Dignews Rant Box 4/25/05

This week, we once again rag on EA. A lot.

Tags: Categories: Features, GBA Features, Game Cube Features, N-Gage Features, PC Features, PS2 Features, PSP Features, Tech Features, Xbox Features

Posted by Jake McNeill on Apr 24th, 2005


: Welcome to this week’s Rant Box. After Dan finally paid the ransom, I’m proud to announce I’m making my triumphant return with only two fingers missing! Oh, and by the way, let me just say I hate you with a murderous passion for that.


: Welcome back. You only lost both piny fingers, which you don’t use while gaming. It cost me my personal copies of the Deluxe Edition of Halo 2 AND Jade Empire to get you back. I hope you apprecate it.


: And yet, you’re still playing that Xbox copy of Doom 3. How do you sleep at night?


: Obviously you haven’t been paying attention. I’ve not had a good night’s sleep in over 3 weeks. The pre-E3 stress is kicking in early this year.



: Yeah, it just sucks when you have to do your job, huh?


: I have 2 kids. I’m always “on the job” so you’re just talking out of your.. hey, let’s swing this back on topic.



: Wow… that’s something coming from you. But okay: Gamestop buying out EB. Tell me, is there any possible way you can see this as being a good thing for gamers?


: There are several Electronic Boutique stores in my area. They are in the usual places, like malls. Several of the locations are small, even by EB standards. There’s one GameStop in my area that’s close, and another that’s way out in the suburbs. They are both rather large places (in terms of square footage). I find the dynamics rather odd – and that’s not even beginning to talk about the lack of competition in the marketplace.


: I am glad that the rental chains (namely, Blockbuster and Hollywood video) are getting into that business with specialized gamestores, and there will always be mom ‘n pop shops, I suppose. But Gamestop and EB are the two biggest competitors in the market, and this effectively kills the vast majority of competition in videogame speciality stores. As a result, gamers will be paying higher prices for their games, and getting less for their used games. It’s simply unavoidable at this point.


: This further squeezes out the “mom and pops” even further actually. I have one about three blocks from my house. It gets games well after the other stores because it doesn’t have the buying power that the chains have.


: Do you think there’s any chance EA is behind all this? It sure seems familliar…


: Since there is no “exclusivity” agreement, I don’t think so.


: Yet.


: You know, you may not want to bite that hand, as it could be the only hand feeding you videogames in a few years.



: …. I think what scares me most is the possibility that you’re not joking.


: So, I suppose this is where we start talking about the “game footage” that was shown over the weekend by Electronic Arts. It was supposed to be “next-generation” stuff, and if you read the press release carefully, it says that it would be “representative of what game players everywhere will be able to play” – as in not actual game footage.



: You’d think if they were doing pre-rendered stuff, they’d whip up something a bit more impressive. I mean honestly, it looked very nice, but I was not blown away. Considering how good games like Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory look now and how awesome actual screens of Elder Scolls IV: Oblivion look, I was expecting more from the biggest game developer in the world. I was expecting, you know, photo-realism. And EA simply did not deliver.


: EA delivered exactly what they wanted to – hype.


: Well, people who just buy up anything that has “EA Sports” on it may buy into the hype, but anyone who knows games knows that we’re probably getting double-screwed out of a impressive-looking football game for next-gen systems. Once when EA bought the NFL and destroyed any chance another company would make one, and a second time when they fail to deliver one themselves.


: That’s conjecture. Or speculation. Or… something. The point is that people will think that what they saw was game footage when it wasn’t. You watched, didn’t you? What did you think of the character animations? Were they smooth?


: Eh.


: Exactly. It’s all eye candy, but if you scratch the surface, you see that the depth is actually presented by smoke and mirrors.


: Like I said- if you want a real demonstration of the power the next-gen systems will have to offer, check out Oblivion. No, seriously, just have a look. Then go write an E-Mail to EA and ask them why the hell they can’t make a game that looks that good.


: Well, you know who won’t be making the jump to the next generation of consoles – Lorne Lanning, the man behind the Oddworld series. He says he’s disapointed with the way his franchise has been handled and wants to branch out into film and television projects.



: That’s funny. Everything I heard says Stranger was one of the best titles in the series.


: But EA didn’t give it a major marketing push so it sold only marginally well. EA has a habit of not putting any marketing dollars into a game that’s not multiplatform.



: Ah. Once again, EA destroys another chunk of the industry. Why am I not surprised?


: Actually, it could be more about Lanning painting himself into a corner by so publicly going against the PS2 that he was unable to port it over, which could have been done.


: But this also goes into a developer’s right to artistic decisions. Sure it could have been ported… but something would have been lost in the transition. And I think a developer should have the right to say “I like this system”.



: I agree, however, a publisher has the right to emphasize multiplatform if they wish as well



: But they didn’t do that here. They just put the hush on.


: No, there was marketing, just not the same amount as if the game were multiplatform. Being as that may, many are seeing the loss of Lorne Lanning as a blow to originality in games. Then again, Microsoft did drop Oddworld from its roster, as well as Psychonauts, so maybe the fault lies there.



: You know, I think if this was really his beef he could have shopped for a different publisher.


: Possible. Not sure how many publishers turned him down. It would be an interesting interview, but I’m more concerned with developers that are actually staying within the business.


: Well, we’ve already established a distaste for the practices of a certain publisher, so perhaps we should move on. Look! The Peanuts are getting some new videogames!


: And…. why? You know, this is one license that I just can’t see lending itself to videogames. My personal distaste for Peanuts put aside, there isn’t anything that seems to warrant a romp through a field collecting coins or going through a space station blasting away at aliens.


: Really, I just don’t see the point, and I’m not talking about the license not fitting. What I’m talking about is: Where’s the audience? Anyone old enough to care one iota about Peanuts either doesn’t play videogames, or at least doesn’t play children’s videogames. I can just see your average six year-old asking “Who the heck is Snoopy?”



: Peanuts is still very popular in the comics. Go figure. While Namco makes one odd choice, it makes another that is rather joyous. I’m of course referring to the news that Namco Museum Battle Collection for the PSP will have more content that the Japanese version.


: I dunno… I’m starting to wonder about all these classics collections. I mean, we got Pac-Man, Galaga and Pole Position on the PSOne, Pac-Man, Galaga and Pole Position on the PS2, Pac-Man, Galaga and Pole Position on the Xbox, Pac-Man, Galaga and Pole Position on the GameCube, Pac-Man, Galaga and Pole Position on the Game Boy Advance… how many copies of Pac-Man, Galaga and Pole Position do we need?


: You’re just an old school hater.



: Come on, I’m serious. When do people start to wonder if these companies are taking advantage of us?



: I would like to see Namco put out another collection with some of its other titles.


: Yeah. Namco has made games other than Pac-Man, Galaga and Pole Position. And while the NamCollection on the PS2 fills me with joy, I have to wonder, did they just forget about their 8-bit and 16-bit years? Namco did make games between the Atari and the Playstation, didn’t they?



: I suppose I should start riffing about how Midway only has 8 games announced for their next collection of Arcade Treasures?



: Ah, but they’re including games as recent as the Dreamcast, so I can’t see it as too bad.


: Right, so why not dig back and bring us some of their older titles that were overlooked on the first two? You know, I could go on about old school gaming all day. I have to go finish my Doom 3 review anyway.



: Hey, if you squint your eyes, you could easily trick yourself into thinking you’re playing the first Doom. The gameplay hasn’t changed much.



: Actually, I have the Deluxe Edition, so I am playing through the first Doom.



: Folks, Dan Pelfrey: a man of refined tastes.



: Thank you. And with that, I bid you adieu.

Please send all inquiries about lawsuits from Electronic Arts, Namco, Midway, Activision, GameStop, Electronics Boutique or any disgruntled ex-veidogame developers to our E-Mail.

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