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More insane and ignorant comments from EA executives. On this week's show EA CTO Rajat Teneja claims Xbox One and PlayStation 4 will be more powerful then next-gen PC hardware.

The new PlayStation 4 and Xbox One come with some pretty impressive hardware on the inside. So good, in fact, that Electronic Arts CTO Rajat Teneja believes that the performance and hardware in the Xbox One and PS4 “are a generation ahead of the highest end PC on the market,” so not just gaming PCs in general, but the best gaming PC ever.

After that, he didn’t mention PCs again, only saying that “benchmarks on just the video and audio performance are 8-10 times superior to the current gen,” saying that “the compute capabilities of these platforms and the data transfer speeds we can now bank on, essentially removes any notion of rationing of systems resources for our game engines.”

The Xbox One comes with an 8-core processor along with 8GB of RAM. We’re not told about specifics, but a good guess would that both the PS4 and the Xbox One are running AMD’s Jaguar chip. Compared to gaming PCs, most gamers have a quad-core processor in their gaming rigs, with a few 8-core chips floating around.

However, Microsoft nor Sony have revealed what graphics their respective consoles are running, but if they’ve seen the just-announced NVIDIA GTX 780 Titan graphics chip, I’m pretty sure they’d run away whimpering. Imagine two of those cards in SLI — the gaming prowess would be practically infinite.

However, it’s possible that Teneja doesn’t actually mean these new consoles are faster, but rather just have newer technology in them, meaning that the processor inside the Xbox One and PS4 are so new, that it isn’t available for PCs yet. Then again, from the way that Teneja worded his blog post, it seems to mean that PCs don’t stand a chance against the next-gen consoles, which is quite saddening to hear.

http://www.slashgear.com/ea-cto-xbox-one-and-ps4-are-a-generation-ahead-of-pcs-23283380/#comment-906994862

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Are... are EA ceasing to be dicks?..

EA has cut the price of around a dozen Online Passes and in-the-box DLC on Xbox Marketplace - making the whole lot entirely free to download.

The publisher pledged to end its controversial Online Pass programme earlier this month after "listening to feedback", and said none of its new games would include the feature.

Not that you ever took me out on missions, anyway.

Today's move suggests EA is now retroactively applying this policy to its older titles.

Battlefield Bad Company 2's VIP Pass, Skate 3's Skate Share Pack plus Online Passes for Bulletstorm, Kingdoms of Amalur, Medal of Honor and Shift 2 Unleashed have all been cut from 800 Microsoft Points (£6.80) to nothing, NeoGAF spotted.

In-box DLC content such as Dragon Age: Origins' The Stone Prisoner and Mass Effect 2's Cerberus Network Pass (originally 1200 Points apiece) are also now free.

There's also no charge for Dragon Age 2's Black Emporium DLC, included with the game's Signature Edition, or the Xbox 360 version of American McGee's Alice, included with copies of Alice: Madness Returns (you'll still need that game's disc to play it).

Some of this in-box DLC gave access to a significant amount of extra content (the Cerberus Network Pass for Mass Effect 2 included the extra squad member Zaeed, plus new vehicle-based missions and other goodies).

But not all Online Pass content has been made free. You can still pay 800 Microsoft Points for Online Passes to more recent EA releases, such as Tiger Woods 14 and Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel, for example.

We've asked EA if it will continue cutting the price of Online Passes for the rest of its catalogue, and also when these savings will be available on other platforms.

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EA breaks up with Tiger Woods

"EA SPORTS and Tiger Woods have also made a mutual decision to end our partnership, which includes Tiger's named PGA TOUR golf game. We’ve always been big fans of Tiger and we wish him continued success in all his future endeavors.

Moving forward, we will continue to work with the PGA TOUR exclusively to create groundbreaking golfing titles and our partnership remains strong."

EAnotiger.jpg

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Pacther farts out a prediction of EA's move for their winter 2014 man shooter:

ORIGINAL STORY: Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has claimed Criterion is working on a military shooter that may become a Battlefield spin-off.

In a note issued to press this afternoon, Pachter responded to a suggestion that Battlefield 5 would be delayed by developer DICE outside of EA's 2015 financial year (which ends 31st March 2015) because of Battlefield 4's troubled launch.

"We believe this speculation is unfounded," Pachter said.

"Although EA has as yet to announce a Battlefield extension for FY15, we believe Criterion Games is working on a military shooter that may become a brand extension for the Battlefield franchise in FY15."

Is Pachter right? "We spoke with management on Thursday afternoon, and although they have not yet announced a version of Battlefield for FY15, they confirmed that our understanding is spot on and that if a version of Battlefield were to be released in FY15, it would be developed by a studio other than DICE," he said.

We followed up with the analyst, who declined to comment further. EA declined to comment when contacted by Eurogamer.

If true, the news would come as some surprise. In September the much-loved UK developer of the Burnout series and recent Need for Speed games downsized to just 15 people as it moved away from the racing game genre.

The Need for Speed series is now under the charge of Swedish studio Ghost Games, which worked on this year's entry, Need for Speed: Rivals, with the help of a large number of Criterion staff in Guildford, UK.

At the time Alex Ward, the creative director of the EA-owned developer, revealed on Twitter that Ghost UK was formed as a result of this partnership, with he and 15 Criterion staff working from a new location on something new.

I asked Ward about the claim on Twitter. He replied: "I'm not really in a position to comment I'm afraid."

Then, "Things are not always what they seem."

As for DICE, it has a lot on its plate. The huge developer, now with offices in Sweden and Los Angeles, is working on Battlefield 4 patches and DLC, Mirror's Edge 2 (which Pachter expects will launch during EA's FY16), and Star Wars Battlefront ("possibly" a FY17 release). And, of course, the inevitable Battlefield 5 - probably out late 2015.

Criterion does have experience in the shooter genre. In 2006 it released the well-received first-person shooter Black for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Could Criterion be working on Black 2?

One thing is clear: EA will want a military shooter for November 2014 to go up against rival publisher Activision's next Call of Duty game. With DICE insisting it work to a two-year development schedule for Battlefield, could another studio be set to fill the gap?

Pachter then changes his mind a squeaks out this noise:

UPDATE: Analyst Michael Pachter has told Eurogamer he now believes it is Dead Space developer Visceral making the shooter.

Visceral's only announced project post-Dead Space 3 is an untitled Star Wars game.

That's some pretty good guessing. I guess that it's a team up effort and it will be a game that shows the Criterion's Black and Battlefield are set in the same universe. Maybe it will be Black Comapany 3.

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Time to blow the dust off this thread, I've a feeling EA might be courting controversy for a while longer.

 

There's this EUROGAMER article here, but it's a hyperlink included within I want to focus on. 

 

http://investor.ea.com/eventdetail.cfm?EventID=186222

 

Quote

But EA's resolve remains resolute. Speaking at a Credit Suisse conference yesterday, chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen said, "We're not giving up on the notion of MTX [microtransactions]."

 

He then goes on to talk about them coming back into SWBFII at some point.

 

It makes me wonder if EA have a long term plan outside of cramming all the games they have brought under their stable with MTX. Aside from A Way Out, Fe and Anthem it doesn't look like they have any plan to expand on a portfolio and keep making new experiences. Not that we really know much about those games outside of what we've been shown, but Anthem looks like it could potentially be lousy with extras the consumer is expected to pay for. It's sad because Anthem looks like it could be a contender if they make it so that it's actually more than a vehicle to shift micropayments on.

 

If that's EA's long term plan then they're only going to brick themselves into a wall. I barely know a soul that thinks that crates or items at an extra cost to the base game are a good thing. Eventually it has to catch up with them. The sports side of the company won't be able to keep the rest of the company buoyant when they're going to continue upsetting the people that buy the games. I'm already looking at the games I'm usually a consumer of and deliberating whether I should bother with them, not for a want of not wanting to play them, but a case of me not wanted to get played by them. It's really only a matter of time before people are spooked from a game because of the practices forced upon it by EA and another dev gets shuttered because they didn't meet an unrealistic profit line.

 

It's alright making money right now, but if it's fucking up the chances you're going to make next year or over the next 5 years then it's not really sustainable.

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Most of my IRL mates are already spooked by anything EA or anything Dice, the writing is on the wall for them now, there has been such enormous negative press that I just can't see this being anything other than the beginning of the end, if they lose the star wars deal and then lootbox/card pack stuff gets branded as gambling then it's going to be such an impact on their products that it really will take a toll. They are going to have to start putting out proper games, all of their games will have to change. 

 

Really, they were doomed when they started relying on the microtransaction model because it's simply not sustainable. 

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I feel the same way, I don't really trust any of the big publishers now. Greedy game design or shitty games sold on a promise have damaged my confidence across the board.

 

I've said this elsewhere, but I'll say it here as well just so it's a bit more propagated.

 

I believe in 10 years time that at least one of the big publishing houses will have gone tits up or gone through severe restructuring to keep the wolves from the door. EA, Activision, Ubisoft and Take 2 Interactive cannot and will not be able to sustain themselves through the current means of operation with the mentality they have now. If you look at the NASDAQ for these companies and see the rise in share prices you're going to see similarities to situations like the dot.com and housing bubble burst. These companies will either collapse or splinter to save themselves from going completely under once investors get cold feet.

 

I think we're going to see a rise of self publishing games like Hellblade, where developers thrown out on their arse by the big pubs will rally against all the shite they were forced to put into their games. People will only take so much before they fold, it's really not good for the industry overall to behave how they are over the last 10 years or so. There's ways of doing things that aren't going to piss sections of their consumers off like they're doing now.

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I love big budget AAA games, so I personally hope the big publishers stick around.

 

I think out of them all Ubisoft are the most future-proofed, they have significantly higher amount of IP and many more studios around the world than the other publishers, and don't rely on one or two franchises as a crutch, they're also the only publisher to consistently invest in new IP.

 

It's easy to forget they're all making money hand over fist as well, EA make $800m just from FUT alone, you think that's just going to evaporate? No chance, FIFA is ingrained in football culture now, the two have become one.

 

People will completely forget the BF2 controversy as soon as the next Battlefield rolls around as well.

 

In 10 years they'll all be exactly where they are now, it's just some like EA and Activision will rely on mobile games and LB/MTX much more than today. The only way any of them will go tits up is if they come out with some dopey peripheral like uDraw with THQ, and they're all sensible enough for that not to happen.

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I agree if a business gets too greedy and loses sight of what got them there, then it'll be an end sooner or later. But. I'm not sure this is the end. All they have to do is learn from this, reel it in, control that greed and just keep it to cosmetic in future.

 

Overwatch is touted as the precursor to all this. Thing with Overwatch is that it's cosmetic only and has just enough 'free' content dribbled in to keep the balance happy. And it's a complete and polished game in its own right - there's that.

 

If you take a miss step and release an unfinished rushed game, or one weak on content, or not enough DLC, or creep into pay to win, then your going to be scrutinised I think from now on.

 

Gamers are fickle tho, especially the new age ?

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14 hours ago, Blakey said:

I love big budget AAA games, so I personally hope the big publishers stick around.

 

I never said so called AAA would disappear. I said the people delivering them would be vastly different. There's a difference, the product will always come, the delivery will just be changed.

 

As much as I hate Ubisoft, I think they're in the mindset that will see them through, they're not scared to completely change what we'd expect of a franchise nor are they scared to come out with something completely new. If only their products had a shelf life of more than a few weeks before they turned to shit. Better quality control and a better roadmap for supporting the games that are meant to be played for a long time are needed. That's not just an Ubi quibble though, all the big players could do with the same increase.

 

EA's stock will bounce back, but if they continue to make headlines more and more people will have an inherent distrust of their products and the same will happen again if they're going to start playing silly bastards again, which of course they will.

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I watched that whole thing last night, fascinating stuff.

 

It seems pretty clear now that all the money that loot boxes generate would’ve been possibly the biggest factor that enabled EA to get the Star Wars license. Now that various countries are looking into regulation, Disney could drop their license and EA could kill the golden goose.

 

Whoever green lit the original progression units into BF2 must be polishing up their CV right about now.

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