Every gamer worth his salt knows about Electronic Arts (EA) as a developer and even more so as a publisher. They make some of the most popular games of all time like; Madden, The Sims, and Medal of Honor. Unfortunately EA is also well known for ruining lots of great titles and stealing franchises and riding them into the ground. These games include the Lord of the Rings games they have made, James Bond games, Harry Potter games, and other movies where they try to make a cheap buck by making a game like Catwoman.

In my mind there is no bigger example than the James Bond games. Rare created Goldeneye: 007 for the Nintendo 64, hands down the best Bond game of all time and also a huge influence in console first person shooters even today. EA snatched up the Bond franchise and since then many gamers have let the Bond games just fall through the cracks. I tried EA's “sequel” to Goldeneye: 007 called Goldeneye: Rogue Agent. I must say I found it insulting. The controls were so sluggish and also the configurations were just horrible. I mean updating a classic is fine but do not use “classic gameplay” as an excuse for poor or outdated gameplay.

I could let EA slide if that was their only infraction against gamerkind. But it is not, not by a long shot. Horror stories of the working conditions at EA flooded the internet this past year. Every major tech news website had something about how EA was evil. I do not know how much of these stories were true but the damage that rippled throughout the gaming world can still be felt today. If you are interested in some of those stories just fire up Google and put “EA employee” in the search box.

That is two strikes against EA. However, lately it seems that they have decided that instead of making better games or retaining good talent they will simply just buyout their competition. EA just signed the ESPN franchise to a 15 year contract. So now EA holds a basic monopoly on games for the NFL and other sports leagues. Also EA tried to acquire Digital Illusions CE (DICE) the makers of the Battlefield franchise and rivals to EA's Medal of Honor series. At the time I am writing this EA is not yet the majority stock holder but has bought considerable shares and is expected to get DICE at a later date.

From this I have found out that EA cares more about getting a game out the door than creating a good game. Also their capacity to create good games is hobbled by the way they treat their employees. Finally if their shoddy game gets beat out by another company's game of the same genre they simply buy that company out.

How much are hotels on Park Place?

-Mark (26-Jan-2005)

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