64 réponses à ce sujet

[Gabey5]

seems to be the case

[Axekix]

Seagull111 wrote...
Unfortunately there are signs that EA is influencing Bioware quality and is
ruining its special relationship with  fans:

Special relationship?  You sound like one of those guys that goes to a strip club and thinks the dancers actually "love" him.

Bioware is my fav dev company but lets not get carried away.  It's always been about the bottom line!

[screwoffreg]

EA is an immeasurably better company that Activision. The latter is the new evil company in the video game realm.



As for DA 2 or whatever is coming out in February 2011, I think it is way, way to early to judge anything or even worry. I hope we will see something at E3.



As for every other complain, my only fear is that our Warden's story is truly done...goodbye Shale, Leliana, Morrigan, and everyone else!

[McBodman]

Onyx Jaguar wrote...

EA owning Bioware is better than having Bioware go down with Pandemic in a fiery blaze.

At least going down in a fiery blaze is 10x more dignified than being bought by.....EA

[McBodman]

Eli-da-Mage wrote...

McBodman wrote...

Onyx Jaguar wrote...

EA owning Bioware is better than having Bioware go down with Pandemic in a fiery blaze.

At least going down in a fiery blaze is 10x more dignified than being bought by.....EA

Pandemic only went down because they had this as a mascot[img]http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:1a1FNp70no-R4M:http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/images/troll.jpg[/img]MY PRECIOUS!

OH MY JESUS HOLY F*CKIN' S*IT IT"S A BABY...a troll-baby

It kinda looks like Benjamin Button.

Modifié par McBodman, 23 mars 2010 - 10:36 .

[TheMadCat]

archonsod wrote...

Nah. The days of evil corporate EA vanished when they got a new CEO who realised it's generally better to let the developers do what they do (make games) rather than getting involved, and they managed to release some of the best games of the past three years.
These days we all hate evil corporate Ubisoft for their insane DRM schemes. Do try to keep up with the times people!

Ricitello has made a lot of brazen moves in his tenure as CEO and he was COO when EA was at it's lowest level in terms of PR. I wouldn't say EA's "evil" ways have vanished simply because of Ricitello, improved certainly but when you're touching rock bottom there is nowhere else to go but up.

[Murphys_Law]

rab****annel wrote...

 This type of one-track thinking is what I don't understand. "BW announced that there will be something DA related released in Feb 1, 2011! It must be DA 2. Additionally, the only possible for such an early release date is that EA forced BW to churn out games at the expense of quality! It's the only logical conclusion!"

Ugh. As fans, you can't even give BW the benefit of the doubt? Totally disregard their track record and focus only on DA:A, which, may I add, is subjective. I am thoroughly enjoying DA:A and while there are many reports of bugs (the only I encountered personally was consecutive crashing), BW will no doubt release a patch. It's only been out for several days. Ill treatment, yeah right. Some shouldn't have made it past testing, but that does not mean they won't be addressed.

There are many possible explanations for a shorter development time:

1. There will only be minor technical improvements compared to the prequel. Thus, development time will be reduced and focus will be spent on the story, characters, acting, and related aspects. 

2. Technology has improved over time (no waiii). Development, editing, programming, modeling, etc, are now done with greater efficiency and speed. 

3. Economies of scale. Being a part of a larger corporation, has decreased costs, allowing for greater spending power when it comes to resources.

4. BW's merging with EA and the newfound success of ME, ME 2, and DA:O have further strengthened BW's position in the market, making it easier to acquire and negotiate resources.

5. ETC.

This pessimistic notion of EA corrupting BW is being tossed around with the weight and horror of the black plague with nothing but speculation to support it.

"I didn't enjoy the game! There were bugs! BW and EA are totally screwing us! They just want money, greedy bastards! The price was too high for me even though it was perfect for others and cheap for others still!".

To be fair I think both DLCs and the expansion are what is leaving a bad taste in some people's mouths, not just Awakening.  And you would be equally as foolish if you think EA has no impact on Bioware.  Suits always have a bad habit of getting their hands involved in everything, and since they know little of the day-to-day processes of the actual service/priduct they are selling, there are quality problems.  I think this is especially true in the gaming industry just because it is relatively new and the whole publisher/parent company and developer relationship really seems like a learning process.  Of course at some point, the suits got to tell the develper to just ship it and weed out the bad ideas but I really don't think Bioware has any problems in those departments.  If I have any non-design related complaints (notice how most of the Awakening complaints fall into this category) about DA I will defintely blame EA and frankly you should too.

[orbit991]

I'm not sure EA has changed, if they see some creative aspect of a game could cost them the smallest amount of profit they are likely to take that element out, despite of watering down the final product.

They have destroyed some good studios in the past(bullfrog, Origin, Westwood), buying them pretty much for the intellectual property and making low quality sequels before shutting them down. Right now I think they see Biowares potential and fan base , treating them delicately, but the honeymoon may end.

[wwwwowwww]

You know what I find funny?



The fact that any of you have the audacity to assume you understand the working relationship between EA and Bioware or what is or is not being done in regards to DA:2.



That to me is funny. My lord the arrogance kills me.

[smudgedhorizon]

For me personally; Awakening is completely overpriced and I've only played approx 4 hours and in that time I've encountered numerous bugs and glitches, and the game itself has frozen up on me completely 3 times needing me to reset my 360 - that's almost one an hour.



Given the terrible lack of quality, I will definitely not be purchasing any more of this DLC again, and the Awakenings disc itself is being traded in pronto.



Definitely not impressed. As for whether this is EA's influence, who can really say. All I know is that Bioware have gone from being my all time favourite dev who couldn't put a foot wrong in my eyes, to just another money milking studio who farm out low quality products for a fast buck. I'm definitely disappointed.

[SOLID_EVEREST]

WIth how bad Awakenings was with bugs and so forth, I think EA is probably taking its toll on Bioware.

[Realmzmaster]

Without EA there would probably be no BioWare. BioWare and Pandemic Studios joined forces with a $300 million dollar cash infusion from Elevation Partners (private equity firm). Dragon Age (five years in development) along with other projects was rapidly burning through that $300 million. Elevation Partners was not seeing a return on its money fast enough. In 2007 Elevation partners sold BioWare/Pandemic for $860 million dollars to EA.. Which is how equity firms make their money.
So EA has been funding BioWare for more than two years. Eventually you need to see a return on your investment. The rubber has to hit the road.
Bottom line it is still a business and the divisions have to produce. Also BioWare had to find a publisher. Atari did not need them for CRPGs. Atari relies on Obisidan Entertainment. BioWare does not fit Activision Blizzard's product line. Anyway Activision Blizzard has WOW.
Not a whole lot of publishers with the necessary distribution channels or clot to deal with the big boys Sony and Microsoft.
It comes down to a business decision for better or worse. If you accept EA as a dance partner eventually you have to take the dance floor.

Modifié par Realmzmaster, 24 mars 2010 - 03:03 .

[orbit991]

wwwwowwww wrote...

You know what I find funny?

The fact that any of you have the audacity to assume you understand the working relationship between EA and Bioware or what is or is not being done in regards to DA:2.

That to me is funny. My lord the arrogance kills me.

The only funny thing is that you dont seem to understand that EA own's them. There is no "working relationship" sport.

[Massadonious1]

I see this kind of illogical thinking on both forums. ME2 is less of a RPG (subjective opinion), I can't rub myself down with omni-gel or rifle butt Thresher Maws, so it must be EA's fault. Awakenings was short, and I couldn't bone Zevran again, so it must be EA's fault.

I don't doubt the greatness that was the Baldur's Gate series or original KOTOR, but it seems that way too many people are holding those games up as a benchmark. If they don't make games as good (subjective opinion) as those, they are just a bunch of corporate shills, and I'm not about to support a bunch of corporate shills.

Yawn.

Modifié par Massadonious1, 24 mars 2010 - 07:56 .

[Bryy_Miller]

Pinkleaf wrote...
Publishers are so greedy and have no concerns for the game nor it's customers.

Actually, the exact opposite is the truth. If the customer does not buy it, then they have a problem.

[BlackFlameGhost]

Thats the problem, we customers will continue to buy Bioware games because we are Bioware fans.



And any true fan is willing to give Bioware their shot even if what we get is... weak in comparison to something else. In the end, Corporate has already won and can toss the carcass of a once loved Dev into the bone grinder.



Sometimes you just have to recognize real as real, the problem is knowing when to.

[Bryy_Miller]

BlackFlameGhost wrote...

Thats the problem, we customers will continue to buy Bioware games because we are Bioware fans.

And any true fan is willing to give Bioware their shot even if what we get is... weak in comparison to something else. In the end, Corporate has already won and can toss the carcass of a once loved Dev into the bone grinder.

Sometimes you just have to recognize real as real, the problem is knowing when to.

"True fans"? Just don't buy their products.

[BlackFlameGhost]

Eh I wont if the quality keeps crashing.



I'm not the type that will hold a game up to others and compare them. ME is totally different from KOTOR and BG is totally different from DAO (even if its a spiritual successor) If I enjoy it I enjoy it, and in the end thats what it's all about. If you enjoy the experience they create for you.



I wont be enjoying something half baked. Nobody wants to eat a burger thats raw in the center.

[TheMadCat]

Massadonious1 wrote...

I see this kind of illogical thinking on both forums. ME2 is less of a RPG (subjective opinion), I can't rub myself down with omni-gel or rifle butt Thresher Maws, so it must be EA's fault. Awakenings was short, and I couldn't bone Zevran again, so it must be EA's fault.

I don't doubt the greatness that was the Baldur's Gate series or original KOTOR, but it seems that way too many people are holding those games up as a benchmark. If they don't make games as good (subjective opinion) as those, they are just a bunch of corporate shills, and I'm not about to support a bunch of corporate shills.

Yawn.

Kind of agree, kind of don't. I do agree, EA gets used as a scapegoat far more than they should. I'm well aware of their reputation of buying up companies solely for the IP's, well aware that they do tend to get a little more hands on than they should, well aware their CS and PR skills are about as good as Washington's right now (Meaning in the crapper). Still, at the end of the day the developer is the one doing the work and they are the ones who should take blunt of the criticism when it's warranted. Do not praise Bioware when a product is a success and blame EA when a product is below standards, not fair in the least.

I disagree on the idea that past games shouldn't be held as a benchmark. Why not? It's not like Bioware got lucky with one great game and everything else being a bunch of mediocre crap, they have a legacy of consistently putting out great products. So when a product falls short of the bar that they built up and have maintained than criticism is no doubt warranted because they fell short of what is considered average for them, even if average for them is greater then the best work of half the developers out there. If you are able to consistantly put out a certain level of quality for over a decade then I expect them to at the very least maintain that same level of quality. Regressing is not a satisfactory direction to move, even if as I said their products are still better than most out there.

[Behindyounow]

The price tag of awakening was fine by me. £15 is nothing, especially when games cost around £40 nowadays.

[TJSolo]

Bioware™ is under the jurisdication of EA.

EA picked the trademark name as to continue to ride the good reputation that name has, and place less emphasis on using EA Bioware as the moniker for this subsidiary.

Even with the Docs in matching VP seats of the MMO Group, they are directly below an EA president and low in the actual EA corporate hierarchy.

EA pays the bills and are the ones with the last call.

[Massadonious1]

TheMadCat wrote...
I disagree on the idea that past games shouldn't be held as a benchmark. Why not? It's not like Bioware got lucky with one great game and everything else being a bunch of mediocre crap, they have a legacy of consistently putting out great products. So when a product falls short of the bar that they built up and have maintained than criticism is no doubt warranted because they fell short of what is considered average for them, even if average for them is greater then the best work of half the developers out there. If you are able to consistantly put out a certain level of quality for over a decade then I expect them to at the very least maintain that same level of quality. Regressing is not a satisfactory direction to move, even if as I said their products are still better than most out there.

I get where you're coming from, but I see so many people put Baldur's Gate and KOTOR on such an unbelivably high pedastal that makes comparing either to BioWare's current and future releases somewhat impossible.

It's like current superstar athletes being compared to retired legends. No matter what they do, it will never be good enough. Kobe Bryant or LeBron James could win 10 titles each and break all of Michael Jordan's scoring records, but somehow, they will still be inferior to him, out of some sense of nostalgia, or the era of basketball they played in.

Modifié par Massadonious1, 24 mars 2010 - 08:54 .

[Shallina]

Actually they are some fine game and studio out there. Gaming will nevers die. And if EA transform Bioware in a bad dev, well to bad for Bioware, I'll just buy something else.