is in it's beta stage. Apparantly these people shouldn't even be programming if they can't understand the concept of procedure.

-How would you like it to have paid 55 dollars for a game that doesn't work properly and then be forced to watch they're logo. EA Games, Challenge Everything.

Why do you pay $50 for any game on the PC? All of them have bugs when released, not just EA games.

Excuse me, but quality like Doom3, which had such a little amount of bugs, if any, that didn't allow you to enjoy the game, compared bugs that really mess with the enjoyment of the game, such as in BF2. Such frustration I've experienced. Doom3 will forever be my standard, or most Activision games for that matter, I've never been pissed off at game they've published.

 

[Spike]

I feel alot of hate here but I guess I don't share it. I enjoyed BF 1942 and am having a blast playing BF 2. None of the bugs have ever really affected me so no biggie there. I never did like the westwood games but I got a kick out of Art of War: Direct Action and C & C generals was ok.

I don't condone their business practices but as long as they make games I enjoy I will buy them. I hate to admit it but if my "sheep-like" tendancy allows me to buy games I will enjoy then... "BAAAAAA"

-spike

 

[Doom Machine]

Haven't read much about their buisness practices, have you? EA has a bad rep because they treat people badly. It's not so much about their games as it is the attempted monopoly things they do, like paying the NFL for exclusive rights - in effect killing all football titles competing with Madden. I dislike their buisness practices. I dislike how they killed Origin and fired Lord British. Things like this make me hate them. Blizzard, who you seem to want to hate, on the other hand, strike me as a company who at least try to make their customers happy. I've had issues with World of Warcraft, but not many, and they have handed plenty of free time out because of lag and issues. It makes me feel better. I like them. If you don't care that they are jerks, that's your right. Feel free to continue to buy their products. Don't expect me to agree with you though

its called smart business practice, maybe if you owned a company and something like this not only helps you stay in business but ensures better paid employees,yourself and more investors...perhaps you would think different, if not then you'd be likely finding a job working for someone else.

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: cirrhosis
I gather you like sports games

Ummm upon further review, their sports games SUCK TOO

 

[Continuity28]

Originally posted by: Doom Machine

Haven't read much about their buisness practices, have you? EA has a bad rep because they treat people badly. It's not so much about their games as it is the attempted monopoly things they do, like paying the NFL for exclusive rights - in effect killing all football titles competing with Madden. I dislike their buisness practices. I dislike how they killed Origin and fired Lord British. Things like this make me hate them. Blizzard, who you seem to want to hate, on the other hand, strike me as a company who at least try to make their customers happy. I've had issues with World of Warcraft, but not many, and they have handed plenty of free time out because of lag and issues. It makes me feel better. I like them. If you don't care that they are jerks, that's your right. Feel free to continue to buy their products. Don't expect me to agree with you though

its called smart business practice, maybe if you owned a company and something like this not only helps you stay in business but ensures better paid employees,yourself and more investors...perhaps you would think different, if not then you'd be likely finding a job working for someone else.

"Smart" in this case can only be short term... Screwing everyone in sight may seem smart at the time, but I don't see how that will guarantee repeat business over a long period of time.

You know what Video Games were about once upon a time? Having fun. Even the developers had fun and played games themselves. I dread the day when it turns into another corporate ass-fvck. But you know what, the music industry hit this point long ago, the movie industry is on it's way as well, why not take out video games as well?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Doom Machine
its called smart business practice, maybe if you owned a company and something like this not only helps you stay in business but ensures better paid employees, yourself and more investors...perhaps you would think different, if not then you'd be likely finding a job working for someone else.

They just had to pay millions to settle a class action suit for underpaying employees, illegally not paying them overtime.

 

[coomar]

have you played this years versions of ea sports games?

what were they doing for the last year, half of the games seems like that have moved backwards

 

[Agnostos Insania]

As someone has already said, they killed the Ultima series, but most importantly to me they killed UO. ;(

EA is a mega-corporation full of greedy men in suits that are too rich to care what people think. The masses generally don't think too fondly of that in any industry. (Think Wal-Mart and "mom and pop" stores)

 

[TheUnk]

Originally posted by: VIAN

-Battlefield, even after all this time, still has bugs.

I played 1942 for years, never really was seriously affected by these bugs. Perhaps I was too busy having fun to notice them?

-BF2, released half assed and at a higher pricepoint of 55 dollars, that was supposedly due to development time. Highly buggy, missing critical features that seemed like they put almost no thought in the game, other than graphics, which is also an annoyance to configure. The inconveniance that BF2 is.. is such that the game must've been beta when it was released. Still, 6 months later, many issues aren't resolved.

Agreed. $55 is too much and it was definately too buggy to be released. But you know what? BF2 is a hell of a lot of fun which to me far outweighs the bugs/issues that remain.

-BF2 expansions look like crap. Clearly something that they should've put in the regular BF2 game, but held it back so that they could sell it to you as a premium. It's not like it's a lot of content anyway. 30 bucks they will charge you for this lack of content expansion to the original game which still, by my standards is in it's beta stage. Apparantly these people shouldn't even be programming if they can't understand the concept of procedure.

Yep, I won't be buying this even though I greatly enjoy BF2 I will not support an expansion to a game that still has it's own issues to be resolved. I'd rather they spent their time perfecting BF2 and making their customers happy instead of coming up with another way for them to make more money.

-How would you like it to have paid 55 dollars for a game that doesn't work properly and then be forced to watch they're logo. EA Games, Challenge Everything.

Yeah it's dumb that you can't skip it, but you can delete the movie files and never be bothered by it again =p

 

[Agnostos Insania]

Originally posted by: TheUnk
Yeah it's dumb that you can't skip it, but you can delete the movie files and never be bothered by it again =p

Haha, yeah. I remember a forum that had the directions for removing the movie clips stickied.

 

[QueBert]

EA blows, they NEVER release new games, just sequels. Actually, mostly just expansion packs. I know I can't wait for their next release

Tiger Live Sims Madden Bf2 Pool Party.
They're running out of SIMS ideas (althought, SIMS fans will buy anything they put out)

Sports games are still semi-good, but aside from roster updates how much can they really change EVERY year? "ohhhh! they added super high resolution rendered shoe laces to NBA Live 2007, the players look so much more realistic!"

Maybe they'll buy Rockstar and we'll get GTA Live 2007. freshness