does EA screw up everything they attempt?

[Schadenfroh]

Well, first off, with all of there games here recently, i have to wait a full 30 secounds looking at splash screens that i cannont skip through. After a reinstall i have to go into the folders and neuter the splash screens out, but why do they do that splash screen crap to people that bought the game? i can see if it were a demo verson. Anyway. look at the things they have done:

1. Bought out Origin and single handedly crushed the brilliance that crated the Wing Commander and Crusader series. Ending all hope for the series to make a return now in any good form.
2. Bought out westwood and screwed up the Command and Conquer series. Westwood was awesome with Red Alert 1 and EA bought them and it went downhill after that.
3. Allowing there developers that they publish for to release buggy versions of the software before it is finished (i consider them beta when they were first released: BF1942 and Expecially Vietnam, but were fun as hell)
4. Bought Maxis and killed all hope of ever having another SimFarm and derailed simcity from a serious route to freaky cartoonish severed heads.
5. Forces me to watch 30 secounds of splash screens that i cannot skip before getting into my games.

what they have done for us
1. Cram multiple expansion packs for the sims down our throats.

 

[blazer78]

i would also like to add the many problems EA has with Ati cards.

h8 the unresolved stuttering in NFS HP2

 

[GTaudiophile]

They seem to be the Wal-Mart of gaming companies!

 

[Sunner]

Yep, several good reasons to stay away from anything with the EA badge.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
2. Bought out westwood and screwed up the Command and Conquer series. Westwood was awesome with Red Alert 1 and EA bought them and it went downhill after that.

4. Bought Maxis and killed all hope of ever having another SimFarm and derailed simcity from a serious route to freaky cartoonish severed heads.

5. Forces me to watch 30 secounds of splash screens that i cannot skip before getting into my games.

what they have done for us
1. Cram multiple expansion packs for the sims down our throats.

4. NOOO!!! So thats where Westwood Studios went? I knew EA had done C&C Generals and thought that it was some kind of joint venture. To be honest, the only C&C Game I regret buying was Tiberian Sun.

5. Doesnt bother me that much unless I really want to get into a game. "EA Sports, its in the game" is a classic line.

1. The most overpraised game ever that Ive played. I was anti-FFVII until I played it and I was addicted for ~82 hours on my first and only time through it with a materia guide. If someone redone FFVII exactly with improved graphics but actually sticking to making it look very recognisable... Id buy it immediately.

Westwood Studios created the greatest RTS to date with Dune2, then disgraced Frank Herberts work with Dune 2000 (IMO). Thats probably the only bad Westwood Studios game I played (if it was WWS, I cant remember that far back.)

Emperor: Battle For Dune was reasonable but strayed too far from the original Dune to be amazing. Harkonnen Flame Tanks were revolutionary..... multiple turrets capable of aiming at multiple targets simulatneously was sheer genius on behalf of the AI developer.

 

[Trevelyan]

Ok, I would agree with the BF1942 claims, but the new C&C games is SWEET...

 

[CVSiN]

generals was the best C&C period

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: CVSiN
generals was the best C&C period

negative.
Red Alert 1 > *.C&C

 

[viivo]

Yes, Generals was pretty insipid.

I can't agree on the intro vids, though. The Sims 2 takes ~5 seconds to get to the choose screen.

 

[Sunner]

I really really really....really, hate the EA "EA Games, challenge everything" splash, that sound is by far the most annoying sound I've ever heard in a splashscreen, in fact it ranks pretty high on my "Worst sound EVER" list as well.

Makes me wanna do the old Fork-in-the-Eye on someone every time I hear it...

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: Elcs

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
2. Bought out westwood and screwed up the Command and Conquer series. Westwood was awesome with Red Alert 1 and EA bought them and it went downhill after that.

4. Bought Maxis and killed all hope of ever having another SimFarm and derailed simcity from a serious route to freaky cartoonish severed heads.

5. Forces me to watch 30 secounds of splash screens that i cannot skip before getting into my games.

what they have done for us
1. Cram multiple expansion packs for the sims down our throats.

1. The most overpraised game ever that Ive played. I was anti-FFVII until I played it and I was addicted for ~82 hours on my first and only time through it with a materia guide. If someone redone FFVII exactly with improved graphics but actually sticking to making it look very recognisable... Id buy it immediately.

I'm waiting on my copy of FF7 so I can re-play it. Might take up to a week. Damned hard to find game, I wish they would re-release it on budget for PC.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: CVSiN
generals was the best C&C period

negative.
Red Alert 1 > *.C&C

red alert was trash warcraft1 was better for that time period =P

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: Elcs

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
2. Bought out westwood and screwed up the Command and Conquer series. Westwood was awesome with Red Alert 1 and EA bought them and it went downhill after that.

4. Bought Maxis and killed all hope of ever having another SimFarm and derailed simcity from a serious route to freaky cartoonish severed heads.

5. Forces me to watch 30 secounds of splash screens that i cannot skip before getting into my games.

what they have done for us
1. Cram multiple expansion packs for the sims down our throats.

1. The most overpraised game ever that Ive played. I was anti-FFVII until I played it and I was addicted for ~82 hours on my first and only time through it with a materia guide. If someone redone FFVII exactly with improved graphics but actually sticking to making it look very recognisable... Id buy it immediately.

I'm waiting on my copy of FF7 so I can re-play it. Might take up to a week. Damned hard to find game, I wish they would re-release it on budget for PC.

I believe it was, although I cant remember.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Well, first off, with all of there games here recently, i have to wait a full 30 secounds looking at splash screens that i cannont skip through. After a reinstall i have to go into the folders and neuter the splash screens out, but why do they do that splash screen crap to people that bought the game? i can see if it were a demo verson. Anyway. look at the things they have done:

1. Bought out Origin and single handedly crushed the brilliance that crated the Wing Commander and Crusader series. Ending all hope for the series to make a return now in any good form.
2. Bought out westwood and screwed up the Command and Conquer series. Westwood was awesome with Red Alert 1 and EA bought them and it went downhill after that.
3. Allowing there developers that they publish for to release buggy versions of the software before it is finished (i consider them beta when they were first released: BF1942 and Expecially Vietnam, but were fun as hell)
4. Bought Maxis and killed all hope of ever having another SimFarm and derailed simcity from a serious route to freaky cartoonish severed heads.
5. Forces me to watch 30 secounds of splash screens that i cannot skip before getting into my games.

what they have done for us
1. Cram multiple expansion packs for the sims down our throats.

I'll go against the grain of the thread and say that I generally like most EA products. The answer to your topic title is no, EA does not screw up anything they attempt. You have focused on 5 small things that in the grand scheme of things, amounts to nothing.

Answers to:

1. Why does EA's buyout end all hope for the series to make a good return? If these games were money makers in the past, EA can only bring more money and resources to the table in order to make a great game.

2. I'd bet many would disagree with the bringing down of the C&C franchise. Generals was very well received, for example.

3. All companies release buggy software. Period.

4. The original SimFarm was released in the early 90's. Why would EA want to bother with a sequel? I wouldn't think there's much of a market for it, and I wouldn't make another one neither (although the original was damn good, growing strawberries was the key to success ).

5. As long as the game is good, I'd watch a minute of splash screens. (Not really, but you get my drift ).

And as for the Sims expansion packs, yes there were 7 of them. And if you were the one sitting on the top of this franchise, you'd put out 8. At $20-$30 bucks a pop, they made a killing, something I would gladly do any day. They didn't shove the packs down your throat, just gave you the option to buy them. It was up to you whether to buy them or not. Now if you get into the subject of EA obviously leaving things out of the Sims 2 for material in future expansion packs, then yes, you'd have a legitimate gripe.

EDIT: These are all my opinions, and you are entitled to yours .

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: Trevelyan
Ok, I would agree with the BF1942 claims, but the new C&C games is SWEET...

redalert2 was ok, could not touch RA1, C&C generals was an attempt to clone the starcraft style of RTS, instead of following in Dune2s footsteps like previous westwood games. But was fun, just not as good as RA1 was back in the day, my favorite RTS game of all time.

 

[Smilin]

EA Gripes - Buggy F1 games that wouldn't run on 2000 (at that time, XP wasn't out)

Paper CD sleeves - Man, this annoys me to no end. I paid FIFTY frickin dollars and you can't give me a 30cent jewel case??


I was never much impressed with Generals. The interface was just sad. It's almost like they took a step backwards to pre-warcraft 2 days with intelligent units.

It's also downright racist. Yeah, you heard me. The Chinese "Ah-so, Me so solly" juvenile crap got old.


I'm not saying I'll never buy an EA game. If you release some fantastic blockbuster I'll still pick it up. However, if it's not a must-have that I pickup at $50, you can bet I'll skip it later on just because of the EA name.

Too bad. I was a real fan of these guys back in the "Pinball Construction Set" days.

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

C&C Generals is pretty mediocre compared to an RTS like Warcraft III.

I know there are more important thing's, but the voice acting is so bad it hurts.

"I am BIG!"

 

[Schadenfroh]

Smilin, dont forget LHX attack chopper, one of the best games ever made, but its been a long time since EA was awesome.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Smilin, dont forget LHX attack chopper, one of the best games ever made, but its been a long time since EA was awesome.

Yeah, back when ea was a developer instead of a distributor they rocked. Same with activision. Same with atari.

*sigh*

 

[microAmp]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
5. Forces me to watch 30 secounds of splash screens that i cannot skip before getting into my games.

I agree with you I hate the splash screens, but there are ways around them. For example for BF1942 you can add +restart 1 to the "target" box on the shortcut icon on the desktop via right clicking on it and selecting properties.

There are others lines to use, I found that one via Google and wouldn't doubt there are more out there for the popular games.

 

[nageov3t]

the splash screens really annoy me.

I don't know why companies insist on using them... it's like, I already paid the $50, quit it with the advertising.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: microAmp

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
5. Forces me to watch 30 secounds of splash screens that i cannot skip before getting into my games.

I agree with you I hate the splash screens, but there are ways around them. For example for BF1942 you can add +restart 1 to the "target" box on the shortcut icon on the desktop via right clicking on it and selecting properties.

There are others lines to use, I found that one via Google and wouldn't doubt there are more out there for the popular games.

i remove it via deleting the contents of the video folder

 

[gururu]

they just scooped up Criterion too, which produces Renderware, giving them a piece of 1/4 of every console game in development according to XBN magazine. companies owned by EA are probably all vying to get there ads in other EA companies' games.

 

[yoda291]

I dunno, I thought ra2 was a blast, I think really just everyone had trouble getting around the serious nature of teh game becoming just one big cartoon.

Generals was fun and I am, personally, of the mind that Warcraft 3 is very much overrated. Don't get me wrong, I think it's cool and all how much support and work Blizzard throws into WC3, but it's kind of a poor substitute for starcraft if you ask me.

 

[NuclearNed]

Back in the olden days, EA was da bomb. Who can forget these:

Archon 1 & 2
M.U.L.E.
Adventure Construction Set
Racing Destruction Set
Hard Hat Mack
The Bard's Tale 1, 2, & 3

...among many others.

EDIT: How could I forget the Bard's Tale???