• 25Jan 09

  What is it with EA games . . . . . Arrgh!

  This is a rant but at least I'm wacking it in my blog. What the f*** is the problem with EA games. Recently there is specuation over the company cutting jobs and its share prices ave dropped a bit due to less than predicted sales of recent titles. The reasons behind this to me is so blindingly obvious my eyes are bleeding.

  My case in point, or at least my most recent example of this is the board game Monopoly they have released. Its a simple game that best illistrates whats wrong with EA and the points go right accross their gaming range. The whole point of this game is that its a family get together game, a social passtime for that relaxing chilling out and for the most part thats what it delivers. Thats all fine you might think but my first gipe is why the heck isnt this game more than 4 players. The board game is and I have more than 4 people want to play, such a simple error that starts off a list of simple experience ruining glitches. Next up is there is no online features or multiplayer, what the f***, even UNO has this and its the single point that makes me feel a little ripped off by the title, its a god damn multi player only game for crying out loud and XBL is the single biggest asset to console gaming. Next is the options to customize the rules, they are so basic Ive almost gone out and just bought the board game and its hardly a difficult area to get rigt now is it. Lastly is the fact that board games involving Die are partly about chance and almost everyone thats seen this game at my house has made this point. How hard would it have been to include an option to use your own die and tell the game what was rolled, somehow having the concole rolling them gives everyone doubts as to just how random a throw is and at key points it really gets people sulking (funny when its not you on the receiving end of a really bad throw lol).

  I'm not ranting so much about the final product as the basic oversight of EA. Yet again they publish a title that has obvious appeal across the spectrum and yet again they fall so short. They constantly get a good idea or franchise, churn it out, then leave you with a feeling of it being incomplete. Its like they rush it out as fast as possible to get it on the shelves, then just want you to run and buy it so they make their money, throw it on the proft pile and move on. No support, no interest no real depth or quality. They go on about how people wont buy their titles, especially new ideas and the like, but then thy leave out seemingly obvious must have features. They don give after sales support in the form of updates and DLC and they just dont seem to see this. One look at the FPS genre shows you how important the mulitplayer side of things is (Halo anyone, Cod anyone, Forza anyonem sheesh!), yet dead space doesnt include this. As good as it is its single player game just isnt an Oblivion, Fallout 3, Fable 2, Assasins Creed, MGS or Mass effect and it needs a something to keep people playing to make it more value for money.

  EA just dont seem to care about what people want only profits. Maybe now they are starting to flounder a bit they'll take note but some companies seem oblivious to the blindingly obvious. For now I just want to see them get out the console market and stay on the PC till they wake up and realise times have moved on from producing games that only have start and quit.

  • Posted Jan 25, 2009 6:50 am PT
  • Category: Games
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• 27Jul 08

  Just had a blast on a PS3 for the first time.

  Ive had a 360 since launch and its kept me busy enough to not want anything else or even have the time for anything else. My bro brought over his console and I got it hooked up to my AVR and set it up properly.

  As a games console its just the same as a 360, even MGS 4 is just like anything else we see on consoles, all be it a very well polished game. I have to say that via HDMI and with all the PS3 sound outputs set to max sound quality is far above the 360. Movies have more clarity and streamed music just sounds fantastic.

  I dont get why people are arguing over which is the better games console but the PS3 is definatly the better media device.

  • Posted Jul 27, 2008 5:15 am PT
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• 8Mar 08

  My problem with Forza 2

  This is a great game, offering exactly what it says on the tin and thats all well and good.

  BUT.........

  This game is full of flaws that bring it down, some perhaps as an over sight, but I'm convinced some are intentional. I'll explain..

  I've been playing this game since it's release and I really enjoy it, I've certainly got good value for money and its rare for me to spend more time on a single player component than the online. Theres plenty of customisation, loads of cars and more than enough online support in the way of tournements, stat tracking and the auction house. It all should lead to an almost perfect score. The game doesnt even have any bugs or glitches and always runs smooth, its only ever crashed once and I put that down to the console. (see R6V for sofware crashing problems, that was a nightmare at relese).

  It all went wrong for me when I stated to realise a few things once the initial wander wore off, and quite quickly I might add. First off, why are some tracks missing from the first game, I loved the japan mountain climb, and even something as simple as the quarter mile drag vanished. Why?, I dont know, lads love testing each other on a drag track so I just cant fathom why they chose to leave it out.

  The next thing is my pet hate about XBL, and thats DLC. Ive got less tracks than the first game and the disc was only about 7Gb full, so why should I paymore to get some back, I already pay for XBL (without dedicated servers for the most part, which are all free on PC) and I already paid the price of the game, get off the MS DLC bandwagon and stop milking us.

  My third peve is the graphics. First off is simply no in car view, its either lazy or the devs ran out of time, but in a game that touts itself as a hardcore sim it's amazing this isnt here. Also is the replay camera, there has been no attempt to make the game look 'real'. There are silly floating camera's that only a computer can acheive and that kinda spoils replays for me, it's only a minor point but one I have to include. Lastly in the graphics department is the actual graphics. Dont get me wrong, they are good. Car models are nice and the environment looks well, but why's all that effort been made only to let the artists from the simpsons colour it in. Again this game was supposed to be a sim but there is no real photo realistic look and feel to the game, Nintendo could have got it looking more real. You might think I'm being harsh but if this game want to be taken seriously, thats me being serious.

  I think the last graphical point was somehow intended as well as the missing tracks. You see if the game had been made to look photo realistic everyone would have said what a graphical leap it is, and where could you go from that if you have a successful franchise. No where. I think they have purposley held back so they can get a Forza 3 out of us all. Same with the in car view, it leaves something for the 3rd game. Same with the missing tracks, many a time we see a sequal drop some content, only for the 3rd installment to re-include it and this is bad form.

  As much as I enjoy the game I can't help but feel I'm being milked a little, the game is good but could have been great, IMO fixing the things I have highlighted would have earned this game a 9.8 from me, which is prtty much as high as I have ever rated a game, and is perfectly acheivable. The MS money miling machine seems to be more aparent to me in this game than anywhere else and in the end this is my problem with Forza 2. I feel like I'm being set up, like I haven't been given the game they set out to make because they want another £40 guarantee out of me. I cant think of any other reason why this game cant be all thie things I've highlighted, graphical styling is choice not a constraint as the graphics are already good enough, and dropping tracks for no reason seems strange as does not including in car views to a sim game. Maybe there is a hardware stubling block we dont know of, but unless one becomes aparent I'll always have this chip on my shoulder about this game and the way it highlights MS's greed in bleeding our pockets dry in installments.

  This is my problem with Forza 2.

  • Posted Mar 8, 2008 4:29 am PT
  • Category: Games
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