Gadgetsteria » EA

[Update] PSA: EA Doesn’t Take Care Of Battlefield 3 Users

Jordan Carpenter — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 03:08:58 +0000

If you happened to have popped your Battlefield 3 (Xbox 360 here at GS Headquarters) you have probably noticed you were only able to play for a couple minutes. I was able to throw the game in around 5:20pm here on the West, and it took an hour of EA servers failing. Then finally at 6:19pm I loaded my first game. And here we are, an hour and a half later and it has failed again. The picture above is what I constantly see, unless the game freezes up trying to phone EA’s servers. Exiting to the Dashboard is the only cure, at least for me.

How about you guys? You having any problems? From what I can see on my friends list, no one is making past “Menus.”

Update

It seems that everything is up and back to normal. I seem to be having some glitches here and there, but it is definitely 100% better – than not playing. It also could be just that the East Coasters went to bed. lol

Pure Elegance And Beauty : Behind Enemy Lines

Jordan Carpenter — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:15:43 +0000

Everyone at Gadgetsteria Headquarters is extremely excited for the October release of Battlefield 3. The open destructible world, the gorgeous gameplay, the sense of camaraderie with your squad – it’s all there. The fun you have completing missions, slowly busting through doors and silently sniping your foes brains all over the walls, all of these are something Battlefield has owned for quite some time now.

It’s been around 6 years or so since the release of Battlefield 2, and in between EA/Dice partnership gave us some console/pc releases in the way of the Bad Company franchise. With EA finally bringing us an actual true Battlefield game to the consoles along side the pc gamers, it opens up the love people can have for the series. The amazing multiplayer that is actually fun to play. Don’t get me wrong, the Call of Duty series is very fun, but there has always been something different with Battlefield. It feels like Call of Duty leaves you wanting something more.

The screenshots you’ll find within prove that this game is more than just a shooter. It is a work of art. Hop inside to view some amazing shots…

Source: Joystiq

Battlefied 3 Pre-Orders Top 1.25 Million.

Jordan Carpenter — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:49:26 +0000

With a little bit over 1 1/2 months until the much anticipated first-person shooter release, pre-orders have already toppled the 1.25 million mark. This number has been said to put it “way ahead” of the previous title – Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Being at the same point we were before the BC 2 release, Battlefield 3 has already ten times more pre-orders.

Bad Company 2 went on to sell more than 5 million copies as of May, 2.3 in the first month. So EA’s newest title is definitely on track to beat that. October 25, 2011 is the date we get experience the newest edition to what could be one of the best shooters of all time. EA’s CFO Eric Brown said this release date, which is 2 1/2 weeks before Activision’s Modern Warfare 3, will be used to their advantage.

Battlefield 3 has already taken the crown as The Game of the Show at Gamescom in Germany. Expect a review of this game upon release. Us here at GS are stoked to get our greasy fingers all over it!

Source: Gamasutra

EA Responds: Crysis 2 Steam Removal Wasn’t Us.

Mike Norris — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 01:36:31 +0000

Earlier today we touched on a story involving the recently released Crysis 2 being removed from Steam. At the time we believed it was an EA decision. However, EA has officially responded to claims they’re at fault and pointed the blame at Crysis developer, Crytek and Steam.

“It’s unfortunate that Steam has removed Crysis 2 from their service. This was not an EA decision or the result of any action by EA. Steam has imposed a set of business terms for developers hoping to sell content on that service – many of which are not imposed by other online game services. Unfortunately, Crytek has an agreement with another download service which violates the new rules from Steam and resulted in its expulsion of Crysis 2 from Steam.

Crysis 2 continues to be available on several other download services including GameStop, Amazon, Origin.com and more.”

So there you have it. Will Crytek and Steam work out the differences? It’s certainly bad news for Steam lovers looking at picking up Crysis 2 in the near future.

Source: GameFront
Via: TechSpot

[Update] EA Pulling Games From Steam To Promote “Origin” Digital Storefront?

Mike Norris — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:11:25 +0000

It never ceases to amaze us just how backwards-thinking company executives and marketing people can really be. Usually when we talk of such complete technological incompetence we’re dealing with the music/movie industry. Today, however, it is EA with news of Crysis 2 being pulled from the highly popular Steam digital storefront in order to promote EA’s own digital storefront, Origin.

On the surface, it may seem like a good idea to remove the competition by permanently restricting the the sale of your games, or at the very least employing an exclusive period. But in the grander scheme of things it’s a disappointing oversight…

For starters, Steam earned their popularity by providing a vast library of games. Add to that the ability to re-download purchased content to multiple computers as well as frequently occurring sales and you’ve got the receipt for success.

EA has officially acknowledged the recent removal of Crysis 2 from Steam nor have they mentioned anything regarding exclusive periods and/or the permanent ban of EA games on other digital storefronts. Though it’s worth noting that EA’s upcoming Alice: Madness Returns is listed as “Origin exclusive” until June 17th. Is this a sign for all of EA’s future game releases?

What’s most disappointing and downright maddening, however, is EA’s continuing pricing layout — there is absolutely no reason to charge for a digital game the same price you’d pay for the box copy. The former doesn’t have any shipping, packing, or revenue sharing fees. It’s EA being a bunch of greedy *insert colorful language here* and pocketing the much higher profit margin instead of passing the cost savings to the people that really deserve it most — gamers.

In the end it is you the consumer who can voice your disapproval. Don’t like EA’s policies? Don’t buy their games from Origin and wait until they hit Steam (if they hit Steam). What EA fails to realize is that as long as Steam is popular, EA (and all involved game developers/publishers) will make money. Greed at its finest.

EA is said to be making a public statement regarding the matter later today. Stay tuned…

Update

EA has officially responded.

Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Via: Geek.com

Thank you god: Nascar 2011 coming from Activision. Franchise says good-bye to EA.

Mike Norris — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 18:40:18 +0000

Now I’ll preface this article by saying that back in the day (read: early 2000′s), I loved racing games, especially those produced by Sierra/Papyrus. Back then, the “Nascar Racing” series was a pretty fun series of games in that it was more of a real sim racer instead of your standard arcade style game. And then Sierra/Papyrus went through a purchase or two and eventually closed up shop, after which, EA picked up the rights to Nascar. That was the end of Nascar racing games as we know it. EA moved from a more involved, sim-style game to a more “everyone-can-play” arcade-style. It was ok — for one game. Each subsequent release felt less and less exciting. But there’s hope. Eutechnyx (Test Drive Le Mans, Big Mutha Truckers and SuperCar Challenge) and Activision are now in charge…–>

EA’s rights to Nascar-branded games ended in 2008, and EA has employed the Nascar team with other tasks such as upcoming MMA games. Eutechnyx will from here on out take over development work while Activision will handle distributing. So mark your calendars for early 2011 when the new Nascar 2011 racing game is supposed to drop. A perfect way to open the season, no?

Truth be told, I can’t really stand to watch Nascar in any form. It used to be mildly entertaining but in recent years has become nothing more than a male drama pushed forward by corporate greed and outdated executives. Still, the games themselves are fun to play, hence the childish excitement that’s bubbling forth from within. Anyone else out there excited, or am I all alone?

Source:
Kotaku

The downfall of EA, used games, and online gameplay: EA to start charging $9.99 for activation codes to “unlock” online, multiplayer gameplay.

Mike Norris — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:13:49 +0000

As the war rages on between the pros and cons of physical vs. digital game distribution, no clear winner has yet emerged. There’s a good reason for that — used games. With the control and ability to charge for every little aspect, game publishers are looking at DRM and the digital revolution to revitalize there sagging sales and “stop piracy”. Not to mention, since people already trade used games via file-sharing, any legal variant is essentially hopeless. And of course, greed clouds their decisions unfortunately. And if there’s a chance for corporate tight wads to wring us for more money, believe me, they’ll find it. And find it they did…

Exhibit A: EA will begin requiring 2nd hand users to purchase activation codes for online/multiplayer-online gameplay. These codes will come in at an extra $9.99 mind you, negating a fair chunk of the “used game value”.

It doesn’t seem like that big of a deal until you think of the massive used games market and how games are becoming increasingly dependent on online gameplay features. That’s where the nuts get kicked. For used game buyers specifically, in order to actually tap into online content — single or multiplayer — you will need to purchase an activation code to “unlock” (read: de-fuck) your game.

Via Destructoid:

Starting with the release of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 on June 8th, all EA Sports games going forward will include a code in the case, and you’ll need to type in that code in the menu in order to enable online play. If you buy an EA Sports 11 game used, or if you rent one, or if you borrow one from a friend, you’ll have to buy a code from the Xbox Live Marketplace or the PlayStation Store for 800 Microsoft Points or $9.99, respectively. Of course, EA Sports will still afford you the privilege of purchasing DLC (or downloading free DLC) for its games, but without an Online Pass, you’ll only be able to use the content offline.

Thankfully, EA Sports has included a provision for renters and borrowers: if you don’t want to buy a code, you can activate a free seven-day trial of online play — but you can only do it once per EA Sports game. Surprisingly, GameStop is on board with the EA Sports Online Pass — the retailer will be selling Xbox Live Marketplace points and PlayStation Store cash cards alongside the 2010 EA Sports games.

Rationalize it however you want, it’s bullshit and a desperate grab for more money while simultaneously trying to push people away from used games and instead pay more for new games.

The whole thing of course only goes downhill from here. Once people ~~get used to purchasing~~ accept being reamed for online content, someone will eventually work up the gull to start charging subscription based fees on top of the inital purchase price for any gameplay ala WoW.

And the race to crack EA’s new activation codes starts now…

Consumerist

Word to EA: Game demos are just that — demos.

Mike Norris — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 23:40:57 +0000

Alrighty then. We have a new contender for worlds most dumbest idea to turn a quick buck — game demos…with a price attached. EA somehow things taking something that was previously free and adding in a few added things here and there will somehow make gamers interested — interested enough to cough up $10-$15. Mind you, this is a demo they’re trying to charge you for. Demos are free for a reason. They allow us gamers to check a game out before we buy it. Charging for a demo ensures that a lot less people will “take the plunge” without any “preview”. The clever marketing name by EA goes by “Premium Downloadable Content”. Now, being the cynic that I am, every time I see “premium” and other such verbiage, I instantly lose interest. Such boasting of amazingness often results in disappointment and underdeveloped products.

To be fair, if EA actually makes these added premium offerings worthwhile and positions them more as mini-expansion packs, then it has the possibility to do a decent stint. But marketed purely as demos or “early offerings” is a failure from the beginning. No one is going to pay for a demo (that used to be free), especially not $10-$15. In the end, I see people either (1) ignoring the “Premium content” and instead holding out for the real deal or (2) straight up pirating that junk.

You see, EA isn’t giving anyone any reasons why paying an extra $10-$15 for this content is worth it. Sure it’s a solid 3-4 hours of gameplay, but why not wait for the finished product? What about people who do pay for the PDLC? Will there be a discounted “upgrade” where PLDC users can download the rest of the game at reduced cost? Probably not. You’ll pay once for the premium content and again for the same game, with all of that original “premium content” and the rest of the game. The term is double dipping.

EA, here’s a little tip: Don’t charge for a fucking demo! Has all common sense gone out the window…?

Slashdot > Gamasutra

And the consumer nets another sudo win… EA removes SecuROM DRM from Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Mike Norris — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:49:58 +0000

Like DRM? Of course not. No one does. Yet somehow it supposedly makes the world a better place. The last couple of years, especially the last year in particular, game developers have been downright nazi-like in their determination and affinity for this digital cancer that plagues so many digitized services and devices. EA’s SecuROM DRM in particular is a pretty big PITA as it it requires a net connection to “validate” your game each and every time you fire it up. No net connection = no gameplay for you. It’s not quite as bad as Ubisoft’s always-on-don’t-ever-interrupt-me-or-I’ll-cut-you-off DRM. Still, the fact of the matter is, DRM is bad for everyone.

So it’s with great jubilee that I share with you all the good news of the death of SecurROM from Battlefield: BC 2. That disk checking BS has gone the way of the dodos after the latest update/patch which besides killing the cancer, more likely than not tosses in a few bug fixes and other minor housekeeping things to boot. I certainly won’t complain. Anyone else feeling a bit more liberated tonight?

CrunchGear

DRM Needs to die: EA has it’s own taste of server crashiness…

Mike Norris — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:25:44 +0000

Simply put: DRM sucks. It’s bad for consumers and it’s bad for CS at the companies that decide to use it. The only people who are harmed are the very people the companies claim to protect. This time, it wasn’t another Ubisoft snafu (they had their stint over the weekend). Instead, just as Ubisoft begins to rub the weekend hangover junk out of their eyes, EA figures it’s time to have a miniature catastrophe of their own. Yes, EA’s DRM servers crashed too…

One of the more popular and newest games affected by this outage is none other than Bad Company 2. A perfect way to install confidence and entice gamers isn’t it? Joke’s and criticism aside, at least EA was lighter on their feet and got their ducks back up and running in just over an hour or two — leaps and bounds better than Ubisoft’s multi-day outage.

We could nitpick about the various companies’ use of DRM and how they implement it, but it’s all the same. DRM needs to die. The more DRM becomes a factor, the more people will pirate, the more money will be lost (for companies employing DRM), and the more consumers will resent said companies. I certainly know I can sleep at night…

CrunchGear

Ubisoft fails to learn from peers’ failures, Settlers VII and Assassin’s Creed II require constant internet connection to even run.

Mike Norris — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:53:57 +0000

This whole massive fight against so called “piracy” that has been blamed for everything from the death of the music industry to the cause of world hunger is unfortunately, not going anywhere anytime soon. I can tell however, who will be going somewhere (as in out of business somewhere) very soon – Ubisoft. Let me clarify — Ubisoft will go out of business if they continue to release games with DRM like that of the cancer that’s found in recently released Settlers VII and Assassin’s Creed II.

Just like EA’s follies of the not too distant past, Ubisoft is requiring these two titles to maintain a constant internet connection in order to play the game — at all. If the game’s connection is interrupted even for a second, no matter where you’re at in the game, it’s lights off and game over. Best of all, your progress isn’t saved. Ya, it sucks.

You’d think these senseless idiots who run these companies would realize such restrictive DRM is the worst possible way to stop piracy when in fact, such measures will actually increase piracy. But that’s really what they want I guess…

ThatVideoGameBlog

EA destroys Battlefield: Heroes with good ‘ol fashioned greed.

Mike Norris — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:48:36 +0000

Online gaming is one of those things that can gain quite a loyal following. Look no further than WoW (World of Warcraft). WoW has one of the most devout user bases I’ve experienced in my short 22 years of life. But WoW isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. For those looking for a tad more variety and more casual game play (read: you don’t have to become completely entrenched), a worthy option was Battlefield: Heroes by EA. It is a great online shooter/war game that is basically a more realistic and earthly version of WoW. EA launched the game initially with a rather unique and instantly popular pricing structure structure — free play as much as you like with options to buy your way more power, health, prestige, etc for cheap.

If you had come to love Battlefield: Heroes and it’s open, free structure, sorry to say that it’s as good as gone. EA’s throwing down the all too familiar paywall. Making money is good and all, but company after company is taking an originally free product and later backtracking on the whole free thing leaving users pissed and the companies image tarnished…

The great thing about Battlefield: Heroes was that those not looking to chip in (as this was more of a casual gaming experience) didn’t feel compelled as simply playing the game and earning there way through the ranks came fairly quick. For most, the speed at which you actually could earn you way was sufficient that few people actually spent any real money. I played Battlefield: Heroes for maybe a couple weeks about a month back and got bored after awhile. It was fun and game play without paying was indeed fast and worthwhile. It just wasn’t enough to keep me hooked. Good thing I got over the initial draw as now it’s going to become fairly expensive and/or time consuming to continue playing with anywhere near the power, arsenal, or prestige of the free model.

The sad thing is EA has taken one great piece of the internet, a near perfect online game that brought people of all kinds of gamers together — casual and more hardcore — and completely ruined it. If I were even thinking about going back to playing Heroes and cutting some play time down by buying my way through, I’d definitely step back and take a second look now that the money hounds are out.

So why am I writing about this and getting so upset if I don’t even play it anymore? Because it sucks. That’s why. It’s a disservice to the loyal gamers and casual gamers alike who enjoyed Battlefield: Heroes. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it wouldn’t necessarily be the right term. Instead, a more fitting phrase such as: “If it isn’t broken, Innovate it” would seem more appropriate. Unfortunately for Heroes gamers, EA took something that wasn’t broken and decimated it.

Ars Technica

Oh the irony: EA (the lover of DRM) facing Sims 3 leaking like water in net.

Mike Norris — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:29:08 +0000

We all know EA is no stranger to DRM or piracy. They love DRM in fact. So much so they went out on a limb to alienate their users by implementing a very intrusive and controversial DRM control scheme on their blockbuster of ’08, “Spore”. Users who were unfortunate enough to have to deal with Spore and it’s hidden poison quickly found out why DRM has no place in todays society. Thankfully EA realized their error and lightened the restrictions on the game. Fast forward to EA’s latest Sim’s 3 which was also set to loosen the reigns on digital copyright and which isn’t due for release for another couple of weeks ironically has been leaked on torrents online. Consumer backlash from the hell that EA put them through with Spore? Perhaps. While I myself haven’t verified if the leaked files are in fact real or not, it isn’t hard to believe that they are. Even with the most intrusive and pain in the a** DRM, the small percentage of people who actually go to great lengths to get around DRM will and the vast majority of legitimate users will be adversely affected. If you have taken it upon yourself to download the claimed Sims3 torrent, let us know how it is. Hell, share a few pics with us. Time to have a simulation party.

Source: Ars Technica

Apparently Atari doesn’t like making money – Brings “Spore DRM” to Atari products

Mike Norris — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:14:39 +0000

All of the people who follow the gadget/gaming world know how much of a public backlash EA received after introducing a Spore, a game with months of hype leading up to release. The only problem is they laced Spore with a new type of DRM that they were hoping to incorporate into all of their future products – and the public didn’t take too kindly to that. You see, Spore’s DRM required online activation before it would work and only allowed 3 activations before you would have to physically call EA and talk to a real human being in order to state your case as to why you needed another activation. After all of the negative media attention and consumer angst that was vocally voiced all over the web, it seems as if Atari either doesn’t own an internet connection or read any type of news, or is trying to go out of business with a bang as they are adopting a very similar method of DRM.

Atari recently released a game titled “Chronicles of Riddick” as a follow up to a more or less successful movie starring Vin Diesel. And just like EA did with Spore, Atari has laced “Chronicles” with an invasive form of anti-consumer tech called DRM. And just as happened with Spore, customers are not happy as reviews on Amazon aren’t exactly rosey. Hey, you never know, maybe Atari wanted to see if they could get more negative reviews than EA. We know how competitive big corporations can be.

Time and time again whether it be game developers, music labels, *insert business model here*, they all seem to NOT learn from the others’ mistakes. In this case DRM. It is creeping into many different markets and is time and time again showing that it will fail. There is no way that DRM will win. As mentioned before the people that want to get around it will and very easily while the real bread and butter fan base of that particular product will be left out in the cold wondering why this $50 piece of plastic they just bought stopped working because they have 4 kids and 4 computers – then they realize the 3 activation limit. There is not a single thing that could more effectively ruin a user experience and destroy a customers view of a company then encountering an invasive form of DRM as found on Spore (originally) and now Riddick.

Will Atari be facing a class action lawsuit just as EA did over Spore’s original DRM scheme? I surely hope so. These idiots running these companies need to know DRM is not the answer. It only hurts the legitimate users while the pirates will have the DRM cracked in a matter of days.

Source: Tech Dirt

Will Wright (creator of Sim’s and Spore) saying “See Ya” to EA

Mike Norris — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:02:16 +0000

If you were hoping that EA was about to release the next smash hit after the Sim’s (Spore doesn’t quite count), you may have a reason to weep. Today EA announced that Will Wright, creator of said titles above, is leaving EA to spend more time on his start up project “Stupid Fun Club“. According to Will, SFC is an “internet think tank”. A think tank responsible for creating such things as intellectual property for games, TV, movies, toys, and the internet. All is not lost however as EA is going to invest in Will’s company, SFC, an undisclosed amount of money. It really is nice to part with a company on good terms. This is a value anyone can benefit from. You never know when they might turn around and help you out. Will the next great developer at EA bring something to market to rival the Sims? It seems hard to believe. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Source: Alley Insider