I plan to boycott EA.

I thought Fifa had surpassed Pro Evo in recent years in terms of quality?

I have zero interest in sports. EA could have gotten some Wii u games sales from me if they'd given us a mass effect trilogy instead of just the third game of a series that hasn't been on Nintendo before but as it is, I've no interest in giving them a penny.

How is Mass Effect on Wii U? I had a blast with the trilogy on Xbox.

No idea; I've not owned any non-Nintendo consoles and I want about to jump in art number three.
Apparently it plays well, but the opening comic book thing is no substitute for the decisions of two games.

If they made games I was interested in, I would buy them.

As Chris Scullion said on twitter,

EA with their Wii U support was the equivalent of entering a lame 2 legged Greyhound into a race, only to act all disappointed when said Greyhound failed to win.

JayMoyles wrote:

How is Mass Effect on Wii U? I had a blast with the trilogy on Xbox.

Apparently, it is a competent port, but it's one that EA sabotaged themselves because:

It's more expensive than the entire ME trilogy on other consoles.
It lacks the DLC.

Actually it has the DLC. There is only the later released DLC it doesn't have I believe. I feel sorry for Straight Right. They put very good effort into it and EA couldn't care less.

treesmurf11 wrote:

Can't say I care for EA and never really have, never gotten in to Mass Effect and their biggest seller Fifa is inferior to Konami's effort. Don't really think they have a lot to offer Nintendo especially if everything they do is just copy and pasted from the year before. Nintendo are bigger than EA.

Yep this is pretty bang on for me, there are other devs (Konami & 2K Sports) who can swoop in & have a field day with their respective sports titles.
After thinking about it I'm honestly not annoyed enough to boycott them I just see it as their loss.

2K are pretty reliable when it comes to sports games - they're handling the next WWE game too.

JayMoyles wrote:

I thought Fifa had surpassed Pro Evo in recent years in terms of quality?

A popular myth, it's just preferred by the casuals because it has all the licenses.

I do have to query the wisdom of boycotting EA and citing the whole Origin thing (Which, while it hasn't come up by name, is being insinuated) at the same time- EA is as much Nintendo's customer as we are EA's- and EA are more than entitled to withhold custom if Nintendo don't behave the way EA would like them to just as we are because EA aren't behaving the way we'd like them to.

beemoh wrote:

I do have to query the wisdom of boycotting EA and citing the whole Origin thing (Which, while it hasn't come up by name, is being insinuated) at the same time- EA is as much Nintendo's customer as we are EA's- and EA are more than entitled to withhold custom if Nintendo don't behave the way EA would like them to just as we are because EA aren't behaving the way we'd like them to.

From what I remember of the Origin rumor they lost a lot of EA's support. That is probably why several games rumored to be in development never surfaced (they canned them). But because they didn't cave they received the backing of Ubisoft instead. EA wouldn't just be controlling Nintendo's online by implementing Nintendo Network into Origin. They would be controlling every publisher on board with Wii U. They have threatened every console manufacturer except Sony. Microsoft was the only one to cave to their demands.

They believe they have more power then they do. Companies like EA like to have control over how things go in the industry as a whole. They would rather back a console which sounds more and more likely to require an online connection. When it blows up in their faces they will have thrown all that money and resources at the system for nothing. I can honestly see EA going downhill fast next generation because people won't put up with their tactics forever.

I don't agree with that, Sentinator. As long as there are "casuals" in the PS2 sense out there, of the sort Treesmurf describes, EA will continue to make money. They might go a little down hill, but not much.

Of course, they could make a really stupid decision and disappear altogether in a generation, but apart from the console makers, I don't think there's a developer out there who couldn't do that.

beemoh wrote:

I do have to query the wisdom of boycotting EA and citing the whole Origin thing (Which, while it hasn't come up by name, is being insinuated) at the same time- EA is as much Nintendo's customer as we are EA's- and EA are more than entitled to withhold custom if Nintendo don't behave the way EA would like them to just as we are because EA aren't behaving the way we'd like them to.

I actually only know what I read about Origin, but I am making an assumption that much of it is likely to be true. However, on your other point, this is a significant difference between the relationship of a consumer to a business and a business to a business. We as the consumer purchase the end product and what EA is doing is ensuring that we, the consumer cannot purchase their product in a manner that suits us. Now, they may have a legal right to do that, but it doesn't make it right, as they are abusing consumers in an apparent dispute with Nintendo. On the legal front however, if they were to be abusing their market power, by intentionally seeking to damage another company, that just may be illegal - in certain countries. However, it would very unlikely that Nintendo would seek a redress through any courts, as it would be counter-productive and the wise move would be to stay above it, wait for a change within EA and rebuild at the most opportune moment, such as a management or economic based change in circumstance.

As for me though, as a consumer, I do have the right to spend my money where I see fit, and EA isn't a fit and deserving company to benefit from it, as it seeks to limit my ability to reasonably play the games I want, on the platform I choose, which it could very easily and profitably execute. After all, the game (any game) has already been made, and porting can be as simple (Classic Controller) or as complicated (Gamepad) as they deem appropriate. In fact, if they were acting in a mature business fashion, they would negotiate with Nintendo to assist in any port or partner in development or marketing.

Balladeer wrote:

I don't agree with that, Sentinator. As long as there are "casuals" in the PS2 sense out there, of the sort Treesmurf describes, EA will continue to make money. They might go a little down hill, but not much.

Of course, they could make a really stupid decision and disappear altogether in a generation, but apart from the console makers, I don't think there's a developer out there who couldn't do that.

I agree Balladeer. To be fair, EA has a stable of some very good franchises, even if I don't like them, plus, they have the money to back any game they feel will make a return for them, plus buy out any developer they see a profit in. Personal boycott or not, the vast majority of gamers will purchase entirely on whether they like the game enough and won't care who the developer or distributor is. That doesn't preclude EA (and any company) from ruining a popular franchise by just taking too much for granted, in that consumers will continue to buy no matter what they do - always online, DRM, Season Pass, micro transactions, DLC on the disc, leaving out big parts of a game and then charging for it through DLC, yearly updates that don't have real value, et cetera. Any decline of EA will only be gradual, unless they invest big money in repeated failures.

oldschool wrote:

Season Pass

They're actually scrapping these.

Aren't you getting season and online passes mixed up there? Online passes are the bad ones that lock out online play in preowned games, season passes are the good ones that give you a discount on all the DLC.
Personally things like micro-transactions don't bother me as I've never felt like I've missed out on anything because of it.
DRM is lame though, especially with EAs tendancy to turn off servers.

So I am, it's online passes they're scrapping. My bad!

JayMoyles wrote:

2K are pretty reliable when it comes to sports games - they're handling the next WWE game too.

Aye, I'm really enjoying NBA 2K13 on wii U even if I'm not the best at it.

The only EA games that I've enjoyed are The Sims (well, Maxis were the devs), Most Wanted and it's remake and also Def Jam NY. Apart from that, they can shove their games up their arse. None of the others actually interest me, and in all honesty I can't see it hurting Nintendo in the long run.

I bought Need For Speed: Most Wanted U today.

I'm a bad little boy.

Stu_the_great wrote:

I bought Need For Speed: Most Wanted U today.

I'm a bad little boy.

You deserve a flogging ....... and not the good kind

I've proved that I'm supporting the platform by buying it. It's not like I've gone out and bought the PS3 version over the Wii U one; and in any case, I'm really supporting Criterion's hard work.

Stu_the_great wrote:

I bought Need For Speed: Most Wanted U today.

I'm a bad little boy.

Not really as its meant to be a great game.