EA’s Origin may be glorified Spyware…

In case you hadn’t heard already, Electronic Arts’ Origin is more than just a petty attempt to undermine Steam. It’s an insidious petty attempt to undermine Steam. The service has upset gamers since it installs Spyware, allowing EA to dig around in your hard drive as explicitly stated in the terms of service.  The EULA says that EA can identify your computer, operating system, installed/uninstalled software/hardware, and use that information for marketing purposes while merrily sharing it with third party companies. It ‘s all fairly disgusting, and there’s no opt-out offer. If you don’t want EA to know everything about you and pass the information along, your only recourse is to not install Origin — which will mean you can’t play Battlefield 3 on PC at all…

via EA’s Origin may be glorified Spyware, causes mass upset -Destructoid.

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Wow..  Really EA?   Damn does your marketing department have got balls and your programming team must have been outsourced…    WTF is this?  You, EA, provide products we buy, and that is where our relationship ends.  You can ASK to see my system specs in order to see what the ‘normal’ PC is out there but you don’t need to know what I have installed.  Nor can you make money off MY information with out ME getting a cut of it.

You can pay me for my personal information, otherwise  ╭∩╮(°_°)╭∩╮

EA limiting digital and physical launch copies of Star Wars: The Old Republic

Electronic Arts is planning on putting a cap on the amount of players that will be able to access Star Wars: The Old Republic at the launch of the MMORPG this fall. While no specific number has been announced, there is an exact target of player volume that can be reached with a combination of physical and digital sales of the game. Once that cap is reached, Electronic Arts will halt sales of digital copies and wait until server performance can be stabilized to continue selling the potentially popular title. Official reps for Electronic Arts didn’t indicate how long the server upgrade process would be between sale periods.Since digital sales will be limited to the Origin store, it should be a simple procedure for Electronic Arts to halt sales of the game. It’s possible that this move will be perceived by the public as artificially limiting the supply of the Star Wars title to increase demand over time. Fans of the game could potentially become annoyed if the title is unavailable shortly after launch. In addition, this move could backfire on Electronic Arts if the game is heavily preordered, but falls prey to negative reviews from the gaming press which reduces the chances of future sales. The launch date of the game is currently unannounced, but the game will be going into beta testing in September with selected weekends that will allow players to try out the MMORPG. Bioware and Electronic Arts are expected to announce a fall date for the launch of the game to take advantage of the lucrative holiday shopping season. Assuming physical copies aren’t limited from being activated like digital copies once a player cap is hit, it’s also possible that the price of physical copies could skyrocket on third party sites like eBay and Craigslist. If Electronic Arts does plan to cap all copies of the game until servers are capable of handling the load, copies that are purchased for the holidays may not work once received.

via EA limiting digital and physical launch copies of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Syndicate Remake Reveal Rumored For Gamescom

Electronic Arts revealed a few years ago that Starbreeze Studios, the developer behind The Darkness and the two Chronicles of Riddick games, was working on the mysterious Project RedLime, said to be based on a franchise that the publisher owned the rights to. It was later revealed by unnamed sources to be a return to the cyberpunk-inspired Syndicate series, though EA has never officially confirmed it.  It looks like confirmation may be coming soon though, perhaps as soon as next weeks Gamescom.

via Syndicate Remake Reveal Rumored For Gamescom – G4tv.com.

Economy down! Economy down!

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/16/report-modern-warfare-2-triggering-uk-games-price-hike-ea-not/

We feel for our UK-based gaming brothers-and-sisters-in-arms. We’ve seen the gaming industry putting them through the financial wringer many times in the past, but a recent report from MCV describes the cruelest economic hardships they’ve ever had to face — Activision has kicked the UK price of Modern Warfare 2 up to £54.99 (close to $90), and according to the report, other publishers may plan to follow suit, raising the prices on their titles as we move into the holiday season.
The price hike is attributed to rising game development costs and the faltering strength of the pound — still, compared to last holiday season, when titles like Prince of Persia and Far Cry 2 hit store shelves for around £40, it’s a pretty sizable leap to make in just one year. However, not everyone is following Activision’s example — Electronic Arts responded to MCV’s report, confirming that it would not increase the RRP of its holiday releases. We’ll see which strategy pays off once the smoke from the holiday shopping season clears.

Report: Modern Warfare 2 triggering UK games price hike, EA not budging originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Sims Online gets the Axe…

In this day of raising gas prices which in turn rise the price of darn near everything else, EA (Electronic Arts) will kill off ‘The Sims Online’ as of August 1st, 2008.

According to the (official?) EA blog, [EA LAND],  EA is to shut down EA LAND will in turn will kill off the Sims Online.    EA is trying to be ‘nice’ about it by offering paying subscribers with a ‘We’re sorry your ass hurts’ rebate, Either $15 off any game at the EA Store, or 3 months of Pogo.  

(if you are into casual gaming, Pogo would be your best bet.. and no, I’m not a Pogo player..I’ve had the handle of ‘PogoWolf’ LONG before pogo.com was even a glint in someone’s eye.)
 

On a more personal note.. HA HA HA HA HA
Should have kept the money/resources in Earth and Beyond!  Killing my game for this one..  *grrr*