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EA Aiming For 50% Innovation

Posted by Zonk on Fri May 19, 2006 02:51 PM
from the i-half-care dept.
Entertainment Games
Talking to 'The Street.com' EA Worldwide Studios president Paul Lee gets grilled on game delays and industry stagnation, and reaffirms EA's commitment to new IP. From the article: "There [have] been countless games in our industry that have looked great and didn't play particularly well. Going forward, there's going to be a lot of me-too products that look great -- because they all look great -- that aren't necessarily going to do great. But if you take a look at what we have -- you know, Spore is innovative game-play, and at the same time it's got great graphics. And I think that's what really knocks it out of the park. Innovative game-play helps drive [the cause] of gaming. And if you can do that, and you can have great graphics, I think that the market is bigger than just having one of the two."
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  • You had me reading at Spore (Score:4, Interesting)

    by WillAffleckUW (858324) on Friday May 19 2006, @02:56PM (#15367747) Homepage Journal
    but when I RTFA I found he mostly talked about how he was sinking a lot of resources into Sony and Microsoft, which means they may have missed the boat since all of my peeps are buying the Wii when it comes out.

    It's the games. Seriously, I don't care how the investors think about it. I was looking at investing in EA or Nintendo, but after reading this I just don't think they get it and will miss the wave that will dominate gaming for the next two years.

    I'll still buy Spore and other Will Wright projects, of course.
    • How can the game be even an evolution simulation while leaving out the possibility of fur. From what we've seen so far they seemed to have left out any possibility of creating MAMMALS of any kind. No live birth (only eggs), no hair, no mammary glands.

      If I can't evolve my creature to look like any REAL creature as well as imaginary, then what's the point of giving me constrained freedom. If I can't evolve a mouse into an ape into a human, then why play an evolving game.

      Seriously, the scale bump mapping looks
      • In the end, games primarily provide entertainment . If it's not novel or new, it eventually gets relegated to second tier things- things you do to while the time away and have nothing better to do.

        For them to keep moving forward, they have to have people want to have their games and to schedule part of their time for them. I just don't see the bulk of the stuff EA's producing of late doing that for the most part. I mean, how many more NFL/NHL/NBA 200x games are people going to be willing to keep plunk
  • Right. Spore's a megahit. Oops, it's not out yet.

    And it has a very great danger of doing a whole bunch of stuff Not Very Well. Sort of reminds me of City of Heroes, in everything I've seen about it - great costume designer (creature creator) but the gameplay doesn't live up to it.

    Naturally, this speculation isn't that valid as I haven't played it either. But I'm not asserting it's "knocking it out of the park" or even that it will fail. I am simply skeptical that it's going to be the Only Game I Ever Play because of all the uniquely combined elements.

    • Remember though that Spore, be it good or bad, will most likely come to the Wii. Will Wright seems to really like the Wii and has mentioned he wants to take Spore to just about any platform he can shoehorn it onto. (I believe he even mentioned Cell phones... ack!)

      DS and Wii versions of spore seem to make more sense to me than PS3 and 360 versions anyway, since the controller can act more like just like a pointing device.

      Keeping that mindset, Will Wright could be one of EA's most valuable assets when it co
      • That was the first "oh shit" moment with Spore for me - when Will Wright was talking about the cell phone port as well.
        Hopefully that means just one phase or something. . . like the "spore" phase.

        But the idea that a Cell phone's limited interface will allow it to play the same game as a PC. . . just indicates it's not going to be that good.

        Or, alternately, that Will Wright has succumbed to Molynieuxism and is over-promising. Which seems likely. . . but what parts are being overpromised? THAT'S what co

        • And I'm mildly amused I was modded to oblivion for a "spore might suck" sort of comment.

          Well, Spore MIGHT suck. But it might also be the breath of fresh air that the gaming industry needs. It might also spark the pathway for a whole slew of Real Time Strategy Games on the Wii when people realize exactly how well suited the controller is for those sorts of games.

          I'm going to buy Spore for sure. I do this knowing good and well that it's a "Sandbox" sort of game in the same way Sim City is. This helps make

      • Spore is going to suck (Score:5, Funny)

        by monopole (44023) on Friday May 19 2006, @04:11PM (#15368348)
        As will all future releases by him.

        It's very simple, he appeared on the cover of Wired.

        Push technology, SEGA, Smell-o-Vision over IP, the New Economy, Newt Gingritch, all cratered after appearing on the cover of Wired. It's sort of a Karmic slashdotting effect.
    • No Doubt... Spore sounds impressive, looks impressive, but the question is will it actually be fun? I'm foaming at the mouth over it, but who knows it could be released as a bug ridden piece of crap. Black & White anyone? That sounded pretty cool to me too... too bad it failed in what it's goal was (so sayeth me anyways :D) Nobody knows if it will sell well until... well.. it sells well.
  • One of the things that we're betting on is ... more and more of the [next-generation] games are going to need some form of open-world game-play. And the reality is that open-world game play is just a much more significant undertaking than we would have imagined. But to rush it out and not get that right doesn't get you the learning you need. And I think we made the right decision to do that with Godfather, and I think the reviews and the product sales show that. We are pushing the envelope.

    It sounds to me like the basic premise for their 'innovations' is that they plan on tacking GTA-style emergent gameplay onto ever title they can. Granted, it's a nice touch in certain titles but for God's sake, don't just shove it into games where it has no purpose. Going from one marketing gimmick (yearly sequels) to another (go wherever, do whatever) just because your original tactic is failing miserably doesn't make you save any face in my book.

  • Title is bizarre (Score:4, Informative)

    by DragonWriter (970822) on Friday May 19 2006, @03:03PM (#15367818)
    "50% Innovation"? Sure, the part you quote talks about wanting to have both innovative gameplay and great graphics (what do you expect he'd say? We want to have great gameplay and lame graphics, or great graphics and lame gameplay?), but 50% suggests a quantification that just isn't in the article. Or was the "50% innocation" based on the 50% owned-vs.-licensed IP in TFA, viz (from the second page [thestreet.com]):

    EA seems to be placing more and more emphasis on developing its own content, as opposed to licensing it from other content owners. Do you have any targets on what percentage of your business you want owned IP [intellectual property] to be?

    Our goal is to get over 50%.

  • An innovation quota! (Score:5, Funny)

    by rjung2k (576317) on Friday May 19 2006, @03:06PM (#15367837) Homepage
    What will they think of next!

    "Johnson, you're not innovating enough! You gotta get your innovation up another 8% by the end of the month, or I'm kicking you back down to playtesting!"

  • ea: please remake duck hunt (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    subject said it all. i loved that game and would love to pay $60 for the chance to pass the experience on to my own son. ea: don't let this 'innovation' stuff go to your heads.

  • Did anyone else... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Fred Or Alive (738779) on Friday May 19 2006, @03:06PM (#15367847)
    Burst into laughter when they read the headline? Thought not.

    It's not just seeing "EA" and "innovation" in the same sentence, it's the fact they seem to be aiming for a specific percentage of "innovation" in their games. It all seems very accountanty.

    Developer: I've got this great new idea for our game! It'll be revolutionary!
    Boss: Sorry, I'm not sure if we've got enough innovation left in our budget for revolutionary, can you scale it down to a neat twist on an existing idea?
  • A lot of people are casual gamers or weren't raised on PS2/Xbox and have problems with the controls. Maybe they ought to consider things like autoaim that Quake had for FPS and action games so you don't have to work 2 thumbsticks to aim... Of course that would require them to compensate by making the AI more difficult.
    • More than that

      1)A lot of people get severe motion sickness in first person perspective. For example, myself. If a game is first person only, I won't buy it because I can't play it.

      2)Where are all the 2D games at? 3D works for some genres, but platformers I still prefer in 2D. RPGs as well- by going 3D instead of 2D you might get more details in, but the worlds seem to be 1 hell of a lot smaller- there were more towns and dungeons in FF1 than FFX.
  • But if you take a look at what we have -- you know, Spore is innovative game-play, and at the same time it's got great graphics.

    who wrote this crap? Maybe it's just this headache I have but this article seemed practically unreadable.
  • I can see it now, EA's new committment to innovation will result in a revolutionary new option in NHL 2007: the ability to skip the hockey and jump straight to the fights.
    • Sure there's a game going on that you want to win, but you don't have to spend all your time on the "main quest". In fact, some people may choose never to finish the game. Instead of scoring and defending, get mini-quests from fans and do them! Do karaoke at center ice! Wander out of the stadium and interact with real people online! Build a tree-house out of hockey sticks! End sentences with exclamation marks!
  • Look forward to the following titles this year!
    • American Mcgee's NHL 2007
    • Madden 007 2007: Goldenpunt
    • Lord Of the Sims: Hobbit Date
    • Harry Potter and the Milking of Franchise
    • Need for Medal of Honor: Third Reich Racing
    • The Burbz: Virtual Emo
    • Burnout Soviet Russia: Cars Blow Up You!
    • Lord of the Rings: Street
    • Command and Conquer: Dubya vs. Everybody
    And of course,
    • Unskippable EA Logo Challenge 2007

    • Re:EA's upcoming innovative titles (Score:5, Funny)

      by AuMatar (183847) on Friday May 19 2006, @03:37PM (#15368089)
      I would so buy Lord of the Rings:Street. I can see the bridge scene now.

      Original version
      Gandalf: I am the servant of the scret flame... (yeah, I don't know the whole quote, so sue me)
      Gandalf: Thou shalt not pass!

      Street Version
      Gandalf: Yo I am one nasty nigga. I'm OG foo'. You don wan nonna dis
      Gandalf: Now get to steppin biyatch.

  • 50% Innovation is really... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by jferris (908786) on Friday May 19 2006, @03:32PM (#15368049) Homepage
    ...just a half-assed attempt at being completely innovative.
    Half empty, half full - ad naseum.

  • Hmm... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Cyno01 (573917) <Cyno01@hotmail.com> on Friday May 19 2006, @05:22PM (#15368925) Homepage
    .50*0=?

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