EA: 'Far Too Many' Games Released During the Holiday Season

by Nick Breckon, Feb 25, 2009 5:39pm PST

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42 Threads | 122 Comments

#119

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By: AgentPothead x Show Full Post

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So video gamers will buy a game if it is good, regardless of when it was released? Wow, somebody make that guy a general manager.

Feb 26, 2009 11:39am PST

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So video gamers will buy a game if it is good, regardless of when it was released? Wow, somebody make tha... : AgentPothead
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- I hear ya. I'm a little sad to hear that Dead Space and Mirror's Edge didn't do too well for them. ... : monchipeters

#121

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By: s33p4g3 x Show Full Post

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Finally at last, I have been saying this for years. You can't have so many good games releasing at the same time, all the companies need to talk to each other like the movie houses do.

Feb 26, 2009 3:46pm PST

Finally at last, I have been saying this for years. You can't have so many good games releasing at the sa... : s33p4g3

#9

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By: Luminair x Show Full Post

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"I think that we traditionally thought that people only buy games at Christmas or around holiday time"

that is exactly what a company that looks at the world in the form of graphs would say.

any gamer has known for years that the 8 months of game droughts we have during the year are stupid. including any of the gamers at companies smaller than ea that HAVE been launching games at times other than prime time. stupid ea.

Feb 25, 2009 5:58pm PST

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"I think that we traditionally thought that people only buy games at Christmas or around holiday time" ... : Luminair
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#26

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By: headbone x Show Full Post

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its really scary a company so inept holds the lives of so many good developers.

Feb 25, 2009 6:32pm PST

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its really scary a company so inept holds the lives of so many good developers. : headbone
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- True dat. : roland4269

#79

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By: Lukiopimp x Show Full Post

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Achievement "Dim Light Bulb" unlocked!
http://achievements.schrankmonster.deAchievement.aspx?text=You%20had%20a%20belated%20revelation!

Feb 26, 2009 12:29am PST

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Achievement "Dim Light Bulb" unlocked! http://achievements.schrankmonster.deAchievement.aspx?text=You%20... : Lukiopimp
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  http://achievements.schrankmonster.de/Achievement.aspx?text=You%20had%20a%20belated%20revelation! Ther... : carmainp
  - That was hilarious. : roland4269

#116

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By: roland4269 x Show Full Post

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Maybe they should be laying off the obviously overpaid upper (mis)management who decided to release all those games at once instead of the employees who after working their asses off to meet deadlines are now struggling and losing not just their jobs, their homes, and their friends, but their life.
Also, paying an insane amount of money for Pandemic + Bioware and then whining that they are losing money and so closed Pandemic Europe, and will close a bunch of other studios, just seems like more mis-management to me.

Feb 26, 2009 10:15am PST

Maybe they should be laying off the obviously overpaid upper (mis)management who decided to release all t... : roland4269

#115

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By: jigstah x Show Full Post

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"We thought people only bought games if there was a number after them..."

Feb 26, 2009 9:52am PST

"We thought people only bought games if there was a number after them..." : jigstah

#113

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By: mercenarysg x Show Full Post

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No shit.

Feb 26, 2009 9:23am PST

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No shit. : mercenarysg
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- exactly. you can't get more 'fucking duh' than this.. : greydog

#111

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By: baconwizard x Show Full Post

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This article is just another example of companies that somehow get disconnected from their customers.

Feb 26, 2009 8:41am PST

This article is just another example of companies that somehow get disconnected from their customers. : baconwizard

#38

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By: jayares x Show Full Post

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In other news the sky is blue, ea loves microtransactions and dow2 owns.

Feb 25, 2009 7:19pm PST

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In other news the sky is blue, ea loves microtransactions and dow2 owns. : jayares
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  It owns only halo wars, and not even the original dow. : mizeriq
  - I hate resource management, I love DoW2. : h0cake

#21

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By: mobab x Show Full Post

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Wow during thanksgiving.

Anyone else remember the dates on these games and their expansions?

Warcraft
Warcraft 2
Starcraft
Diablo
Diablo 2
Warcraft 3

Feb 25, 2009 6:19pm PST

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Wow during thanksgiving. Anyone else remember the dates on these games and their expansions? Warcra... : mobab
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- blizzard don't count, as they cock tease you with a title for 3-4 years then your just glad they released... : Saithene
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  Blizzard releases whenever they are ready, Diablo 1 for example was out in the first quarter and that's b... : mizeriq
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    So if you make good games, people will buy it no matter when it was released. : mobab
    - More like, if you're a good company, people will buy it no matter when it was released. EA doesn't fal... : sreyes22

#16

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By: xsikal x Show Full Post

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...says the publisher who just decided to hold the Dragon Age PC release until the holidays...

Feb 25, 2009 6:12pm PST

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...says the publisher who just decided to hold the Dragon Age PC release until the holidays... : xsikal
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  ...says the publisher who just delayed the game to let it be finished. jesus. we even had a bioware guy p... : xsoulbrothax
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    Do I believe that they can use the time to polish the game? Sure. Any game can always use more time. D... : xsikal

#42

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By: Jobos x Show Full Post

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It's so sad to hear that Mirror's Edge didn't make that much money. That's the coolest, most stylish, most beautiful game I've played in a long, long time. They're on to something special with that IP.

Feb 25, 2009 7:36pm PST

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It's so sad to hear that Mirror's Edge didn't make that much money. That's the coolest, most stylish, mo... : Jobos
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#105

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By: axiomatic x Show Full Post

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OK seriously EA, fire the marketing department. I can find forum after forum on every gaming site on the planet including EA's own forums where your customers complain loudly about the x-mas game release glut. I mean really... economics 101 stuff here.

Feb 26, 2009 7:20am PST

OK seriously EA, fire the marketing department. I can find forum after forum on every gaming site on the ... : axiomatic

#104

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By: ezanga x Show Full Post

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Oh, and btw, another little game launched in the holiday season called WotLK . . . . I can say that it cut into a very significant portion of my game playing time. I've purchased games that I haven't even touched. I'll get to them for sure but I like most gamers have to pick and choose their priorities.

Feb 26, 2009 6:51am PST

Oh, and btw, another little game launched in the holiday season called WotLK . . . . I can say that it cu... : ezanga

#102

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By: samduhman x Show Full Post

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100% agree. I bought a butt load of PC games during the holiday season and still didn't get all the ones I wanted. I'm still trying to get around to buying them but new PC releases keep on coming.

Feb 26, 2009 6:33am PST

100% agree. I bought a butt load of PC games during the holiday season and still didn't get all the ones ... : samduhman

#19

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By: Johnnsen x Show Full Post

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"I think that we traditionally thought that people only buy games at Christmas or around holiday time," he continued. "And now we're looking back and going, 'You know what, GTA launched in May; Resident Evil comes out in March.'"

Very smart thinking there. Really impresses me. Jeez, and people like this are managers? LMAO!

Feb 25, 2009 6:18pm PST

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"I think that we traditionally thought that people only buy games at Christmas or around holiday time," h... : Johnnsen
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  It's well known EA have big problems with management, let's see how many years it will take them to reali... : mizeriq
  - I fear this realization will only happen after they do so many lay offs that all they're left with IS the... : Azrael88

#98

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By: isy2736 x Show Full Post

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Maybe, but just maybe it has something to do with the unpolished games that they're releasing like a pregnant bunny. Quality over quantity any day.

Feb 26, 2009 5:16am PST

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Maybe, but just maybe it has something to do with the unpolished games that they're releasing like a preg... : isy2736
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- No kidding. If you have X amount of cash and a ton of new games to choose from, you're going to buy the w... : Rehevkor

#86

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By: szimm x Show Full Post

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i love this new EA attitude - finally putting some attention to the quality of the end product, innovation and looking at customers interests instead of always the money. keep up the good work, EA, and if your new IPs match the quality of dead space and mirrors edge, i will definitely buy them. :) (just remember to bring them to PC, haha!)

Feb 26, 2009 12:45am PST

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i love this new EA attitude - finally putting some attention to the quality of the end product, innovatio... : szimm
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- Looking at customers interests?. Good work?. EA?!?!?! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! : paketep

#2

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By: LeeMon x Show Full Post

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And to think, it only took them the entire lifetime of the gaming industry to figure out what the players have been telling them the whole time.

Feb 25, 2009 5:46pm PST

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And to think, it only took them the entire lifetime of the gaming industry to figure out what the players... : LeeMon
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  yeah, especially in August, when almost nothing is being released, and most of the gaming news has to do ... : the archvile
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    I think Crysis was release in August, and then Warhead in September the next year. Gotta love those Germ... : Jobos
- No crap... The worst part is that alot of the holiday games sell even worse because they're unpolished tu... : jad3d

#50

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By: jabuck x Show Full Post

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well damn, its about time they figured this out.

Feb 25, 2009 8:19pm PST

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well damn, its about time they figured this out. : jabuck
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- my thoughts exactly : ClawHammR

#84

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By: moidoid x Show Full Post

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I think that the 'No Shit' comment has been done now huh?

Feb 26, 2009 12:37am PST

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I think that the 'No Shit' comment has been done now huh? : moidoid
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  Yeah no kidding - what's with the gaming industry being so far behind? This goes beyond just "it's common... : ElArabDeMagnifico
  - Because it's a gaming industry. It's a business. They're not going to make any radical decisions on how t... : Arceihn
- I didn't read down but I figure about a dozen or so times. No shit indeed. : BorenKets123
- This : TheGamer11

#5

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By: the archvile x Show Full Post

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It only took EA a multi-trillion-dollar financiapocalypse coupled with a number of outshined holiday releases to realize that the holiday sales season is crowded.

...we're now learning that we could probably launch a game at any time, and if it's a good game it will be well received.

FarCry and UT2004 released in spring of 2004, Doom 3 released in summer of 2004, Prey released in late spring 2006, and EA Redwood's GM is just NOW thinking that Christmas is too crowded?!

Feb 25, 2009 5:53pm PST

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It only took EA a multi-trillion-dollar financiapocalypse coupled with a number of outshined holiday rele : the archvile
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  ...and Burnout Paradise in January/February, Army of Two in March, Mass Effect PC in May, BF Bad Company ... : xsoulbrothax
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    It's not just that it's too crowded.. The real issue is EA has historically pushed games out the door be... : jjastor
    - yeah, they definitely used to do that...and they stopped doing it a couple years ago. they're losing m : xsoulbrothax
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  Prey didn't sell for shit. Anything that is said otherwise is ignoring publicly tracked sales data. : acheron
  - http://dukenukem.typepad.com/game_matters/2006/10/casting_a_wider.html : Kristian Joensen

#78

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By: AlexW1203 x Show Full Post

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I think it's more complicated than "games sell all year round." I think that games directed towards a mature audience (i.e. people with their own credit cards, here) will have much less dependence on holidays to sell.

However, seeing as how birthdays are impossible to account for, kid-aimed games seem like they would have a bigger sales boost from being released close to the Christmas shopping period.

Feb 26, 2009 12:21am PST

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I think it's more complicated than "games sell all year round." I think that games directed towards a mat... : AlexW1203
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- Not really. "Casual" games like that are evergreen. They do sell well at Xmas, but you can pretty much re... : node

#70

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By: VuduChild x Show Full Post

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AW DER!!!!!!!

Feb 25, 2009 10:31pm PST

AW DER!!!!!!! : VuduChild

#1

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By: lplasmatron x Show Full Post

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News at 11!

Feb 25, 2009 5:41pm PST

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News at 11! : lplasmatron
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  Make up your mind EA, first you say you lost money because of pirating now it's because you put out too m... : stewballz123
  - Did EA blame piracy on these? Both Mirrors Edge and Dead Space were predominantly console titles. I dont ... : Sturm08
  - I'm pretty sure that EA has ever flat-out said that they lost money or had an unprofitable game due to pi... : qsylvr
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  ... says the guy an October 28 release date. ;) : ThomW
  - Oh trust me, I realize we're part of the problem and I really wish that we weren't part of Game Season li... : lplasmatron

#59

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By: Arceihn x Show Full Post

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Gamers have been saying this for years, but it's awesome to hear a giant company like EA actually come around at last. Hopefully others will follow suit.

Feb 25, 2009 9:05pm PST

Gamers have been saying this for years, but it's awesome to hear a giant company like EA actually come ar... : Arceihn

#53

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By: jake2000 x Show Full Post

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ALRIGHT! fucking yeah.

You'd think someone would have noticed the horrible trail of smoldering corpses of Christmas also-rans littering the last decade of gaming history before now. Good to hear though!

Feb 25, 2009 8:43pm PST

ALRIGHT! fucking yeah. You'd think someone would have noticed the horrible trail of smoldering corpse... : jake2000

#52

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By: theflux x Show Full Post

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How can anyone be so high in a company, and yet so dumb. Not only were there far far too many AAA quality games released in that period that had poor sales, but EA competed with *itself* during that time as well.

Feb 25, 2009 8:24pm PST

How can anyone be so high in a company, and yet so dumb. Not only were there far far too many AAA qualit... : theflux

#51

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By: mactu x Show Full Post

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Lol is this for real, those comments sound like they come from an Onion story. As others have said, no shit!

Feb 25, 2009 8:20pm PST

Lol is this for real, those comments sound like they come from an Onion story. As others have said, no sh... : mactu

#49

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By: f1kt1t1ous x Show Full Post

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Isn't this a "DUH!" moment for us gamer? I know for as long as I can remember not having shit to do in the summer so I'd go outside (*gasp*) and dick around firing off fireworks and pissing off golfers on the course. Ah, the good ol' days. Over a decade later they are finally gonna start giving us some games to chew on throughout the year I hope, and good ones no less. Not just crap regurgitated. BTW, I bought Mirror's Edge and Dead Space. I have little sympathy for EA as they were something else before Ricci took over.. constantly reiterating crappy franchises and squeezing the life out of movies and sports franchises alike. They can't expect people to just change their minds after all those years of "tyranny" but I will always support a good game whether it's through a big name publisher/dev or and indie one. And hell if Valve can be published by them now, I guess they aren't so bad after all... LOL

Feb 25, 2009 8:16pm PST

Isn't this a "DUH!" moment for us gamer? I know for as long as I can remember not having shit to do in th... : f1kt1t1ous

#4

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By: dedgecko x Show Full Post

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two words

NO SHIT!!

Feb 25, 2009 5:52pm PST

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two words NO SHIT!! : dedgecko
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- LOL! Seriously, just LOL! How many years have gamers bemoaned the fact that most games were released duri... : jtthe2nd

#35

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By: finger x Show Full Post

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Next EA is gonna come out and tell us that despite what we traditionally thought, water is in fact wet.

Feb 25, 2009 7:05pm PST

Next EA is gonna come out and tell us that despite what we traditionally thought, water is in fact wet. : finger

#33

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By: wytefang x Show Full Post

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I believe that I speak for most (if not all) of us when I say, in response to Mr. Schofield, "Well, duh."

Feb 25, 2009 6:52pm PST

I believe that I speak for most (if not all) of us when I say, in response to Mr. Schofield, "Well, duh." : wytefang

#31

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By: steauengeglase x Show Full Post

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EA is right, there are far too many unfinished EA titles coming out during the holiday season.

Feb 25, 2009 6:48pm PST

EA is right, there are far too many unfinished EA titles coming out during the holiday season. : steauengeglase

#11

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By: deviantpaul x Show Full Post

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if those games are not selling, cut the fokking price by 50% and i'm sure that might create more sales

Feb 25, 2009 6:04pm PST

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if those games are not selling, cut the fokking price by 50% and i'm sure that might create more sales : deviantpaul
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- 9 years from now he will be saying "We are just now realizing that the movie and music industry have b... : ease one

#24

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By: ease one x Show Full Post

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I really don't understand why EA didn't pay me like $20 or $30 for five minutes of consulting. I could have saved/made them a TON of money. It's pretty amazing if you think about it.

Feb 25, 2009 6:27pm PST

I really don't understand why EA didn't pay me like $20 or $30 for five minutes of consulting. I could h... : ease one

#23

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By: Prozium x Show Full Post

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Looks like Captain Obvious now works for EA.

Feb 25, 2009 6:20pm PST

Looks like Captain Obvious now works for EA. : Prozium

#20

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By: l0s7man x Show Full Post

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I still haven't picked up Crysis Warhead, Dead Space will have to wait a bit too (goes for 12gbp atm!). Was there a new Call of Duty? need to cram it somewhere...

Just how many games can you play at the same time?

On the other hand, if they release all games during Christmas, over next few months we'll see HUGE discounts; let the bargain hunting begin!

Feb 25, 2009 6:19pm PST

I still haven't picked up Crysis Warhead, Dead Space will have to wait a bit too (goes for 12gbp atm!). W... : l0s7man

#13

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By: qwplayer x Show Full Post

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No shit!

Feb 25, 2009 6:09pm PST

No shit! : qwplayer

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