EA Picks Up Half-Life 2
 

[url:21076]http://pc.ign.com/articles/634/634535p1.html[/url:21076]
[quote:21076]
Electronic Arts will now distribute Valve's Half-Life 2, among other titles, according to an announcement by both companies today. The agreement covers Half-Life 2: Game of the Year Edition and Counter-Strike: Source for the PC this fall, as well as the Xbox edition of Half-Life 2 in October.


The multi-year deal will see EA assisting in publishing and distribution for Valve titles, with EA's role varying by title. Valve's Steam distribution service will not be affected.

Half-Life 2: Game of the Year Edition will include Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 2 Deathmatch, and Half-Life: Source.

By contrast, the boxed edition of Counter-Strike: Source, in addition to the titular game, will include Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2 Deathmatch. Think of it as the collection for the multiplayer fanatic.

Whereas EA is handling only distribution for both PC titles, the company will take on both publishing and distribution for the Xbox version of Half-Life 2.

The agreement between Valve and EA will cover additional titles going forward -- though the companies aren't ready to talk specifics just yet.

Valve's titles were previously published by VU Games, under its Sierra brand. Vivendi lost its future rights to the games earlier this year, when a long-running lawsuit between the two companies resolved in Valve's favor. The Vivendi contract ends August 31.[/quote:21076]

What you guys think of EA publishing and distributing Half Life 2?

I had to send all of our copies of HL2 from store back to Vinvendi last week.

Good thing i bought my mine last year so i don't have to support EA.

you mean that EA GAMESSSSSSS BLAH BLAH BLAH shit will start up in hl2 hake:

lol

Ea are only distributing the game, you won;t have an ea logo in game seeing as they paid nothing to development costs. oOo:

EA are faggots

this could turn out better than one would expect. Hopefully (and this is a big hopefully) EA will pump more cash into HL3 allowing for more technology and things. And also if EA wants to change its image it can start by not interfering with development.

The Future Evolution of Games: Dominance

Is the games industry headed the way of Hollywood, with only a few major film studios?

As we can see with the overwhelming dominance of Microsoft on the operating system market, it’s the big boys who hold the reins. Similarly, there are several megalomaniacal software giants in the games industry who have considerable authority.
Take EA Games as a case study. EA made their debut approximately a decade ago, and since then have grown inexorably larger with every passing year. Thanks to some successful early titles, EA’s financial supremacy allowed them to obtain numerous official licenses (including: FIFA, UEFA, NASCAR, F1, NHL, PGA, NFL, Madden, NCAA, NBA, MVP and various others), which in turn generated more income. Now EA are buying out and swallowing up smaller companies to facilitate the creation of even more games.
Such formidable powerhouses as EA have considerable influence over the gaming industry, and due to their preponderance of workers and fiscal power can set extremely high standards. The problem is, they can also afford to dogmatically shape titles and games the way they choose, imposing a certain amount of prosaic uniformity upon their work. Marek weighs up the pros and cons.

Dominance by huge companies can easily lead to less originality in games, as creating innovative things can be extremely high risk in the gaming business. But the one-sided orientation of huge corporations to proven concepts supported by strong licenses behind it may still leave some space for independent developers to eventually come up with something totally new that people would really want to play.
Marek conjectures an excellent notion, that EA’s uniformity, rather than standardising games in general, will actually clear an open space for smaller developers to pitch their more inventive wares. Consumers who are bored of conformist commercial offerings will eventually be more inclined to try something different. And despite the financial obstacles faced by independent developers, Antony is confident that creativity will not be snuffed out entirely.

There will always be mavericks and loners working outside the system, no matter how Draconian the system may be. Lack of backing or facilities doesn't stop such people, and as necessity is the mother of invention, such creators are also often the greatest innovators. (Antony Johnston)

It is a cheerful prospect to consider, that there will always be rebels of the system. Bold knights valiantly assaulting the orthodox conventions of the insatiably greedy dragons. People who have the gumption to make games for sheer love of their subject matter, and who have more noble aims at heart than avaricious gluttony. While these heroic crusaders are still at large then all is not lost.
Industrial dominance is certainly beneficial in improving and evolving the quality of titles, which must be given due respect. But the general stubborn reticence to innovate is the unfortunate drawback in this situation. However, so long as the entire industry isn’t eventually controlled by just a few megalithic corporations who each have predisposed digital ideologies, then we can be assured of at least a reasonable degree of variety and creativity in future games.
cry: cuss: mad: hake:

thats shitty

Oh come on, like the 579843 mohaa expansion packs weren't original. Spearhead was in no way a clone of BoB.

Will you still have to go through all that steam shit ?