Ok, here's yet another that meets your ever increasingly stringent requirements to be a valid example... Let's take Ghost Recon for the original xbox, ran for 7 years. It was not overly popular, an online shooter competing with Halo and other FPS of it's day, and had not one but 3 sequels come out in the time between…

I could pick dozens of less than popular games to be my comparison and still have the same results. Nox would be another great example, where the servers ran for over a decade on a less than popular game. It wasn't until guess who, EA, bought out Westwood that the servers were shut down. It doesn't matter what game…

I know when i read something like the above in the discussion threads, we mark it #trollpatrol. How do we do that with an article? >:-)

Am I the only infinitely irritated by the continually shortening support cycle for game servers (among other trends...). This game is barely 3 years old... I'm still playing Starcraft 1 online 20 years later and they run dedicated servers for matchmaking.

This is infinitely less useful than a primer on how to set up OpenVPN or some other real VPN solution. Hamachi is buggy in my experience.

Not to mention that the concept of "not for resale" is insane. Can you imagine what you'd say to someone who offered to "license" you a piece of furniture or a mower and told you when you were done with it you couldn't resell it? Licensing is corporate greed, nothing more.

I wouldn't mind that there will be simpler games now if they were in addition to the "core" games that we used to get. Instead, it's pretty obvious that this new revenue stream is greater than that of the old one (read: dedicated gamers) and I, like many, feel basically tossed aside as a result of studios and…

Proof, as in evidence that the state collects and provides this information to these parties? Pretty sure the article stated that. And what reason would such information be collected and given specifically on these individuals if not for the purpose of pushing these companies to ban them? What other possible use could…

Having an email account without being forced to register it with the state is, living somewhere without being forced by the state to go door to door and airing your dirty laundry is, being able to sign up for a service without checking with the Nanny state to see if it is ok is... need I go on or are you ready to stop…

"And stores have the right to ban or bar people who have been caught stealing there. So your examples are quite poor."

Exactly! And why would we ever let someone who ran a red light back in a car? Or let a someone who stole from a grocery store ever purchase food again?

Why do we even bother letting sex offenders out of jail if we plan to give them absolutely no civil rights what-so-ever? Not a fan of sex offenders, just a fan of civil liberties.

Now that's irony, an Apple fanboi calling someone self-righteously douchey... I actually laughed out loud at that one. I bet you typed it from the cafe in a Starbucks too.

So your argument is that it's a very common evil practice so it's ok? I fail to see what impact other people doing it has on the fact that it's evil for EA to do it. Moreover, my point again isn't that EA invented the practice, my arguement is that EA brought it to the forefront of the gaming industry.

Ha, I'll take being a bit of an ass over being a dimwitted tool like yourself anyday.

I certainly grant that they have some original offerings, all publishers do. My point was notthat they create no new IP's at all and but the fact that once they have a new IP they beat it to death and were in fact the publisher who popularized this strategy. Everyone does so these days, but they were the first, they…

No doubt... I would point out that I don't think Sony is evil, just incompetent. There's a difference. ;)

Amalur is nothing but an Elder Scrolls / Fable knockoff, it's hardly some original masterpiece. It's an attempt to break into a clearly popular genre. Moreover, your answer to my point is to trot out one single title, a new IP from a new developer that happens to be under EA's umbrella. You are joking right or do you…

You forgot one for EA: Has been the largest backer/pusher of every anti-gamer/anti-consumer action to happen in gaming the last 10 years. Yearly clones of the same unchanged game? Thank EA. Paying for stuff that used to come free with the game like dedicated servers or online access? Thank EA. Seeing good developers…

Nonsense... the game was phenomenal. Not the most polished looking game ever but the gameplay was deep and fun. It's a royal shame that all the cross platform nonsense and poo-pooing crushed its sales so fast. Very few things as cool as camping inside a building with xray vision on, waiting for someone to run by…