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[GTM]

I really got a kick out of this post, particularly this excerpt:

"I always loved the detailed geology in the original game. That is why each gem has an element associated with it for a temporary stat boost."

It's the "because we know you love X, we are going to completely miss the point and do the opposite" that makes the satire brilliant here.  Truly a post for the ages.

On a separate note, it's interesting that Ultima came up, since the whole series is peppered with anti-EA Easter eggs, especially #7, which was an entire game about how evil EA is, and it was made all the way back in 1992.

[Brackev]

I thought they would make a RTS with no building elements but you would see in a FPS view.  Oh wait, that was that rock and roll game that everyone hated...

[Neonivek]

Well don't forget the Ultima series predicted EA's take over of Ultima Online years before it actually happened.

[Putnam]

I thought they would make a RTS with no building elements but you would see in a FPS view.  Oh wait, that was that rock and roll game that everyone hated...

1. That game is good
2. That game is activision

[Tlc2011]

Well, on one hand, there's all the bad games EA has.
On the OTHER hand, there's The Sims [which has gone downstream and is slowly being turned into a bad game] and Spore, and the first Harry Potter games.

There's probably a few more good games EA has, but i haven't heard of them/can't remember them

[Neonivek]

Well, on one hand, there's all the bad games EA has.
On the OTHER hand, there's The Sims [which has gone downstream and is slowly being turned into a bad game] and Spore, and the first Harry Potter games.

There's probably a few more good games EA has, but i haven't heard of them/can't remember them

Ehhh even Spore at its best floated at the boarder of good and blaw. (it suffered from not doing anything too well and its space stage being rather annoying to use with no ability to quickly backtrack for the 10000 emergencies your bound to have when your exploring)

Ahh yes Harry Potter... The first few ones were good in that they were more about you being in the school... and less about you shooting your way through the movies. I am still waiting for a new harry potter game where you just play a student.

[Alastar]

Wait wait wait, are we counting Spore as something good? Evil! Vile! Betrayal! Magma is too good for them!!!
Spore looked like it might become something truly great... SimEverything in the finest Maxis tradition, with 15 years of progress in game design and technology. With 15 years of progress in consumer focus, we got a collection of idiotic minigames and a cock construction kit.

*

Anyway, Ultima7 was amazing despite the generous helpings of cheese (and cheesecake). Still very much worth playing, arguably still the best story-driven RPG.

[Raging Mouse]

Well, on one hand, there's all the bad games EA has.
On the OTHER hand, there's The Sims [which has gone downstream and is slowly being turned into a bad game] and Spore, and the first Harry Potter games.

There's probably a few more good games EA has, but i haven't heard of them/can't remember them

Spore is an okay game if you ignore that it was spearheaded by Will Wright. Factor that in, however, and it was a soul-rending disappointment.

[janglur]

Spore The Sims The EA Ultima Series SimCiy 4 (Everything EA released since 2006) was a game that offered absolute boundless content, freedom, and a vastly different experience every play.  What you got was a nebulously aimless and goalless game that became repetitive faster than Bop-It and thrice as obnoxious, with absolutely no sense of accomplishment, satisfaction, or achievement whatsoever as a result of it's absurdly simplified gameplay and total lack of challenge.

Everything else is either a slightly graphically tweaked rehash of the game of the same title from last year, which is a rehash of last year, which is a rehash of last year, ad nauseum.

With the exception of the vaguely familiar but grotesquely underdeveloped storyline set in yet another vaguely familiar and grotesquely overused universe concept whose only difference between each unwanted sequel is yet another cutting-edge powerhog graphics engine that, by this point, is the sole driving influence behind the graphics card industry as a whole, with absolutely NO new content to speak of and a story that only rudimentarily differentiates itself from it's predecessor.  Nevermind that similar or greater graphical quality is offered by studios with less than a tenth the prestige and staff, while consuming half the resources, and far more likely releasing a genuinely original product.  Until EA inevitably gobbles them up like The Blob and condemns them to join the ranks of every other washed-out former-glory company they've sucked dry and butchered with endless failed reanimation projects seemingly cooked up by a retarded monkey with a CoD obsession.

And that's not even touching on their non-gaming business practices, and how they're factually and notoriously the worst paying publisher in the world for their hour-to-project ratio, how they set unreasonably short deadlines and utterly fail to employ even a skeleton crew of bugtesters, patchers, or post-release production staff.  Or the extremely questionable corporate behavior they engage in with their Pokemon-esque trading of namebrand officials who honestly contribute less to their employers' and projects' development than the janitor they've hired illegally to clean up the brain matter suicide programmers leave scattered around.

I wish I knew a way to just organize the whole of the gaming community to march on EA's front lawn and simultaneously all take a large, steaming shit on their lawn, and the promptly leave after planting a sign that said, "We've pre-released all your games for the next decade.  Enjoy."

[Angel Of Death]

Pokemon-esque trading of namebrand officials

Did anybody else think "A wild Gates has appeared! Steve Jobs, I choose you! The Gates uses BSOD. Critical hit! Your Steve has fainted!" after seeing that?

No?

[Neonivek]

The Sims is sort of in an interesting spot

While by all means The Sims 3 has made AMAZING improvements to the game and some of its changes are long overdue.

On the other hand it sort of lost a lot of its charm and felt rather bare. It has items that have no use nor are they really different from anything else (I am not against collectibles... by all means previous Sims had it, for example some objects could only be obtained by guests, but the fact that you can't do anything with them and you can't put them in a good display leaves something to be desired.

By all means I am excited for the next The Sims game and the fact that they chose to actually update The Sims instead of "The same but different" can be a plus.

The Sims series isn't one I'd consider to be soul crushed by EA unless you look at the Expansions and the glitches/lack-o-patches

[janglur]

The Sims series isn't one I'd consider to be soul crushed by EA unless you look at the Expansions and the glitches/lack-o-patches

And I do.

Furthermore, I consider selling overpriced expansion packs that barely add any new content, and are actually just patches anyway, to be the equivalent in gaming as shitting your pants in public is socially.

[Neonivek]

To be fair if we do look at the expansions and the fact that they often release the next expansion while still having game crippling bugs from, the previous expansion... its horrible. I don't mind the price of their expansions and how many they release, I do mind the amount of HORRIBLE bugs and glitches released with them that are often never fixed.

As well its downloadable content is insanely overpriced and getting more expencive.

It would make EA nearly the satan of expansions and Downloadable content.

However if we take JUST "The Sims 3" and close our eyes, plug our ears, and yell "la la la la la" it isn't so bad.

[janglur]

Agreed.


Now don't get me wrong, I used to be a pretty hardcore EA fan.  Back in the days of Genesis, they rocked the boat nonstop, and I owned (and still do) a huge reportoire of their best and worst games, and more often than not, they were incredibly fun.  I still play them.  Back then, they weren't afraid to actually innovate.  Anyone remember the Mutant League series?  Best multiplayer hockey game EVER.

http://youtu.be/h_Sx-nGmMok

But now, the only 'innovation' you can expect in ANY and EVERY sports title is a year spent cataloguing the looks of some celebrity athlete noone actually gives a shit about playing.  They should focus more on gameplay, and mixing it up, than just releasing the same shit with different players every single fucking year.

Ah, how I miss the old days.  King's Bounty, you own more of my life's time than college.

[Neonivek]

No I understand

EA back in its peak was awsome! They could do no wrong.

Heck Capcom is heading into the "zone of sucking too" and just like EA they are currently in their phase where they are being defended against (Capcom hasn't reached the point where even its fans will outright state they have problems).