EA won't support Microsofts online plans?

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Fuck a celeron 366 is fine for Q3, you need only run the console for Q3.

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[StriderKyo]

Originally posted by shidoshi

Another example of MS forcing people to play their game or go away, but this time I think they are going to find themselves getting screwed over by trying to do that. This isn't the PC market where they have a stranglehold in place. And since the Xbox isn't close to being the biggest dog in town when it comes to video games, I'm a bit surprised they are being this cocky.

I think you're off on this one. If online gaming's going to take off (in other words, finally be worth the investment various companies have made) it has to be as simple and inexpensive as possible. Would you pay for every tv channel seperately? After spending $40-50 just to have the ability to watch a single channel in the first place (ie, buying the game)? Pay channels are horribly pigeonholed and get nowhere near the viewership basic cable channels do, because the last thing most people want is yet another bill to keep track of.

Now consider the fact that after buying your Xbox, peripherals and games, you then have to pay the phone bill, broadband bill and then pay for individual game servers? (never mind the cable bill, mortgage/rent, car payments, retirment plan, insurance, education plan, health/dental/home/life/car insurance, taxes, crack money, whatever) Who's going to do that? Very few people, I can tell you that - even in the money pit that is PC gaming, people don't want to pay to play. I think you can only realistically get away with charging a single bill.

I don't think it's MS being cocky, but EA - who, incidentally, have a cockiness rating on par with that of MS, they're just a smaller fish. Remember, this is the company that refused to pay license fees to Sega back in the day. Hey, they don't need to be a legit third party, right? They were EA! Then they wouldn't make their 4 -player adaptors compatible with anyone else's because hey, they're EA! Everyone should be thanking them for gracing their system with John Madden's Shitty Football.

I don't think this helps MS any, but I think they should still stick to their guns if they're going to make their online plans work. After buying a PS2, then the hardrive/modem, then the games, then pay individual fees for EA games and Final Fantasy, who's going to want to shell out extra cash for SOCOM or whatever Sony's offering? Hint - no one. If the real future is online, MS's plans are a hell of alot more viable than Sony's all-over-the-place non-plan.

Still, no online Xbox FIFA, F-1 or NHL sucks. Sega's really got to get in gear with those properties.

[Brotherman]

Actually, I think Microsoft and Sony have made the plans that fit the direction that they are going in with their current systems. Microsoft wants to make money with online gaming for the XBox so they set up their plan accordingly. Sony wants to make money by selling their content on PS2 so gaming isn't as important to them so they set their plans accordingly. I like Microsoft's plan better because I only want one bill to play online, but Sony's does make sense when you think about their main purpose for adding online this generation.