285 réponses à ce sujet

[sjsharp2011]

I don't tend to byu all their games but I do enjoy the sports franchises andof course Bioware's games but tbh that's about all I do seem  to buy. As for what they've done I think switching to the |Frostbite engine in itself will prove a good move for MEA

[Bfler]

...if EA is voted Worst Company in America like 5 years in a row. There's also plenty of competition for that title. Activision-Blizzard, I'm looking at YOU......punks.

I would say there are much worse people and institutions like e.g. the American gun lobby, Goldman Sachs or stock exchange speculators.

[WittyUsername]

Uh... well... erm.... They... Oh, they gave Sims 2 away freely, a few years back.

 

That was cool.

[Ahglock]

Hey look politics.

[SNascimento]

Uh... well... erm.... They... Oh, they gave Sims 2 away freely, a few years back.

 

That was cool.

I got Dead Space and Jade Empire! 

[AlanC9]

I picked up JE from GOG a month before EA gave it away; I can live with losing $5, but it was annoying for a second. OTOH, I also got SimCity 2000 and Dead Space -- plus Wing Commander 3, though I already owned the CD version.

Haven't actually played them yet. My backlog is getting kind of embarrassing. After my current DAI run I've got both Alpha Protocol and FO:NV on tap, and that's just the RPGs.

(Just figured that old games are more interesting than whining about EA.)

[10K]

EA has done absolutely bullocks, but the devs within the hollow shell of what is still known as Bioware have still been able to create interesting characters within their games. Even Inquisition. So for that I applaud them, and hope they continue with the only thing they're profound at.

[xAmilli0n]

They've published plenty of good games over the years.  Mirrors Edge and NFS Underground if you go back several years. More recently they published Titanfall and all the recent Bioware games.

 

Sure there has been plenty of meh stuff, but its stuff I wouldn't have bought anyways, regardless of who released it (just not really into the sports franchises or Battlefield).

[CronoDragoon]

They made a lot of games I like and give games the time they need to finish.

[Zehealingman]

Uhm.... huh, that's difficult.

+) They gave away Jade Empire and Sims 2+all addons for free.

... yeah, that's it.

[Kaibe]

They probably didn't attempt to enslave humanity.

So there's that.

You mean that we know of...

[LinksOcarina]

Populist and unfounded complaining again. Nothing of substance here really.

 

Wait...a real answer? Ok then.

 

Variety and investment, and a decent corporate structure. Say what you will about electronic arts, but at the very least they actually give a damn about providing a more diverse portfolio and investment in technology to help with that; something their competitors have been struggling with as of late. The Frostbite engine, Origin service and the like; all of that is part of it. It also has a better corporate structure than most companies as of late, lower pay according to ex employees but more time off and a more diverse work environment, if you believe the little blurbs left behind by said employees. Also perspective of talent sometimes; Assassins Creed for example is famously developed by four different game studios owned by Ubisoft, mostly so the franchise can be made yearly. (Ubisoft Montreal gets most of the credit, since it boasts 2,700 people working on the titles yearly.) 

 

EA's sports series are in that same boat, but outside of that the development cycles are more diverse in other studios of that size. DICE, for example, was juggling a few projects at once in Battlefield Hardline content, Mirrors Edge Catalyst and Star Wars: Battlefront for 2014/2015. DICE also has only 20% of the manpower, at about 570 employees last I checked. From the corporate perspective, that is good turn-around (with moderate crunch, apparently, since the EA spouse stuff they began including overtime pay instituted by John Riccitellio in 2008) From our perspective, the games are mediocre because of content and other issues, that is being resolved with constant updates that eat into the time as well.

 

I can see that as a legit problem, but the quality of the said content should be in question, not the quantity- from what I have heard from friends, since I didn't play either of them, Star Wars was a more fun experience than Assassins Creed this year, although they did mention the caveat that if I do get Star Wars, wait for a GOTY edition. 

 

You also had the EA Partners program under Riccitellio as well that brought more diversity and riskier titles (somewhat continued under Wilson since Titanfall was released in 2014) and EA is doing that again for smaller downloads now with Unravel, and hopefully more games in the future with tighter budgets and focus.

 

Some slights against EA are unfounded in 2015 at this point, mainly because they were done back in 2002 under different management. We can all mourn the loss of Westwood, Pandemic and Origin if we really want, but frankly at this point the only thing closed down of any significance as of late was one of the branches of Maxis, and they screwed the pooch hard with SimCity unfortunately. 

 

Others are more accurate. Project ten dollar was a failure, their push for diversity through EA Full Spectrum was hampered by using a bot system (and getting caught) and their handling of microtransactions has been hit or miss, depending on the product. Those I can see as more legitimate complaints, along with team size and quantity of output with limited time and resources. On the flipside, they also seem to be taking their time with some games and pulling the plug on concepts that are simply not working a LOT quicker than before, Shadow Realms comes to mind for that one. 

 

So what should make you excited? Honestly, it's always an uphill battle, but no publisher has been as aggressive in making a service model work since Valve and is actively reshuffling their corporate culture to do it. Perhaps the stigma will always be the problem in the end on the consumer side, but it always did feel a bit unfounded to me. 

 

For my money it's the least of all evils, if we're presuming all AAA studios are terrible now. As for games in the past year, Inquisition was quite good, I enjoyed playing Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare as a fun little party title, and i'm personally looking forward to Unravel and Mirrors Edge: Catalyst. I guess, take it for what it is. It could be a lot worse, can always be better, but from a corporate standpoint its quite decent, it seems.

[Andrew Lucas]

EA? Nothing. Bioware? Their latest games.

[Spectr61]

Where are the brilliant idea people that came up with the universally acclaimed ME3 endings now?

And what are their positions vis-a-vis Andromeda?

However, hope springs eternal...

[Eleonora]

I don't give a crap about EA but Bioware is pure

[KaiserShep]

I still find the companion characters as engaging as ever. 

 

Agreed. This was always one of their key strengths, and I think they've only gotten better at it. 

 

I guess this was more than a couple years ago, but I guess…..saving BioWare? Does that count? 

[Puddi III]

I picked up JE from GOG a month before EA gave it away; I can live with losing $5, but it was annoying for a second. OTOH, I also got SimCity 2000 and Dead Space -- plus Wing Commander 3, though I already owned the CD version.

Haven't actually played them yet. My backlog is getting kind of embarrassing. After my current DAI run I've got both Alpha Protocol and FO:NV on tap, and that's just the RPGs.

(Just figured that old games are more interesting than whining about EA.)

 

JE is still one of BioWare's best, you should get to that so you can complain about its lack of sequel with the cool kids in off-...

 

Well at least there is the Jade Empire forum.

[Guitar-Hero]

Well, ME2 was the best game Bioware ever made and it was released under EA, but that was 5 years ago...

Anyway, I was wondering how people reaction would be today if a MEA is released in the same state ME1 was released back in 2007. It was (still is) an absolutely technical mess with major FPS dropings, bugs, game crashing issues and all that. Not to mention stuff in the game like copy and past level design. And Bioware was not owned by EA back then. 

It's not like I love EA or anything. I just find it funny how evil they are portrayed by parts of the gaming community and how everything seems to be their fault. 

Well, people like to slag off publishers and they forget that EA's foremost goal is profit. If a decision is made of how to achieve that its based off how well a certain feature does in the market like multiplayer or microtransactions. Openworld is the fad now, so thats what gets pushed, but ultimately its up to the devs what kind of games they make within the guidelines that EA has set, like this game has to be big so marketing can write that its over 100 hours so not specifically that it has to be filler quests. 

[Sir Froggie]

They have on rare occasions produced games I have enjoyed, like the Dead Space series. Though they often times don't seem to realize why those games succeed to begin with and usually end up burying them.

[CrimsonN7]

Uh... well... erm.... They... Oh, they gave Sims 2 away freely, a few years back.

 

 

Don't touch those games, they're evil!

 

 

Horribly addictive time-sinkers, just nope, never again.

 

As for the question I like most of their games so I'll continue to throw my money at what I enjoy. But not the Sims, for the sake of my sanity, what's left of it.

[Remix-General Aetius]

I would say there are much worse people and institutions like e.g. the American gun lobby, Goldman Sachs or stock exchange speculators.

 

I'm talking gaming-wise. I don't know the first thing about your other ones. I'm not in America.

[Celtic Latino]

Nothing really. It just happens that most of the Bioware games, flaws and all, happened to be pretty good games in general. That's why I'm getting Andromeda.

I don't even bother with their other games (The Sims sucked after the 2nd game, hated 3 & 4) and nothing else they publish really grabs my attention honestly.

[Andrew Lucas]

Agreed. This was always one of their key strengths, and I think they've only gotten better at it. 
 
I guess this was more than a couple years ago, but I guess…..saving BioWare? Does that count?

Saving? Could you elaborate on that? I missed some parties.

[TheBunz]

Spore!

[United_Strafes]

Nothing EA is absolutely horrible. Bioware still has hope though, and my faith.