EA Appreciation Thread

[wrightguy0]

Well, they're Not Complete Shit *Cough*HACKTIVISION*Cough*

oh and they make fun games, sometimes...

so there's that......way to go EA.....Uh....Yay?

 

[MrTwo]

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory was amazing, and the newest Splinter Cell that's coming out may be slightly more stealth-based than the previous abomination that was "Conviction".

They made Red Alert 2 and Tiberium Wars, before completely balsing up the franchise with the inexcusably dreadful C&C4.

ERM... The Old Republic is going Free2Play so a stingy waster like me can enjoy it without giving them any money!

Wait, isn't that Ubisoft?

OT: They publish plenty of good games, I don't really have a problem with EA at all. Woooo!

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I suppose in theory I should be thankful for the games they've published, but...
I can't think of anything positive that they've done that wouldn't have just been filled by another publisher if there were a void in another world in which EA weren't around. Has EA done anything good that is unique to them and their way of doing things? To me, it mostly looks like this thread is saying, "Hey EA, thanks for existing, I guess."

So what you're saying is that EA are good in the same way the Daleks are good:


Sounds about right.

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory was amazing, and the newest Splinter Cell that's coming out may be slightly more stealth-based than the previous abomination that was "Conviction".

They made Red Alert 2 and Tiberium Wars, before completely balsing up the franchise with the inexcusably dreadful C&C4.

ERM... The Old Republic is going Free2Play so a stingy waster like me can enjoy it without giving them any money!

Wait, isn't that Ubisoft?

OT: They publish plenty of good games, I don't really have a problem with EA at all. Woooo!

Dammit you're right, Splinter Cell was Ubisoft. Well, that combined with the news that from now on the entire Command and Conquer series is going Free2play multiplayer only, means the only praise I can give EA are for things done well and truly in the past.

Screw 'em.

 

[mental_looney]

They brought back ssx! I <3 ssx.

 

[mezorin]

They are a major player in Vancouver's economy, and helped put Vancouver, British Columbia on the map as a technological center in the gaming world. Yeah, things have been going down the tube recently in Vancouver, but I've known professors in their 50s who got their start at EA back in the day.

Speaking of back in the day, EA did used to make some very original titles and was a pioneer in world of gaming. One of my very first memories of PC gaming was Star Flight II, published by EA in 1991. This space exploration and trading game was the grand daddy of Mass Effect, and one that took me years to finally finish (even with the hint book) and if anything, EA deserves thanks for letting a kid fly a pixelated space ship around the galaxy.

Save for EA's last three or four years of generally being a jerk company, I liked them more than Blizzard-Activision but they keep tripping over themselves to out do all the other companies in terms of being assholes. Project 10 dollar, canning their Steam selection, Origin, day 1 DLC, the Mass Effect 3 ending, Battlefield 3's consolefication of the PC version, and Dragon Age 2 being fired out come to mind of short sighted dick moves that what ever good will anyone had towards EA has evaporated. The stupid thing is if EA would just move to a more good will customer friendly approach in their strategy rather than trying to nickel, dime, and annoy consumers they'd have a lot going for them as a company, with a lot of good series and studios under them. Seriously EA, just step back, focus on letting your studios make fantastic games that are of good value to the customer and maybe take a more humble approach to the business and there's no reason people can't like you again.

 

[Squilookle]

EA were among the big studios that carved out the market we have to day. If not for the big guys moving gaming from a niche to the common consumer the market wouldn't be big enough to support the indie titles of today.

Rubbish. Indie games are thriving thanks to word of mouth, micro-payment business strategies, and Kickstarter- none of which has anything to do with how the big guns make their games. You could argue that on phones it's a different story, but the technology would have got where it is with or without big game publishers.

A lot of indie games are self funded anyway, so the gaming market doesn't really 'support' them regardless of how it operates.

 

[Doclector]

If there's one good thing EA's constant hunger for franchises does, it's that they help towards some great, innovative new IPs. Amular, Dead space, Mirrors edge, they want more games they can endlessly create sequals out of, and the good side of this is that they're more willing to give some creative ideas a chance.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

The first games in their franchises are always awesome, but then they get drove into the ground. The second one most of the time improves on the first one, but then the third is usually when the shit starts. See Mass Effect and Dead Space.

 

[OrenjiJusu]

They publish a lot of games that I like.

 

[Squilookle]

EA were among the big studios that carved out the market we have to day. If not for the big guys moving gaming from a niche to the common consumer the market wouldn't be big enough to support the indie titles of today.

Rubbish. Indie games are thriving thanks to word of mouth, micro-payment business strategies, and Kickstarter- none of which has anything to do with how the big guns make their games. You could argue that on phones it's a different story, but the technology would have got where it is with or without big game publishers.

A lot of indie games are self funded anyway, so the gaming market doesn't really 'support' them regardless of how it operates.

You missed my point.

You think that the indie market could exit without the big titles having made the market available?

Let me say it like this.

How many consoles do you think XBLA sold?
People bought the consoles for the big game titles, that then allowed the platform to carry something smaller.

The big publishers broke the market open for more benefit than their own.

Yeah the indie market thrive from word of mouth, but it wouldn't thrive if the big genres hadn't made the medium popular to talk about.

Ok, I see where you're coming from- but I still don't see how the big game companies have anything to do with it. Even if gaming was still a niche, we'd still have consoles, and since a lot of indies have strong roots to the older niche arcade games of yesteryear, there probably would have ended up being a variation of XBLA on consoles even if companies like EA never existed.

Besides, even if consoles never opened up to indie games full stop, they'd still have the same chance of success on the PC as they do today- I doubt Minecraft's sales would have been affected in the slightest by any change to the market the big publishers have made.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Eh, they make some good games, like the pre-Goblet of Fire Harry Potter games.

 

[MetalMonkey74]

I loved the SSX series on the PS2, was on of the best split screen racing experiences ever. Black and White on PC, spent waaay to much time on Red Alert 2 (i can still hear the Hell March theme song in my head). Def Jam - Fight for New York was a bloody brilliant game. The original Syndicate. The first Theme Park sim games. Hi Octane back in 1995 along with the Jungle / Desert Strike games. Mass Effect. The first Need for Speed games, i still remember racing the McLaren F1 vs the Dodge Viper.

I'm sure i'm missing some more.

 

[Breywood]

I can remember this logo with some fond memories:

Famous titles like Archon, Adept and even cheesy titles like Axis Assassin and Hard Hat Mack.
I can remember them publishing for Interplay before they could do it themselves, so the entire Bard's Tale series except the one form Inexile, and Wasteland, Fallout's spritual predecessor.

I loved Need for Speed from Porsche Unleashed to Underground II.

And although I'm sure the cutscenes were secretly under Joe Kucan's direction, Emperor: Battle for Dune was awesome enough to change my favorite house from Ordos to Harkonnen.

Like one of the old companies they used to publish for, Interplay, they have been responsible for publishing some really great titles. It's a shame I have to keep wearing the nostalgia goggles.

 

[surg3n]

Battlefield P4F - made the wait for BF3 so much more bearable. It's a solid FPS, it doesn't cost a lot of money to get decent gear. Battlefield Heroes was good for a laugh as well.

Play for free is a great thing, just so long as the publishers don't get too greedy, and also make sure that your getting decent stuff for your real world moneh. I'm looking forward to that free RTS game, being that Generals is my favorite RTS, and no RTS has really come close to the epicness of Generals. I want to be China, I want an embarassment of hackers and the sort of army that would make Sauroman call me a flash git.

 

[Nooners]

I have to admit, I like the model they're doing with Battlefield 3. Base game that's still really good, and then they follow it up with a ton of expansion packs. And they have two different ways of buying said expaks (a la carte or all at once via BF Premium). It's a decent step in the right direction, I think.

 

[shrekfan246]

They bought out 'Bullfrog' which caused Molyneux to leave 2 years later and create Fable[footnote]I loved the first Fable too, so don't worry.[/footnote], one of my favourite games.

I think the general opinion is that Fable was mostly good if a bit skimping on what Molyneux promised (as always), and then the sequels are absolutely terrible because they didn't do hardly anything to innovate the previous game, and instead charged forward into mediocrity.

OT: Well, they publish a bunch of games that I've enjoyed over the years: Crysis/Crysis Warhead/2, they helped with Kingdoms of Amalur, Mirror's Edge, Mass Effect 2/3, Dragon Age: Origins/2, Alice: Madness Returns, Black & White, Dead Space/2, the first three Harry Potter games, the Lord of the Rings-movie tie-in Hack&Slash games, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 and the Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 'reboot', Populous: The Beginning, Shadowcaster, Shank. So, there's that I guess.

 

[Saviordd1]

They help make some of the best games out there.

How do you keep posting if your banned.
I DON'T GET IT.

OT: They publish about 3 games I like...
I'll take it.