What bothers me is that no one is doing anything about this...I don't give a crap about sports games, they bore the hell out of me,
but this has to suck for innovation (not to mention competition) in that field. EA sucks more than ever now...they're becoming the Microsoft of videogames.

EDIT:
On the other hand though, this might force publishers to make sports games that are actually fun, so...

"And thus, EA did smite the challengers with a flash of brilliant light and a large sack of cold hard cash"

MAKE IT STOP!

I would imagine this kills sega's ESPN 2k series. This kind of sucks for sports fans. I'm not a big fan of sports games so I didn't really follow them, but I've heard a lot of people say the 2k series is better than EA's games.

If I was alone when reading this I would have let out a primal scream like one would after finding the body of a loved one.

It's bad enough they ensured that Sega couldn't use the NFL. It's bad enough they ensured that Sega couldn't use the arena football league as an alternative. But now they're taking away the Sega Sports line's current brand name as well? This is just sick. It's like stabbing someone in the gut, killing the local doctor to prevent them from getting medical attention, and then cutting off their face for a mask so you can impersonate your victim as they slowly bleed to death.

Not only has all the work Sega has done trying to make their ESPN NFL2K a serious competitor been for nothing but now it's been for EA. The lower price helped ESPN NFK2K gain some exposure in the mainstream market. Now EA can reap the benefits of this by releasing their own ESPN NFL game which the mainstream may assume is the next game in the ESPN NFL series. So in other words Sega has kickstarted a new franchise for EA. It's like how Nintendo ended up kickstarting EA's Bond series.

I don't care what bonuses Nintendo puts into to EA's Cube titles, I will not buy any of them. They could put a brand new full length Zelda game in an EA title and I wouldn't buy it.

Sega will no doubt sell Viscarious Vissions the Sega Sports makers now...

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Originally posted by: Savior
Sega will no doubt sell Viscarious Vissions the Sega Sports makers now...

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EA is so jacked up. What jerks!

And they just had to put Mario and gang in the new nba street.......Its such a struggle to boycot them now...

You're thinking of Visual Concepts


your right... I still think they will sell them. Maybe Nintendo buys them.

I think that killing is wrong but EA needs to die by any means necessary.

What about the NBA? Would it be possible for Sega to get an exclusive deal with them?

The nba denied their initial offer.

Tiburon (aka EA Sports) is right here in Orlando. I could stop by and leave a bomb....err, angry letter.

Wow, this is getting ridiculous. Talk about the big fish gobbling up the little fish. I'm sure EA will buy the NBA license next, then probably the WNBA, then MLS...nobody can stop them, they're too rich.

I wonder what Visual Concepts is working on now? They must be devastated. EA might as well buy them too. It'd be cool if Nintendo bought them though, maybe to make a series of Mario Sports titles. As an aside, if you ever wonder why Nintendo didn't start a Nintendo Sports brand, this is probably it. EA is too strong a competitior...it's easier to work with them than against them.

I have new mottos for EA:

Instead of "Challenge Everything" --> "Buy Everything"
Instead of "It's In The Game" --> "It's in the game, but it doesn't matter if it isn't, because there are no other games LOL"

silks

God, what bastards...I wasn't a fan of EA before, and I don't give a damn about sports games, but this...this is too much. I'm waiting for a Anti-trust lawsuit to get slapped on them.

If EA had a collective penis, I'd chop it off. Those bastards deserve the "ultimate punishment" as far as I'm concerned.

The real sad part is that EA also own and refuse to make a new Mutant League Football game. C'mon you bastards. ;__;

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It's bad enough they ensured that Sega couldn't use the NFL. It's bad enough they ensured that Sega couldn't use the arena football league as an alternative. But now they're taking away the Sega Sports line's current brand name as well? This is just sick. It's like stabbing someone in the gut, killing the local doctor to prevent them from getting medical attention, and then cutting off their face for a mask so you can impersonate your victim as they slowly bleed to death.

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F-FIFTEEN years? That's a hell of a long contract! I still say college football is the future of football video games, and this doesn'tn really affect my prediction, but EA is a genuine VILLAIN now.

Well I guess i will boycott EA now. Thats not really a big deal however considering i own 17 GC games and none of them were made by EA. I only buy quality games, not that im implying anything about EA games of course...

In any case maybe this will even work out for the best. I see sports games as the main entry for casual gamers and as far as im concerned casual gamers are largely responsible for the negative changes i have been seeing in the game industry. Maybe if EA makes bad enough games casual gamers will stop spending money and stop playing games. Still its to bad that sports games fans will be going through a rough time...

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Originally posted by: Geos
Well I guess i will boycott EA now. Thats not really a big deal however considering i own 17 GC games and none of them were made by EA.

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True enough. There isnt much i can do other then talk my friends out of buying their games. I was considering getting FIFA though as i really wanted a soccer game but i wont anymore. So i guess i will just have to be content with that minor act.

The juggernaut that is EA seems to have a voracious appetite. It will soon be no joke that if EA crashes, quite literally half the gaming industry will go with it.

There's been a rumor that EA's no longer interested in using Madden's likeness anymore. Couple it with this recent news, will we see EA ESPN NFL '06? Its very possible.

15 years? Wow. I guess ESPN really doesn't want to negotiate with anyone else. Even if EA doesn't get exclusivity to various sporting leagues, they'll get the presentation sports gamers are accustomed to. Hell, gamers of today will have kids in the future who'll play with the key words EA ESPN.

"You want to rebel against EA for killing the competition, but you're not sacrificing anything since you wouldn't have bought their games anyway. That teaches them nothing."

So what do we do then? Bootleg their games for spite?

A fair bit of people here became interested in NBA Street when Mario was added. How about those people not buy the game? EA's whole plan obviously is to use Nintendo's characters to boost their own sales. We don't have to let them benefit from that. No matter what Nintendo related extras there are don't buy EA's Cube titles. There's a negative side effect that it will hurt Nintendo a bit since EA won't be pleased with poor sales but it will also show that Nintendo fans won't buy something just because Mario is in it. We could tell EA to go f*ck themselves and tell Nintendo to not rely on their franchises so much at the same time.

Plus there are major EA games like the new Timesplitters game coming out that a fair bit of people here are very interested in. Don't buy it. Then you ARE making a sacrifice.

Wow. No TimeSplitters 3. That really is a sacrifice...

EA's Agenda for the Week of January 16th, 2005

Today: ESPN

Tomorrow: The World!

So what's next? EA buys Microsoft? Sony? Nintendo? Sega? Surely EA will get into hardware sooner or later.

Heh...they already have!

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/fi/pr/40593.jpg

Seriously though, this is kinda lke how people really can't get into a fist fight anymore....somebody has to get shot or else the one you didn't shoot will hold a grudge and one day come back and shoot you.

Case. In. Point.

P.S. In other news, Resident Evil 4 is too sick to be missed! Use your EA money and GET IT NOW!!

*glances over at Burnout 3*

....I refuse to part with my preciouuuuuuuuuuuusssssssssss............

I wonder how quickly EA would go under if they were to release a console, if they did go under. Wouldn't that be a blessing?

I can walk away from TS3. 15 years is 3 generations. Absolutle overkill. Whats next?

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Originally posted by: Ian Sane
It's bad enough they ensured that Sega couldn't use the NFL. It's bad enough they ensured that Sega couldn't use the arena football league as an alternative. But now they're taking away the Sega Sports line's current brand name as well? This is just sick. It's like stabbing someone in the gut, killing the local doctor to prevent them from getting medical attention, and then cutting off their face for a mask so you can impersonate your victim as they slowly bleed to death.

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Originally posted by: oohhboy
I can walk away from TS3.

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And Larry Probst laughs and caresses his white cat a little while feeding another lazy employee to the sharks. Heute die Welt, Morgen das Sonnensystem!

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Timesplitters 2 was one of the better FPS games I have played in some time, and it's the best one on the Gamecube by some yards. I can't wait for the third one

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The thought of boycotting ea being easy usually points to people not realizing what ea has a hand in. For example.... You going to boycott ubi? I mean, 20 percent is nothing to scoff at...they definately benefit from ubi's success... On top of that, think of all the companies they have swallowed up. Granted, Maxis is a shread of its former glory, but I still enjoy sim city and I also had planned to pick up the Sims 2. I'm just not sure anymore. What do we do if tomorrow they announce a massive partnership with Nintendo?

I guess what I'm getting at is, do we stop buying EA games completely? Or do we try to only buy the games they do right? (if thats possible)

Actually, the French government is trying to halt EA's partial acquisition of UbiSoft, last I heard. Infogrames (I refuse to call them Atari) is also planning on helping to keep EA away. I'm not certain, but I believe they've come up with a solution where the Guillemot family will retain a higher stock share.

In any case, EA is still claiming that the takeover is/was not hostile, while I was under the impression that buying out a company that doesn't want to be bought out was hostile. Semantics...

Yeah, I don't see much use in boycotting EA. Judge the games on their own merits.

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Actually, the French government is trying to halt EA's partial acquisition of UbiSoft, last I heard.

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How about Sega partner with madden(is he with espn now). This way all those who love madden will be tricked into buying segas game. I dont know what they could call it seeing as how it can only be a college football game. madden football 2k6 maybe???

A few rabid Nintendo fans boycotting EA will accomplish nothing except those people not getting to play one or two games they might have wanted to play. If you have any hope of affecting EA's path of destruction, which would be a pretty foolish hope, you'd need to involve EA's real userbase: casual sports gamers. Good luck.

"How about Sega partner with madden(is he with espn now). This way all those who love madden will be tricked into buying segas game. I dont know what they could call it seeing as how it can only be a college football game. madden football 2k6 maybe???"

The first Madden game was just called John Madden Football and didn't have an NFL licence. There's nothing stopping them from doing that again it just would likely have a harder time competing in today's market without the NFL.

Pale: I'm already boycotting Ubisoft. I had them on my list even before I added EA (both for overbroad copy protection systems, thank you but I'd like to be able to play a game I bought instead of having to download it anyway). Perhaps they shouldn't call me a criminal when I put down 60 Euros for their products. Judging games on their own merits my rear end, I'm not going to give my money to a corporation that is working against me. Doesn't matter that I'm not getting those games, that's the point of a boycott. I'm showing those bastards that I can live without them and that THEY need to appeal to ME, not the other way around! Doesn't matter if they don't care, that's like saying there's no point in voting because your vote won't make the election. Hell, yes, but somebody's gotta do it and if everyone looks away and says "I can't do it alone" we'll never change anything!

Again, the way to change their tactics is to buy however few games they do right. But if they publish something like Timesplitters 3 and none of you buy it, I'll guarantee that it will only give them more incentive to make the next one more "mainstream" to increase sales.

On top of that why doesn't someone do a bit of research and tell me the last time a successful boycott was made against a major corporation? It generally takes a legal battle to change anyone's mind. You may be justified in wanting to make a difference, but it's a complete waste of time if you don't have a strategy that works.

A boycott doesn't send a clear message to what you want to change either. I'm not sure how you expect a marketing department to determine that sales are dropping because you don't approve of their business tactics, rather than thinking that people are just losing interest in a series or that they didn't advertise to the right groups.

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Originally posted by: Bloodworth
Again, the way to change their tactics is to buy however few games they do right. But if they publish something like Timesplitters 3 and none of you buy it, I'll guarantee that it will only give them more incentive to make the next one more "mainstream" to increase sales.

On top of that why doesn't someone do a bit of research and tell me the last time a successful boycott was made against a major corporation? It generally takes a legal battle to change anyone's mind. You may be justified in wanting to make a difference, but it's a complete waste of time if you don't have a strategy that works.

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Originally posted by: Silks
I have new mottos for EA:

Instead of "Challenge Everything" --> "Buy Everything"
Instead of "It's In The Game" --> "It's in the game, but it doesn't matter if it isn't, because there are no other games LOL"

silks

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