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About
I'm a Gen-X gamer, which means I am likely older than you. I've been gaming I was 4 years old and received my first console, an Atari 2600, and I grew up during the Golden Age of Arcades. I didn't "get into gaming" so much as I was raised with it, and never grew out of it.

In addition to this cblog I also publish frequently over on Bitmob, am a writer for Gamer Limit, and the Editor-in-Chief of the English gaming website Game Kudos (http://gamekudos.com/). I also just wrote my first piece for The Escapist.

I prefer FPS titles over anything else. There's something immensely satisfying about throwing thousands of rounds at the enemy and feeling my living room shake. Anything sci-fi is likely to attract my attention, and I have a soft spot for RPGs and RTS titles due to my roots in tabletop gaming. I approach games the same way I approach music: I tend to have very small libraries of titles which I don't just play, but digest. Depth and longevity are my parameters for ownership - but I'll try just about anything if you hand it to me as breadth of experience is important to me, as well.
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I don’t always mind hearing “the company line” from a publisher. It takes balls to feed the gaming press something which the journalist and publisher both know is bullshit. It’s not comfortable for either of them, but serves as a “no trespass” sign to prevent the journalist from pressing too hard on territory he or she is not welcome to tread upon, which will lead to things being much more uncomfortable. And maybe the journalist not getting another interview.

What I can’t stand is when different corporate mouthpieces feed us different lines of bullshit, as in a pair of interviews MCV conducted with Electronic Arts. Their UK general manager Keith Ramsdale was quoted yesterday, stating in reference to Project Ten Dollar, "It all about the customer, about improving their experience. It's not a defensive measure against pre-owned or piracy."

EA Sports president Peter Moore is quoted today, defending the much-reviled EA Sports Pass initiative. “I look at the investment that we make in bringing digital experiences – building solid infrastructure, making sure servers stay up and offering customer support when needed. It all takes time, money and effort and we are at the cutting edge of that.”

So, in other words, EA is charging its customers more money so as to improve their experience of getting content that probably ought to have been included in the shipped copy of the game in the first place (Bad Company 2 V.I.P. maps, Kasumi’s Stolen Memory), or to pay for the sports game servers?

Either of those propositions might make sense in light of EA’s losing $677 million in 2009, if these were truly additional revenue streams; but Project Ten Dollar and the EA Online Pass only target purchasers of used games, not everyone else who throws down for new copies. I’d feel insulted if I honestly thought that these comments were targeted at consumers.

Executives at GameStop must read interviews like these and salivate so copiously that sump pumps have to be installed in conference rooms. Paul Raines, the recently-promoted chief executive officer of GameStop, stated in late May that his company not only supports the Online Pass, but are partnering with Microsoft to promote DLC.

If EA isn’t bullshitting gamers, are they bullshitting GameStop? Something along the lines of “No, we really, seriously, weren’t trying to cut into the used games market that you’re absolutely dominating to ridiculous proportions.” Considering what a huge distributor GameStop has become, if I were a major publisher I might not want to be perceived as trying to weaken their position, either, especially when the initiative to do so was blatantly transparent.

No one should blame EA for trying to recuperate money they feel the used game market is taking out of their pockets, regardless of whether it's an up or down year for them, and GameStop is adaptable. If these initiatives did start cutting into their profit margins I wouldn't put it past them to start bundling DLC cards with used EA games and find a way to maintain those margins.

EA might just be bullshitting themselves, putting a new spin on the "why" of Project Ten Dollar and Online Pass to cover up their miscalculation. In any case, I wish they'd just pick one line and stick to it. It's much easier to maintain illusions that way, and pretend we're not being bullshitted in the first place.



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Actually, I can blame EA for trying to skim more money off the surface - because this was not a problem for them a decade ago. Suddenly, consumer choice has become a problem and they cut content from their games to combat it.

Well, I didn't exactly need EA games before and the practics makes me want them even less now. I don't want such plans to succeed because they are anti-consumer. You don't wave the naughty finger at us for wanting to save a few bucks and buy used.

Did Ford show up at people's doors looking for a cut on the used cars those people sell? They haven't come after me for getting that Mercury Cougar off that guy that sold it to me, nor will auto mechanics deprive me of certain services for doing so.

EA needs to grow the fuck up and find ways to save money internally. They could just make an expansion pack for Madden this year.rather than a whole new fucking game with minor fixes - but they're not willing to do that, now are they?

It would save both them and the consumers money. Not to mention there really isn't a used market for expanaion packs because they would require online registration codes. Problem solved.

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