Why were EA carts shaped like this?

>>2891608
some shit about them going around sega's license bullshit and winning a court case over it

The yellow tab gives the game more power to work with.

>>2891608
EA manufactured their own carts to avoid paying royalties to Sega

Because it looks cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esH3QSsDKRk
The best.

>>2891608
To stand out more. Even the cases their games were in were slightly different from the others.

>>2891619
This.
/thread.

>>2891619
Then SEGA literally got no money from EA ever?

>>2891642
Too bad the FMV segments to the game weren't as cool looking as the cartoon characters.

EA were an unlicensed dev in the very beginning, but in 1991 they finally agreed to license with Sega, who then allowed them to continue manufacturing their own cartridges (Accolade were the only other dev granted this privilege).

The early EA Mega Drive games from 89-90 like Marble Madness and Populous do not work on later model consoles as they're set up to check cartridges for a Sega copyright notice.

>>2891812
Goddamn, was this company ever NOT a fucking blight on the gaming industry?

>>2891812
So I'd need a replay cart to play certain games?

Is there a list of which ones?

>>2891818
I doubt it. Madden was built upon a physics engine they hired Bethesda to make for some other game and then fired them afterwards so they wouldn't get any of the money.

>>2891867
goddamn, EA makes my blood boil. why the fuck hasn't karma fucked them in the ass yet?

>>2891887
Because they probably found a way to fuck over karma.

>>2891823
Any of the early stuff they made in 89-90 like Marble Madness won't work on the Genesis 2/3 and I assume some Genesis 1 revisions. I'm guessing the early Genesis 1s that don't display the Sega logo on power-up are compatible with them.

Nintendo allowed Konami and Accolade to produce their own cartridge PCBs however they still had to use the official Nintendo shells while Sega allowed EA and Accolade to also make their own.

Basically, when the Mega Drive first arrived in North America in 1989, EA inquired with Sega about developing for the new system, but they were unhappy with Sega of America's licensing requirements which were almost as bad as Nintendo's. After back-and-forth negotiations, a Sega exec finally told the EA people "Look, you either accept our licensing terms or you'll be just stuck reverse-engineering the console yourself."

So EA boldly accepted the challenge and their engineers went to work producing homemade Genesis dev kits. Sega were upset about this not only because it cut into a large chunk of their profits, but even worse EA could become a hub for unlicensed Genesis devs by manufacturing cartridges for anyone willing to pay.

In the end, Sega gave in and agreed to EA's original demands that they get to make their own cartridge PCBs and shells.

>>2891923
goddamn are EA the biggest Jews alive?

To understand EA's early history is to understand them today. It's not that big a leap AT ALL to go from "We pirated a console on a dare." to "Spend $110 if you want more than 4 maps." In one form or another, they've always been robbing people.

>>2892035
I didn't know EA were such assholes in the console department. They actually supported a bunch of really cool games on DOS.
Guess it explains though how EA turned evil. It didn't, it's always been bad. It was just less coordinated in its teenage days.

>>2891887
Because their strategy, while utterly evil, is sound from a business viewpoint. They buy IPs (and attached studios, if necessary), milk them to death (people buy these _despite_ EA, that's important), and then get rid of the corpse. Some IPs are short-lived, others are still ongoing, through seemingly endless numbers of sequels, but the core concept is the same, regardless.

>>2892854
Maxis
Bullfrog
Mythic
Origin
Westwood
DreamWorks Interactive
Phenomic
Black Box Games
Pandemic
Playfish
NuFX

... A moment of silence, please.

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>>2892917
What hurts me most about this is no matter what they were fucked. You either sell your soul to EA and hope everyone gets to keep their job or get your studio ran into the ground through bogus lawsuits forcing you to go bankrupt paying legal fees.

>>2891812
Did they ever release any unlicensed games?

The impression I've always got is that EA always wanted to be licensed, but they began producing their own cartridges and used the threat of going the unlicensed route as leverage to get a better deal from Sega.

>>2891818
Oh piss off. EA were great back in the day, restrictive licenses were a blight.

>>2892952
>What hurts me most about this is no matter what they were fucked.
They could have just, you know, not sold their company in the first place.

>>2892971
its business. Most people on /v/ think people should do the right thing 100% of the time. The thing is EA went to Sega with a deal. Sega told them NO, but feel free to spend the time and money cracking open the system so you can dev on it. It was a shitty bluff since the hardware inside of the Genesis was mostly off the shelf. They came back to sega and showed them and then sega caved. Its fucking business get over it.

>>2892971
EA is and has always been cancer. Are they paying you?

>>2892981
Unless they were publicly traded, then you run the risk of any asshats with money buying you. I don't know how many studios EA bought actually were public though.

>>2892981
>or get your studio ran into the ground through bogus lawsuits forcing you to go bankrupt paying legal fees.

>>2893001
that's why you should never be publicly traded as a studio. You give up control and integrity, for the faint hope of riches. Game making, at least good game making, is not a get-rich plan. It's way to have an income, not more.

>>2893001
No company starts as being publicly traded, they start of as privately owned until the owners decide to sell it publicly. They point is they still decided to sell it.

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>>2891608

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>>2893090

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>>2893095

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>>2893104
sega of america was run by idiots, ea was right to fuck them

>>2893108
Sega of America weren't the ones who destroyed the company out of spite. Poor Bernie ended up being a scapegoat for Japan's nonsense.

If you look closely capcom made their own carts as well, just check the back of sf2 for example. Screws instead of hex bits or something like that

>>2891889

kek

>>2891608
Sega got cucked by EA (EA made their own carts). Sega was okay with losing out on their cartridge royalties because they needed EA's sports games to get people to buy their console.

>>2892993
Butthurt intensifies

>>2895242
18+

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>>2891818
Youngfag and/or ignorant hipster detected.

>>2891619
No they still had to pay a licensing fee to sega its just they were allowed to manufacture their own instead of having to buy the parts from sega which saved them a lot of money.

>>2891608
Too shove up your ass.

>>2891807
I thought the FMV segments made it stand out. That way the people getting wrecked in the FMVs actually looked like they were being hurt instead of cartoon violence.

It was the only game I knew of where I could watch a doberman viciously bite a guy in the crotch.

>>2892981
The problem was most of those companies (esp. Maxis) were at or on the verge of bankruptcy due to mismanagement or something equally unfortunate. It was either an continue making those dream games under EA or close up shop.

>>2896425
So they decided to piss on their legacy, instead of just going for a new job, or maybe even attempt to fundrise among people that aren't unethical vultures. Bad decision. Ask the modern gamer on the street what they think about SimCity, tell them it's a Maxis game. See what that'll do you.
When your bruises healed, repeat the same thing with Bullfrog and Dungeon Keeper. Continue with all the dead franchises as you see fit.
These studios won nothing by selling to EA.
Their games are broken, their job is hell, removed, or outsourced. There's a reason the heads and designers tend to leave the broken studio after they're sold anyway, to open their own shop. The new working conditions don't work, and while it's a painful struggle as new studio, it's infinitely better than being a subject to the hellhole that's EA.

>>2891929
They're good at business.

Make of that what you will.

>>2892917
>no mention of Criterion Games

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

>>2896425
>The problem was most of those companies (esp. Maxis) were at or on the verge of bankruptcy due to mismanagement or something equally unfortunate.

Which isn't EA's fault.

>>2896734
Because they're still in operation. Every studio on that list was shut down by EA. Though I'm sure if you just give it some time....

>>2891929
Nah that's the guys who run the american/world banks. All Jews, all shitting money out of thin air and loaning out with interest. Actual full blooded Jews.

>>2896815
Criterion was closed though, Anon.

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>>2896449
I would compliment your hindsight except yours isn't even 20/20.
> These studios won nothing by selling to EA.
We got Dungeon Keeper 2, Sim City 3000, The Sims, Populous The Beginning, and others.
I'm sure you think those are "nothing", but they aren't. PtB is a strong evolution of Populous concepts, and DK2 is practically a straight upgrade.

The original Sims was made post-EA. Either you like it or you don't. But it was made. The Sims 2 and 3 were both amazing upgrades that also wouldn't have been possible without EA. Like them or not, they aren't "nothing".

Yes, EA started shitting games up with DLC and microtransactions... relatively recently... And that's gross. But the base games are strong on their own merits, and DLC is optional, and in fact subsidized further development on the spending habits of the rich or stupid.

Well, until the mobile shit (Sims and DK). And the Sims 4... And Sim City 5... Those are just worthless travesties. I'll agree that the licenses are run into the ground NOW, but not until the last 5 years or so. IE a decade of decent games we wouldn't have had otherwise.

> So they decided to piss on their legacy, instead of just going for a new job, or maybe even attempt to fundrise among people that aren't unethical vultures. Bad decision.
Crowdfunding in 1997??? Wake up.
Protip: Good luck "fundrising" when you've been BANKRUPT. IE, took money and failed to pay it back. Investors tend to look at that with skepticism. You can't just dodge it by dissolving and reforming the company!

They were either done making games, or acquired. And they managed to do a lot of good work after being acquired.

Though Molyneux, pic related, went a bit crazy arguably. He did great things until he had resources.

>>2891642
>not the road rash 2 music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNzP7i_oLV8

>>2897513
>The original Sims was made post-EA. Either you like it or you don't. But it was made
I consider The Sims the nail in the coffin of the Sim series of games. What used to be a variety of diverse subjects, simulated in an entertaining manner, was crushed into one of the first examples of extreme DLC whoring and intentionally "addictive" gameplay. When they stopped making games, and started making digital drugs for EA.

To quote wikipedia:
>Over 1998 Maxis was allowed to finish SimCity 3000 on its own time; following this, Wright's efforts were thrown into The Sims
In other words, we didn't get SC3k because of EA, but despite EA. Immediately followed by the kill of the series. I suspect it's the same with Bullfrog. When EA bought them, they got the assets to finish a bit of what they had been working on, then were forced to make bullshit.

While I enjoy Populous 3 personally, let's be honest: DK2, P3, Syndicate Wars, we're right on the plaza of sequel-ville. That's EA for you. Milk the franchise. I'm quite sure Dungeon Keeper 1 or Syndicate were successes because they were good games, not because they were sequels of good games. Bit of a difference.

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>>2898470
Fair point about the Sims, I wouldn't blame anyone for not liking it - particularly here. It is very addictive and somewhat lacks substance.

You're also right about the sequel-ville... While I wanted "Dungeon Keeper but better", and hoped for a similar re-release of Magic Carpet after 2, Maxis and Bullfrog did stop innovating as much after being acquired.

I just don't see that they had any alternative. And in Bullfrog's case, the studio was dissolved but Molyneux retained and allowed to dream up more innovative, even unrealistic ideas. Black & White and such. The implementations didn't live up to his dreams, and publisher pressure (EA) was probably largely to blame, but it's also the reason we got anything rather than nothing.

Harsh fiscal realities. Developers gotta eat.

>>2898650
Forgot to add, and I only just read this on wikipedia recently, but apparently SC3k was a mess of a project before EA arrived and reigned it in. They were trying true 3D, and it got panned at E3? Dunno how true any of that is, though.

Technically stifling innovation, but it sounds like it was destined to be a failed experiment. Sim City didn't need true 3D. (Except in Sim Copter mode, which was great)

>>2898650
Molyneux is a bit of a difficult person. Brilliant designer, but terrible planner. That gave him a bad reputation as someone that promises and doesn't deliver. You're right in that EA/the publisher reined him in, so he'd eventually deliver something, anything. Seems like they went about it the wrong way though. Basically, Molyneux needs a co-designer, a co-author. Someone willing to step in and say "no, Peter. Great idea, but way out of reach for our current project. How about we stick to what we're currently working with, refine it, and keep the new ideas on this whiteboard for the next project?". Fable was a good approach, I think. Several releases with iterative changes. Probably not very sustainable (people grow tired, and I too, would rather see varied new games, instead of iterations), but still better than the alternative.

>>2898657
Don't know about true 3D, but I do know that SC3k uses 3D acceleration, and actually had quite a bit of difficulty with that, because the whole idea of a dense city relies on lots of buildings/polygons, and the accelerators of the time were not really made for that. I can imagine though Maxis was going after true 3D. After all, SimCopter and Streets of are their babies too, and they are, in hindsight, abysmal. The wishes were way too far ahead of the realities of the engines. The visuals of SimCopter are an insult to SC2k, and Streets is not much better.

Guess the whole thing to take away from this is, good games need not only good designers, but also good project planners, and some of the studios had trouble with that bit, which made them produce brilliant games, on an unsustainable business plan. EA aren't good project planners either though. They accept, and occasionally demand ridiculous damage to a product to ship it "on time" and on budget, and do little up front to make sure it has a chance to be within its limits. The two sides, need to complement each other. Otherwise you end up with scope creep or bugware.

>>2892854
The only thing where I can think such a thing is justifiable are sports games. There's only so much you can do before it becomes unrealistic or unnatural. And I'm talking about real sports games

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>>2898672
I agree with everything you just said, except that I really liked Sim Copter. I wish I could get it playing again. The interface and graphics were pretty bad though, yeah... If I did get it working, I might realize it wasn't as good as I remember.

But totally agreed about the project planning and everything else. Especially that EA are not good planners. Just a source of capital, solely interested in making more capital. The games get made, but innovation (and developers themselves) suffer...

>>2898650

what game is that image from?

>>2891619
jews for life

>>2891619
People forget how "Jewish" EA was once it went corporate. They're virtually defined by scummy stuff.

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>>2898719
Magic Carpet 2, it's one of my favorites. And unlike Sim Copter, it runs well in DosBox and is definitely still fun today. Conquer the Netherworlds!

Like other Bullfrog games it's much more than a shooter. You and other wizards fight over balls of mana which drop from the dangerous creatures of the land. Hot air balloons store the mana in your castle, which can defend itself to some extent... But not forever.

Or sometimes it's just you against a heavily scripted map. I could go on. The first game was decent but buggier and with less plot, no need to play it first.

>>2898709
>I agree with everything you just said, except that I really liked Sim Copter
I liked Sim Copter from a gameplay perspective, it was quite entertaining. Without a doubt though, the game was ugly as fuck. It made me downright angry to see it torturing the visuals of the arcologies and practically everything else in SC2k. In SC2k the Arcologies are fantastically huge and detailed buildings, while in SimCopter you got hexagonal blobs with repetitive textures, a real disgrace. And even in your screenshot you can see the extreme texture repetitions. That's not even going into all the things wrong with the people in town, or the visuals of the water/smoke stuff. The game was a good idea too early, really. Nowadays you get that building density and detail without much work, get more sophisticated physics and all that. It's in a way the responsibility of a designer, and possibly engineer, to recognize that the tech is (not yet) there, and it would be a waste of resources at the time.

>>2898804
Magic Carpet (not necessarily 2) is, to me, the Far Cry of its time. That game was miles ahead of everything else in term of visuals and capabilities, and fun to play to boot. As much as I dislike sequels, I'd want to see what a modern dev would do with the concept of Magic Carpet. They'd have to go all out though, giant explosions, the terrain not just deforming, but having a concept of rock layers, and loose rock falling and stuff, full on fluid physics for flames and so on. Basically, a modern take on pushing the boundary because it's there to be pushed.

>The first game was decent but buggier
Magic Carpet 2 crashes insanely often, because it's basically written with all safeties off, for maximum performance. Best example is one of the maps where you're attacked by a huge army of undead archers. Their number grows. If you don't kill them fast enough, or keep their numbers down, the game will crash hard with a simple overflow and memory corruption. In my experience Magic Carpet 1 is actually more stable, because it was a bit too afraid to break something. Magic Carpet just went "fuck it all" and threw so much shit at you, it was entertaining as fuck, but more fragile than a house of cards during an earthquake

>less plot
Call me odd, but I think Magic Carpet is one of the first games that's openly multiplayer. Several of the later missions are all about competing with other wizards, effectively bot maps. Everything up to that point is tutorials regarding monsters, triggers and effective mana generation and protection. The campaign just teaches you how to wreak havoc against people as powerful as you are. Then the multiplayer shows you that humans are a whole new class of trouble.

I used to think the yellow tab was a button for something and I was disappointed when I found out it's just for decoration.

>>2891608
To better join with the perfection of CRT and provide the ultimate gaming experience.

>>2895390
But I'm 36

>>2899467
lol

>>2893128
My Street Fighter 2 and Rolling Thunder 2 carts both have the standard screws and Sega markings.

Cademasters made their own carts though, which was especially cool cus they gave us the j-carts.

>>2891797

No, they still had to pay Sega a percentage of game sales and licensing.

>>2893108
>ea games are better because they got bigger chips. That's why they got that yellow stripe, to it together

That's the best part of retro, all the stupid pre internet rumours

>>2896425
That really isn't true. Everyone seems to forget EA's hostile takeover attempt when Rockstar refused to sell out to them. At what point was Rockstar ever in financial trouble?

>>2900537
yeah, really reminds you how stupid kids are