So, as most of you know, I am a hardcore Battlefield fan.
I was on Omaha Beach in 1.0
I was there when people were launching APCs off of AAA guns.
I was there when we took the road to Rome.
I was there when Desert Combat was just humvees and no planes.
I was there when DC players suddenly appeared in BF1942 servers.
I was there when your mother was a beaver. (100 pts for getting that reference)
So, I am very familiar with the gamer side of EA and Battlefield. But I am also "in the industry" in the form of running a gaming center. Thus, I am familiar with the business side of Battlefield. And this is fucking ridiculous.
I was so excited when it was announced that EA had hired the boys from Trauma Studios (makers of Desert Combat). But as soon as the game was ready for production, Trauma was dissolved, and BF2's future development was put in the hands of DICE Canada....the retards that brought us coding that caused you to die if you ran down stairs too fast in Battlefield Vietnam.
That was a disappointment. Just like the patches that were required, then promised, then delayed. Those were disappointing, especially when you have a business that depends on updates and compatability with systems.
ON TO THE MAIN POINT.
I noticed something the other day about the booster packs. If it's a downloadable game (like Valve's STEAM system), you don't have to worry about certain things.
Like deadlines.
You don't have to have things packaged and shipped. You don't have to have manuals. You don't have to worry about warrantys, or returns. Road to Rome and Secret Weapons came in their own boxes, with cover art and manuals and all sorts of neat stuff.
The upshot of the downloadable games is evident in Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life, in that new content and features are readily available.
But the downshot is this; less responsibility. And I think THAT is why EA has booster packs. They can have a project that they fuck up, so they can just pull out at the last second and say "Hey, I know we promised this to you, and I know you paid for it, but you're not getting it when we said we'd give it to you."
It's fucking cheap.
It's lame.
And it's bad business.
Good thing they own the franchise though, or they'd be fucked because someone else would come along and do it right.
COME ON EA....start paying your coders and testers more! Start listening to the community! And stop breaking your promises to your CUSTOMERS!
I was on Omaha Beach in 1.0
I was there when people were launching APCs off of AAA guns.
I was there when we took the road to Rome.
I was there when Desert Combat was just humvees and no planes.
I was there when DC players suddenly appeared in BF1942 servers.
I was there when your mother was a beaver. (100 pts for getting that reference)
So, I am very familiar with the gamer side of EA and Battlefield. But I am also "in the industry" in the form of running a gaming center. Thus, I am familiar with the business side of Battlefield. And this is fucking ridiculous.
I was so excited when it was announced that EA had hired the boys from Trauma Studios (makers of Desert Combat). But as soon as the game was ready for production, Trauma was dissolved, and BF2's future development was put in the hands of DICE Canada....the retards that brought us coding that caused you to die if you ran down stairs too fast in Battlefield Vietnam.
That was a disappointment. Just like the patches that were required, then promised, then delayed. Those were disappointing, especially when you have a business that depends on updates and compatability with systems.
ON TO THE MAIN POINT.
I noticed something the other day about the booster packs. If it's a downloadable game (like Valve's STEAM system), you don't have to worry about certain things.
Like deadlines.
You don't have to have things packaged and shipped. You don't have to have manuals. You don't have to worry about warrantys, or returns. Road to Rome and Secret Weapons came in their own boxes, with cover art and manuals and all sorts of neat stuff.
The upshot of the downloadable games is evident in Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life, in that new content and features are readily available.
But the downshot is this; less responsibility. And I think THAT is why EA has booster packs. They can have a project that they fuck up, so they can just pull out at the last second and say "Hey, I know we promised this to you, and I know you paid for it, but you're not getting it when we said we'd give it to you."
It's fucking cheap.
It's lame.
And it's bad business.
Good thing they own the franchise though, or they'd be fucked because someone else would come along and do it right.
COME ON EA....start paying your coders and testers more! Start listening to the community! And stop breaking your promises to your CUSTOMERS!