Before I didn’t mind the bully tactics EA used to throw its weight around in the industry. While I was never a supporter of EA products (never cared for anything they made), I was never pleased with their treatment of the Dreamcast. But at least that situation could be seen as EA not wanting to take a risk (a lot of developers are in that boat). But read this article,
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?section_name=new&aid=1388 **
" The reasons behind EA' s decision not to support Live haven' t been elaborated upon publicly by the publisher, but it' s safe to say that it all boils down to a matter of control. Microsoft wants to keep as much of the marketing, branding, billing and hosting of Xbox Live under its control as possible; EA, however, wants to be able to change all of these aspects around in order to suit itself.
Microsoft' s argument would be that this would potentially be detrimental to the quality of the Xbox Live service to end users. They' re not wrong, either; sources have indicated to gi.biz that one of EA' s demands is that they should be allowed to turn off servers for old versions of games as soon as they release new versions. So, for example, your copy of FIFA 2003 would stop working on Xbox Live as soon as FIFA 2004 showed up - a handy way to force punters to upgrade for EA, but not a great reflection on the Xbox Live service as a whole.
None of this is particularly new, however. The fact that EA isn' t going to develop for Live has been known for some time, although the reasons behind it are only gradually coming to light. Why has this story suddenly resurfaced at the crucial point when Microsoft launches Xbox Live into Europe?
Step forward Sony, architects of this little launch spoiler campaign. The Sony PR machine has had little to do over the last year or so other than watch Nintendo and Microsoft savage each other, and they' ve descended on this current battle over online services like a pack of hungry wolves. Quoted in an official Sony release a couple of days ago, EA' s John Riccitiello is effusive in his praise for the PS2 online plans; the same release reaffirmed, in case we' d all forgotten, that PS2 online is by far the biggest console online service in the world.
My installed base is bigger than yours… And my friend is bigger than your friends. Lessons from playground warfare have clearly not been lost on the PR departments of the world' s biggest games companies. "
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Now is it just me, or is EA’s greed going to damn far now? It’s one thing not to support a system because you’re scared of losing profit, but it’s another to not support a service because you can’t abuse it and make more. If I wasn’t already not buying EA products I would self-boycott the bastards. I think EA’s ego and arrogance has gotten SHWAY too big. Unfortunately, like Gamepro, EA still has millions and millions brainwashed fanboys who will buy anything with an EA logo on it.