Fuck 'em. Again.

We get this shit every time anyway.

It's funny how Rabidkeebler mentions reading the label because EA is also famous for not telling people what they are actually purchasing.

The best example of this is, again, BF2142. At no point did EA ever put any notification on the package for BF2142 that the game included in-game advertising (a violation of the FTC Act), which is why there were so many articles pointing out the disclaimer that was included with the game.

Then there is the issue of the disclaimer. When I read a legally binding piece of paper that states "When you use the software while connected to the internet, the Advertising Technology may record your Internet Protocol address and other anonymous information ("Advertising Data")." I tend to worry about my privacy and my identity.

In the year that I kept fighting with EA on this issue, I was never told how or even if they bothered to think about the security of the consumer's identity, privacy, or the possible security risks that are associated with such an advertising system.

Seriously, what kind of company allows this kind of crap to be put into a game where a good portion of the revenue is going to come from kids and individuals that fully comprehend what exactly is written within all that legal jargon?

Appraently the boycott of bad company worked

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/865/865549p1.html

Yah, I'm getting a little tired of the constant gouging. Game prices keep going up, and the length of games keeps going down. We keep having to pay more money for shorter games.

Moreover, the complete lack of accountability when it comes to online gaming forums is my major gripe.

I despise the fact that if you're subscribed to an online game and have access to the forums that you're basically at the mercy of the moderators. I don't just mean that you have the follow the rules, what I mean is that if you have a problem with something on the forums the person you have to complain to is the mod. But if the problem that you're having is with the moderators themselves who are you supposed to complain to?

The moderators...

That drives me up the frickin' wall. I don't often have issues with moderation, but very occasionally I'll have a problem with someone like Alex Von Minden (A.K.A. Lighthouse of City of Heroes Forums and SOE fame) and where does that leave me? I can go into any store or business on the planet and if I'm not happy with the service I can ask for the supervisor. If the supervisor is a douchebag I can ask for the manager, if that's no good then I can talk to head-office.

With online games you can't do that. You can't talk to anyone other than the Community coordinator. It's the ultimate "Fox guarding the henhouse" scenario, they are ultimately and for all intents and purposes completely unaccountable.

Wow... I'm surprised about the UPS problem... not so surprised about EA.

I know Microsoft took a big hit with the Ruby Ring of Death issues (I still call them that because then they're Ruby RoDs... in honor of Chris Tucker's character in 5th Element: Ruby Rhod). Actually, before then, they wouldn't 'fess up to the problems.

This stems from an amusing true moment. My buddy got Guitar Hero II for his 360, and at one point last year, he downloaded the patch (mandatory, mind you). Soon afterward, his 360 ended up with the Ruby RoD. He checked online and found that other people who downloaded the patch had similar problems.

With that, he called Microsoft. They wouldn't fix it for free because he owned it more than a year, thus having an invalid warranty. His complaint, however, was that it was Microsoft's fault for letting a faulty patch through, and that because of poor QA, his 360 unfairly bit the big one. They wouldn't acknowledge any wrongdoing (of course. I wouldn't expect them to). As a result, he got fed up and wanted nothing to do with Microsoft anymore, so he traded in ALL of his Xbox and 360 games and the console for a PS3 and a few games...

The amusing part is 2 days after he traded his stuff in, Microsoft made the official announcement of extending warranties for 3 years because of a relatively high console failure rate.

Nice to see they're still the same Microsoft I've come to know and loathe.

I for one am fed up with EA. I say we show them that the gamers are not as mindless and brand fixated as they take them to be...

The problem is that EA is subdivided into various departments, and their marketing department is greedy to the point where it endangers the rest of the company. EA isn't totally evil, despite some opinions, but they really do need to realise that the public they are selling to aren't stupid.

Also, I can't forget about the whole Les Paul compatibility issues. Activision just made sure I will never buy another Guitar Hero game (with that and milking the franchise, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith? Air Guitar Hero? please)

It's good that we have activists willing to stand up to this.

It's bad that we have people who are going to continue buying Xbox 360s, Rock Band in Europe, and BF: BC's DLC despite knowing the egregiousness of all the circumstances surrounding the products.

I've been boycotting EA in it's entirety since buying a PS3. Their entire disregard of the platform is one thing, but to publish subpar games at a higher price is just rediculous. If you're not going to do it right, that's fine.. just don't do it at all.

Add to that their molestation of the industry and its proponents and you have a real dick of a company that I'd rather piss on than support.

For the record, I've never played Rock Band and Harmonix can kiss my ass so long as they're publishing under EA. So can Valve. So can DICE. So can Take-Two if EA devours them. (Please don't. Please don't. Please don't.)

@Werrick

I completely agree. Moderators are tyrants. They're not paid, they're just users picked from the top of the class. Power corrupts and even the most insignificant amount of power is no exception.

Just buy a PS3 man. No RRoD EVER. They do not break. End of story.

What concerns me is that Spore looks like it is going to be very highly reliant on DLC, and I'm concerned how much that may be exploited.

Oh yah, screw EA for their way of milking the customer for more money buy actually selling guns in a game that th3e customer all ready paid for. I am not buying any more EA games. I was going to buy the sequel to Crysis, but now I am not because EA produces it. Even if they bring out a sequel to SSX I am not buying it. And I love that game a lot. No more EA.

[...] GamePolitics.com - Game Consumers Get Confrontational with Game Industry [...]

Ruby Rod is also a Final Fantasy reference. Trade a Ruby, get a Rod.

Sorry...

I'm behind everyone else that is sick of EA screwing stuff up. This is what bothered me when they took over some of the greatest video game companies and their games went to hell. They use these silent bully tactics to attempt to make it seam like the video game company would be idiots to refuse, but those that really know EA's way of messing up games shows exactly why people don't like them.

I see it this way. EA is like the Hitler of the video game industry. Hear me out, I got a point with this one and it doesn't involve millions dying. EA is in this attempt to take hostile control of any and every video game company that they set their eyes on. They did this to Westwood. They did this to Maxis. The did this to DICE. They did this to Origin. They did this to Bullfrog. They did this to Ubisoft. They're trying to do it to T2. They've got an exclusive license with the NFL now so the only football games with real teams and players are theirs and theirs alone. If they get T2, then they also will have an exclusive on the MBL. Their newer games seem to trade in innovation, gameplay, in-game hours, and many other things for what they feel is a "visually entertaining game". I really hope to god T2 stands its grounds because if it doesn't, EA owning the video game industry is closer than ever.

@Ragnaar

You, my friend, are awesome. Ruby R(h)oDs it is. So let it be written. So let it be done.

EA doesnt care about there customers. They are cocksuckers.

u know as a pc gamer i never understood the DLC thing. map packs, add-ons, even new gamemodes have been free for as long as i can remember, and Xbox Live? image if Blizzard started charging for use of battle.net, always amazes me that as soon as consoles can go online companies begin milking ppl for every last penny.

@Freak4all:

Just so you know, you don't need to get Xbox Live Gold to download stuff from XBL marketplace. It is, however, required to actually play the games online.

Of course, there's corporate beauty in DLC. These companies know gamers will feel they're not getting the full experience, thus shelling out extra dough for extra content. It's out of control at times. I'm sure part of the reason Rock Band has many downloads that can grow to be a pretty penny is to mollify the RIAA (another Evil Empire).

To be fair, not every company does that. Many release a game and just leave it at that. Some release content later at no cost. Some of the company segments in the upcoming Home are a prime example of this. PS3 owners will be able to run around deserted maps of Warhawk and Uncharted.

Some have the initial release, then have a collection and/or an edition later on down the line that incorporates those features (Oblivion, Knights of the Nine and Oblivion: Game of the Year Edition respectively), and I find that much more acceptable. At least with Oblivion, you get tangible media if you can't download it all.

The funny part is that Microsoft publicly announced that they don't want Blu-Ray in their 360s because they feel DLC is the way of the future. When asked why they had HD-DVD, they claim it was a strategic move to distract people from the Blu-Ray in the PS3. I say there's still something to be said about holding tangible media in your hands. I loved bringing home video games from Toys 'R' Us back in my day. Plus not everyone will want to use DLC for one reason or another, so Microsoft might lose a big portion of the market should they choose to ditch optical media altogether after the 360.

@SithLibrarian and Ben Ambroso:

Thanks for the compliments on my translation of "RRoD." I've actually mentioned it in other forums, but it never seemed to catch on.

@ Michael Brooks:

iirc, Mass Effect was already well into the works by the time EA assimilated... erm... insorbed... ummm... acquired Bioware.

@Ragnaar

about your point regarding XBL I used battle.net specifically because it involves multiplayer access

other than that i dont particularly disagree other than that lately i've been seeing trend where despite disc sizes being bigger there is less content and later map packs are conveniently released at a later date for a price of course. Once again i am a pc gamer so this kind of behaviour is quite new to me.

I am Intimidator. No more EA for me AT ALL.

The Rock band issue has me incensed, and is by no means unique. Remember Activistion also price gouges on Steam downloads. I'm toying with creating a government e-petition on the matter. One more example of this kind of thing and I'm good to go.

Gift.

@Vake Xeacons: I'm in! I was interested in buying Battlefield: Bad Company for the 360, but seeing as how they will sell weapons as DLC so as to milk the consumers for all they are worth and how they are attempting to take over Take Two so they can grab the profits for GTA IV, I won't buy it. I won't buy another EA game either, not until they start to clean up their act.

@Ebonheart:

It depends on a couple things. Just what does the content add, and what's its price for what you get?

If it adds quite a bit, then I could see them charging quite a bit. If it adds just a cosmetic change, then even micro-transactions seem outrageous. Though $10 is way too much for a gun... perhaps $.99 would be better (yet still unforgivable).

@Matt

I don't think they're complaining about the DLC for Rock Band its the retail price for the game plus instruments is twice as expensive as it is here in North America. EA gave some lame excuse about the general price for electronics is higher in Europe or some such. The worse part is they need to get ne game and peripherals seperately, no bundle whatsoever. I mean they finally get the game months after everyone else and then they get charged double....

B'ah should say: shipping costs are substantially higher.

Gift.

It's nice to know that the weapons will be free but I still am against the concept of better weapons based on rank. It unbalances thing in favor of the elite who will dominate the less experienced players because of there weapons. Weapons based on ranks is a first strike on the general players and with a system probably based on losing points when you die, it is creating a glass ceiling between the players. (I'm basing it on my experience with EA nation on Medal of Honor Hero's 2.) Such barriers will create an elitist community that will discourage the general players. It will merely promote cheating, mass in-game drop outs, just to avoid having a lower score so they can get these better weapons.

"Everyone I know who was waiting for Rockband has taken one look at the price and said ‘get stuffed!’. Guitar Hero sales will rocket becuase of this, no-ne is going to pay a 124% markup on the US price. NO-ONE".

Well that's the exactly same thing for me. I haven't bought any DLC from Sony because I refused to pay a "up to" 100% mark up from the U.S. price. It just can't be justified, especially when it comes to DLC because there's no import or frontier taxes and costs.

EA will not offer DLC guns for Battlefield: Bad Company:

http://kotaku.com/378052/bad-company-drops-weapon-charges

Don't know what to make of this but it might seems like EA listened to the voices of protest.

There's a similar situation going on here in Australia since most of the new games retail here for around $30-$40 higher than they would in the US and Europe (even the downloadable ones from places like Steam).

If you want an example then consider GTAIV which, despite Rockstar saying that its been modified in order to comply with the MA15+ classification, will be sold here at AU$120 whereas if you were to import it then you'd probably pay around $40-$50 less.

This in particular will be the reason why a lot of people will import it.

Don't forget guys, piracy is costing the industry alot of money...

That bad company stuff IS big news. I mean the poor idiot that would actually buy that piece of trash is probably dumb enough to spend real money on fake weapons. Wait, people spending money on virtual goods? That sounds like old news to me

@ Ragnaar

I can understand spending some cash on adding new content to games, 10 bucks for a gun is way to much. Tough in a lot of the comments (it appears) people are just specificlly picking out the download content solely for the fact it's EA.

I'm willing to bet a lot of people spend 10 bucks on less than just a gun. I'll admit that I would spend the 10 bucks on the Mobius paint job in AC06 mostly for the fact I tis be a fanboy for AC, for cetian games I will spend the extra cash for some extra content. I'm willing to admit that out right.