EA lives in a different reality

[Spider]

Somehow I got confused and thought that by Awakening he was talking about Arrival, the ME2 dlc...

 

I didn't think there was anything in particular wrong with the expansion, I thought it was pretty good even with interesting concepts and all.

[ringgold99]

EA has disapointed me on too many occasions of late, especially for someone who wishes to play her game on her own system without a constant connection or an otherwise invasion of my privacy

[Volourn]

"I was on BSN since it's founding, I started seeing the shift when they
released Awakening. Then it got worst from there, culminating into the
Dragon Age 2 fiasco."
 

There was no shift. The BIO boards always had their share of 'haters'. When you sell millions of copies you will have your share of 'em. *shrug*

[Lady Evenstar]

I could say the same, Syraxis, but I can imagine EA publishing/developing a game that would interest me if this--and Origin--were not at issue. Past a certain point it doesn't matter whether the game is balanced for those with or without item packs and whether that additional companion available as release-day DLC will be important to the story. As a consumer, I don't want to have to think about what constitutes the complete game. As soon I as find myself worrying about such matters, I begin to associate the game in question with that unfun feeling. It's easiest at that point to make the simpler decision not to buy.

[Bos_hybrid]

The sad part about BSN is that both camps, (haters/lovers) think they represent the majority.

 

I do think we're gonna see some interesting things happen in EA with Ricatello leaving.

 

I tend to think it will get worse.

[Jaesun]

How on earth could it get worse?

[mute688]

EA Labels president Frank Gibeau speaking about SimCity always online,

 

"DRM is a failed dead-end strategy; it's not a viable strategy for the gaming business. So what we tried to do creatively is build an online service in the SimCity universe and that's what we sought to achieve. For the folks who have conspiracy theories about evil suits at EA forcing DRM down the throats of Maxis, that's not the case at all."

 

A rose by any other name...  Do EA think people don't realise that their "online service" is still just DRM despite the relabeling?

 

 

http://www.shacknews.com/article/78444/eas-gibeau-drm-is-a-failed-dead-end-strategy

[Gorgon]

The problem of course is forcing multiplayer and always online down the throat of a game that doesn't need it. Many FPS games have little other appeal than multiplayer, not so with Sim City. 

[Malcador]

How on earth could it get worse?

They move all content into the cloud ?

[Nepenthe]

How on earth could it get worse?

It's not even that bad, right now...

[LadyCrimson]

 

 

How on earth could it get worse?

They move all content into the cloud ?

 

 

Hush, you. Don't give them any ideas.

 

....that would definitely put me off (new) gaming permanently.

[Zoraptor]

A rose by any other name...  Do EA think people don't realise that their "online service" is still just DRM despite the relabeling?

They've obviously been learning from Paradox's "our games are DRM free. Oh sure, they come with mandatory Steam, but that isn't DRM, it's fluffy bunnies, waving daffodils and a warm breeze wafting off the Mediterranean, not DRM. Because our games are DRM free ergo anything that comes with them aren't DRM! Quod Erat Demonstrandum, fra'". They're both using spinning like a top.

[NOK222]

I can play offline with steam though

[Tsuga C]

I can play offline with steam though

And this is a very, very good thing for the consumer.

[entrerix]

yeah, not only with steam do i not have to worry about whether or not EA servers are up today if i want to play my games, i can actually unplug the internet from my pc and can still play all my steam games, its a pretty different form of DRM than always online

[Zoraptor]

EA would say that is isn't equivalent to steam games in general though. After all, you don't need to be online to play Origin games in general either- and Origin's offline actually works consistently rather than randomly deciding to stop working whenever most inconvenient- but you do need to be online to play some steam games as well. Valve would say that they're games that are designed from the ground up as being MP games, but that is exactly what EA says about SimCity as well. ie both would claim that they don't use (always online) DRM but the games are fundamentally designed around MP instead.

 

And in any case, any game that requires Steam (or Origin/ Uplay for that matter) to be running at the same time is using DRM whether it's always online or not.

[Chilloutman]

Can you please specify which steam game require to be online to play? Also, Simcity never was designed as multiplayer game(well all before the last one). Last one have only some minor social features and as some already show doesnt need to be online to play offline if they wish. But still its their product and who dont like it dont have to buy it (like myself). Then they should not be shocked when their selling numbers will drop down more...

[Mamoulian War]

Team Fortress 2

[Chilloutman]

Well its MP game without single player so I can see why you have to. I dont whine that GW2 are not playable offline as well. But are you sure? I recall playing it on some lanparty without internet access... Counter-strike as well and they are similiar as far as I recall...

[Zoraptor]

Steam sells MMOs which was what I was thinking of primarily- Steam does not say they have 'always online' DRM and their justification for that would be that, well, they're online games, duh, they have to be online. Which is exactly what EA is saying.

 

Simcity 4 was best part of a decade ago, and even Societies was six years ago- it took less time for WC3 to become an MMO. Why doesn't Blizzard offer an offline mode for WoW since offline MMOs do very well for Bethesda, after all? For all practical purposes it is for the exact same reasons as EA made Simcity always online or Valve has a client or companies love the idea of MMOs- DRM, captive audience, metrics, three things that companies love.

 

I'm not defending EA in particular, I'd far prefer an offline Simcity personally and practically, and haven't (and likely won't) buy it due to the online requirement.

[Mamoulian War]

Well its MP game without single player so I can see why you have to. I dont whine that GW2 are not playable offline as well. But are you sure? I recall playing it on some lanparty without internet access... Counter-strike as well and they are similiar as far as I recall...

 

Yes it is multiplayer, but the question was about online only game, not online only SP game AAAAnd comparing it with CS is wrong, because CS can be played offline, because you can play solo with bots, which is not case for TF2 AFAIK... (correct me if I am wrong)...

 

And I have seen lot of MP only games played offline at some LAN parties as well, because some guys were bright enough to cut-off the online requirements of these games with a Razor or two and brought handmade dedicated server

[Chilloutman]

Well I cant argue if you put EA - Singleplayer game with online requirement vs Valve multiplayer game with online requirement. We can at least agree that we disagree . The biggest difference is that I think that Simcity is SP game with some Social MP which is not essential for game itself and you opinion is that it is MP only game (even MMO maybe if you compare it to WoW?).

[Mamoulian War]

Yup, but I was not comparing it to Sim City anyway, I was just answering your question with the first game, which came to my mind No need to bash EA further, they are doing a good job by themselves

[babaganoosh13]

http://consumerist.com/2013/03/18/here-are-your-contestants-for-the-2013-worst-company-in-america-tournament/

 

The finalists should be up today. Say what you will about EA, even with DLC, I've never paid an additional $18 or $21 in fees for a $35 ticket before like I did when I went to see Henry Rollins a few years back. EA doesn't charge me premiums for buying their stuff online, and printing out stuff with my own ink and paper. EA also doesn't tell me a game is sold out on EA.com, but then direct me to Origin.com where plenty of the exact same thing is available, but at 2 or 3 times (or more) the price.

 

As much as much as EA has pissed me off over the years, and too many good studios have gone there to die, there is at least some redeeming qualities to them.

 

Ticketmaster is nothing more than a treacherous leach.

[babaganoosh13]

http://consumerist.com/2013/04/08/worst-company-in-america-final-death-match-bank-of-america-vs-ea-part-ii/

 

The finals are on.

 

As a friendly reminder, this year:

 

Nobody from EA stole my muscle car

 

Nobody from EA replaced my bank machine with a different one with higher fees

 

Nobody from EA screwed up my order so I owed $14,500 more than it should have been

 

Nobody from EA demands to speak to my dead mother about payment that she has missed since her death, and will only talk to her about it despite receiving 4 copies of her death certificate including one by hand.

 

ect.. ect... ect...

 

EA DID however should have called the newest Sim City, Sim City Online and screwed up that launch.

 

Dead Space 3 wasn't as scary as the other two, and Micro-transactions kinda suck in a single player game.

 

On the other hand, Origin doesn't log me out of offline mode.

 

#bias #howtheheckdidticketmasternotdoalotmorethanthat