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.

I’ve found myself in a strange crossroads as far as the endless war on DLC is concerned as of late. Anyone who has ever read this website or listened the podcast, know that Jake and I can endlessly clamor on and on about the endless annoyances, exceptions, and subtlety that combine themselves and become our complicated opinions on downloadable digital content.

Recently we were talking about how Borderlands and Dragon Age: Origins have both done a pretty good job of offering up what WE both consider “worth while” DLC for their respective new releases. Yet, as we discussed our interest in both of the games offerings, it occurred to us quite rapidly that things we were saying were very biased and hypocritical. But not the bad kind.

Wait…there is a GOOD kind of bias and hypocrisy?!

As we talked about how games and their increasing connection to the Internet and an ever-updating format after release, we realized that gamers were going to have to change along with the hobby we all love so much. The more companies play around with how far they’re allowed to go with these digital additions and storefronts, the more us as Gamers are going to have to compile a system of Yes’s and No’s that tell us what we think is and isn’t okay when it comes to things we’ll buy and things we’ll accept. So without any of us knowing it, the process has already been going on for the last year or two and we’ve all sort have been figuring out what were down to buy and what offends us as a consumer, but the further this system is refined, the more complicated the process will become.

Yes, I know this is complicated, lemme give you an example.

Exhibit A: I love Borderlands. Borderlands is coming out with DLC for the game that is going to be released under 2 months from its original release date. I am excited to buy said DLC because I like borderlands, I like Gearbox, and I feel i got my money’s worth out of the initial purchase of Borderlands.

Exhibit B: I didn’t like Street Fighter 4. Street Fighter 4 is coming out with a new “version” in the next few months, roughly a year after the original title. I am annoyed with the idea of this game coming out because I didn’t like Street Fighter 4, I’m annoyed with Capcom lately, and I have been opposed to alot of the DLC choices Capcom has made in the last year or two.

In any other point in time this might be considering being unfairly biased, or showing an unwanted amount of favoritism, but I think that now aday, its an important piece of decision making that you should have at these times, or else you’re gonna be running around wasting money and annoying yourself and your values.

So there you have it, I still think fanboys are annoying, but I feel like the direction gaming has moved has made a level of bias and hypocrisy almost required to survive this never ending war for your money that our hobby has become.

-(MS)Mike out.

-(MS)Mike out.

It looks like were gonna start seeing some character announcements soon, with the very first ine being made this morning, as Carnage joins the Ultimate Alliance 2 cast as the first DLC character. Check Mr. Kasady in action right here!

What do you think? Too soon for DLC? Is this just what the game needed since it ended up so short?

Personally, I’d prefer some more content for the actual game itself, but characters might breathe a little life into the thing as well.

-(MS)Mike out

Seriously, 10? 20? 100?!

I don’t know, but it’s a good thing they did, because they’ll prolly end up with a bunch more copies sold. Seriously, I think it will drastically change the spready between 360 copies sold and ps3 copies sold.

Hopefully, Sony will learn how sweet the taste is that Microsoft has been savoring this whole time, and start getting some damn exclusive content for their games.

-(MS)Mike out.

There is a small posting of the new Madden 10 DLC and it is great! You can buy things that are pretty similar to cheat codes, but they are not cheat codes, they are premium cheat codes!!! Now I know what you are thinking “Jake, of course I want to pay $60 every year for a roster update and small gameplay and graphics tweaks, but I really want to pay more then that.” Well you are in luck friend, with Madden 10 you will be able to buy the $60 roster update in stores tomorrow AND you will be able to pay for a ton of other great things. How does a more robust multiplayer mode sound? With Madden 10 you will not only be able to play multiplayer but for only $5.00 more you can play the full version of the multiplayer. How great is that? Now I’m sure you are thinking “That sounds great and all but I’m sure it will be months before any of this stuff will be ready for me to pay for.” Not so friend! All of this extra content that you can pay for is ready to be downloaded on day one! You see the fine folks over at EA knew that you wanted to pay more than the retail price for this game, so all of this content has already been taken out of the game! Now you don’t have to worry about having the full version of the game when you buy it.

Madden 10 will blow you away when it hits store shelves tomorrow, and the extra stuff that you will pay for will make you feel like you have the full version of the game. See you online!!! That is, of course, if you pay for the elite multiplayer mode, if not, I may not see you in the exclusive vip lobbies.

-Jake

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is worth the buzz its getting.

I’m looking forward to the new Fallout DLC but im worried it’ll be broken so I’m gonna wait about a week, just in case.

The DSiWare stuff needs to get its shit together. If kongregate.com can do it for free, you should be able to do it for money Nintendo.

Left 4 Dead DLC hasn’t lost its fun yet, and I doubt it will soon.

I’m pretty sure all of this will be addressed in greater detail when the podcast is put up on friday. Look forward to it people.

-(MS)Mike out.

Interesting directors commentary: Sex is very rarely a part of my monthly routine,  so most of my diseases are from stepping on rusty sharp objects or sitting on dirty toilet seats.

I think its really strange how easily tricked I am by video game labeling. Now by labeling, I don’t mean, like…box art or those stickers a game gets if it was an E3 game of show, I’m talking like the style of labeling that happens in high school and makes you not wanna join the RPG club. (but then do it anyways and do a bad ass job in the message board style notebook RP)

Read on, I’ll give you an example, because this is already become more complicated then I meant for it…

(continue reading…)