This Hang-Up Of Mine

For some reason I'm on an Anti-EA kick this week. I don't know if it's because of the whole 3 installs of spore or the fact that I'm still kind of pissed off about Battlefield 2. Lately, the chip on my shoulder has grown immensely. It seems to be less of a chip and more of a block. Scanning the game news this morning, I caught up on the past couple of days. Specifically the EA-Take 2 merger deal. I had commented on this situation a while ago on Nor-Cal Gamer. I always have a few reservations when small guys are gobbled up by a heart-less overlord.

Take 2, a company that has put out a plethora of great games, including sports games to take on the gargantuan EA Sports lineup. My problem of this acquisition roots from something far deeper than just evil corporations and all that mumbo-jumbo. My problem is with EA corporate culture. Obviously, everyone wants to make money, and yes, you are beholden to your stock holders who have a vested interest in your company. However, as a producer of games, you should also be considerate of the gamers who buy your products.

Being a businessman, I know that the bottom line is important. If I was to piss off my customers would talk, and I would end up with a bad reputation, ergo I would probably lose clients or end up not getting any new ones. I don't think this model applies to EA. Because there are enough people who buy EA products that don't read game news, read EGM mag, or any other gaming website, they can get away with pissing on a good chunk of their clients without going in the red. This disconnect between corporate power and consumer only give EA more power to impose their will upon you.

Look at Spore for example. Out of the box, you have 3 installs of the game. So you install once when you get it. Say, you upgrade your rig, format and install Spore for the second time. Then, let us assume that you're one of the most unlucky bastards around and your hard drive fails. You buy a new HD and install Spore for the 3rd time. Now, you're no pirate, but you're forced to buy another copy of the game because the DRM says so. 3 installations in the life time of the product. I remember when WinXP came out, people were throwing fits over the activation, this seems a bit excessive to me. I understand the concern to curb piracy, but It doesn't, and did not in this case. Spore was on torrents days before it was released to any retail outlets. The only people the DRM hurts is the people who actually buy the game. From the press releases and commentary floating around the web, it doesn't look like EA actually gives a shit.

EA is huge company. They make millions off of a Monopoly in the football sim market (Madden), the quality of their annual release of EA Sports titles gradually slides lower and lower. In business school we learn that competition is what drives innovation. The goal of continually improving or upgrading your product to stay ahead of the next guy. I think EA has gotten so big they have become complasent. They hold so much power, that if someone does try to innovate and move past the lumbering beast, they can just reach down and gobble them up. In a market of billions of dollars, the last thing you want is a slow moving business. The public is fickel, and there are only so many bullshit games you can throw at us before we revolt. If you want more people to buy your games, focus on your market. Don't just throw out a half-baked shooter and slap the "Battlefield" name on it. Let your developers work their magic, keep your business tactics out of the development process, and release a decent game. Maybe that would curb piracy. A new, innovative game that caputres the audience like never before, not just the same-old rehashed bullshit we've seen 10000 times.

UPDATE: Via MTV Multiplayer EA says they will be loosening the DRM on Spore. These are the numbers they are quoting:

Mass Effect
• Total activations: 183313
• Users activating on only 1 machine: 77%
• Users activating on more than 1 machine: 23%
• User trying to activate on more than 3 machines: 0.9%

Spore Creature Creator
• Total activations: 453048
• Users activating on only 1 machine: 77%
• Users activating on more than 1 machine: 23%
• Users trying to activate on more than 3 machines: 1%

Spore (main game)
• Total activations: 437138
• Users activating on only 1 machine: 86%
• Users activating on more than 1 machine: 14%
• User trying to activate on more than 3 machines: 0.4%

Ok, yeah thats all fine and dandy, but what about over the life of the product. Mass Effect has been out for the PC since May 27, 2008. The creature creator has been out a month. So pretty much EA is figuring that after 1 year you are proably not going to play your game any more. Hmmm....thanks EA.

Battlefield Heroes Redux

Well folks, I seriously think that the ice is starting to thaw in my brain. That strong dislike for DICE for the BF2-shafting and 2142 debockle. This unrest permeated all that DICE and EA could brainstorm. So my first impressions of BF Heroes was that of a lackluster reception. That was before. Now, after seeing this gem on the official site, I see in a different light. Lets roll down to the basics here.

Battlefield Heroes is a free-to-play 3rd person action game from Swedish developer, Digital Illusions CE. This is the latest iteration of the Battlefield Series. Using a cartoon-like art style, similar to TF2, BFH looks to break ground with its free-to-play browser based game play. The game is slated to run on older machines, thus widening the market for gamers. As seen from the video above, character customization is going to be a big part of the game. Character customization and persistent character data are many of the MMO features DICE has incorporated into their shooters to make gaming addicting.

I think what DICE is trying to do here is bring a little levity to the gaming scene. If you have played an online Battlefield game in the last 4 years, you probably know that by the end of the map that the game has degraded into a redneck beer drinking 4x4 rally with jets and tanks. I think DICE wants to capture the best part of the "stunts" and goofing off element to make the game's cartoony graphics to really bring out the action.

What I liked about TF2 is the fact that the characters have life. Each class has a unique personality, and that quirkiness is used to bring a levity to the game while playing. No matter how awesome or shiteous you are playing, a character will always say something that catches you off guard and make you laugh. Online matches turn into cursing 12-year old homophobic racist shout-offs, it would be nice to see a change with a little less seriousness in games.

All in all, I'm most definately wanting to play this game. I mean after all, its free.

NEWS FLASH: Electronic Arts vs. Take Two Interactive

Just breaking news via GamePolitics.com, EA announced today that it would be making a bid to buy all of Take-Two public holdings in an attempt at a hostile takeover. Subsequently, Take-Two responded shortly thereafter to let EA know that they weren't going down with out a fight. Siting that EA's opportunity was not about creative freedoms, but about EA's bottom line. This is all on the heels of the hotly anticipated release of GTA4. The latest installment of Take-Two's largest franchise, and one of the biggest in gaming history. Not to mension EA's CEO admitting to screwing up smaller companies in the past. Origin, responsible for the Wing Commander Series and Janes Flight Simulators; also BullFrog created by Peter Molyneux(left after EA tookover), and Westwood Studios responsible for the Command and Conquer Series, all had been taken under the "EA Wing" so to speak. One must ask, where are they now? Still working at EA? Speculation leads us to belive that probably not all of them. I'm sure they are all working somewhere. This was more of a case of give me your Brandings and Trademarks and we will give you a few million dollars to retire on. Are there lessons learned from the past at all? EA is on a collission course with the Galaxy and Take-Two won't have it. A modern day David v. Goliath case.

Battlefield Noobfest? Another Battlefield Game in the Works

Yessiree you heard right. A new game from developer D.I.C.E is just around the corner. And I know how excited you are about new games in the Battlefield franchise. Lets count the wonder: Codename: Eagle, Battlefield 1942, Road to Rome, Secret Weapons of WWII, Battlefield: Vietnam, Battlefield 2, BF2: Special Forces, Euro Force, Armored Fury, BF2142, Norther Strike, Battlefield: Bad Company, and now Battlefield Heroes. Yes, the fine tradition of the Battlefield Series, EA and DICE have devised a quick and painless way to rid you of your spare cash laying on hand. It will be a free to download and play, supposedly running on older systems. Reports from PHL and other gaming sites report that it may be close to that of BF1942 hardware requirments. It will be a cartoon style shooter, with fully customizable players. "What's the catch" you say? I know you know that there are no free lunches. The new painless way to rid you of your cash would be micro-transactions. Like that of the Nintendo Wii and Xbox Live, you don't have to pay for the game, but if you want new shirts or faces or whatever crap they allow for consumption, you are going to have to shell out some micro-transaction credit cards.

So lets recap really quick: The game requires less processing power, it's free to play and download, quicker access to play, you can customize every aspect of your soldier. As if the Battlefield Series wasn't already riddled with douches and 10 year olds who scream for chocolate milk. I think what's going on here is an attempt by EA/DICE to bank on the new Myspace Generation of kids, who require instant gratification, can't be away from their top 8, need total customization and some sort of ranking system to show their EMO buddies how much they don't suck at something.

It seems like poor Team Fortress 2 rip off. I think what gets me the most is DICE's inability to actually support a product once it has launched. So, like the rest of the franchise, we will see a spike in game play, and then slowly sputter out once DICE has moved on to create Battlefield Heroes 2: The Money You Hid Under Your Mattress.

Just as a side note: Check out gamespy.com, somewhere on the right hand of the page, if you scroll down far enough you can see how many folks are playing what games. Battlefield had close to 14,000 players where as BF2142 (the superior game by DICE standards) had a whopping 300 players. This was on the weekend around 9pm PST. Certainly the BF2 player base should have been absorbed into other games by now.

Battlefield: Remembered

Wow, has it really been over three years since Battlefield 2 was first released? Shit, I still vividly remember playing the demo. It's been a long standing fact that the Battlefield franchise is doomed. After the first installment of BF1942, things just started to go down-hill. I can talk until my heart explodes, or I'm blue in the face, but that still won't change the fact that our favorite game was abandoned in the middle , no, the PEAK of it's life cycle for another game exactly the same based in a future that is totally "stupid" for a lack of a better word.
Every time I think about this subject, It makes me mad. How a very popular game could have the rug pulled out from underneath. But when it boils down, one can only see the true reason why such an atrocity could occur. Money. We as consumers should know this by now. A company's main objective is to turn a buck, make money, collect mullah and please stock holders. Small developers can enjoy working on their own schedule, producing quality products, never having to sacrifice their vision.

As of March 2006, EA (Electronic Arts, of Redwood City, CA) acquired Digital Illusions CE (DICE) the makers of the Battlefield franchise. EA is known around the industry to strong-arm developers into their corner (I.E NBA Live series' exclusivity contract with the NBA, now more recently gobbling up Bioware and Pandemic Studios). Superficially, this isn't a bad idea for the independent guys. "Hey, lets get bought out by EA, they have resources, top notch development studios, and best of all we don't have to worry about money." However, I think Benjamin Franklin put it best: "He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither." Let us think about this. Independent developers create their OWN games. They live by their own rules, and are free to make whatever game they wish to make. Sacrificing their freedom by choosing to hide under the security blanket called EA only weakens what sovereignty they had. I know that sounds a little redundant, but here is the fall out after March 2006. DICE releases the "rumored" final patch to BF2 because EA is forcing them to produce another game to make a quick buck. So, now we have a game that is barely 2 years old, still riddled with bugs, that is now abandoned for another game, basically exactly the same with 1 or 2 minor changes to the game play mechanics.

Because EA so hastily released BF2142, the same bugs plaguing BF2 show up. Not to mention poor quality control with patches. Releasing half-baked patches, only to make gamers uninstall the entire game to re-patch with their new Beta patch. They are too lazy to hire professional beta testers that they must release Official Beta patches to the public to test, then come out with a Official Official patch. What a load of crap.

Now, with 2142 maturing at an unusually slow pace, most of the Battlefield community has moved on to other games. This quick-shifting business model totally destroyed the Mod community. It took almost 3 years for the first full figured mod to even be released. The mod scene for BF2 looked so bright, then 2142 came out and took away the player base, and by the time the next crap-tastic installment, Bad Company, is released gamers will be so jaded that only the console nubs will buy that garbage.

Maybe DICE and EA should stick the the console development cycle. Release a half baked game and you never have to worry about patching it. Plus, they can rip gamers off even more with the $60 dollar price tag attached to the next-gen games.

It's down to us. We are the ultimate decision makers. We have to tell these big publishers that we will not stand for this shit. Use your dollars, don't buy DICE or EA products. Support independent devs. like Valve or Blizzard. Don't fall for the sequalitis. Let them know that half-baked games are not ok, and that pulling support for games in mid-life doesn't do anything but hurt the end users.

Exercise a little more caution when mommy takes you to Wal-Mart to buy your M-rated games. Bah-Humbug!