SFOSOK

Well I've been looking at what EA is doin to every title, company, and what ever else it can get its filthy little hands on and I'm tired of them ruining everything that has their logo on it.

EA has got to be the worst company in the video game industry.

I associate the term "EA" as a curse word now or an insult. They are ruining the game industry as we know it and try to take it over one company at a time. As a gamer I will do my part and never buy a game from them again. They have the worst support and the worst quality games.

I encourage any gamer who has any pride for video games that are actually worth playing to join in this boycott to never purchase another EA games title again.


Video games are headed now towards being overly trendy and more money spent in advertising the damn game then actually making it. I for one have had enough. When ever I get out of the Millitary I'm goin to pay EA a visit and tell who ever is in charge that they f*cked up the gaming industry and now they have to fix it.

I may create a site in the future when I have the right tools.

__________________
*Warning* - Explicit Content Preceeding



METAL!!

Sandok

I personally like EA and their games... At least the don't install starforce on every game like ubisoft!

OmegaRED

EA is the worst game producer in the industry but its like MS, they buy up all the best game houses and release the titles under their name.

As much as I hate EA (and buying games ) there are some that are worth buying, like BF2, and dammit they happen to be EA games. The Godfather is out this month and it too could be an awesome game.

I buy games based on what the title has to offer and theres no way I'm gonna boycott a fantastic game when all it would do is force EA to close that company down like they did with Westwood. If you boycott them EA will make all its money pumping out shitty sports games and it'll just urge them to put even less effort into PC games.

__________________

SFOSOK

Well Sandok, I don't know if its because I almost completely disaggree with you on almost everything. But you have bad taste in games, or at least low expectations.

__________________
*Warning* - Explicit Content Preceeding



METAL!!

OmegaRED

Hey, Starforce forced me to buy Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and it was an awesome game. If Ubisoft got me to open the wallet then they should keep using it for all games and ignore the cries of pirates. EA doesn't need copy protection cause games like BF2 and Generals require a valid cd key.

__________________

Sandok

Hahaha mate I'm getting used to it Well Black is not bad, the next Farcry will be good and Burnouts or NFSMW are all EA games and they ruled. Hell I reviewd NFSMW and it's one of the greatest games ever and most of the important reviewing sites agree so come on, my tastes aren't THAT bad. Sure they make tons of bad games but there are the occasionaly jewls and that's reason enough to like them!

Starforce forces me NOT to buy games since it clashes somehow with my sound card and DVD drives... So yeah, it's not cool for me I buy all my games but starforce forces me to AVOID the game so it's not cool!

OmegaRED

You must be in the small minority then and that sucks cause starforce protected titles are some of the best. Currently I'm playing Prince of Persia: Two Thrones and Rainbow Six: Lockdown without any system stability problems.

In fact the only 2 games that wreak havoc on my system are EA games "BFME 1&2" both cause lockups and crashes and for that I hate EA

__________________

Sandok

I can't play two thrones And I wanted to SOOO badly!!! You see my reasons for liking EA?

EcPercy

Yea, but the BF2 installer sucks. You need a key to play, but it wants the DVD in the drive. It also makes sure that you are not using any cd emulating software like daemon tools and if you have any backup programs like CloneCD/DVD it will not install.

I can't understand why they need to make you remove everything on your PC just to play their game. I think that the majority of game companies need to either A.) Release everything on the Steam network or B.) Create a network like steam and release their games on it.

Being required to login to a game network to play even a single player game makes it a lot easier than having to uninstall a bunch of programs just to comply with the game installer.

SFOSOK

Also would like to note, most review sites (when it comes to games) have no clue what they are talking about. Truthfully, starforce is not a valid reason not to buy an excellent game. I've had Splinter Cell CT for God knows how long and my computer is just fine and dandy, in fact I did not even know it had starforce as a part of it.

But this thread is not bout starforce and the like.

Just please discuss the reasons why you like or dislike EA.

I'll list some a bit later, but I need a shower after runnin my 5 mile



So yeah, keep this bout EA and their wrongdoings to the gaming community and also what good things have come from them.

__________________
*Warning* - Explicit Content Preceeding



METAL!!

OmegaRED

I damaged one of my install cds so used a dvd image and daemon tools to install and another image mounted for playing. BF2 does not blacklist daemon toolsV4.

Alright back on topic it is

EA pro's and Con's

Pros:

- tons of titles to choose from and expansions are guaranteed to be out in 6 months with a sequel in a year. EA delivers blockbuster games similar to how the movie industry brings them out.
- mediocre copy protection...not invasive like starforce
- EA makes games you want even whether they are good or not. Other companies make games that might be good but you need to be coaxed into buying.

Cons:
- support for a game usually only lasts until the next expansion or sequel is out then all bets are off
- due to consumer demand games are rushed quickly and need patches immediately
- EA swallows up smaller game makers uses up the license then spits out the employees they acquired

Personally I'm impressed with EA/Dice on BF2 they have put forth a lot of effort to fix every glitch in the game and patches but I will always HATE EA for what they did to the Medal of Honor franchise as well as Command and Conquer, both of which I loved more than BF2.

__________________

Zardon

I havent read the thread or most of the first post.. however I really dont think I care what EA do tbh, I just know they release a lot of titles I love playing.

Mr cairo

i installed bf2 ( before i sold it) and used daemon to mount a mini image to run it without the disk in , works fine in online play as well

its only 1.97 meg in size if you want i can mail it to you it works just fine

PM me if you want it

__________________
Please consider Sponsoring my wife for the race for life

EcPercy

I know that the newer version of Daemon tools works because in the newer version they moved to a SCSI based emulator. I use the mini-image when I play the game.

Mr cairo

the mini image i have has worked with daemon since about 2 weeks after BF2 was released i have used it on the previous verisons of daemon quite happily

just tried to help seeing as you were saying that you cant get it to work with daemon when in fact you are , but so long as it works thats the main thing

__________________
Please consider Sponsoring my wife for the race for life

mkk

EA just gutted Dice. I didn't really play the BF2 much but it's still sad news. Not that it prevents a BF3 or similar future game, but major innovation gets much less likely.

Duranix

Ubisoft and EA suck.

VALVE FTW!!

__________________

Callandor

It's not the publishers that matter that much, it's the developers, but with the way EA pressurizes and runs the developers so hard, the publishers role is changing pretty fast as it seems EA is trying to make every good developer a mega money cow then spitting them out as has already been said when they burn out, EA's all after the money it seems and not really after the consumer satisfaction if that compromises the amount of money they can make. If that's the way it is then it's not too good indeed, but they'll still be good games to play indeed. That's for sure. What I can't understand right now is why Rockstar is making a new game on table tennis. I guess it's okay if that's what the peeps working there feel is a thing they've always wanted to do. That's kind of creativity get's stifled when EA becomes your publisher or so it seems.

__________________

Sanafabich

as long as the last "legacy of kain" game is not produced by EA... I need not to worry

OmegaRED

DICE is definately as good as dead. Add that to the list of evildoings by EA.

__________________

MythicaL

EA does do a lot of lame crap, but not as much as Valve. Everytime I go on Steam, something on there ALWAYS tends to piss me off. Damn Valve to hell .

__________________


Always knew I didn't belong in this world. I wasn't made for this. But I'll never forget those who betrayed me, and those who never failed my trust.

OmegaRED

Valve doesnt buy out anyone cause they don't have any money

__________________

Dark Lord

when ever i buy games, the publisher never even comes into question. if it happens to be EA, then its EA. im not going to by a game just because it has their name on it.

with that said, it seems like every game comeing out latly is EA.

__________________

SFOSOK

Thats what we would call a bad thing. Less competition higher prices more money for EA. The more game developers they buy out the more they can rip us off. Maybe there should be a law against monopolizing on genre's of games, like one publisher can't have a game or developer for each genre or something.


I know EA is trying to take over the world.

__________________
*Warning* - Explicit Content Preceeding



METAL!!

OmegaRED

I don't think EA will ever completely dominate but they will cause the gaming industry to fall 2-3 years with each company they buy. EA already controls 2 of the biggest RTS series on the market and neither have any originality. Then they have all those Sports licenses and racing games and it will be nothing but sequels EA isn't gonna risk a completely new idea.

__________________

No_Style

Double post.

__________________

No_Style

Exactly. That's how I feel about EA.

Concerning the topic at hand though...

On the PC side of things, EA Games has problems with compatibility. Console wise, they're doing fine. In fact, they're doing more than fine console wise. Take a look at X360 version of BF2:MC. Looks like it's going to be a solid single player FPS for the X360. The biggest problem with PC platform is that they're are way too many variables to account for in terms hardware configurations. EA Games wants to multi-platform, but it doesn't put enough resources/time into developing PC versions of their games.

That takes care of the technical issues, but what about the whole "EA ruins games" factor? Maxis was a small-time company and now when EA brought them aboard, Will Wright is able to bring games like Spore. Believe it or not, but people need money to make games! You make it seem that EA forces themselves upon the smaller developers and buys the land right from under them. Most of them can choose not join EA, but they also choose not to have a wealthy publisher backing them and getting their games to the public.

Now the unfortunate aspect of being part of a big company is protecting investments. "Find a winning formula and reproduce it!" Unfortunately, due to that process, developers are restricted to that "winning formula" so they do not create a potential flops. Developers are forced to become cautious about what they design.

So what does EA do to bring new games into their fold? They scour the smaller developers looking for games they believe have potential and then back them financially on the publishing aspect. If they game sells, EA then offers to back them financially on the developing aspect. (ie: absorb them into EA). The cycle keeps going and going like that.

So is EA a company worth boycotting? No. I believe they just need to put more resources into their PC market and need to relax a bit on the "protecting of investments". However, I do believe that returns for investing into the PC market pales in comparison to the console market. Which is why you have them stating that they will not longer patch NFS:MW for PC. It just doesn't make sense from a business point of view.

On the flip side, we have companies like Konami and Sony who have both the guts and money to go on creativity sprees. Katamari games, DDR and Shadow of the Colossus come to mind. Funny thing is that the games mentioned are (for the most part) console only.


P.S -

I've also noticed something about those called "gamers" who believe EA ruins franchises. You want a successful game to have a sequel, something which has the same amount of entertainment value as the original, but be different at the same time. Most importantly, you do not want the game to be a simple 're-hash" of the original. So when EA Games releases a game similar to the original, but improves it in almost every way, you find fault in the fact that they did not add anything groundbreaking as the original incarnation.

__________________

pr0digal jenius

EA is better then most others...

VU drops support after patch 1.01

Activision takes 14 monthes to patch

Ubisoft has mad graphics bugs throughout the series of patching




PLUS

EA owns the IP to the majrity of the good stuff, altho I must admit Ubi and VU have some too.

Need For Speed
Black & White
Command & Conquer
Sports...EA officially owns Sports...period
James Bond
Battlefield


Ubi has Tom Clancy and Prince of Persia...and not all that much else worth while

VU has the the Sierra titles and the Blizzard Titles, and that's about it

OmegaRED

C&C was one of the biggest and best RTS series ever, EA ruined it with Generals and then has the balls to repackage all the games they didn't make and sell them as a "First Decade" series.

EA sequels mean zero creativity whereas you can look at Ubisoft and see a big difference in the PoP:The Two Thrones compared to its first outting and how vastly improved Splinter Cell Chaos theory was to its predecessors.

The 007 license is for me the beginning of EA's fall from grace, they kept pumping out pure crap without any refinements or style and where is that series now? No one will buy a 007 game.

__________________

Callandor

So the moral is, EA is not bad, but they're afraid to make mistakes because they're too busy caught up making money. The moment you start being afraid of making mistakes by taking risks, you stop growing. So EA's days and future could be numbered and doomed. They're perfectionists.

__________________