EA, Eidos & Xbox Live--WTF??

[Brisco]

EA and Eidos have annouced that they are not going to be offering the Xbox Live service for their future games. Not a big deal with Tomb Raider, but I think this could be a mistake not offering this service for Madden 2004 and NCAA Football, or any of their titles. Bond online anyone? Not on the Xbox. Who would want to talk trash to their friends as they beat them stupid with the Bengals? EA offers their games on the PS2, as Sony doesn't have a universal service, and EA can charge if they want to. You know they do, with Final Fantasy XI coming out this fall. Why not charge for Madden too. And NBA Live. And NCAA Football. Microsoft won't allow that on Live.

As a fairly new Live addition, and a Huge sports, especially football fan, I'm curious to what this could mean to Microsofts online service. Will other companies follow suit? Does this mean, with their new agreement with Nintendo, that Madden & NBA Live will be online with the Gamecube, and not the Xbox? WTF!?!?

Comments please

[Sylentwulf]

When multiple companis start dropping something, it's usually not the "multiple companies" fault. Microsoft is probly charging (or charging MORE) to use their servers.

And after playing Ac1 and Ac2, lemme tell ya, I have no Idea how microsoft is going to keep their servers running, Hate to say it, but Microsoft servers REALLY REALLY suck.

[Tritoch]

EA's decision is simple. They've invested millions of dollars in their own infrastructure already (see Ultima Online, Sims Online, EA.com's online games, etc.), which they can utilize on PS2 (since Sony has no dedicated servers outside of their own games) but not on Xbox.

[Brisco]

I'm not saying that EA made the wrong choice, only that it seems like an odd choice for a company such as EA, who usually will do anything to make a buck. I love EA, unlike a lot of people, and almost always buy their games, in the sports category, but it seems like a big blow to Microsoft, and a gamble for EA, to align themselves with a system thats not online yet, not
really (PSO doesn't count, that's Sega's baby), but is not even considered
a sports system.

This kind of seems like a system killing decision, much like the decision to not support the Dreamcast. Will it hurt M$ in the long run, not having them on their online service, which they've been touting Live as the clear winner in this. I'm sure that they will still support the Xbox with offline games, but will you buy that, or the ones with online capability, as it seems the GC & PS2 will have? The Cube's games will also have GBA interactivity with it, something that Sony can even do.

The only thing that makes me smile in this, is that Nintendo finally gets a large third party, no, the Largest third party company, to support its system with a huge announcement. Hopefully, others such as Konami (hate that new logo) or even Sega will give them a new, exclusive AAA title. I love Monkey Ball, but this is not what Nintendo needs. Let them add Sega's character's to Super Smah Bros. 3 (Insert good name here). Have Sonic, Tails, or even the Monkey Ball characters hidden in Animal Crossing 2, or download to your game if/when it's online. That would be cool.

This can only help Nintendo to overtake M$ and at least get a good, strong 2nd place to Sony. And the Legend of Zelda comes out on Monday.