Blog Archives
Hype Train: Dragon Age: Inquisition
I generally don’t preview games based off of PR snippets, trailers and hands-off demos but I think I’ve come up with a way to do it. So, welcome to the Hype Train in which I sift through all the hype behind a game to give an early preview of what is being promised and what to expect.
After the disappointment with their last three products, Dragon Age II, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Mass Effect 3, BioWare was suffering from a lack of consumer confidence. With the move to next-gen BioWare is hoping to regain its crown as the king of Western RPGs, starting with the next Dragon Age game, Dragon Age: Inquisition.
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SimCity for Macs Doesn’t Work Either
We’ll it’s only been about five-and-a-half months since the launch of SimCity for Windows but it doesn’t look like the teams at EA or Maxis have learned their lessons.
There are widespread reports online that SimCity for Mac is plagued with a number of issues that has rendered it unplayable for a large number of users despite being delayed from a March launch alongside the Windows version to August 29th.
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EA Says They’re All-In on Free-to-Play and Out of Offline Experiences
Before a panel at Fan Expo about the state of the gaming industry (my column on my experience is coming soon), someone said that free-to-play was the future of gaming industry for the foreseeable future. I thought about it and disagree. I think Titanfall eschewing the traditional single-player campaign for multiplayer matches bracketed by some story components is going to be more common going forward.
It turns out that EA COO Peter Moore said that we’re both right. In fact, going forward, Moore says that we’ll see more free-to-play elements in the major franchises while offline experiences will be no more.
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Dragon Age Gets a Free-to-Play Mobile Spin-off
There’s nothing a franchise’s fans like to hear more than free-to-play mobile game. Just ask Final Fantasy fans, especially those who actually spend money on All The Bravest.
Not one to learn what damage you can do to a franchise with a terrible F2P cash-in, EA is taking Dragon Age to mobile devices. However, rather than put DA:O on iPad like they did with KOTOR, EA is releasing a combat-based F2P Dragon Age game because we can’t learn from Square’s mistakes.
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EA Launches Refunds for Origin Store Digital Downloads
It’s something we’ve been advocating for over the last few months and it looks like EA is going to be the first ones to make a move to improve game customer rights.
EA has announced that it will begin offering refunds on EA games purchased as digital downloads on Origin.
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Building (Critical) Consensus: Plants vs. Zombies 2
Given that I own a BlackBerry, I don’t do a lot of mobile gaming so I won’t have too long of a preamble before we get to what the critics think of Plants vs. Zombies 2. This is the sequel to the popular tower defense game and isn’t the third-person shooter that was previewed at E3. But good news for PvZ fans: Critics love this game and still love this franchise.
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SEC, Big Ten and Pac-12 Not Licensing Trademarks to EA Sports
It’s not just the NCAA whose logo won’t appear in this year’s edition of EA’s College Football franchise (formerly known as NCAA Football). The Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Big Ten have joined the NCAA in not licensing their name and logos for use in the popular game.
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EA Helps Charities with the Humble Origin Bundle
Just when I was questioning the use of the Humble Bundle platform by big publishers, EA goes and turns everything on its head. And shockingly, EA is doing it for the best.
The latest Humble Bundle is a large offering of EA games which might I would have looked at rather cynically after the recent “humble” Deep Silver bundle. However, EA isn’t taking a penny with all of the proceeds of the Humble Origin Bundle going to charity and Humble Bundle.
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New Star Wars: Battlefront Coming Summer 2015
Can’t wait to get your hands of the upcoming EA Star Wars games? Well, I would advise you not to hold your breath because we’re still a ways out from seeing them.
During their 1st quarter earnings call, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen revealed that the first of EA’s Star Wars games under the current licensing agreement will be the new Battlefront. Unfortunately, we shouldn’t expect it until summer of 2015 which means another two years of waiting for a new Star Wars game.
In his announcement, Jorgensen noted that they were timing the release of Battlefront around the planned release of Episode VII. While the teaser trailer was decidedly original trilogy inspired, it’s entirely possible that this could mean that the new Battlefront could tie into the new trilogy. Even if it’s DICE making the game, the prospect of a movie tie-in game worries me. I don’t think I need to tell you why.
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NCAA Ends Football Licensing Agreement with EA Sports
The long-running NCAA Football franchise is coming to an end after this year’s NCAA Football 14 by EA Sports. The NCAA announced that they would allow their licensing agreement with EA Sports to expire at the end of June 2014.
However, given the structure of licensing of college schools and events, it’s entirely possible that EA Sports will have a college football next year.
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