The Next Console Manufacturer - Electronic Arts?
Jonah Falcon
Enjoy this vision of doom.
Les Steel
> http://www.gamestooge.com/2009/01/10/feature-next-console-manufacturer-electronic-arts/
>
> Enjoy this vision of doom.
Nothing new in that article.
--
Les
When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for
Chuck Norris.
Jordan
> http://www.gamestooge.com/2009/01/10/feature-next-console-manufacture...
>
> Enjoy this vision of doom.
Remember the big reason DIVX failed? DIVX was the brainchild of
Circuit City. All the other electronics retailers realized that if
they carried and sold DIVX equipment or discs that money would be
going to their competitor. Nobody else carried DIVX other than Circuit
City and it died a swift death.
I think we'd be looking at an equivalent if EA made a console.
Activision, Ubisoft and the rest wouldn't make games for it because it
would pad the bottom line of their biggest competitor. The only way EA
would get people to buy it would be if they stopped making games for
other consoles which would hurt them financially.
In the end I don't see it happening.
- Jordan
The alMIGHTY N
> http://www.gamestooge.com/2009/01/10/feature-next-console-manufacture...
>
The idea that Electronic Arts could introduce their own console is the
brainchild of someone who has absolutely no concept of reality.
Electronic Arts is the biggest third party software publisher in the
world but their finances are still a drop in the bucket compared to
Microsoft, who while being a software company prior to their entry
into the video game console business had a LOT of associates on the
hardware side of things in addition to some of the smartest people in
the computer industry to back them up.
Electronic Arts is a game publishing company. Period. They hardly have
the money to drive the research and development process of putting
together a new console and they don't have the non-financial resources
to make something like this happen.
Further, the speculation of how they could "kneecap" their competitors
is hilarious at best. If they chose to pull their games from the
Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony consoles, the most pertinent end result
of that effort would be a massive drop in sales. They make a lot of
games but the biggest titles on each of those systems have not been EA
titles for at least the last two generations.
No, Electronic Arts is not venturing back into the video game console
business. They may be arrogant but their not plain stupid.
parallax-scroll
> http://www.gamestooge.com/2009/01/10/feature-next-console-manufacture...
>
3DO was once enough for EA to be in the console hardware buisness.
They won't try again.
Rich Hutnik
3DO was the brainchild of Trip Hawkins, NOT Electronic Arts. Trip
also founded EA, and had relationship with them, but the 3DO wasn't
EA's console.
On this note, I believe this would be great news to help bury EA. The
moment they do that, one can imagine the NFL saying they won't renew
their exclusive license. It also, for me, makes it a LOT easier to
boycott them, because all I have to do is NOT buy their console.
Anyhow, one possible scenario is that EA partners with Sega again, and
they both release a console together.
- Rich
The alMIGHTY N
I would *LOVE* another Sega system. I'm still stinging from the
Dreamcast's demise and still hook that bad boy up every so often.
Doug Jacobs
> Remember the big reason DIVX failed? DIVX was the brainchild of
> Circuit City. All the other electronics retailers realized that if
> they carried and sold DIVX equipment or discs that money would be
> going to their competitor. Nobody else carried DIVX other than Circuit
> City and it died a swift death.
Well, that and the fact that DIVX just sucked.
> I think we'd be looking at an equivalent if EA made a console.
> Activision, Ubisoft and the rest wouldn't make games for it because it
> would pad the bottom line of their biggest competitor. The only way EA
> would get people to buy it would be if they stopped making games for
> other consoles which would hurt them financially.
>
> In the end I don't see it happening.
What about Madden? Surely that'd be enough revenue to keep the console
somewhat afloat just by itself, no?
Still, I can't see it happening. It'd be like having to buy a 2nd console
if you wanted to play EA games, and another console for everything else.
I can't see any 3rd party developers wanting to develop for such a thing.
--
It's not broken. It's...advanced.
The alMIGHTY N
> In alt.games.video.xbox Jordan <lu...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> > Remember the big reason DIVX failed? DIVX was the brainchild of
> > Circuit City.
To be fair, it wasn't just their idiocy. They were working with an
entertainment law firm who I think was actually the originator of the
idea and Circuit City partnered on.
> > All the other electronics retailers realized that if
> > they carried and sold DIVX equipment or discs that money would be
> > going to their competitor. Nobody else carried DIVX other than Circuit
> > City and it died a swift death.
There were a few retailers that sold DIVX. One was the big Canadian
chain Future Shop and another one was that Good Guys chain in
California. It was by no means an exclusive technology.
In any case, the main reason that the format failed is that people
didn't like the idea of buying a disc but still having to rent the
movie. There was a huge uproar online about how the format wasn't
"open."
Add to that the fact that most movies had *no* special features and
were in full screen instead of widescreen and you had a project that
was pretty much DOA.
> Well, that and the fact that DIVX just sucked.
>
> > I think we'd be looking at an equivalent if EA made a console.
> > Activision, Ubisoft and the rest wouldn't make games for it because it
> > would pad the bottom line of their biggest competitor. The only way EA
> > would get people to buy it would be if they stopped making games for
> > other consoles which would hurt them financially.
>
> > In the end I don't see it happening.
>
> What about Madden? Surely that'd be enough revenue to keep the console
> somewhat afloat just by itself, no?
Hardly. Madden is a popular game but even now its sales aren't nearly
what they used to be and they'd be losing out on a lot of those sales
to gamers who won't jump to a new platform just for the one game.
If you have a console that pretty much only serves up EA games, you're
going to have a fan base that consists pretty much only of gamers who
are diehard EA fans.
Tom
"The alMIGHTY N" <natl...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f71ddb7c-1e74-4db2...@y1g2000pra.googlegroups.com...
It's too bad bad Sega shot themselves in the foot with the way they handled
the Saturn into the Dreamcast transition. IMO, that system blew away the
Xbox and the PS2 for quality games during its first year.
The alMIGHTY N
> "The alMIGHTY N" <natle...@yahoo.com> wrote in messagenews:f71ddb7c-1e74-4db2...@y1g2000pra.googlegroups.com...
Hell, the Dreamcast had a pretty good launch lineup. Ready 2 Rumble
Boxing, Soul Calibur, Power Stone and Sonic Adventure right out of the
box? Hell, yeah.
Chu Chu Rocket, Dino Crisis, Virtua Fighter 3 and Street Fighter III
all in the first year. Capcom vs. SNK, Crazy Taxi, Dead or Alive 2,
Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and Samba di Amigo soon after.
The Dreamcast was just a sweet, sweet console.
elr...@pop.uky.edu
> I would *LOVE* another Sega system. I'm still stinging from the
> Dreamcast's demise and still hook that bad boy up every so often.- Hide quoted text -
At this point, I can't even trust Sega to make a decent GAME, much
less a SYSTEM. The best thing they could do at this point would be to
shoot that poor old hedgehog in the head and pack it in.
The alMIGHTY N
I don't necessarily think that the two are intrinsically related.
Microsoft put together a decent game platform (yeah, yeah, RROD) but
they can't seem to make games if their lives depended on it.
Sonic is definitely past the point of relevance but then again many of
the great games on the Dreamcast were NOT Sega games.
Rich Hutnik
Sega, like a lot of other companies, may of not been able to make the
transition to a new era. They are still stuck in the arcade era.
Among the 8bit to 16bit, only Activision and EA managed to make the
jump. A lot of other arcade companies managed to not make it either.
Midway is on their last legs. Midway consisted of Bally, Midway and
Williams. They didn't make it. Atari failed to. And we can be
looking at Sega being about done. Nintendo I exclude here, because
they never have gone the software only route, outside of maybe some
licensing deals.
There were people, with a batch of Sony fanboys, chiming in how
AWESOME it was that Sega didn't have their own console. Well, my take
was that, without a console, they wouldn't command the attention they
had when they had their own console. Does anyone know if any company
who used to make consoles survive being a software-only company? I
don't see any evidence of it being so.
- Rich
The alMIGHTY N
Well, aside from Sega, you've got SNK, which is still limping along.
They, like Sega, *had* to get out of the hardware business entirely to
have any chance of survival. It's too bad, too, because the Neo Geo
Pocket Color was one sweet little portable.
There weren't very many consoles companies that were also viable
software publishers.
> - Rich
Nick Soapdish, Jr.
>
> - Show quoted text -
Speaking of the transition from the "old days" to modern game making,
Itagaki may be an annoying prick with more ego than sense, but absent
some camera and bug issues, Ninja Gaiden 2 was able to take the feel
and pacing of 2D games like Strider and Shinobi, and bring it into the
3rd dimension effectively.
Doug Jacobs
> Sega, like a lot of other companies, may of not been able to make the
> transition to a new era. They are still stuck in the arcade era.
> Among the 8bit to 16bit, only Activision and EA managed to make the
> jump. A lot of other arcade companies managed to not make it either.
> Midway is on their last legs. Midway consisted of Bally, Midway and
> Williams. They didn't make it. Atari failed to. And we can be
> looking at Sega being about done. Nintendo I exclude here, because
> they never have gone the software only route, outside of maybe some
> licensing deals.
With digital download now available on all consoles, I really think the
old-style 2d arcade game could make a big comeback. Sure, I don't think
anyone would want to buy a 2d side-scroller of, say, Sonic for $40 but
$15-20 as a download? Sure, why not?