View Full Version : Why I love Electronic Arts
Pop Culture Portal
07-30-2004, 12:48 PM
When I was growing up, my dad, believe it or not, introduced my brother and me to video games. One of the first "systems" my dad brought home was a C64. Among the plethora of games my brother and I acquired, Bard's Tale was one of our favs. Telling a story and fighting monsters on the TV became a whole different meaning when compared to playing one of the other systems on the TV. Soon, our cousins and a few kids from the 'hood would all drop by as we tried to figure out our next collective move on the small, blinking screen. We began seeking out EA games at the local appliance stores (yes, this is where games used to be sold). EA games were easy to spot with their LP album-like looking packaging and their distinctive geometric-like logo of old. EA was definitely a factor in perpetuating my love for games with their numerous launch titles back in the early 80s like Archon, another fav. Thanks Trip, your company has done well and lasted over 20 years to be one of the oldest and most respected around. Saaaalluuute!
digitalpress
07-30-2004, 01:01 PM
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Flack
07-31-2004, 03:36 PM
Greetings PCP. You have been recognized as a friendly tribe.
In the mid-80's, my parents owned a computer store. At the time, my family owned all three major computers (Apple, IBM, and C64), although the C64 was solely mine (we had an SX64 on display at the store, for testing software and showing off demos).
My best friend during that time had fairly well off parents, and got pretty much whatever he wanted. We would go to my dad's computer store and buy all the EA software. Bard's Tale was just one we got -- Archon, Battle Chess, Mail Order Monsters, Marble Madness and of course Realms of Impossibility were all ones we bought and played endlessly.
Later, Skate or Die, Wasteland, Ultimate Wizard and Neuromancer were also great EA games.
Pop Culture Portal
07-31-2004, 10:23 PM
*you have encountered a friendly C64 SID*
Greetings! Can't tell you how many times my brother and I used to fight over our C64. Remember Slinky (was that the name?)? We had that game on tape...painfully long loading time, but tons of fun.
Speaking of SIDs, the so-called "follow-up" to Skate or Die (which was another game we used to fight about) was Ski or Die...long before the Xgames. I can still sorta hear that addictive music playing in my head to Ski or Die. Not a bad game...certainly better on the C64 than on the NES, at least music wise.
Dahne
07-31-2004, 10:40 PM
A google image search for "Electronic Arts logo" turns up this. (http://www.intens.ro/hai/logo.jpg) :hmm:
Also this, (http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A10613/high/tat4.jpg) which is pretty cool.
Mayhem
08-01-2004, 10:20 AM
Early EA stuff was great on the C64... even if they were just publishing it rather than being internally responsible... Seven Cities of Gold, MULE, Racing Destruction Set, Deathlord etc.
Two words: Bard's Tale 8-)
Mayhem
08-01-2004, 12:13 PM
I never found out why Interplay switched to EA for Bard's Tale after their adventure games (Mindshadow, Tracer Sanction, Borrowed Tale) had been published by Activision. Must have been some reason. The original game is THE dungeon crawling, creature killing epic and classic :)
VinnyT
08-01-2004, 01:10 PM
EA and Sega combined to bring out some of the greatest games made, like the Mutant League series, and Bubsy.
Wait, they didn't make Bubsy, did they?
digitalpress
08-01-2004, 01:41 PM
Two words: Bard's Tale 8-)
Did he say "Bard"... ?
HIDDEN CHALLENGE POINT: KEIR TO THE NTH POWER.
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calthaer
08-03-2004, 11:39 PM
Two words: Bard's Tale 8-)
Yes, but what has EA done for us lately? :)
And furthermore - what about Bard's Tale II and III?
Azazel
08-03-2004, 11:40 PM
Two words: Bard's Tale 8-)
Yes, but what has EA done for us lately? :)
And furthermore - what about Bard's Tale II and III?
I've played 2. Can't remember if a third one was made.
calthaer
08-03-2004, 11:48 PM
What do you mean can't remember? I thought 3 was the best one of them all. The different worlds rocked, and finally: levels didn't have to be perfectly SQUARE.
Azazel
08-03-2004, 11:49 PM
What was the third one like?
calthaer
08-03-2004, 11:53 PM
Download it and see for yourself:
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/amiga/games_ba_be/bard_s_tale_3.html
You'll need an emulator unless you can find the DOS version.
SpasticFuctard
08-04-2004, 05:27 AM
There's a new Bard's Tale coming out soon... I don't remember more than sketchy details...
SF - <insert witty tag line containing c=, something about pwning, and j00>
Mayhem
08-04-2004, 05:32 AM
It's a pity BT3 didn't have the involvement of the game's creator Michael Cranford; he'd left Interplay by that time to set up on his own.
Azazel
08-04-2004, 05:35 AM
Where did you hear the news about the new Bard's Tale.
SpasticFuctard
08-04-2004, 06:22 AM
Here, i think.
Here's a link (http://pc.ign.com/articles/452/452409p1.html?fromint=1)
SF - Frikkin spoony bards
tholly
08-04-2004, 10:39 AM
well, here on microsoft island, we love our project gothams and our rally sports, but we ALSO love EAs Need For Speed Series.....these are some of the best racing games our tribe members (a.k.a., Me) have ever played, especially Hot Pursuit 2, Underground, and Porsche Unleashed....
calthaer
08-04-2004, 10:56 AM
The new Bard's Tale is being made by inXile, home to Brian Fargo who was an Interplay exec and helped make the Bard's Tale series (he was the lead on BT3). I also think it's a shame that Cranford wasn't involved in BT3...he never set up shop on his own, though - he left the game industry to get a masters in theology and do Christian ministry. He has a website somewhere out there; I think it was called sundoulos.com - no mention of his game stuff though.
AB Positive
08-04-2004, 11:19 AM
Two words: Bard's Tale 8-)
Yes, but what has EA done for us lately? :)
And furthermore - what about Bard's Tale II and III?
HIDDEN CHALLENGE POINT: Calthaer
For reasons that will be disclosed later, calthaer has scored 1 point with this post.
-AG
Flack
08-04-2004, 04:49 PM
I bought Bard's Tale Construction Set (actually, I bought 2 copies -- kept one, gave one to a friend). The biggest disappointment of the program was there was basically no way to import graphics. Any graphics used had to be drawn by hand in Deluxe Paint II or something. :/ I really wanted to import some digital pictures of my friends and I into a dungeon!
Azazel
08-04-2004, 05:21 PM
Did you ever make anything with it?
fargus
08-05-2004, 11:31 AM
EA has been a friend to the Koei tribe by publishing some of our games like Kessen and Samurai Warriors in America. Plus, they're doing some of the best movie-to-game conversions.
Two words: Bard's Tale 8-)
Yes, but what has EA done for us lately? :)
And furthermore - what about Bard's Tale II and III?
I was actually referring to the whole Trilogy, though the first is my favorite. I love all 3, though BT2 was probably the weakest of them.
calthaer
08-05-2004, 05:33 PM
You know what: I would agree that the second one is the weakest, but I can't for the life of me figure out or quantify why. The first one was tight - a new game in a new series that combined all the stuff from other dungeon hacks and did it really, really well...day and night sequences, motion when you moved forward, cool things like levitation, trap zap, etc. The second added quite a bit, from multiple cities, casinos, ranged weapons, the archmage class, the timed snares of death - all sorts of stuff.
The third was just cool because of the realm-warping stuff. Going to other worlds was just plain awesome, and the puzzles were even better than BT2's snares of death.
But why was 1 better than 2, and 3 better than 2? I haven't a clue.
I just think it's hilarious that EA has lost the golden opportunity to make a sequel to this game. They ruined the Ultima series, too. Bah.
Azazel
08-05-2004, 07:24 PM
I've only lighty played the first one so I can't comment on the other 2 Bard's tale games.
Mayhem
08-06-2004, 05:30 AM
Erm... EA had nothing to do with Bard's Tale of course... they just published it. Interplay were actually handling the game under Michael Cranford (go play Maze Master by HES on the C64 and see where he transposed a lot of his ideas from) and Brian Fargo.
digitalpress
08-06-2004, 07:44 AM
Two words: Bard's Tale 8-)
Yes, but what has EA done for us lately? :)
And furthermore - what about Bard's Tale II and III?
I was actually referring to the whole Trilogy, though the first is my favorite. I love all 3, though BT2 was probably the weakest of them.
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Erm... EA had nothing to do with Bard's Tale of course... they just published it. Interplay were actually handling the game under Michael Cranford (go play Maze Master by HES on the C64 and see where he transposed a lot of his ideas from) and Brian Fargo.
Yeah, yeah. Details, schmetails. :P
calthaer
08-06-2004, 04:34 PM
Erm... EA had nothing to do with Bard's Tale of course... they just published it. Interplay were actually handling the game under Michael Cranford (go play Maze Master by HES on the C64 and see where he transposed a lot of his ideas from) and Brian Fargo.
This may be true, but EA purportedly held (holds?) the rights to the franchise. I believe Fargo had to do something to prove that the Bard's Tale trademark was not in use (seeing that EA hadn't published a game with it in over a decade) so that he could make a game with that name.
AB Positive
08-08-2004, 12:21 AM
You know what: I would agree that the second one is the weakest, but I can't for the life of me figure out or quantify why. The first one was tight - a new game in a new series that combined all the stuff from other dungeon hacks and did it really, really well...day and night sequences, motion when you moved forward, cool things like levitation, trap zap, etc. The second added quite a bit, from multiple cities, casinos, ranged weapons, the archmage class, the timed snares of death - all sorts of stuff.
The third was just cool because of the realm-warping stuff. Going to other worlds was just plain awesome, and the puzzles were even better than BT2's snares of death.
But why was 1 better than 2, and 3 better than 2? I haven't a clue.
I just think it's hilarious that EA has lost the golden opportunity to make a sequel to this game. They ruined the Ultima series, too. Bah.
changing avatars made this hard :P
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-AG