I want to re-evaluate my stance on EA.

[major_chaos]

Origin is a better platform than steam in every way other than sales, and most of the EA games I have bought have been amazing. Titanfall is the first MP shooter I have enjoyed in a long time, and the Dead Space, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect games have all been consistently enjoyable. So yea I never really had an issue with EA and I haven't found a reason to yet. Nice to see they still attract irrational amounts of raving hate though, that's always a nice popcorn moment.

 

[Pops16]

I suppose you could look at the free update coming out for NHL 15 that puts back in a few features that were cut from previous editions... http://www.trueachievements.com/n18204/ea-access-has-revealed-more-omissions-in-nhl-15.htm.

Then again, the features were still cut in the first place, despite an extra year of development, and EA wanted you to pay full price. So, to answer your question, the current business practice is -
1.) Promise big and HYPE.
2.) Rush an unfinished product out.
3.) Fix some of it later.
4.) Repeat.

 

[Hithel]

To their credit Origin is actually shaping up to be a pretty good service. There are frequent game give-aways, they have much better T&A (returning games for ex) and their interface just seem better coded with none of the slowness of the Steam browser.

 

[RicoADF]

*SNIP*
Overall EA's customer service is getting rather outstanding, but I'm really going to have to see how DA3 pans out before I decide on whether their development environment has changed substantially enough to let their good developers develop good games rather than just serialized garbage that mangles the very subject material it rose from (*stares meaningfully at my N7 Hoody and my Darth Malgus statue for a moment*)
*SNIP*

The few times I've had to deal with their customer service has been great as well, to be honest it's a nice breath of fresh air. Kind of sick of bad customer service (in general, not just gaming). Their games seem to be hit and miss, Sim City was iffy when released but is now enjoyable (even if a few design choices were silly), Need for Speed: Rivals is an enjoyable racing game on my PS4. Battlefield 4 was a disappointment but that said they did patch it so credits there. I may get Hardline but not on day 1, wait for reviews and probably get it with a price drop. Ubisoft games I mostly get on console as dealing with their games on PC is more miss than hit, EA however I can usually pick which I'd prefer based on the type of game which is nice to be able to pick PC and know it will actually work and not be f$%*ed. I don't mind Origin as it functions fine and performance is good, no crashes or slowdowns so nothing to complain about.

Overall like any major publisher they have their ups and downs but more than the others they do appear to listen to criticism the most, probably because the community makes them feel it when they screw something up, or maybe some of the employees do actually care. They've released quite a few free games so there's that.

 

[jackpipsam]

I've never had the strong hatred of EA people seem to have, more often than not it seemed to be a hate bandwagon and they're an easy target for the butt of jokes.

I never felt they were "The Worst Company in America" or anything.

Sure they've done things which annoy me, but SEGA has done more things which have annoyed me, doesn't stop me from buying SEGA games.
Activision pisses me off, didn't stop me from buying the Bond games or the recent Legend of Korra game. Ubisoft drive me up the wall, but I still brought Valiant Hearts and Child of Light.

I buy games based upon their individual merit and honestly EA games tend to be more polished, less buggy and have better PC porting than other publishers.
Medal of Honor may have not been a masterpiece, but it worked without a hitch, which is more than I can say for many games, even from other majors publishers. Also while Warfighter was generic, it still had some sparks of inspiration which you don't see in other generic games.

EA has always had a degree of polish.
Sure the server issues of Sim City and Battlefield 4 were out of whack, but sadly this isn't a problem exclusive towards EA.
I mean Blizzard fucked up the launch of Diablo 3, doesn't mean I hold ill-will towards Blizzard as a whole.

People complain about Origin, but honestly I find it hypocritical when those people are often perfectly okay with being forced to Steam as a DRM.
EA games often require Origin yes, but guess what Valve games also require Steam. Difference to me is, that Steam forces its DRM even in non-Valve games, something I find much worse.

EA's mobile games tend to have higher production values than other ones, EA's support of minorities is in my opinion fantastic and honestly EA's failures tend to seem more like experiments gone wrong rather than acts of 'evil'. EA falls a lot, because they try more different things than other publishers.
I mean I don't see Ubisoft doing stuff like Dead Space or Mirror's Edge.
Whilst the program seems to be over, them publishing and funding non-EA studios like Alice: Madness Returns and Brutal Legend I thought were great.


Sure they have made choices I find horrible. Mythic Entertainment is dead, Pandemic is dead, Westwood is dead, Origin systems is dead. These are all horrible. But EA is not the only company to kill off studios.


EA is not without it's fault, EA has MANY faults.
But I don't take them as evil, no more evil than any other publisher.

 

[Death_Cometh]

EA's mobile games tend to have higher production values than other ones, EA's support of minorities is in my opinion fantastic and honestly EA's failures tend to seem more like experiments gone wrong rather than acts of 'evil'. EA falls a lot, because they try more different things than other publishers.
I mean I don't see Ubisoft doing stuff like Dead Space or Mirror's Edge.
Whilst the program seems to be over, them publishing and funding non-EA studios like Alice: Madness Returns and Brutal Legend I thought were great.

This used to be why EA were put up with despite being EA but how many really unique games have they released in the last few years. Name a game that isn't a sequel or a blatant rip off of another popular game that EA have published in the last 5 years.

 

[DoPo]

Origin is a better platform than steam in every way other than sales

Provably incorrect.

EA games often require Origin yes, but guess what Valve games also require Steam. Difference to me is, that Steam forces its DRM even in non-Valve games, something I find much worse.

Erm...so you say Origin only ever houses EA games? Because that's also provably incorrect. As is your claim Steam somehow sneaks into other games and takes them over.

 

[major_chaos]

Provably incorrect.

On any other site I would just say LOL and be done with it, but because the escapist has a higher standard than that I'll ask what it is you think steam is better at. Other than having your undying loyalty because flawless lord gaben and lolhats.

Origin has free game givaways, Steam never does. [EDIT: changed to never, because I don't think I have ever gotten anything free from steam.]
Origin has customer support that is actually helpful instead of showing absolute giggling contempt for the user.
Origin has a refund policy, Steam doesn't.
Origin doesn't sell retro games that wont run on any system made after 2005 and then refuse to give refunds. Steam does.
Origin starts up markedly faster than Steam.
Origin has a storefront that isn't a open sewage pipe of nonfunctional garbage from ten years ago.
Origin storefront has never become inaccessible because the servers couldn't handle the tragic. (gratz on that not happening for the first time ever last Christmas valve. Finally took some money out of the hookers and blow fund for non-hamster powered servers?)
Origin doesn't have early access.
Origin had basic features at launch that it took that shitpile Steam years to figure out.
Origin. Is. Not. Spyware. If you are one of the people still spouting that worthless tinfoil hat nonsense then the only response I can bother giving is a simple "laughharder.avi"
Origin (As far as I know) doesn't have all the metagame horseshit that Steam has.

So again, other than your arbitrary brand allegiance and mad crazy sales 3-4 times a year what makes steam so much better?

 

[Little Gray]

snip

You forgot about the part where steam sells games that they knowingly do not have access keys for and refuse to give refunds and laugh at you when you point out that its illegal.

 

[major_chaos]

snip

You forgot about the part where steam sells games that they knowingly do not have access keys for and refuse to give refunds and laugh at you when you point out that its illegal.

Meanwhile at Valve: "Refunds! What nonsense is that? It's clearly your fault because... um... CAVEAT EMPTOR ***** *runs*."
Steam should just change its slogan to "we got your money already and now we don't give a shit"

 

[Aesir23]

Honestly, my opinion of EA was kind of "meh" to begin with as I neither hated them nor outright loved them. However, I really have to give EA props for its customer service. When I had an issue and submitted a ticket they contacted me in only a few days and my problem was resolved by the end of the week. With Valve it took them three weeks to contact me and ask for the Paypal Invoice ID.

Origin seems to give out free games far more often than Steam does as well. Granted, most of them so far have been PopCap games but Dead Space, The Sims 2 collection, and Dragon Age: Origins were given out for free as well. With Steam the only games of note that I can recall being given out in the past few years or so are Left 4 Dead 2 and Portal, I think the latter having a purpose of promoting the release of Portal 2.

Steam has a lot of great games and their sales allow me to afford games when my funds are low so I will give credit where credit is due. However, I definitely prefer Origin over Steam at this point in time.

 

[DoPo]

Origin has free game givaways, Steam never does. [EDIT: changed to never, because I don't think I have ever gotten anything free from steam.]

And Origin doesn't because I never have. I mean, I've not claimed any, therefore, there aren't any, right? That seems to be your logic. The fact that I have Left 4 Dead 2 and Sniper Elite 2 without paying anything for them seems to suggest your logic is flawed.

Origin has a storefront that isn't a open sewage pipe of nonfunctional garbage from ten years ago.

With the latest update, Steam's storefront seems to shove HERE ARE GAMES YOU MAY LIKE in your face at every opportunity. Now, personally, I don't like it, but it is certainly different than before.

Origin doesn't have early access.

And this is better because? Oh, right, dogmatic persecution of anything that doesn't fit your view of "what's good". please do whine about "zealots" in the face of this hypocrisy.

Origin had basic features at launch that it took that shitpile Steam years to figure out.

Origin. Is. Not. Spyware. If you are one of the people still spouting that worthless tinfoil hat nonsense then the only response I can bother giving is a simple "laughharder.avi"

And I am not. Heck, when the whole shitstorm with "Emagerd, spywarez" hit, I was the one arguing with stupid people that a fucking EULA doesn't give them the right to your soul and stuff.

Origin (As far as I know) doesn't have all the metagame horseshit that Steam has.

Define "metagame".

So again, other than your arbitrary brand allegiance and mad crazy sales 3-4 times a year what makes steam so much better?

Does objective, irrefutable fact work?

$ aptitude search origin
p fonts-lg-aboriginal - unicode fonts for North-American Aboriginal languages
v fonts-lg-aboriginal:i386 -
p goban-original-games - Original games set for the Goban screensaver
p liborigin-dev - library for reading OriginLab Origin project files (development)
p liborigin-dev:i386 - library for reading OriginLab Origin project files (development)
p liborigin0 - library for reading OriginLab Origin project files (runtime)
p liborigin0:i386 - library for reading OriginLab Origin project files (runtime)
p liborigin2-1 - library for reading OriginLab Origin 7.5 project files (runtime)
p liborigin2-1:i386 - library for reading OriginLab Origin 7.5 project files (runtime)
p liborigin2-dev - library for reading OriginLab Origin 7.5 project files (development)
p liborigin2-dev:i386 - library for reading OriginLab Origin 7.5 project files (development)
p libplack-middleware-crossorigin-perl - Plack middleware adding headers to allow CORS
p original-awk - The original awk described in "The AWK Programming Language"
p original-awk:i386 - The original awk described in "The AWK Programming Language"
p ruby-origin - Simple DSL for MongoDB query generation

$ aptitude search steam
i mint-flashplugin-steam - Flash plugin for Steam
v steam -
i steam:i386 - Valve's Steam digital software delivery system
p steam-launcher - Launcher for the Steam software distribution service
v steam-launcher:i386 -

 

[Greg White]

I'll be honest, EA isn't all that bad.

Their business practices and trends that they catch flak for aren't really exceptional when you remember that they don't do anything that everyone else doesn't try to copy or do worse, see Titanfall's lack of story compared to Destiny's, Ubisoft purposefully handicapping one platform to give the other 2 a decent chance, Origin vs Uplay, all 3 major companies releasing yearly versions of the same game with minor tweaks, etc.

EA is at least trying to do better and learn from its mistakes.

 

[takemeouttotheblack]

It may have been mentioned above, but EA at least has been consistently and proudly supportive of LGBT rights as a gaming company, and, while there were obviously issues with both games, DA2 and ME3 both did excellent work to normalise LGBT characters and multiple orientations within their game worlds and present them in entirely positive lights. I'm not saying they're the only ones, but in comparison, I cannot say the same for every gaming company or studio.

 

[Amaror]

Well, while some of their business practices don't seem to be atrocious, i can't really give them credit for wanting to fix Sims 4 with free patches, if they released sims 4 is this barebones state in the first place.
Additionally Origins:
- It's still lacking some important features, like the ability to easily backup games and install them elsewhere. Right now it's rolling a dice everytime wether origins will detect that i allready copied over the files or download them again regardless.
- It clearly shows that EA is just as greedy as usual. Their digital prices are insane. Pretty much every new game is at least 10 Euros (Euros not dollars) more expensive digital then when i order physical, which is insane.
- Yeah they give away some free games, who cares. All the games they give away are pretty old and are nearly ALWAYS marketing stunts. They don't gave you Battlefield 3 because they love you, they want you to buy Battlefield 4. And they gave away DAO, because then they can sell you all the overpriced digital dlc for origins and get a bit free publicity for Inquisition.

How come this kind of thread comes up every time Ea doesn't majorly fuck up for a few months, because every time this happened they release a new disaster like dungeon keeper, Simcity or Battlefield 4. Hell why is this thread allready here, Sims 4 was a bareboned cashcrab and was literally just released?!

 

[major_chaos]

And Origin doesn't because I never have. I mean, I've not claimed any, therefore, there aren't any, right? That seems to be your logic. The fact that I have Left 4 Dead 2 and Sniper Elite 2 without paying anything for them seems to suggest your logic is flawed.

Fair enough, I was wrong. Revise to "Origin has free games way more often than steam". Also when the hell was SE2 free?

With the latest update, Steam's storefront seems to shove HERE ARE GAMES YOU MAY LIKE in your face at every opportunity. Now, personally, I don't like it, but it is certainly different than before.

And much like Youtube's HERE ARE VIDEOS YOU MIGHT LIKE its an awful system. I would really rather them have a some quality control on the storefront instead of a halfassed recommendation system.

And this is better because? Oh, right, dogmatic persecution of anything that doesn't fit your view of "what's good". please do whine about "zealots" in the face of this hypocrisy.

Are you... actually advocating for early access? Because... I... What? How? To what end? Its an awful system that allows slimy devs to either sell total garbage and defend it by saying it will improve (protip: its not gonna), or simply never finish the thing and laugh all the way to the bank. At its absolute best its the pinnacle of the new system where people pay to beta test games instead of the other way around, and I don't see how that is a good system. Can we go back to paying for games that actually finished?

And I am not. Heck, when the whole shitstorm with "Emagerd, spywarez" hit, I was the one arguing with stupid people that a fucking EULA doesn't give them the right to your soul and stuff.

Well then there is one thing we agree on, so that's nice.

Define "metagame".

Trading cards, the hat economy, badges, ect.

Does objective, irrefutable fact work?

Could you maybe translate that to non-programmer? Because I see what appears to either be a list of files or processes and I'm not sure what point you are trying to get across.

 

[Evonisia]

And Origin doesn't because I never have. I mean, I've not claimed any, therefore, there aren't any, right? That seems to be your logic. The fact that I have Left 4 Dead 2 and Sniper Elite 2 without paying anything for them seems to suggest your logic is flawed.

Fair enough, I was wrong. Revise to "Origin has free games way more often than steam". Also when the hell was SE2 free?

It was at some point in August (I'm assuming that by Sniper Elite 2 he meant Sniper Elite V2, silly title I know). I think it was free for a few days, and I bought it.

 

[DoPo]

And Origin doesn't because I never have. I mean, I've not claimed any, therefore, there aren't any, right? That seems to be your logic. The fact that I have Left 4 Dead 2 and Sniper Elite 2 without paying anything for them seems to suggest your logic is flawed.

Fair enough, I was wrong. Revise to "Origin has free games way more often than steam". Also when the hell was SE2 free?

Around the time SE3 came around. I think when they started the preorders or something. Seems to have been the beginning of June [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/135049-Sniper-Elite-V2-is-Completely-Free-on-Steam-Right-Now]

And this is better because? Oh, right, dogmatic persecution of anything that doesn't fit your view of "what's good". please do whine about "zealots" in the face of this hypocrisy.

Are you... actually advocating for early access?

Of course. I mean as long as you define "advocating" as "I do not think it's inherently the spawn of Satan, Hitler, zombies and it seeps your soul away by its very existence", then yes, I am.

Because... I... What? How? To what end?

Because I don't think there is inherently evil stuff. DLC, Early Access, pre-orders, EA (the company) itself and so on.

Its an awful system that allows slimy devs to either sell total garbage and defend it by saying it will improve

Oh, only it seems that slimy devs have been pushing out garbage for...well, ever since I started buying games they were already there. That was a while ago. Early Access did not start it.

(protip: its not gonna)

Unless it does. OK, it's not like there is any evidence that...oh, except all those games that do improve...right. Oh well.

or simply never finish the thing and laugh all the way to the bank

yes, obviously the only two options. Unless the game gets released. And there is evidence of that.

Well, there is "EARLY ACCESS IS ALL DOOM AND GLOOM" shot to pieces.

At its absolute best its the pinnacle of the new system where people pay to beta test games instead of the other way around

Instead of...systems beta test people? Anyway, you are aware that if Early Access should not be used for beta testing, right? It's not the intended function, and anybody who uses it that way deserves to be mocked and shunned.

and I don't see how that is a good system.

I'll tell you a secret: Early Access by Steam...was not created by Steam. It did not start it's life at Steam. It merely took official place at Steam. The "Early Access" model has been around for a long time it was just never official, thus not used as much. But has still been popular - you can't tell me continuous development, additions, improvements and changes to a game aren't a thing, since they are, and have been for a long while.

Can we go back to paying for games that actually finished?

Spoiler: Come here, I will tell you another secret.

Spoiler: lean in.

Spoiler: closer

YES, WE ALL CAN. HERE IS HOW: DON'T BUY EARLY ACCESS GAMES

I mean, at least I am capable of controlling my actions and not buying everything that says "Early Access". I suggest you check yourself up if you're not capable of this.

It's entirely ignorable.

Define "metagame".

Trading cards, the hat economy, badges, ect.

As is this.

What's this fascination with taking such a big issue with optional features that you don't even need to care about?

Does objective, irrefutable fact work?

Could you maybe translate that to non-programmer? Because I see what appears to either be a list of files or processes and I'm not sure what point you are trying to get across.

Well, aptitude [http://linux.die.net/man/8/aptitude] is a Linux utility for installing software, the search option...searches for available software by name. So aptitude search origin will bring back all software that can be installed that contains "origin" in their name. As you can see, none of the results are for Origin. Compare this with the results of aptitude search steam.

Steam supports Linux. The fact that you apparently don't even want to consider it does bring us back to my previous question - what the hell is your problem with more options? Your argument for one platform and against another that apparently everybody should heed and agree with, is that it fits you yourself better.