Comments on: Report Card – Electronic Arts

By: DeaconBlade

DeaconBlade — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 00:12:32 +0000

thx Nu. it’s difficult yes, but somebody’s gotta do it

By: NuAngel

NuAngel — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:14:01 +0000

I’m glad you’re doing this, it would’ve been way harder for me Deac. I didn’t even like the new IP’s they came out with this year. Skate is cool, but I like games for games sake, not simulators. Rock Band is tight, but those rhythm games are, again, not my style… so it’d be a little harder for me to give big ups to a company for making new games, if they weren’t something I liked!

DeaconBlade 360 gets an “A” in my grade book, for the hard work and duty that nobody else wants: being fair.

By: DeaconBlade

DeaconBlade — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:57:05 +0000

yeah that’s a pain for sure Rob. the Extra Credit bites them.

By: TXPaladin

TXPaladin — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:55:47 +0000

The only thing I question from EA, is tiny if that. When they end of life certain games for Live play. It’s a catch 22 I guess, but when I buy a game and it says online & xbox live, only to find out they removed that title from the servers, is a tad tough. I’m not one to jump every year and buy a new game and if I like to play a 2006 or older title, I should be allowed to along with anyone else. Thankfully I’m more of a Shooter than Sports fan and only have to worry about Madden 2007, I’m guessing I’ll be safe to almost 2009 and who knows, buy then I might just buy Madden 2009 and skip 2008 all together.

By: DeaconBlade

DeaconBlade — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:41:23 +0000

oh and before i forget, kudos on the feedback George i really appreciate you checking the article out and commenting on it. thx my friend.

By: DeaconBlade

DeaconBlade — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:39:49 +0000

well i suppose i’ve had a unique perspective in seeing what EA used to be as far as community years ago, to what they are today.

night and day is the difference. it’s not about the community events that you hear about. i see and visit local events that you don’t hear about…i read about other events that have nothing to do with “bloggers and podcasters” so i try to take that all into account with the A grade.

they do good work…is it perfect? nope. but this year moreso than any, they’ve been right in the thick of things. and that accounts for both the good and bad.

unfortunately they don’t have a platform like Microsoft to show any “direct feedback response” type of thing..beyond their games that is. with Microsoft they have the Xbox 360 that they can use to display any of the “listens to the community” type of thing.

but even that isn’t the lone thing that determines my grade. i really try to look at all things especially in the community area because it’s the most important to me.

By: George

George — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:20:47 +0000

@DeaconBlade Look, I don’t care how much money EA spends on community events. I also don’t care how much lip service they give to “being in touch”.

Contrast EA with Microsoft, where they systematically gather input from ALL gamers, digest it, respond to criticisms, implement feature requests, etc. Just look at DivX support for the 360… a feature that directly competes with their own Video Marketplace initiative.

I’ve yet to see ANYTHING out of EA beyond a bunch of ‘community events’ that are designed to primarily improve EA’s image, rather than have any kind of dialog with anyone beyond a few podcasters.

That’s not to say that they haven’t improved at all. It would be foolish to ignore sites like this one. I just think they have a LONG way to go before we can say, “Yeah, that’s definitely good enough.” That’s basically what an ‘A’ is saying.

By: George

George — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:09:30 +0000

Well, when Army of Two is released, we’ll have to see.

Historical precedent has shown that Army of Two will be lucky to average above 75% on metacritic/gamerankings/gametab.

But seriously, from what I’ve heard about Army of Two, they’d be downright stupid to release Army of Two in the state that it was in at that community event.

As far as adding features and functionality? The proof will be in the pudding.

By: DeaconBlade

DeaconBlade — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:55:18 +0000

@DR, i called them on that

By: DeaconBlade

DeaconBlade — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:54:17 +0000

i know community. and that A grade you can take to the bank they do nearly triple what most developers and publishers do…many of which goes unseen. i can assure you they value and listen to community feedback. but i guess that depends on who you see as “actual” gamers. am i not an actual gamer? are the people in Dallas not actual gamers? lol

it’s not about just events…events that you don’t see locally etc. they’ve introduced website initiatives etc that are good for the community. new IPs, communication lines etc.

as far as PC goes…hey that’s not my bag baby. this is a report on what EA has done as a company for the Xbox 360. i don’t know if they’re screwing the DS community or PS3 community lol…i’m not in those areas.

and about Madden. for every one person that screams it’s the same junk, i can show you 100,000 thousand who enjoy it. but again, i realize EA bias and hate is strong in some haha

By: peterocc

peterocc — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:47:44 +0000

@George – I understand you’re reasoning but its not entirely true. I was sent to Montreal for the Army of Two Community Event back in October. Based on the reviews and opinions of us, the community, they decided to delay the game. They are also adding features and functionality that we discussed during and after the event. Not to mention that 2 of the guns used in the game were designed by fans, not developers.

By: DRPOOLIPS423

DRPOOLIPS423 — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:30:57 +0000

In my defense, I don’t hate EA just to hate EA. I have purchased many of their games. I just feel that the EA is a major player, if not THE major player in determining how successful the video game industry is. I don’t think that them charging for codes, strategy tips, and other such things is healthy for the industry that we all love. I feel that most ‘hardcore’ gamers feel the same way about EA-they don’t like the constant fees and charges after they shell out 60 dollars for what they think is a full retail game and then there ends up being weekly content for that game. Now I’m not saying that EA is the only company that does this, but they are definitely one of the most prevalent ones.