EA/Eidos vs. Xbox Live and Industry Quick Hits

I really don´t care if E.A makes xbox live compatible games. I stopped buying their games a long time ago, because E.A´s developers are lazy. When they make a game for the xbox-- that is also available on other systems-- instead of taking advantage of the hardware, they will simply port the game without making the necessary improvements to the game. They could go to hell for all I care.

Well you are fool then.. EA is a major power in video games and have the leading sports games..Microsoft must solve this conflict with EA without so much as giving into their demands.Lets call it Showdown: EA

To: THe Unknown Other

You are a fool unknown. Take this into consideration. MAdden 2004 online on xbox live. EA wants you to charge $50 bucks for the game + $50 to be on xboxlive from MS + EA cost just to play online??? WHy should we? MS is already allowing us to play everything but rpg´s for $50 bucks yearly for now. If you had a choice of playing NBA 2k3 for free on xboxlive and then had the option of playing NBA live 2003 on LIVE and also have to pay EA(lets just say 5 - 8 bucks monthly) just to play against others on the same service that has nba2k3 & NBA inside drive is just plain stupid.

Blizzard, Gamespy, SegaNet on the DC, etc, etc, etc had already spoiled everyone with this. Why should it be any different? The only games i would pay after the main fee to get into the xbox servers are RPG´s and i would only pay for the best one or the one i like most.

EA could be the "POWER-PUBLISHER" of the industry but that doesnt give them the right to do anything they feel like it. I played nhl 2002 on pc and was in an online league loving it and all. Nhl 2003 comes out and i cant play online???I then find out that...I HAVE TO PAY TO PLAY A DAM SPORT GAME!!! NEVER THAT!!! Microsoft should not solve anything with EA. Their are better companies out their and others companies that we havent seen yet.

It´s no one´s fault EA decided to invest 100 mil on servers to host The Sims online and then have barely any subscribers. I like playing the Sims but just to play with others online and have to pay for it is a no no in my books(it´s not that serious of a game like ´DARK AGE OF CAMELOT´ is).

I´m personally waiting for Operation Flashpoint(which had the whole huge map battle field before BATTLEFIELD 1942), Raven Shield, Castle, Counter Strike(if Raven shield doesnt beat me to it), Crimson Skies, and many more. If u wish to help EA pay off their bills for setting up a network and not getting a SANE person to pay to play a SPORT game online...be my guess...us SANE people on the field will just be saying "What a sad little monkey".


PEACE OUT!!!
(Catch my on Xbox LIVE to wip ur booty in a game :)

Right on, goon & Ea hater!

You guys just stated everything I´ve ever felt about E-lazylittle-a. Due to xbox365´s comments revoking system, I can´t express my more profound thoughts of Ea on this site. Most definitely, Ea´s approach to online gaming is plain greedy and stupid.

Here´s a stretch... If all those "sad little monkeys" continue to pay the additional fees, just to play a game online which you own, then what keeps other developers from charging an additonal few bucks a month so you can have the right to play online. They wouldn´t even have to have their own multi-million $ servers. We´re already paying an extremely fair amount for an outstanding online experience through XBL!

Yes, Ea is a leading sports games developer but they better realize they can go from hero to zero very quickly. For example, just look at those once invincible powerhouses named Sega & Nintendo (the empire of Sony is also loosing more and more of their dynasty each day). I also stopped buying Ea´s sub-par games last year with no regrets.

Oh, and another thing. If Rainbow Six raises the bar another few notches like Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell, I´m willing to overlook the fact that UbiSoft is a french company.

I really think that this ´negativity´ from EA isn´t EA´s fault. I think that Sony has told them something, that either scares the crap out of them, or they said those ´sweet nothings´ that all guyz like to whisper in their ears. I mean come on, looka t EA´s track record, they made a UNLICSENCED NFL game for the N64. ANd lets recall how many Maddens are on the N64...count them together now. I think that Sony´s playing dirty in my opinon, because EA was never the company to miss a boat of wealth exposure and opportunity..come on they developed quite a bit for the behind the times N64!


Hey ´the goon´ ,
Take this into consideration. Imagine if Sega made a version 3 PSO and took PSO v1 & v2 offline just for an updated version of the 2 previous versions? Sounds stupid huh ? Yes it really does I think. If EA is so major , why dont they try to talk to M$ about that delimma..it would seem to me that either company wouldnt have no problem to shell out some ´Sponduli´(Conker talk for Money). And truthfully, if Sega announced that they would make the Dreamcast 2..well lets just say that it would be kool. DC was great, and even when they where 3rd, they where 3rd and online when Sony being @!*%, was just ´blowing snoke´ about online plans. WHat kinda leader are they ? EA´s tune will change once Sony gets a HD for the PS2...just watch!!

ea hater your wrong! ea programmers are lazy... programmers love to make new stuff, its ea cheif guys that are afraid to make anything new... and possibly risky, they are great at what that company sets to accomplish, make money, but they suck in trying new things, and takes risks on new stuff. Sega is the complete opposite, makes crazy games, don´t care who buys them(well they do), and trys new things, and explores a system resources.

And as for Nintendo...they really are struggling. A price drop would more than likely make that margin behind Xbox a little thinner. I mean sheeesh, a $99(USD) dollar console with the option of getting a free game with purchase is one sweet deal. But most gamerz no matter what console they like or hate, has a soft spot for that ´Nintendo´ logo.

But EA would be obviously bias if they did a XBL soprts title and made all the XBL folk pay them and M$ and let SOny players go free....now that would be a you-know-what !!

To the goon: Get your facts straight "fool".Were are you getting this source that EA wants to charge us 50 dollars. One of EA´s biggest demands in the sports genre is that they be allowed to shut off servers of a 2003 year sports game as soon as the 2004 version arrives.Source is xengamer.com
Your fantasy amounts are what are plaging this site. So i guess your name fits you because your are a foolish "goon"

I bneleive i messed up alot with my last statement.Ill correct what i meant to say when i wake up..

I believe i messed up alot with my last statement.Ill correct what i meant to say when i wake up..so DISREGARD MY STATEMENT

when will xbox bring a game out like gta3 & vice city.

MS does not need EA. EA took a huge hit with the failure of their EA online plan (all that money for servers and nobody playing on them) and with the PS2 online plan being the crap that it is, well let´s just say MS can sit back and let this thing shake out without sweating. In a battle of nerves MS will win over EA every time. Money talks BS walks.

Xbox will bring out a game like Vice City alot sooner than PS2 will bring out a game like Halo.

Sega´s 2k series of sports games are really good i hope sega will eventually beat ea in the sport games department so they can shut the hell up...damn they getting cockier everyday. Remember 3do hahaha see where they at now.

Sega´s 2k series of sports games are really good i hope sega will eventually beat ea in the sport games department so they can shut the hell up...damn they getting cockier everyday. Remember 3do hahaha see where they at now.

I´m sorry "Chad", but I disagree with you and XBOX365´s view of XBOX & XBOX Live needing EA & EA not needing XBOX. EA is not advancing the gaming industry nor do they care to. EA has proven time and time again that the company’s motivation is money only. I find it sad that your site feels the business tactics of EA is good for gaming. EA seems to believe they are the only business that can drive this industry. They will be proven wrong, and MS should not give in to EA´s demands. I will be the @!*% to admit that Madden is a good football game, but how long has that franchise been in production? Is it really good enough to be "Forced" to purchase a new version every year? No!!

XBOX and XBOX Live does not need EA. XBOX and XBOX Live only need time. Time for developers to create the content, and time for the service to roll out completely. XBOX Live does not need EA dictating how the service will be run. Hell if EA wanted to do that they should just start their own online service.

Oh wait, they did start their own online service :-), and look where it is now. EA can continue to boycott XBOX Live, and make their feeble attempts to punish the XBOX owner. Just as VC created the 2k3 series, another developer hungry to advance the gaming industry, will take EA´s place (And you can probably insert UBI Soft here). Peace

"I will be the @!*% to admit" ??? This should have been:

I will be the @!*% (@!*%) to admit...

Ok I will try it on more time:

"@!*%" should be f-i-r-st. "I will be the f.i.r.s.t to admit..."

Hey when,

Look for True Crimes: Streets of L.A. for the XBOX. Might be released around April. It appears to be a winner. Check out all the game trailers at www.gametrailers.com

well if m$ was in #1 spot and had like 6 million players on live ea would be all up bill gates arse. And 1 thing that they should remeber is u cant play a pirate copy on live.
so when live has a shit load of players ea will be there just wait and see.

sega being in a money-blackhole that it couldnt get out of, was why Dreamcast went to sleep forever
Xbox, Xbox Live does not need EA
Xbox, Xbox Live needs Halo 2
and if MS were to get into bed with a publisher, it damn well better be Square/Enix, NOT EA!!!!!
Only two things will keep Xbox in the number 2 spot, SELL MORE SYSTEMS IN JAPAN DAMN IT!!!!!!!, and much more games, thats it
Acclaim needs a new brain

I totally agree ZRifleman,... EA has tried to assume a false posture of "Righteous Indignation" under the guise of Protecting the rights of xbox gamers by not participating in XBL...Their public comment IS AS FOLLOWS: "we at EA feel that M$ is trying to control the gamers lives with XBL, and therefore WE will not participate!"...is designed to illicit the "fear" that M$ will somehow gain some type of Unholy monopoly over the online gaming community by using some kind of invasive process that will seep unvoluntarily into all other aspects of the users lives.

When I downloaded a copy of EA´s Earth and Beyond,..the demo indicated that it was free ,.. but actually you had to at least use a check by phone(preferrably a credit card). If you did not want the service you could refuse it at the end of the trial period or billing would begin automatically.... POINT IS,.. THE COST OF EARTH AND BEYOND IS $9.95 PER MONTH AND THATS 120$ ANNUALLY.....AND WHAT IF YOU WANTED 1942, AND MADDEN ONLINE AS WELL??..YOU WOULD BE PAYING IN ACCESS OF $300 A YEAR(for just 3 games).(THANKS FOR STEPPING IN TO SAVE US FROM MICROSOFT.. EA!!)

INSTEAD I DOWNLOADED A FREE DEMO OF M$ FREELANCER(LEVEL 1) WITH NO OBLIGATION OR CREDIT OR REGISTRATION process (fun game too!).

BOTTOM LINE: EA JUST WANTS TO SUCK UP ALL THE PROFITS INTO THEIR OWN VACCUOUS LARDERS AND ARE WILLING TO DISPERSE BOGUS INNUENDO THAT ITS FOR THE WELLBEING OF US XBOX OWNERS IN THE PROCESS. (HOW WEAK IS THAT!?!?)

BUT JUDGING FROM some of the previous comments, xbox users are not nearly that nieve.

thanks hammer bro

I wonder why Microsoft won´t just buy EA, and shut ´em the
@#*%! up? EA is so money hungry and has their nose shoved so
far up Sony´s ass, their online plans would simply be unprofitable for MS to invest in for the Xbox. I mean, who is willing to pay all of the fess involved, just to play one of their games? Not me!

WHo agrees with my points? Because ´THe Unknow Other´ says my name fits my facts...??? I dont think he has tried to play nhl 2003 (PC) online. Get my facts straight? No numbnuts you get ur facts straight. Your comback was so lame you should just go to sleep now. Many others in this post has made more intelligent post then you.

Grampa Game, Rare/BungieGamer, zRifle1z, anh hung, BadMoonRizing, maiop, Mad Gamer 2 all have made far better facts about EA´s bitching then you.

Right now and anyday i would buy Operation Flashpoint, UBI/Tom Clancy, RTCW, etc over BAttlefield or Medal of Honor(CRAPPY AS$ PORT for the Xbox).

I bought and blessed the great but dead console called Dreamcast. No matter what you like to think, EA sports has nothing on Sega Sports(WSB,Virtua Tennis, NBA, NHL, NFL, hopefully a soccer game by VC also would bitch slap fifa over). HAve u even played winning eleven by Konami? Imagine that online for xbox live...OMG.

Anyways i need to go and stop arguing with this dope who knows nothing and still praises EA sports and anything EA as the king.

To Chad:

I think you over exaggerated on xbox needing EA, Dreamcast needed EA sports but then again after people played NBA 2k they all saw that Sega didnt need EA. This has been the only time when EA need to improve their sports games because they saw the market following Sega Sports gameplay. ´zRifle1z´ also commented on this and i totally agreed with him and forget to point that out the @!*% time around. Like everyone can see EA is just mad that their 100 million dollar network for online play has not being getting profits. M$ should not give EA that controll over Xbox LIVE. No other companies that have and are bringing out LIVE enabled games are crying. They all appreciate the fact that they dont have to set up a network monitor it , secure it, etc. Again the only reason EA is crying about this is because their online pay to play is not working out(dummies).

Do you see what Sony is doing? Can anyone repeat with me "Bitting of Xbox LIVE". That´s correct. They are setting up their own network for players to play on. They are in the testing phase in Europe. But the only reason EA likes this is because Sony is allowing EA to charge and turn off anygame from being able to be played online whenever they(EA) releases a new one. Sony is bending over for anything EA cries about. "Money Talks." Lets wait till E3 or after when sony reveals to similar but not so similar strategy that M$ has with Xbox LIVE.

Chad wants you to think we need EA because he´s one of the biggest Sony,and EA suck ups there is! Ive been saying it for months now CHAD GO WRITE FOR A P/S2 SITE! I´d guess they keep him around to stir things up,but all he´s done is show his stupidity!! EA,and Sony could fall off the edge of the earth,and I could care less(Oh and they could take Chad with them)I´d have a lot more to say about EA,but a lot of you have said it already,and very well at that!!!

We do not need EA.
Neather will xbox
imagine if I had to pay to play the games that I own
like:
Unreal Championship + Moto gp + GHOST RECON + CAPCOM vs SNK
I just luv the XBOX-XBOX LIVE life.

i,too, quit buying ea´s products....let the sheep have em. i had some hope for the sims being live, but that went out the window, and so my stacks of gaming cash go to the real gaming companies out there.

I would have to agree with a lot of you, Microsoft, Xbox, or Xbox Live have no need for EA or their incesant whining. Lets take a good look at EA. They are a company that only trys to make games with mass appeal and a "safe" content. I remember a little game called "THRILL KILL" that was suppossed to come out on psx back in the day. EA bought the rights to the game because they knew it had huge profit potential, kept telling everyone it would be out, and then proved once again they have no stones by cancelling the game in fear of upsetting any conservative yuppies. They didnt even have the stones to tell the gaming community they were cancelling the game. They lied to us right up until the end. Also, if EA is so high and mighty, why, then, just tell me why is Squaresoft not renewing their contract with EA to be their publisher anymore. The contract between the company runs out very shortly and Squaresoft-Enix have already announced they will not be renewing any contracts with EA now or in the future. Then there is the fact of EA´s failed online servers. Everyone knows about it. EA just sees that MS has planned for the future and MS knows that being the game host is where the money will be as more and more games become online, EA sees this as a potential threat to there future profits and they do not like it, Oh well, MS beat them to the punch, sooner or later EA will have to accept it. Not too mention EA´s cookie cutter game philosophy really blows. Make one mold and spread the crap across 3 consoles all identical. F- that and F -them. We deserve better. And I wont even get into the whole "buy a new sports game every year to play online." They obviously arent making the graphics better from year to year, and roster changes you should be able to download, sounds to me like EA is just going on a little ego trip. My prediction, by the time Xbox 2 comes out, EA gives full fledged support to Xbox and Xbox Live, EA is rich, but they are not a patient company when it comes to profit loss, they will start to lose money in the long run because of their hasty decisions regarding Xbox Live, hell they are losing money right now because they have no clue as to what it takes to run an online gaming service. EA´s attitude is that nothing is wrong, everything is fine as usual,,,,yeah, well some one else had those exact last words, The captain of the Titanic,,,LOOKS LIKE EA JUST HIT A BIG GREEN ICEBERG!!!

It is interesting that EAs online plan is "free" of course when you have to buy a new version of the game each year at 50 bucks a pop it suddenly becomes 50 bucks a year to play JUST ONE GAME....hmmm LIVE is 50 bucks a year but I have 5 games. I guess some think MS needs EA and maybe that is true but the performance difference between PS2 and Xbox is so wide that I have no interest in EAs crappy ports.

YEAH!!! WHAT THEY SAID!!!! ^^^

EA would not get any($$)love($$)from this gamer right here.

[ONLY ON XBOX LIVE]

screw EA.dreamcast died because of lack of third party support,much the same way thats happening with ninty.xbox wont die because EA dont support the system.there the ones whos gonna shoot themselves in the foot on this,but i have no time for ea.

Bah, scroodge console online plans. Make me pay a monthly charge for something that´s been free on the PC for years. My only hope rests that the GC´s online plan (lackluster as it is) may provide games for free, but I´m not holding my breath. Gamespy said they would help devs, but the road to hell, et cetera et cetera...

Still sorta on topic, but what about Gamespy tunnel? Can you play games that were set up for Live using it?

8==D= ps2 and ea :)

Time to throw in my $0.02 here.
Fact: EA is the world´s biggest software publisher. Means they sell the most games acrss many platforms. Madden has consistently trounced Sega´s IMO superior games despite not having the backing of reviewers. This means the name has a HUGE weight with the public. MS needs EA onboard and not making stupid inane comments that hurt MS more than it helps. As a 3rd Party that sells a lot of games, MS should at least listen and try to appease them and shut them up. A public spat hurts Microsoft more than it does EA.
I personally have boycotted all EA games just because of their inherent laziness and the unwillingness to put all the features than can just so they can keep selling sequels that are marginal improvements at best.
I´m not blind however to the influence they have on the gaming population at large.

FACT: - EA preferes to make money off quick easy lazy@ss(port)games,that to make money off improved quality games. Wich to me, shouldnt be a good idia for a gamer to support that style.

!!!EA???
Were Are Your Xbox Games?!?!

[OnlyOnXbox]

Hey Dork,

Sure, M$ and Ea should figure something out together but, "A public spat hurts Microsoft more than it does EA."???? Are you on crank? M$ has been in a lot worse public situations (notably with the good old US government) and still came out more powerful and smelling like a bouquet of roses.

Your fact that Ea sells the most game over many platforms doesn´t mean they are the best quality games. My buddy has the crappy gaystation-too and a bunch of Ea games. I rented the same Ea games for my XBOX to see if anything has been improved. Verdict? P*** poor lazt quality. Very little difference between the two systems. The only saving grace is I was able to return the games the next day and got credit for the rentals. My buddy still has his games and doesn´t even play them anymore. He even complained that Ea hasn´t tried to tap the superior techno´s of the XBOX. He´s trying to sell his system on Ebay so he can get an XBOX. What an idiot. Should have listened to me in the @!*% place.

Anyhoo. Dork, at least you´re not one of those "sad little monkeys" who waste their money on those Ea crap games. Good show, man.

EA sucks, so I will only rent their games.

Windwaker is a great game, but my GC collection pales in comparison to my Xbox collection!

Those b1tches just want a big fat slice of the pie.

Fuc|< them I say. I didn´t want to play Sims Online anyway. And who cares about Tomb Raider when you got Splinter Cell.

They can go fuc|< themselves.

F EA - only EA game I ilke is NBA Street - all there other games are GARBAGE!!!!!

Wow, I feel right at home here.

I know we have been hacking on EA, talking about there lazy, pathetic excuse for a corporte plan that does nothing but make money, and I totally agree with that - I boycott all EA games for two reasons: (1) If they made anything really great for my beloved box I might buy is, but they don´t, so that leads to... (2) They simply don´t know how to produce top-flight mind-bending innovative games.

This brings me to my next point.

I think we should look at the polar opposite of EA: SEGA!

I noticed there are a lot a Sega fanboys here, I and I love that fact - Sega has amazed me time and time again. They made Jet Grind Radio, and it barely sold worth crap for the DC, but they knew they made a great game, and it recieved rave reviews. So what does Sega do? They produce a better Xbox sequil, Jet Set Radio Future. Guess what? It doesn´t sell like hotcakes, but Sega doesn´t seem to hate it self for doing that. Why? Because they still have a SOUL.

And aside from JSRF, Smilebit has just thrown us Panzer Dragoon Orta. Frankly, I´d take Orta over Metroid Prime, GTA, or most other "big" console games out now - Orta is a ride I´ll have trouble forgeting. It is a game that might not innovate hugely, but was built with such love and passion that resulted in an epic game adventure with amazing attention to detail.

This is the Sega story. Aside from Sonic The Hedgehog, there isn´t a single title that I can think of from them that they made simply to pimp the market for money, and I say if it takes sonic to keep them afloat while they sink the rest of there cash into makeing money-losing, but ever lovable games, then good on them.

And Sega sports, well, WOW. Heck, I don´t need to play EA´s sports games anymore. They p0wn all of EA´s sports games.

So, at the end of the day, I could care less what EA does. As long as sega keeps giving xbox the uniq kind of love that they have (anyone else here notice the abnormally large number of xbox games they have been making?), I am happy. And as long a Microsoft continues to buy up killer tallent like Rare, Bungie and (I hope) Universal Interactive (which includes Blizzard and Sierra - just imagine, starcraft: ghost xbox exclusive)

Those that claim that the xbox has no killer aps need only wait. The next few years are where I feel we will see the xbox really pick up steam. Once BC, Fable, Halo 2, Gotham 2 and Brute Force hit the shelves, the nay sayers will be shaking there fingers not at the xbox owner, but themselves, for they will realise that they were, to be blunt, wrong.

Well, it´s pretty simple. Ea can expect to never make any serious money off XBOX versions again. Hardly anyone will buy their games unless they´re Live enabled. The only EA game I absolutely have had to have in the past is their college football franchise, but I´ll just have to live without it. I can only hope Sega gets on the ball and finally gets their college game up to par with their NFL games. Also, it´d be nice if Microsoft would make a college game.

Watch out EA... Big Bad Bill and his Boys (the 4 B´s)have entered GameTown, and are here to kick your sorry A$$e$ out! We don´t need EA. People forget who they are dealing with! Say it with me now... MICROSOFT!!! These guys are the supreme rulers of the business world. Remember when Windows entered the market? No one thought they could beat the MAC, but look at what happened! I am not a MS fanboy, I am just telling you the facts. Microsoft knows what they are doing. They have proven the nay-sayers wrong time and time again. Everyone said the Xbox would fail... They are now #2. Everyone said Xbox Live would fail... 500,000 subscribers have proven that it hasn´t. Now we got people saying Micosoft needs EA? Come on! Open your eyes you closed minded fools! Windows didn´t take over the OS market in a day, and neither will Xbox. Time will show you EA fans that the cookie crumbles... and I personally can´t wait to see EA get their A$$e$ kicked.

great piece raven.i agree and what with outrun 2 comin e3,wayyhey.ea only made one good game-and that was road rash 1 on megadrive.

raven- right on man. sega is awesome. i have jet grind radio for the dreamcast, and i bought jsrf on it´s @!*% day on the shelves. it amazes me that such an awesome game doesnt get the credit it deserves. and another thing, i heard sega announced that they wont be making a sequal. that friggin sucks!!

You hatred for EA is pointless. This will not make Microsoft chanfe their minds. I think they already know they are hated. So why bother?

EA may be hated, by they are still making money off of their sub-par games (even of of the xbox ones). So what is there motivation to make better games. Should they strive to be more like Sega, when Sega is barely making it?

Don´t get me wrong. I love Sega. I love most of their games, but more importantly I love their approach to gaming (they care about quality). But the truth is EA is making the money. Sega needs to make some changes or we might loose them all together and be stuck with EA´s crap.

HI EVERYONE

ALL UK GAMERS MUST VISIT WWW.XBOXONLIVE.CO.UK FOR ALL UK INFO

Those of you who praise EA and the games they develop, are what I like to call "Idiot Savants" (a person who is highly knowledgeable about one subject but knows little about anything else). True, EA has tons of money and is a very profitable company at present time. But that is really the extent of your knowledge. Most of your arguments are just rabid kneejerk reactions to credible arguments concerning EA. A company that you´d blindly, or stupidly, which is more the case, follow and happily snap at the ankles of anyone that speaks negatively about them. I guess what I´m trying to say is that you guys are really no more than Rabid Ankle Biting Idiots who refuse, or even worse "can´t" see EA for what they really are.(See above posts) Such a pity.

To Gandpa Games....Do you write for anyone? Maybe reviews for games? You obviously have a talent. I´m no writer, and my punctuation is horrible. :-) But I enjoy reading your posts. :-)

LOL...sorry meant "Grandpa"

Simple logic. Man with money and XBOX want´s to play online games. Sega and Microsoft support XBOX Live, EA doesn´t. Who´s gonna get my money? Definitely NOT EA. They are only hurting themselves.

@!*% off, which you buy. A online game that you can keep on playing and never get bored with or a game that you´ll play for a month. If EA is greedy for money then why wouldn´t they be live. There business ethics is stupid. The object of developers is to sell software and beat out its competitors. If they were making xbox live games don´t they relize that they would probabley sell more software then ever before thus making more money. Thats the reason I don´t buy there games. I want a game that I know I´m gonna get my money worth out of them. $50 bucks for a game is a lot. Remember when they said when they switch to disc games that it would be less expensive because cartiges cost more??? So if I spend $50 on a game and can play it online I feel like I´m getting my moneys worth.....Moral of that is, EA don´t forget who is buying your games---ITS US

I have to disagree with one part of that article...Microsoft and Xbox do not need EA or Eidos. In my opinion they are both past they´re prime and have nothing to shout about gaming wise as of late. I can´t think of a great EA game which as been released lately. Perhaps they make great American Football games (which don´t really appeal to me as Im English) They used to dominate the football (soccer) game market with their FIFA series but even thats been taken by Konami with ISS Evolution and I won´t even go into mentioning their lame James Bond games...

And Eidos, who have made another addition to Tomb Raider...which has bombed big time because it is incredibly dated. Games seemed to have moved on without them even noticing.

I may be wrong and there may be people who love some of there games...but i don´t see it as any sort of loss to Microsoft and it could benefit them if they go off to PS2 and drag Sony down with them. The only problem I can see is if other companies start following suit and start demanding more money...lets hope not.