EA buying Popcap?

This makes me a little sad.

Aww hell NO!

It's better than being bought out by Activision, but still.

Eh, hopefully they end up like Bioware and have plenty of freedom.

Considering the quality of Bio Ware's output is dropping like a rock, I'd really hope not.

Huh? Bio Ware made one poor game and people call it terrible? Mass Effect 2 was a great game! Dragon Age 2 was meh.

LOOOOOL

This is so freaking hilarious.

I dont think it is going to happen thougt.

There's a lot of division over ME 2, actually. I'm in the camp of people who liked it, but I can also see why it turned a lot of people who liked the first game off despite largely improved mechanics. Dragon Age 2, of course, set the internet on fire. Bio Ware's general response to it, as well as their expressed attitude in general of caring more about some sort of mythical "mass market" that wants to play RP Gs in the form of Call Of Duty, suggests to me that EA has been pressuring them to jack up their sales numbers to match certain popular franchises that aren't in the same genre.

I've also been given a lot to worry about over ME 3.

@Rebo: Never having played a Bioware game, I can't entirely confirm that, but I doubt that would happen with Popcap.

Plus, I think EA already has a casual game studio (although they made online games, from what I heard).

Nope, it's a hoax (see final paragraph)

http://kotaku.com/5814639/report-someones-buying-popcap-games-for-a-cool-billion

I dunno about you but I'd rather have EA buy them than friggin ZYNGA.

I dunno, there's that Chinese company, so that would be interesting, I guess.

> There's a lot of division over ME 2, actually.

This is Bioware for you.

Their fans hate everything that's not Baldur's Gate.

That and ME 2 literally doesn't have any reviews on Metacritic dropping lower than 85%.

Its not about quality, its about changes some people dislike, like all of the DLC, or the gameplay changes. It rubs some people (like me) the wrong way. Also for example the plot did not accomplish much in 2, the recent DLC did more to advance the plot than the entirety of 2.

Lets also not forget alot of people are kinda peeved about the old republic turning into a monthly fee MMO.

Also EA has a habit of ruining companies they buy out. I still haven't forgiven them for purchasing westwood.

edited 23rd Jun '11 10:19:36 AM by Thorn14

Bio Ware's fanbase bitched about the lack of DLC and the gameplay of ME 1. When ME 2 included a lot of (generally high quality apart from the meh Arrival) DLC and sharpened the mechanics and the shooting they complained about that as well.

ME 3 actually hasn't gained that much of a negative firestorm; probably because they've shown that there will be less cover based combat and more options for customization.

As for EA and West Wood... I'm one of the few who will defend Tiberium Wars/Kane's Wrath as quality games (it helps that I don't put the older Cn C games on a pedestal. They were good but they weren't the pinacle of RTS achievement in my eyes) that were worthy additions to the series. Cn C 4 can go burn in a fire however.

edited 23rd Jun '11 10:30:37 AM by Rationalinsanity

^I like Tiberium Wars and Kane's Wrath myself, but the rest of EALA's output doesn't excite me because.

People complained about there not being...enough....DLC?

What

And one issue I have with modern bioware is how they handled problems.Some people didn't like the mako? Lets eschew it all together! Tweaking it is hard!

People thought the inventory was a little cluttered? Kill it all! Only 3 or so weapons for each type!

Also the charm and intimidation being tied to renegade and paragon screwed over my (mostly) neutral Shepard.

edited 23rd Jun '11 10:32:25 AM by Thorn14

> its about changes some people dislike

Matters gonna mat.

This is Bioware. Ruined Forever: The Company

> there's that Chinese company

What chinese company? Tencent?
I quit playing League Of Legends after they bought it. It was literally instantly ruined. You have any idea of how their f2p system works, right? You have that ingame resource you get for battles, and you have the cash one. Playable characters are buyable with either and they have various price ranges.
After they bought it, influence points gain from games was decreased noticeably and all new characters are now always at maximum price avaliable.

Greedy bastards. Tencent is bad news.

edited 23rd Jun '11 10:45:11 AM by Aminatep

Yeah Lo L is as free as water. You think it is but you're paying.

Also not liking a change doesn't have to scream They Changed It, Now It Sucks! or Ruined Forever you know. Man I hate those tropes because it makes like anyone who dislikes the change is Fan Dumb .

Bull. I've been playing both before and after the buyout. IP was not decreased. Also, plenty of new champions have not been released at max price.

> IP was not decreased.

Eat magic butterflies. Of course it was. It's an observable fact. It has been mathematically proven.

Also, first they've adjusted it so that gain would average out the same after 38 minutes of play, then did a number of measures to make games shorter.

> Also, plenty of new champions have not been released at max price.

6300 is still the official standard price.

edited 23rd Jun '11 2:20:21 PM by Aminatep

I am going to be very upset if Plants versus Zombies turns out to have five sequels with significant amounts of DLC that should have, could have, would have been in the game to start with. Or DLC gamebreaker material.

I say this as someone who is generally in favor of a microtransaction-based game funding system with regards to cosmetics. But this trend of charging for the purchase of a partially finished game and then charging as much money as possible for little odds and ends has got to die. Charge for a quest, for an overpowered item, for storage space that should have been patched in to begin with... no thank you.

So when will EA actually buy them?

Even KotOR?

From what I notice the cut off seems to be the moment they turned everything into a dialogue wheel.

I thought it was when they turned everything into Diablo or Gears of War in Mass Effect 2's case.

edited 23rd Jun '11 4:13:59 PM by Neo_Crimson