EA Cuts Current-Gen Prices

Gamespot is reporting that Electronic Arts is cutting the prices of their PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube titles, now that next-gen consoles are beginning to hit the scene. Their 360, DS, and PSP titles are unaffected. From the article: "The prices of several of the company's current-generation games have been reduced in an attempt to get the most out its current crop of titles. Madden NFL 06, NBA Live 06, FIFA 06, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire all seem to have benefited from the price drop, as their Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, and PC versions are all now available for $29.99. Other games affected by the price slashing include Need for Speed Most Wanted (now $39.99) and Medal of Honor: European Assault (now $19.99)."

Comments

MMORPGs?

[Motherfucking Shit]

Where's the price cuts for, say, Ultima Online? I'd rather see some discounts in the MMORPG space - current or not - than in the console arena, but I imagine that since the client base for MMORPGs is fairly constant (PC users), they won't drop the prices there. Oh well, perhaps better luck next time.

Re:MMORPGs?

[pHatidic]

Back when I played UO the game cost 50 dollars and came with a 30 day free trial. Now the game costs 20 dollars and comes with 45 days free. Granted, I think the monthly cost should be cheaper now that it's 8 years old, but it still has come down somewhat. The thing is though that if you can get past the 2D isometric graphics, UO is still more advanced after 8 years than WoW is today. Granted, UO has been dumbed down since for noobs since I quit, but even still.

Re:MMORPGs?

[Motherfucking Shit]

The thing is though that if you can get past the 2D isometric graphics, UO is still more advanced after 8 years than WoW is today.

For me, this isn't something to get past; I love the isometric view as opposed to the 3D client, or even the clients of other games. I've been a UO player since 1999, and while I haven't played in many months, I still keep my account paid up. I guess it's force of habit. Twice now I've sold off my accounts on eBay for a nice profit, and sworn UO off forever. And I always came back eventually.

The next time I get "the itch," it will be far easier to jump back with a current account (and house, and gold, and possessions) than to start anew. And that's worth the monthly fee to me, even as I do nothing with it. I learned my lesson the first two times; selling your accounts and houses and whatnot is a bad move in the long run. I wish I'd never sold my original accounts; if I still had them, I'd be a veritable gazillionaire in a land full of billionaires.

But as long as EA is handing out discounts, hey, how about something for the multi-year loyal MMORPG customers who have paid the fees month in and month out, and purchased the necessary upgrades. That's all I'm sayin'.

EA's PC games still rushed-out

[Aceticon]

My recent personal experience with one of EA's PC games (Battlefield 2) is that what could've been one of the best multiplayer FPSs of the decade was rushed out the door and ended up un-optimized (needs more than 1Gb memory), buggy and unbalanced.

To add injury to insult, they've been more busy putting out expansions than fixing bugs/improving code (2nd expansion in 6 months is coming out).

I get the impression that while most of the industry has moved onwards - in terms of beter testing, tuning and balancing their games before release - EA is still stuck in 1990s mode of ship it ASAP even if full of bugs 'cause their customers think that a game crashing is "normal".

Are they also like this outside PC gaming?

so...

[MadJo]

so basically you get even more "value" for your buck if you stick to the current-gen systems?

Given that the 360 versions of all EA's sports games were in fact products with less features.
Fifa 06 on the XBox360 has less gameplay options than the same game on the Xbox1? How can this be?
Same goes for NBA 06 btw.
i don't want shiny, sweaty basketball players, I want gameplay that matches my set.

They should slash the prices of their next-gen crappy ware.