Is EA the Mcdonalds of gaming?

[SharkAttack]

Yeh EA's yearly updates and sequels are disgusting! You'll never see Konami releasing yearly Winning Eleven updates god dammit!

PS/ Comparing EA with McDonalds, does that mean that it's not the best thing for you, but its damn great when you're drunk?

[KempStar]

For as long as I can remember, its been 'cool' to bash EA, somehow making you 'above' the people that buy their games, and a more 'discerning' gamer.

No-one said it made you cool, or above anyone else. It does mean you are a 'discerning' gamer though... that's fact! Look it up in the big thing you use to prop up your retarded mother's broken wheelchair. It's called a 'dictionary'.

Yawn yawn yawn, someone please look this pointless thread.

JUMP UP MY BUTT NAZI

/me points to the what I said about this thread belonging in RLLMUK.

[James Harvey]

Yeh EA's yearly updates and sequels are disgusting! You'll never see Konami releasing yearly Winning Eleven updates god dammit!

PS/ Comparing EA with McDonalds, does that mean that it's not the best thing for you, but its damn great when you're drunk?

It means they nuzzle at the fleshy teat of SATAN

(I'm not being subtle here, I mean they suck his cock.)

[nips]

I've never been a big EA fan. I don't have an EA published game this generation (AFAIK) and have never really been that impressed by thier games. The only game of thiers I really liked was The Sims (The original) because I'd just go and play it over my friends house and we'd just lock the people up in rooms with no doors and stuff. It was really funny... I really enjoyed it! But other than that I can think of nothing off the top of my head. I don't have a huge knowledge of EA, thier practices and releases, but I haven't played BF1942 very much (not got broadband, not much point apparently), I didn't like Black and White very much, although it was OK... the other games listed in the thread I've never been blown away by, and I'm not a very big fan of sports games....

It's all about what you enjoy... But from what certain people have said about them, they are pretty good to work for... I've spoken to two or three play testers over forums over the years and apparently it's quite good there... nice place to work and they have days out sometimes (I've been told). I don't know many McDonalds that do that! Also, you end up smelling if you work at McDonalds, I can't imagine the same for EA!

Did EA publish Roller Coaster Tycoon? I liked that game A LOT!

[JibberX]

Yeah yeah yeah, blah blah blah, I started a wierd EA thread ages ago. But since then (cue emotional music), since then, alot of things have changed, alots gone on. And in the end EA exist because there is a demand for their product. Simple. The beauty with the world we live in today (cue patriotic music) is that we can choose to spend our wonga in any god damn way we like. Some spend it on cigarettes, some on guns, some on holidays, and some people spend their money on EA games. So what?

Y'know I played the SIMS thought it was pretty perverse, I've played Madden, thought it was probably a decent game based on a crap sport, I've played Need for Speed and thought it rocked, I've played Road Rash (crap update please) I thought whipping other riders with chains was resonably amusing, I've played lots of EA games and they all are different, buy 'em, don't buy 'em. Go see Shaun of the Dead instead of watching The Day After Tomorrow.

[Papercut]

EA bores me to tears, their games just don't interest me.

[nips]

What would it imply if you saw The Day After Tomorrow and Shaun Of The Dead? That it's possible for two films to co-exist nicely?

Perhaps instead of pitting one against the other, we should just do whatever... which is the point of your post...

I liked the Sims because it was preverse. "Let's try to make the girls kiss eachother"

[bowser123]

You'll never see Konami releasing yearly Winning Eleven updates god dammit!

At least Pro Evo/WE is the greatest footie game by a considerable distance. Fifa is just intolerable ****...

As for all these great EA games being listed I find it amusing that people can name 5 max recent titles (and 3 of these aren't even EA!) out of the 3,953 games EA releases each year.
Damn sweet hit rate they have

[rcb]

but fifa has teh oficial kitz!!!!1!1!!!oneone

[bowser123]

True, but my greatest gaming moment of all time was changing all the names and kits in the Cube version of WE to the correct values.

Damn that was fun. Well more fun than Fifa, anyhow

[squireboy2003]

Yes.


They both involve lots of chav's

[SharkAttack]

It is so pathetic to claim that a game being great means that it is ok for them to release rehash/update over and over and milk the franchise. If anything, Fifa being apparently "crap" should give them the ok to release updates to try and improve. With WE/PES being so fantastic AND unlicensed, surely it doesn't need updates yearly, it only needs 1 update per generation.

[James Harvey]

What would it imply if you saw The Day After Tomorrow and Shaun Of The Dead? That it's possible for two films to co-exist nicely?

Perhaps instead of pitting one against the other, we should just do whatever... which is the point of your post...

I liked the Sims because it was preverse. "Let's try to make the girls kiss eachother"

Girls?? KISSING?? That's perverse!

[Ady]

For as long as I can remember, its been 'cool' to bash EA, somehow making you 'above' the people that buy their games, and a more 'discerning' gamer..

No, what's 'cool' is trying to defend EA whilst making its detractors out to be 'hardcore snobs' or something. The same kinda tip Edge was on a few issues ago.

It's like people who think they're being radical and subversive by defending manufactured pop music jihad-style.

I sit on the fence. I realise there are some good games in the EA stable, but as there's plenty of stuff out there that I like, I really couldn't care less what they do.

There's an EA in every 'industry' you can think of and that'll never change. Viva la capitalism.

[Concept]

This particular theme isn't quite as strong as it once was, but at the moment it's still embrace-the-mainstream-and-everything-it-stands-for time in the specialist press.

I am sick of this 'you're either with us or against us' vibe that generally tends to come over...

I have nothing against EA, but I do resent the general assertion circulating in gaming media that any kind of criticism towards them automatically makes you an elitist snob. The way I see it is that EA have the resources to contribute something culturally worthwhile to videogaming from within...

Not just by relying on third-party development, but a unique creation that comes out of their own marbled halls so to speak...

This never comes though.

I agree that many of the traditional criticisms levelled at EA are tired arguments, but I also feel the exact same can be said for those currently defending them.

I don't think EA ha turned the corner and suddenly become an amazing in-house developer... The truth is most, if not all, of the EA properties that interest me happen to be sourced externally.

It's not like they don't have the talent, the people or the resources to make a game that could be truly special, imaginative and wildly ambitious.... It's that the management, the people who obviously make the business decisions, delibrately choose not to go for broke... They never come across as desiring to move the medium forward or try to to further what can be done.

Using an old example, could you ever imagine EA producing a 60-80 million dollar epic such as Shenmue, and laying everything on the line for the sheer passion and labour of love that such a title envoked?

No.

Now, I'm not saying Sega in their prime didn't create Shenmue freely without any commercial influence, but there was clearly the desire to try something new, to take a risk and place faith in the videogaming demographic...

Ultimately such a risk failed, yet I can't help but have respect for heavyweight publishers that internally develop games for the love of doing so, and not solely for the end economic rewards...

This is also partly why over the last 12 months I've come to respect Ubisoft immensely, because despite it's size and power, it was prepared to go off in a new direction and try something bold within itself.

Personally, I think the talent is there at EA... There are bound to be people in all areas who are itching to create something truly brilliant... I mean, you only have to look at the publisher's production values to see they're almost second to none... I just wish those in charge within the company's management would actually be interesting in the product they happen to be sellling: Videogames.

I may be way off the mark here, but it comes across that they aren't.

As it stands, in 30, 40, 50 years time... People aren't going to be discussing EA of the late 90's/early 00's... Instead, they'll most likely be talking about how Capcom produced Viewtiful Joe, Killer 7, Resident Evil 4, or how Sega produced Jet Set Radio, Shenmue, Phantasy Star Online, Samba De Amigo during the Dreamcast's highpoint...

And where, (currently speaking mind), will EA's in-house teams be mentioned in all of this?

Nowhere.

Please don't misinterpret me... I have total respect for EA the publisher. But as for EA the in-house developer?

At the moment, very little as it stands.