Holy Crap! EA is at it again

[+HammR25]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6283077.html?tag=result%3Btitle%3B0

 

Earlier this month, Electronic Arts announced a free round of Medal of Honor downloadable content for customers who purchased the game new. The company still has plans to make post-purchase money off its just-released modern-day first-person shooter, as today EA announced a new Medal of Honor multiplayer mode will be available to download on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 for $10 (800 Microsoft points).

 

Medal of Honor sucks anyway. I've never sold a game after finishing it until now. I sold this game last week. It's pretty ridiculous they obviously left this stuff out of the release version just so they could make a few extra bucks.

[MagitekAngel]

They should start selling cars with a microchip that disables the brakes, then a month later sell a downloadable security key that unlocks the brakes to the blessed few drivers that are still on the road. God people would drive careful as hell.

Edited October 27, 2010 by MagitekAngel

[SRG]

They basically did the same crap with Battlefield Bad Company 2...

[Mendon]

EA also released a $10 Online Pass for both Medal of Honor and The Sim's 3 on the very day EA released the games.

 

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of EA and can buy or not buy whatever they wish. For myself, I disagree totally with the whole Online Pass situation and EA's desire to control the sale and/or use of used video games, I sent an Email to EA Corporate telling them of my dissatisfaction with their policies and that I now refuse to purchase any EA products, including Medal of Honor, The Sim's 3, Dragon Age II, Dead Space 2, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, and NBA Jam.

 

I may miss out on some excellent gaming but I will not support EA and their policies with my video game dollars.

 

 

Mendon

[madmax2069]

its going to get worse if people allow it to happen.

 

if you ask me EA has fell far from what they use to be. i haven't bought a EA game in a long time. and until they change it will stay that way. they continue to lose focus and continue to get more greedy and wonder why they are loosing sales.

 

the sad thing is many are following in EAs footsteps and people are allowing it to happen.

 

This is why i foresee and sort of want a gaming crash, i think something like that will make them see the light again.

[The Usotsuki]

Wait, *EA* owns the NBA Jam name now?

[hex65000]

Agreed. However, if a crash occurs it's pretty unlikely that consumer revolt will be recognized by those running the game companies. I've already abandoned Borderlands and Activision isn't getting any more cash for Guitar Hero. I'm still buying games here and there, but it's been a lot of me going "Meh. I don't need it." more often than not.

 

Still, I've bought SEVEN new (in shrinkwrap) games in the past week and all at some kind of discount. One of which was Haunted House and you can read my adventures in the Wii section there.

 

Hex.

[ Is honestly obsessed over this bootmii being down/denied... since it seems so off the radar.]

[+HammR25]

Wait, *EA* owns the NBA Jam name now?

Yep

[madmax2069]

Agreed. However, if a crash occurs it's pretty unlikely that consumer revolt will be recognized by those running the game companies. I've already abandoned Borderlands and Activision isn't getting any more cash for Guitar Hero. I'm still buying games here and there, but it's been a lot of me going "Meh. I don't need it." more often than not.

 

Still, I've bought SEVEN new (in shrinkwrap) games in the past week and all at some kind of discount. One of which was Haunted House and you can read my adventures in the Wii section there.

 

Hex.

[ Is honestly obsessed over this bootmii being down/denied... since it seems so off the radar.]

 

True, but the way i see it is that gamers buying used games instead of new is a form of revolt, and that revolt could be one of the causes of another gaming crash, and the gaming companies see this and are trying to do things to stop it only making things worse for us which makes it worse for them.

Edited October 28, 2010 by madmax2069

[hex65000]

Thing is, I'm not sure if we are gonna have a mass revolt. We've collectively talked about the upside and downside of DLC. I'm not going to reiterate that here, but it is part of the framework being put in place by publishers. I don't think there will be a total crash because you have to think like the least common denominator -- those folks who go to gamestop and preorder madden and other 'top tier' titles -- the ones who think nothing about what's been only what is now. I personally have little faith in them realizing that they are getting less overall for the same amount of money or more. It's a losing proposition for the average consumer/gamer/fanboy. The arguments about this entire thing is pretty complex overall. It's essay worthy -- I'm already too verbose and I'm sure there are those who go, "Too long Hex, did not read."

 

At the risk of this getting flagged as political, but a page from the election time playbooks is simple: Soundbite politics. A soundbite that drives home that publishers view consumers as the enemy. Design a bullet bad enough and MAYBE the masses will wake up and see what's happening.

 

Of course there's the culture of instant gratification / want it now or sooner that is permeated our world. DLC is another function of that. As is our rather throw away society. Cell phone died for no obvious reason? Oh well, I'll just buy another phone. New Iphone comes out tomorrow? Well, who needs this crappy previous generation clunker? That's a piece of our society that needs to get under control.

 

Just my opinion...

 

Hex.

[ Knows he's hitting the edge of the whole P&R thing. There's a reason I left it to tactics and not who I think uses that tactic more or less. ]

[OldAtarian]

Boycott all DLC

[vrocko]

EA is really getting to be the lead company running the whole "We need to stop the sale of used games" diatribe. I get sick of it and them. They bought the Mass Effect series and I love that game but if this is the direction they are going to follow I don't know if I'll even buy the third installment. If they want to sell more new games why not lower the price point. Sixty bucks for a game is too much. People don't have the money right now to drop sixty bucks on a game that they find out after playing is lame. I guess it means that we just have to be more selective in what we buy. EA will kill the market if they continue to do this and if other game companies do the same well again we'd have another crash. What do they want us to do with all the old games we don't play anymore. Throw them out? That would be an incredible waste and would also be harmful to the environment. I suppose that you could send them to be recycled but again that would be an incredible waste. I'll keep buying used until they make them illegal, hell I'll probably keep buying them after that. EA CUT IT OUT!

 

Rich

[OldAtarian]

EA is really getting to be the lead company running the whole "We need to stop the sale of used games" diatribe. I get sick of it and them. They bought the Mass Effect series and I love that game but if this is the direction they are going to follow I don't know if I'll even buy the third installment. If they want to sell more new games why not lower the price point. Sixty bucks for a game is too much. People don't have the money right now to drop sixty bucks on a game that they find out after playing is lame. I guess it means that we just have to be more selective in what we buy. EA will kill the market if they continue to do this and if other game companies do the same well again we'd have another crash. What do they want us to do with all the old games we don't play anymore. Throw them out? That would be an incredible waste and would also be harmful to the environment. I suppose that you could send them to be recycled but again that would be an incredible waste. I'll keep buying used until they make them illegal, hell I'll probably keep buying them after that. EA CUT IT OUT!

 

Rich

 

I stopped buying EA games when they got the exclusive NFL license and drove all the other football games off the market. I don't support monopolies.

[SoulBlazer]

EA is really getting to be the lead company running the whole "We need to stop the sale of used games" diatribe. I get sick of it and them. They bought the Mass Effect series and I love that game but if this is the direction they are going to follow I don't know if I'll even buy the third installment. If they want to sell more new games why not lower the price point. Sixty bucks for a game is too much. People don't have the money right now to drop sixty bucks on a game that they find out after playing is lame. I guess it means that we just have to be more selective in what we buy. EA will kill the market if they continue to do this and if other game companies do the same well again we'd have another crash. What do they want us to do with all the old games we don't play anymore. Throw them out? That would be an incredible waste and would also be harmful to the environment. I suppose that you could send them to be recycled but again that would be an incredible waste. I'll keep buying used until they make them illegal, hell I'll probably keep buying them after that. EA CUT IT OUT!

 

Rich

 

I stopped buying EA games when they got the exclusive NFL license and drove all the other football games off the market. I don't support monopolies.

 

Don't forget the NFL OFFERED them the exclusive 10 year contract. Another company did it with baseball and the MLB. It's not a monoply if a company is legaly given a exclusive contract.

[moycon]

This is why i foresee and sort of want a gaming crash, i think something like that will make them see the light again.

 

You forsee a crash because you don't like the direction the game producers are going , you refuse to support them and you want it to stop.

Fair enough.

Do a search on the AA forums and see how many people have predicted video game crashes and what reasons they give.

You quickly see that no-one here on AA drives the industry! LOL

 

Thing is you (and everyone on AA that thinks like this) represents next to nothing when you take into consideration there are millions and millions of others that can and will support something like this. Pretty soon it will go from something EA is trying, to a standard.

I predict there will be no crash, not now, not ever again.

Why would there be? Video games are one of the most popular forms of entertainment today. Period.

 

Sure not everyone is going to satisfied. (Especially old folks used to playing offline on physical media) but really it's the masses that matter. I think many folks don't have a problem paying for something that gives them enjoyment. They will spend $100+ a MONTH to surf on their smart phone, watch cable, get high speed internet access on their PC etc.... They aren't going to balk at a one time$10 fee and make the industry crash.

 

Just my opinion though. For all I know, maybe next month we will go to log on to Live or the Sony network and find they have abandoned the industry and the billions of dollars that go with it.

[cimerians]

EA also released a $10 Online Pass for both Medal of Honor and The Sim's 3 on the very day EA released the games.

 

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of EA and can buy or not buy whatever they wish. For myself, I disagree totally with the whole Online Pass situation and EA's desire to control the sale and/or use of used video games, I sent an Email to EA Corporate telling them of my dissatisfaction with their policies and that I now refuse to purchase any EA products, including Medal of Honor, The Sim's 3, Dragon Age II, Dead Space 2, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, and NBA Jam.

 

I may miss out on some excellent gaming but I will not support EA and their policies with my video game dollars.

 

 

Mendon

 

Bravo for the letter. Why NOT voice your opinion? Maybe someone does listen but sadly if its anything like I experienced between Sony and Capcom a while back.......they just don't give a shit. (Unless it hits their profits each year). But you did your part.

 

I also know that people as individuals need to decide whats a rip off and whats not. I guess some people think 10 bucks isn't a rip.

I do. Thats the difference between me and John Doe over there. Oh well, all the power to them to squeeze more money from the John Doe's. I'm not buying Medal of Honor or any other game I FEEL is a rip-off.

 

Too bad they are leeching off of some cool devs I like, like Bioware (I hate it when the EA logo appears at the start of Dragon Age).

 

"The (sad) publishing power of publishers"

 

In some developer's minds its "Cant live with them cant live without them".

[moycon]

Oh well, all the power to them to squeeze more money from the John Doe's. I'm not buying Medal of Honor or any other game I FEEL is a rip-off.

 

Exactly, and you'll always have alternatives. Millions of them.

If someone buys a recent game and wants to spend extra to get the perks, or an add-on let them spend their $10.

It's perfectly ok to not buy into a current game with current policies and ongoing DLC. If not having a king of the hill game mode and 2 maps is a deal breaker, so be it.

A person has over 3 decades of other video games they can enjoy including most current games that don't even offer DLC. Better for someone not interested to just focus on them.

 

You could compare the people who every other year predict a crash and are constantly worried the industry is about to implode (for various reasons) to those folks who stand on street corners with signs that say " The end is near" In the case of the sign holders...they've been standing there for decades while life passes them by.

[cimerians]

You could compare the people who every other year predict a crash and are constantly worried the industry is about to implode to those folks who stand on street corners with signs that say " The end is near" In the case of the sign holders...they've been standing there for decades while life passes them by.

 

I see that a LOT here in AA too. I agree Moycon, its never gonna happen. Its waaaaaay different than it was in 1983\84. Way too much of an entertainment industry now than it was back then. I think most of those folks that say that may be on the younger side though I dont know.

 

Its just that there is so much garbage out there that its easy to think and remember what happened long ago. But that was a whole different thing back then and not even remotely close to the monster it is now.

 

Not to get off topic, I still hate EA and Activision though, I can throw Capcom on there as well only cause I got ripped or should I say tricked? (A few times the past few years)

Bastards....

[Mendon]

 

Bravo for the letter. Why NOT voice your opinion? Maybe someone does listen but sadly if its anything like I experienced between Sony and Capcom a while back.......they just don't give a shit. (Unless it hits their profits each year). But you did your part.

 

Thanks for the kind words!

 

And Moycon is absolutely 100% correct when he says that for every person who boycotts a game, a million or more will buy it.

 

As an example, I won't buy Medal of Honor and let EA know about it. But why should EA care about what I think, because they recently reported that they have already sold 1.5 million copies of the game.

 

Despite my knowing that, I still refuse to give EA any of my video game dollars.

 

 

Mendon

Edited October 28, 2010 by Mendon

[rockman_x_2002]

Too bad they are leeching off of some cool devs I like, like Bioware (I hate it when the EA logo appears at the start of Dragon Age).

 

"The (sad) publishing power of publishers"

 

In some developer's minds its "Cant live with them cant live without them".

 

In a lot of ways, it's the same old BS as the RIAA and its publishers and the artists that they use to make them bank. The RIAA has fought resale of music for years, and we see how much success they've had at that. Where there's a will, there's a way, of course.

 

But to that end, there are very few publishers I actually like and support. EA and Activision aren't among them. And that's the modern EA and Activision, mere shadows of their former selves these days. The original companies were awesome. I kinda think the original founders of those two companies cry a little on the inside whenever they see a news blurb like this. My wallet cries, too.

 

Edit: Just a thought though. There is a way for used game retailers, Gamestop included, to sideskirt EA's attempt at killing the used game market. All these publishers want is a "fair share" of the market. If that's the case, then they won't mind if Gamestop continues right on selling used games with perhaps a $5 markup and giving the customer a $10 gift card so they can use to download the missing content. Depending on the console your used game is for, you can receive a $10 Playstation Network card, a card for 800 MS Points, or a card for 1,000 Wii/DSi points.

 

Now on the surface that sounds like it cuts into used game sales profits. True, yes. But put yourself in Gamestop management's shoes for just a moment (yes, it pains me to even say that, but bear with me). Consider which would you rather do: Concede and stop used game sales and earn $0 profit? Or make essentially the same profit you were making before less about $5 (original used game price + $5 - $10 for the missing content)? I'm thinking some profit is better than none at all. And for the used games where it just wouldn't be feasible to carry, just don't carry it. And of course, the $5 markup with the gift card would only apply to those games for which you need the card to unlock the missing stuff.

Edited November 20, 2010 by rockman_x_2002

[OldAtarian]

EA is really getting to be the lead company running the whole "We need to stop the sale of used games" diatribe. I get sick of it and them. They bought the Mass Effect series and I love that game but if this is the direction they are going to follow I don't know if I'll even buy the third installment. If they want to sell more new games why not lower the price point. Sixty bucks for a game is too much. People don't have the money right now to drop sixty bucks on a game that they find out after playing is lame. I guess it means that we just have to be more selective in what we buy. EA will kill the market if they continue to do this and if other game companies do the same well again we'd have another crash. What do they want us to do with all the old games we don't play anymore. Throw them out? That would be an incredible waste and would also be harmful to the environment. I suppose that you could send them to be recycled but again that would be an incredible waste. I'll keep buying used until they make them illegal, hell I'll probably keep buying them after that. EA CUT IT OUT!

 

Rich

 

I stopped buying EA games when they got the exclusive NFL license and drove all the other football games off the market. I don't support monopolies.

 

Don't forget the NFL OFFERED them the exclusive 10 year contract. Another company did it with baseball and the MLB. It's not a monoply if a company is legaly given a exclusive contract.

 

 

It IS a monopoly because nobody else can make a sports game using real players or stadiums without a license. Exclusive licenses should be illegal under the anti-trust laws because the holder of such a license can drive all competitors from the marketplace.

[SoulBlazer]

EA is really getting to be the lead company running the whole "We need to stop the sale of used games" diatribe. I get sick of it and them. They bought the Mass Effect series and I love that game but if this is the direction they are going to follow I don't know if I'll even buy the third installment. If they want to sell more new games why not lower the price point. Sixty bucks for a game is too much. People don't have the money right now to drop sixty bucks on a game that they find out after playing is lame. I guess it means that we just have to be more selective in what we buy. EA will kill the market if they continue to do this and if other game companies do the same well again we'd have another crash. What do they want us to do with all the old games we don't play anymore. Throw them out? That would be an incredible waste and would also be harmful to the environment. I suppose that you could send them to be recycled but again that would be an incredible waste. I'll keep buying used until they make them illegal, hell I'll probably keep buying them after that. EA CUT IT OUT!

 

Rich

 

I stopped buying EA games when they got the exclusive NFL license and drove all the other football games off the market. I don't support monopolies.

 

Don't forget the NFL OFFERED them the exclusive 10 year contract. Another company did it with baseball and the MLB. It's not a monoply if a company is legaly given a exclusive contract.

 

 

It IS a monopoly because nobody else can make a sports game using real players or stadiums without a license. Exclusive licenses should be illegal under the anti-trust laws because the holder of such a license can drive all competitors from the marketplace.

 

Then ask Congress to change the laws. Don't punish the NFL for doing something it can legally do or EA for being smart enough, and having the resources to, buy the licence leagally offered.

[Lauren Tyler]

I swear, EA is like the Disney of video games: Trying to get as much money out of customers as they can while trying to control the industry the way they want it to. I remember Capcom did a similar thing that EA did with Medal Of Honor with their downloadable multiplayer mode. That was just a lame call on Capcom's part. At least RE5 was rereleased in a Gold Edition with everything included.

[Mord]

I swear, EA is like the Disney of video games: Trying to get as much money out of customers as they can while trying to control the industry the way they want it to. I remember Capcom did a similar thing that EA did with Medal Of Honor with their downloadable multiplayer mode. That was just a lame call on Capcom's part. At least RE5 was rereleased in a Gold Edition with everything included.

 

Indeed. "finished" versions are surprisingly rare these days.

[SEgamer]

 

Too bad they are leeching off of some cool devs I like, like Bioware (I hate it when the EA logo appears at the start of Dragon Age).

 

"The (sad) publishing power of publishers"

 

In some developer's minds its "Cant live with them cant live without them".

 

Same thing goes with the Half Life/Portal series for me (where's Half Life 2 Episode 3?). Valve/EA released Left 4 Dead, then one year later (or even less than that) they release Left 4 Dead 2?!? I couldn't get into those because they were too repetitive and caused my roomates to scream at their teams on multiplayer. I hope Half Life will not become part of the expanding EA empire, but it sure looks that way Kind of already happened after splitting up one game into 3 parts.

 

Blizzard is the other company that is progressing to the ways of EA. Splitting up the campaigns in Starcraft 2 pissed me off.

Edited November 23, 2010 by SEgamer