Yeah, I haven't purchased a Lucas Arts game in ages. I rented force unleashed for the wii which is a fun and well controlled game, but its not worth $50 to me so I'm waiting for it to hit the bargain bin before I get it (which, knowing money grubbing LA, it wont happen for a decade or so... similar to most microsoft game studios and blizzard games... not even a sale on them even 8+ years after the release... WC3 is just not worth $40 in my opinion at this stage in the game)
But I have to agree, I like bioware's products but if EA keeps rear rompin them like they do maxis and every other company they touch, there are going to be alot of unhappy people out there. (Positive side is that Will Wright no longer works FOR EA, but rather a new company --- with sid meier of all people --- that works with EA but not for EA, so maybe we'll get the Spore that I think WW originally intended... one meant for the hard core croud that has all the blood, gore, and other M rated material that the original should have as well as all of the procedural verbs that the original GDC05 had.)
LOL I'm way off track, probably due to the fact that I just woke up and am a bit groggy. Anyway, long story short, old development and publishing methods need to change. We want high quality games with support that dont cost an arm and a leg (all relative to the quality of the product released of course) and we dont need big publishers doing any more then putting their name on the label. Let the developers do their thing. If a game comes out and is sub par and doesnt perform sales wise, then get your mits involved. If they begin to show a trend toward that, then its time to retool them. But most of the companies in EA performed well even before EA got their hands on them, so I dont think they really need that much direction from EA.
At least EA is showing that they are backing off a bit and letting the developers do what they do best. As for this post, EA listened, whether it was by negative reviews of all of their products webwide or the $1B deficit, either way we had our voices heard and they seem to be trying to make a mends for their arrogance and inflexibility. Which can only be good for us all!