Screw EA

[shams]

I agree completely - screw EA. Here are my reasons why:

 - Harry Potter (Wii): what started out as a creative and entertaining game, turns into a poor one by the end. The entire last section of the movie/adventure - is completely non-interactive (apart from a couple of lame fights + even lamer wand forcing exercises). The game also has many, many bugs - I even had to restart it once, because I got the game into a state where I could not advance. What started as a score of 7.5 ... turned into a 6, maybe even a 5.5 by the end. Without Wiimote controls, the game would be a 3 or 4. And none of these issues are platform issues - all of them design, gameplay, dev time spent, etc.

 - SSX Blur (Wii): I remember playing the first SSX - at the PS2 launch - and loving it. Through whatever reason, I missed all the games in between. When I borrowed SSX Blur from a friend, I was really looking forward to it. Although I managed to warm up to the game in the end, it is still a huge disapointment IMO. The core game is so lacking atmosphere and fun, that the game becomes pointless to play. The whole thing just lacks any form of polish.

 - Boogie: Most of us have read the Boogie reviews, and have a fair idea about the game. I haven't played it - but from the sounds of it, it is a game with a potentially interesting design - that has been executed poorly. C'mon EA - you try and create a new, original, innovative franchise/title... and then don't bother to put the time or effort into it. Pathetic.

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EA seems to be the master to doing the "minimum" required to get a game to market. Lots of marketing, minimum development required - and as many titles as possible to hurt the competition. Jack of all, master of none.

EA have seen their position slip recently - overtaken by Activision (mainly on the back of Guitar Hero, Spiderman & Transformers). I predict that you will see this continue - and EA will continue to slip, until there is a major refocus at the company on quality - something they haven't cared about for a long, long time. 

..............

When the industry was small, it was easy for a single, HUGE player to dominate. They could share resources, actually devote production facilities/money towards games... and make them pretty cool.

This no longer holds true.

The industry is now huge, and there are several huge players at work. They might produce less content than EA - but this focus ensures that their few products are truly quality ones.

And whereas in the past, there might have been 1 or 2 great games - and 20 EA games - now there are 20 great games, and 40 EA games. 

This might just be the first Xmas (that I can remember) that EA gets solidly beaten by one or more publishers. We just don't need EA (games) anymore - they have become irrelevant.