Why EA is every serious gamer's nightmare

[sir.rakey 0]

I was originally going to post this in the 'Ouch' thread, but I just read the Gamespot review for SCS, and I thought a new thread was more appropriate.

Gamespot confirmed my worst fears about about SCS. The first thing I see in the review is " Game is way, way too easy ". Don't fool yourself guys, EA specifically set specs for this game to be far easier than SC4. Why? Because they lost some casual fan base when SC4 came out because the game was "too hard". No, SC4 was a brilliant game that honestly tried to make the best city building experience out there. They were headed in the right direction, as most people here would agree.

I honestly do not blame Mills, because I can assure you they were under strict orders from EA to "make this game more attractive, easier, and make it meet the xmas shopping date".

EA is NOTORIOUS for this kind of behaviour. They are well known for not bothering to update games, and simply busting out new sequels to rake in more money. Just look at BF2142, Need For Speed: Carbon, Need For Speed ProStreet, etc. etc. All these games, in all honesty, could have been much much better, but EA specifically chose to make them medicore in exchange for selling them in the holiday season. EA doesn't care about what their fans think, they don't care about what would give them good reviews. They're just in it for the money. They excel at producing crappy games that market well and bring home the money, while dissapointing any real fan base that was there.

EA has basically  dumbed down SCS, and I can garauntee you that poor reviews will not steer them in the right direction, because there will be plenty of people who will buy SCS just because it looks "fun" and it has "sim" in it. They ignored everything their fans asked for, the people who have been playing since SC1. Instead of moving in the more intelligent, realistic, direction, they went down the "lets have people create fairy cities that are perfect and make it easy". I mean, you choose essentially every building in your city! How much lower can you get? Every game EA releases, they miss the bar, and they don't care, because their fans mean nothing to them compared to money that will be made from marketing well in the video game market. I am so sick of this, and I am so disgusted by what they have done to my beloved SC series.

They can be sure that they won't be recieving a dime from me from any of the recycled, reused, boring, dumbed-down crap that they market. Until they actually listen to their fanbase and try to make games more intelligent (and this doesn't mean losing profits, look at blizzard, the opposite of EA and arguably the best game makers out there), I am never buying any of their games.

-rake

P.S. I've been an avid SC player for many years, and would have gladly spent my money if they released a quality sequel to SC4 that actually addressed the requests of their fans. Sorry for the long rant.

[waway625 72]

yeah..i think EA is now officially known as the most hated , least respected game publisher in the world

[maddogmark25 58]

the only thing I look forward to EA-wise is NHL 09, and maybe NCAA football

[Normandy 0]

Originally posted by: sir.rakey

look at blizzard,

quote>

The only three words you need to read to agree with sir.rakey

Nicely said, nicely said.

I preferred Need for Speed 2 Silver, using cheats to make all cars logs, then using the "high traffic" cheat... It's quite funny racing 260 mph down a track when suddenly you bash into a log...

Forza > Need for Speed

[sailorjune 0]

I feel like EA's buttgirl for having handed over $60 for a game that can only be played for 5 minutes at a time until it hangs.

[Cob92 360]

The only reason that EA can get away with this is that they can use their marketing army and (to use a stupid Star Wars analogy) the TIE fighter/X-wing effect: Acheive victory by mass producing cheap mediocre games(TIE fighters), while your less wealthy opponents are forced to put actual features in the product to make it hold its own(X-wings).

[doodlea21 31]

What next? Will they complain that societies is too difficult, and ask for an even easier game? How many people can even find SC4 that hard?

[michaelsjewel 0]

simcity 4 was harder at initial release - until you got the update with rush hour - then they increased the money flow....

i found the trick to not cheating was to build tons of residential to start and it brought in moneyflow..... and so forth

however when i play simcity 4 now i cheat b/c i love my freeway systesm and i'm a transit goru...... i recently tried using one way roads as ramps for interchanges and the possibilities are endless and more life-like..... (check out city journal 'OMAHA 2100' for examples).........

i'm expecting a major expansion mainly targeted at transportation in simcity socieites....

but first - i want a fix for the RUNTIME C++ error in the program itself that causes crashes and hangs...... esp. since i aleady have the first patch!

[Rabbit903 1]

didn't somebody say that another software company was willing to listen to us and make a decent sequel? i'm all for abandoning EA if that's true.

[thechair 0]

This game is for kids or people who just want to build cities without having to do much thinking, The game crashes every 10-30 minutes into playing even if you play around with the settings waste of money for serious game players, Bakc to SC4 I think!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bluebeard 0]

Electronic Arts isn't to blame it's the consumer.

     If people stop buying these easy overnight and done games then EA might have to think twice but look at all the dough the Sims franchise has brought to the EA bottom line.

    Ask yourself why EA outsourced SC to TM it's because EA doesn't want to invest serious cash into a game that doesn't fatten there bottom line.

   

[redfox85 659]

SCS makes me really really worried about what they've done to Spore......

[SimRabbit123 6]

Rabbit903: Monte Cristo?

CU is what we expected for SC5!

[voodoo02 0]

EA destroyed the Command & Conquer series.... Yes I also for got about the Battlefield series.. The original Battlefield was great, why do they make games worse after they see what works??? ***** do they listen to the fans to see what they want??? I am so upset about SCS I too wanted to destroy the disc!!!!!

[Decius 360]

Didnt the guys at mill say in a video intervieuw that if SCS failed at its game play or appearance that there would still be a seperate SC5? besides its not called SC5 to start with so perhaps that might still come. EA released SC4 so perhaps they arnt that stupid, but who knows.

[sir.rakey 0]

"What next? Will they complain that societies is too difficult, and ask for an even easier game? How many people can even find SC4 that hard?"

Aye. Exactly.

"EA destroyed the Command & Conquer series"

They're destroyed a lot of series in the name of profit.

[hamsterTK 93]

All I know is, vote with your dollars

if you really hate SCS then don't buy it, even if you are curious about it b/c your a simcity fan. Instead, spend that money on a different game made by one of EA's competitors.

[Cob92 360]

hamsterTK is correct. EA has only one care in this world, and that is money. The only way to make them listen is to immediately cease buying EA products. Many will say that one person can't make a difference, but by not taking action, you only add to the EAmpire's power.

[LB_Industries 4]

trouble is all other game producers do the same

cut a million seller game with the explaination "WE HAVE TO MAKE IT EASIER "

polish a little the graphic engine with some cute effects

and sell it with / by the name title of the game was a hit before

if the fans then are not satisfied they push some add ons on the market (each then 30

[Rabbit903 1]

alright, i won't be getting NFS: Prostreet, then.

[Clean515 0]

I registered just to say this as a loyal sim city follower.

Now i was a bit annoyed when i found out that they got new devs in for this one but now that i played the game i'm not really annoyed anymore - I'm angry... How can they release crap like this ?

Not only is it boring but creativity and spirituality is not a city resource... It's hippy crap.

The game is so easy that you wont bother with it for more than a few hours - EA - Once again milking a title to the point where everyone just starts hating it... I feel sorry even for the people who downloads it, i've played it many hours yesterday but i dont even bother starting it up again... It feels like i already completed it, the game feels like playing sim city 4 with all cheats enabled.

I want maxis back.

[Rabbit903 1]

i concur.

[pharmist 0]

I agree with Bluebeard that EA can not entirely be held responsible. The consumer speaks with the money they spend. EA is a corporation that has one primary goal as any corporation which is to turn a profit, especially corporations that are publicly traded by stock holders. In todays market a company has to sell to the masses to turn a profit that satisfies these stockholders. To sell to the masses you have to market products that satisfy a large range of consumer wishes and yes this does dumb down the product so to say. I believe that EA through their market research has shown that the hard core city builders are a niche market, which means that the cost to develop a true city simulator game such as a possible SimCity 5 out weigh the possible profits. I hope that I am wrong on this and EA still takes a gamble on producing SC5 as they have such a strong brand name with the SimCity franchise. Maybe if Monte Cristo has success with Cities Unlimited then EA will see SC5 as a possibility.

[Imprezza05 1]

oh come on just because EA doesn't have a game made the way you want it, i've been disappointed by them aswell but that's just life disappiontment etc. how would you feel if they just didn't make the games at all...

[neongamer 3]

Here Here, I personally won't even bother wasting time looking for the game... I hate EA, and I hate the way they buy out smaller companies to make one game and then destroy them (Think Maxis)... I'll be sticking to SC4 until an EXCITING sequel comes out.

[mayormot 4]

Originally posted by: sir.rakey

Instead of moving in the more intelligent, realistic, direction, they went down the "lets have people create fairy cities that are perfect and make it easy".

quote>

IOW, it comes with the "ploppable Maxis buildings," "Radical Demand," and "Money Cheat" mods pre-installed. (/snark)

What I find disturbing about SCS is the authoritarianism aspect of it.  In SimCity, Sims do what Sims do and as Mayor you just have to deal with them.

In SCS, you send police to beat up peaceful artists, until mainstream Sims say that they like whatever you tell them to like, and then they pretend to like it.  Why?  To carry out some arbitrary, top-down social-engineering goal that the little Sim-citizens have no say in, and neither does the Sim-government (player).

I love "mime-abuse" jokes as much as the next person, but in this context I have to ask:  Just what kind of "society" is SCS supposed to be simulating?

[Normandy 0]

You know, this is beginning to sound like the PS3 fiasco.

Except that this is a game, not a game system, so there's no hope for recovery.

Not that the PS3 recovered yet. By the time it recovers we'll be on the next gen of XBox though...

[TagDaze 0]

Originally posted by: voodoo02 EA destroyed the Command & Conquer series.... Yes I also for got about the Battlefield series.. The original Battlefield was great, why do they make games worse after they see what works??? ***** do they listen to the fans to see what they want??? I am so upset about SCS I too wanted to destroy the disc!!!!!quote>

Christ, another EA bashing threat, with the obligatory Westwood / C&C fanboy. EA did not ruin C&C, they continued the series with a very, very good game. People who whine about C&C3 tend to want Tiberian Dawn/Sun in 3D. Not gonna happen, this is a new game, new units, new characters, same storyline.

If anything, EA has shown with Command & Conquer they DO listen to the fanbase, so I invite all nay-sayers to collectively shove their bashing, ktnx.

LB_Industries is right in that he says that other companies do the exact same thing. EA is big though. It's a giant. EA is the man. And what do people like to do? They like to stick it to the man. Thus EA is portrayed as a big, evil company - the target of anyone who wants to jump on the hater bandwagon.

Originally posted by: pharmistI believe that EA through their market research has shown that the hard core city builders are a niche market, which means that the cost to develop a true city simulator game such as a possible SimCity 5 out weigh the possible profits.quote>

That might well be true. I for one am sick of all the same types of games on the market. RTS, FPS or RPG. That makes up about 90% of the games out there. I've got enough of the violence, and I would like to, you know, build stuff. EA did a very nice job at SC4, and I personally think we need more of that. Doom 3, FEAR, Manhunt... we've seen the blood and gore now, guys. Stop it. Give me something fresh, original, non-violent.

I'm not saying we should all go and play Barbie's Amazing Horse Adventures, but once games such as Portal is the most popular game out of a 3 pack, when the other 2 games are shooters, I'd start scratching behind my ear to stop and think if the market really DOES need what it's being saturated with right now.

Originally posted by: Normandy You know, this is beginning to sound like the PS3 fiasco.

Except that this is a game, not a game system, so there's no hope for recovery.

Not that the PS3 recovered yet. By the time it recovers we'll be on the next gen of XBox though...quote>

PSWii60, amirite? :V

[mr_martz 0]

I read that the need for speed franchise on ign is another disaster as they tried something new with it taking it to a different direction no more cops no more street racing or traffic , its just track racing you just got to love ea for trying iam still going to buy this one for the cars lol

[Garek Maxwell 1]

Originally posted by: TagDaze I'm not saying we should all go and play Barbie's Amazing Horse Adventures, but quote>

Barbie has more style and grace than any latest and greatest game out there!

She had lots of friends you could buy her too! ...And a gay guy! What's his name..? ...Ken?

Don't bash the fabulous, they have feelings too!