In case you hadn't noticed or heard of it due to the Battle Front chatter

http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/3/5578570/amy-hennig-ea-visceral-games-star-wars

Now if you don't know Amy Hennig she is a "grey beard" in the video games industry and should be mentioned in the same breath as Sid Mayer and Peter MolywhatshisfaceIcantspellthatlastname.

What she does is open world games, she's the mother of open world games. Could this mean a SW open world single player RPG, the chatter in the games industry seems to think so.

As much as I'd like to get excited for this, it's still going to be EA, which typically means dealing with Origin, always online DRM, Day 1 DLC, "micro-transactions" and an emphasis on multiplayer to the point where single player feels like a tacked-on afterthought.

I'd love to be wrong. In fact, I'd love for this to be our first hint of a massive, well-written, open-world single-player RPG set in the Star Wars universe, (I'd take a well-written modern reboot of the X-Wing series too, for that matter!) but at this point, the announcement of another Star Wars game being published by EA makes me feel about as excited as the idea of a new Star Wars RPG by Wizards of the Coast.

I'd rather have Legacy of Kain: Skywalker.

Or more likely 1313 as that was already Uncharted: Boba's Fortune

If it's EA, I probably wont touch it.

If it's EA, I probably wont touch it.

Wait... hang on a sec...

Okay, I'm back. EA has published a handful of good games over the last 35 years... M.U.L.E., Bard's Tale, American McGee's Alice, Wasteland, System Shock 1 & 2, Syndicate and Syndicate Wars, Dungeon Keeper, SM's Alpha Centuari, etc, etc... I think they also published Crysis.

So... while I kneejerkingly agree (you have no idea how much I hate SW:TOR) it might (depending on the developer) be good.

I'd love to be wrong. In fact, I'd love for this to be our first hint of a massive, well-written, open-world single-player RPG set in the Star Wars universe, (I'd take a well-written modern reboot of the X-Wing series too, for that matter!) but at this point, the announcement of another Star Wars game being published by EA makes me feel about as excited as the idea of a new Star Wars RPG by Wizards of the Coast.

Yeah, have to say I miss the days of good single player games. I get that they're trying to control their revenue streams, but the MMO experience isn't for me...which means they get no money from me at all.

Okay, I'm back. EA has published a handful of good games over the last 35 years... M.U.L.E., Bard's Tale, American McGee's Alice, Wasteland, System Shock 1 & 2, Syndicate and Syndicate Wars, Dungeon Keeper, SM's Alpha Centuari, etc, etc... I think they also published Crysis.

What Battle Chess gets no lovin'? :D

What Battle Chess gets no lovin'? :D

Just looked it up and it isn't EA either.

Just looked it up and it isn't EA either.

Yes it is. Visceral is owned by EA. EA is the only publisher licensed to release SW games right now thanks to Disney.

Sorry mate, I am the cause of confusion, Battle Chess wasn't EA.

I'll wait and see.

Admittedly, the recent crop of Star Wars video games just haven't been my interest, with the last one I bought being Force Unleashed. Then again, I did like Dragon Age: Origins, which was a BioWare/EA game, so if this new Star Wars game is something along those lines, or even along the lines of the KOTOR games, then I might be interested.

I have some hopes, working in the games industry for years I've had the opportunity to meet some of the visceral people and they seem to "get it" and have made some pretty decent games, add Amy Hennig to this mix and it gets interesting.

If it is 1313 Uncharted: Boba Fett edition I'd be happy, but I'm pretty sure that with Battle Front being the shooty, shooty the mouse house will probably not want them to overlap too much. I'm hopeful that it might be something KotOR like, that said I don't think that it will be set in the Old Republic (* Disclaimer, from here on in this is conjecture and peculation). Reason being that Disney seems to be focusing on the Rebellion and what comes after, the new comics by Marvel are set in this time period, the new movies, these RPG's all seem to be very "traditional" and while EA are involved, it's just as a distributor.

So fingers crossed.

…

Okay, I'm back. EA has published a handful of good games over the last 35 years... M.U.L.E., Bard's Tale, American McGee's Alice, Wasteland, System Shock 1 & 2, Syndicate and Syndicate Wars, Dungeon Keeper, SM's Alpha Centuari, etc, etc... I think they also published Crysis.

So... while I kneejerkingly agree (you have no idea how much I hate SW:TOR) it might (depending on the developer) be good.

What, no Command & Conquer series on your shelf?

-EF

I did like Dragon Age: Origins, which was a BioWare/EA game

It's very notable that Dragon Age 2 was a huge shift away from Origins, which was touted as a 'spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate'. DA2 was aimed squarely at the console crowd, with minimal control, story, characters, lots of button-mashing combat, and a linear plot with no player agency or choices.

DA3, or whatever they are calling it now, looks basically the same - only with Mass Effect 3 style multiplayer.

Whether it's Bioware or EA to blame, someone lost all faith in the original Dragon Age and Mass Effect games and wanted them to be more like button-mashers or FPS multiplayer games.

I fear that whafrog is correct, and the likelihood of us getting a character-driven, story-based Star Wars computer game is pretty much zero. At least we have the RPG, I guess.

Yeah, being an EA game isn't the problem, its EA's current product plan and focus that's the issue:

• Mandatory online component (if there's a single player option at all) because they are terrified of piracy.
• Origin because they don't want to share with Valve or anyone else.
• Console (drunk frat boy and racist tween) heavy design focus, with PC a "bonus" market.
• Microtransactions approaching mobile game proportions.

While I get that they are a business and are in it to make money, when you have to compromise your product to they level EA does, it really turns me off. As a result these days the game has to be so good that it has to overcome all that other stuff before I'll even consider it. Gone are the days of buying the game because its Star Wars. And unless the VR google boom jump starts the Sim market the odds of seeing a new X-wing (still a top 100 game after more then 2 decades) is nil.

Not: Depending on what it is day 1 DLC doesn't bother me that much. I've worked on enough deadlines to get that cutting content to meet release and then revisiting the cut stuff and DLCing is OK. The "ohhh get the special gun for only $4.99" stuff is poodoo though....

While Bioware/EA gave us Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect, (and there's some debate amongst fans about how much influence EA really had over the development of Mass Effect- outside of SecuROM- since much of it was completed before EA acquired Bioware) EA also gave us Dragon Age II and Mass Effect 3.

Yes, EA gave us Red Alert 2, and Command & Conquer 3, but they also gave us Command & Conquer 4, and almost gave us the always-online MMO style reboot that they just titled " Command & Conquer ." Yes, one can make the argument that EA has published some wonderful games within the last twenty years, but if you look at the games published by EA recently, (that were set in worlds developed by companies that EA later acquired) the games were very poorly received by their respective fanbases.

Given the modern gaming industry's focus on the "casual" and "console" crowd (and my remarks are meant to disparage neither) and its obsession with the monetization of games even after purchase (Breaking off chunks of the finished game to sell as Day 1 DLC, subscription models where "Free To Play" equals "Pay To Win," etc.) it seems unlikely that we'll see any CRPG the likes of Baldur's Gate or Knights of the Old Republic coming from a Triple-A publisher like EA, let alone a Star Wars CRPG of that caliber.

On the plus side, Pillars of Eternity is still set to come out later this year, and Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition just got announced.

Yeah, many "classic" EA games are awesome, but their "modern" incarnations…well, C&C4 is a great example. /sigh

At least I'll always have my TIE Fighter CD memories.

/sigh

-EF

Too bad that the Icewind Dale EE is probably only coming out because it (as a rerelease) is probably treated as a game which (by having had its development costs be mostly taken during development of the original) is more likely to result in a quick profit... emphasis on quick.

What, no Command & Conquer series on your shelf?

-EF

I understand the love it gets, I still lovingly play Master of Magic. Some games were just made better back in the day. Then agian some games are really freaking good today (Total War: Shogun 2 warms my machine these days).

I'd love for this to be our first hint of a massive, well-written, open-world single-player RPG set in the Star Wars universe, (I'd take a well-written modern reboot of the X-Wing series too, for that matter!)

How cool would an x-wing based massive open world single player game be? Kind of like X-wing combined with Elite.

Sorry mate, I am the cause of confusion, Battle Chess wasn't EA.

Archon was though. Man I loved that game - played the heck out of it back in the day.

I fell in love with my first boyfriend playing Archon

And the original Bard's Tale, and Ultima IV/V... That was a golden era, huh?

I fell in love with my first boyfriend playing Archon

And the original Bard's Tale, and Ultima IV/V... That was a golden era, huh?

Mmmhhmm , also now i feel sad and old

I want Obsidian to get to make another Star Wars game.