Jake and Mike Videogame Show

A few years ago EA was looked at the same way that a lot of us view Activision these days. A giant heartless corporation. A company that just shills out the same trash over and over. Development that doesn’t seem like its aimed to really show true quality in anything but a small handful of AAA titles.

Back in 2007, though, EA and its heads put themselves at the mercy of the public and pleaded for a second chance. They begged for the permission to re-invent themselves as something other then just another giant Activision, and improve the quality, mindset and development of their approach on the video game community.

Now here we are three years later and EA is definitely a completely different company than they were back when they asked for our approval. Is that for the better or the worse though, because it appears from where I’m standing, that they have made one hell of a turn around in my eyes.

Back in the day EA seemed content with putting their name on anything and everything. They had turned into a sequel assembly line that seemed over saturated with sports game after sports game. A parade of garbage based on licensed movies and childrens shows. A few long lasting series had been run into the ground, no longer holding the clout they used to.

Fast forward to the EA od 2009/2010 and you’d never know they were even the same people. They have a strong line up of new IP’s and well received sequels. They’ve distanced themselves from the type of garbage licensed things they put out in the past, instead focusing more on a few small and well known licenses.

Most importantly, they’ve dropped the assembly line style development style and surrounded themselves with quality game makers like Bioware, Criterion, Dice, and Visceral. Those three devs alone could speak miles about the types of games EA is putting out, but also give you a good example of how the companies take on DLC has made one of the biggest changes.

2 years ago when Mass Effect and Bad Company came out, EA was the a giant culprit of some of the worst DLC practices in the industry, but now they have created standards and practices that create games like Rock Band 2 and Burnout Paradise that have some of the most exceptional DLC in the industry.

I’m not really sure where I was going with this, but it’s just nice to see a huge video game giant like EA ask everyone if they can have a second chance to make themselves the type of company that doesn’t always seem like theyre up to something, or bleeding you dry. To be less like Activision, and be more like Valve, and if you ask me, they have succeeded and alot of the video game world could learn alot from the moves and changed EA has held themselves to over the last 3 years.

-(MS)Mike out.