I'm actually with the OP on this. EA seems to have changed their tune. They're putting out games like Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Spore, etc.
I realize a lot of people harbor some bad feelings for them since their favorite developer was purchased by the company, but if EA doesn't compromise the quality of those devs' software, then I don't see it as a bad thing. In fact I see it as a strength - having the resources EA has at its disposal could be very good for developers that were purchased by EA.
EA is going to continue pumping out its cash cow games like Madden, etc - that's not going to change. But I think that with the revenue they're bringing in from all the sports games these days, they've been able to absord more developers and help them create better games. I mean, just take a look at Mirror's Edge, Dead Space, Battlefield: Bad Company, heck even Army of Two. While some concepts they've brought out have been flawed, it's not the same old same old stuff that we were used to seeing from EA a while back. It seems they're starting to foster creativity and a better thought process when it comes to designing and creating video games, and that spells nothing but good news for us.
I agree that Activision/Blizzard is going to become the next public enemy #1. Once they start absorbing devs and making them start doing junk games is when it'll really come out into the light. Right now the company is a bit of an enigma since the merger just recently occured, but I almost guarentee that we'll start seeing nothing but junk coming out of the company soon enough (save Blizzard games).
