Why EA games are not likely coming to the n900
 

Sorry if the title sounds misleading, but I was just wondering if anyones got any news about EA mobile planning to make (port some iphone) games for the N900?

Maybe we'll start seeing cool games such as asphalt 5, sims 3, GTA, NFS shift and such on the n900.....maybe
I'm not saying the that emulators aren't enough, its just that it would be mega super awesome pwnsome to see EA games supporting the n900

I see we've already attracted one game company

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

Somehow I doubt it.
Not sure why, just something tells me:
A.- EA don't make great games.
B. - Apple will "persuade" them not to.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

EA Make games on every OS platform known to man kind, It's only a matter of time before we see games from them on maemo now its getting popular, although i have a feeling most big publishers will wait and target Maemo 6

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

Change the title to "is it possible that EA games might come to the N900?". I don't know why you would name the title that, then say "I'm sorry if its misleading!" Did you do it to get as many thread views as you could?

To answer your question, no. There simply are not enough of us to make it worth it financially to them.

Don't bother with the "But but.. I'd buy their games!" 500 of us are nothing compared to the millions of kids with their mom's credit cards that are on the Apple App store every day

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

No, EA will not be supporting Maemo, at least not now. No, Apple isn't paying them to stay exclusive either.

The only realistic way you're going to get game developers coming to your platform is if you do the following:

a) Easy to use SDK
b) Popular game engines such as Unity3D ported
c) Userbase to support the work
d) Piracy protection (DRM)

And right now, we have none of those. Maemo 6 is a far more realistic target for getting game companies on board - not just simply two guys in Sweden making flash games (no offense).

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

thx for the replies, however i just have one more questions. Has EA ever made games for any previous maemo phone like the n800 and n810? Just need an idea of the chances the n900 has in attracting EA developers....

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

Firstly, the N900 is the first Maemo device with Cellular capabilities, prior devices were tablets with WiFi (or WiMax) only.

Secondly, no, there were no commercial games as such available to the prior tablets (unless someone can enlighten me?). The graphics were not hardware accelerated even on the N810 so the N900 has been the first really viable platform for this type of software.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

i thought stuff bought from the Ovi store was protected, and that the DRM necessary was part of the 1.1 update?

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

I don't know why they can't 'DRM' software with licence keys on the N900. It would be really easy to maintain because it's on a device that has 100% internet connectivity. There's no excuse not to be able to go online and activate your copy, and the software could check up on you at set intervals.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

i don't have 100% internet connectivity, and i would never buy a product that needed repeated activation.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

Thanks. You have internet connectivity enough and you wouldn't have to keep putting the code in (ridiculous!), just the software could check at periodic intervals that you hadn't cracked it or used some kind of keygen.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

Yes, and that DRM isn't strong enough for game companies.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

well, you didn't specify and that is exactly what ubisoft intend to implement.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

shame, seems a bit pointless if it won't achieve its stated goal. :(

on the other hand, there is a limit to the intrusiveness of the DRM i am willing to accept.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

At this time the only DRM system that offers true protection is through a HW chip, can be pirated but is very difficult. Don't know if the iPhone or some Android devices already offer such level of protection.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

Palm only had the last one to offer, and (my guess) a lot of money and promises of a larger userbase (which they don't offer right now, even if it's quite a bit larger than N900's).

And btw Palm doesn't use any HW DRM -- they just make it hard for you to get the files since they're encrypted (using DM) when you connect it via USB Mass Storage.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

A - Matter of opinion, not fact!

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

Someone saw an ad in a UK mag for FIFA on the N900. The thread is at
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=39807 and a pic of the ad is at http://share.ovi.com/media/Barts.76....Barts.76.10008

Mind you the same mag got a few facts wrong!

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

Same for Android and IPhone it seems.
At least the Android system was already cracked and there's a couple of tutorials around explaining how to take advantage of the system, typical :D

Since Palm was referred, it seems to me very easy to port a native palm pre game to the N900(if you've the code of course).

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

My understanding is that DRM mode is to be a feature of Maemo 6. Part of the problem with releasing to such an open platform is that the operating system is open to hacking so even IMEI is potentially spoofable.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

In fact, Palm has patched SDL 1.2 as "game SDK". The "unofficial" one -- the only currently available one -- is even using Scratchbox2, we still don't know what the official one is using (it could be a cross compiler, etc).

Totally awesome when compared to what Nokia is providing</ironic>.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

DRM support will be part of Maemo 6.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

Title fixed. Please consider the impression your title will give.

Out of curiosity, what does EA games have to offer that would impress me? I looked through my collection of purchased games, and not a one of them is published by EA. Yes, they have acquired some great studios that produced some good games in the past, such as Bullfrog (which gives me rather a more negative impression than a positive one that they go around eating up otherwise good companies), but how would they be an asset to Maemo?

I know what bad they would do--they would insist on all kinds of intrusive DRM crap. My question is, what good could they do that would justify that?

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

So slight thread hijack... being that M6 isn't likely for the N900 (ignoring the whole future support issue)

I wonder if this means pay content will essentially never be available for the N900? Since the security framework isn't built into it... this would mean that although the QT apps from M6 have a chance of running on M5.. if the developers release paid/closed source only apps I could see that being a limit for the N900.

Random thought.. I don't/wouldn't use pay software anyway.. but I know that attracts developers.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

A built-in, standardised DRM system is due for M6. There's nothing stopping developers implementing (or trying to implement) their own methods though. I expect we'll see a lot of online-activated games/apps, there'll be a few hardcoded to IMEIs (as a lot of S60 apps are), and I'm sure there'll be other techniques. DRM isn't really bullet-proof on any mobile platform though, it just presents a barrier to casual copying (and sometimes a barrier to normal use).

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

Seriously?

If you don't understand how having the largest 3rd party videogame publisher on your platform is a good thing, no explanation is ever going to be good enough. EA brings massive weight and legitimacy to any platform it comes to and also means that a lot of other smaller companies start to take notice and follow along as well.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, if you want to see what happens to a game console without EA, you can ask Sega what happened to the Dreamcast.

If you want content providers and game makers to come aboard and you want the N900 to really get into people's hands, DRM of some sort is going to need to be in there and it's going to be with Maemo 6.

Re: Why EA games are not likely coming to the n900
 

Yeah, yeah i know they are to computer gaming platforms what Gore and Obama are to the Nobel prizes. You didn't answer my first question, though. Apart from any million-pound gorilla effect, what does EA actually have to offer on a meaningful level to someone who has a fairly picky and eclectic taste in games?

Re: Why EA games are not likely coming to the n900
 

I sure did. As I said, the fact that EA would be supporting the platform is enough to get a lot of smaller publishers and developers interested in the platform, bringing more of an eclectic set of games to it.

Re: Why EA games are not likely coming to the n900
 

Actually i'm inclined to think that a big publisher moving into a niche market would tend to not bring in small studios. It simply doesn't make business sense. "Hey, this behemoth of a publisher that devours all in its way is supporting Maemo. Maybe we should develop for Maemo." :D

I'd be interested in seeing a study that tried to correlate that somehow, but i suspect it's a chicken and egg problem that is impossible to disambiguate.

Anyway, i still have no idea what games EA might possibly bring to Maemo that i'd like to play. I usually hear EA in the context of sports titles, which don't hold my interest. What are some of their best other mobile offerings that a hypothetical DRM-free paradise world would allow to show up on Maemo 5?

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

It's not really so much a M6 feature as it is also future hardware feature. For me DRM is more of a fault than a feature though and I'm sad if the main motivator for such a anti-user thing is finding it's way to maemo because of some lackluster mobile phone games, among other things.

Re: Why EA games are not likely coming to the n900
 

@Flandry:
The trick here is not to buy into the hype; but you need to know what drives the hype and be able to turn it to your advantage.
We also need to know what drives a platform to grow up; IMHO Maemo is now still a baby. It needs to gain a lot more (users, developers, content creator, partners, etc) to make it a self sustaining platform regardless of what you want to do with it.... and EA is (unfortunately?) part of the baby food that could make that happen.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

A - While they haven't made it, they do have Mass Effect 2 that's probally best game i have played. While i haven't really been playing games in receant years.
B - Don't think Apple got anything to do with this.

.... just saying :p

I don't really know how are example EA games in Iphone. Are they actually any good? Or are the best selling iphone games from Rovio types?

Like many others here if the bigger game companies will be targeting Maemo at some point it will be for Maemo 6.

Re: Why EA games are not likely coming to the n900
 

It happens. No need for a study. If EA thinks that a platform is good enough to make money off of, a lot of game companies will instantly follow, either because they want to just let another company do all the market research for them or because they want to compete against EA on each platform possible.

You might not think it makes sense, but as someone that makes videogames full-time, I can tell you that's often how things work out.

I want Burnout N900. :D

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

Early in the iPhone's life, it was mainly smaller developers like Rovio making money. But since then, EA and all the major game publishers have jumped into the iPhone market. EA has EA Mobile (formerly Jamdat), Ubisoft releases games under their own banner and under a sister company, Gameloft (owned by another of the Guillemot brothers, as is my company), Namco Bandai, Sega... Without these companies, games on your platform just end up being flash/homebrew style games which is fine if that's all you're going for, but if you really want to bring in the players and the eyeballs, these companies have to be a part of it.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

DRM is never needed. It's a false measure of security that -only- punishes paying customers and doesn't crimp pirates in the least. Go ahead, ask a paying customer what good activation limits are, and how nice it was when StarForce started causing DVD-R burns to coaster. Or Sony's DRM/rootkit that should have sent people to jail.

DRM is only ever malicious, that people accept it proves they are used to abuse.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

You're missing the point completely. All of that stuff may be true, but it doesn't matter. The content providers, who hold all the cards, simply ignore platforms that don't have some sort of protection for their content.

You don't need to argue whether DRM as an anti-piracy measure is good with me. I don't like it one bit. I'm just telling you the truth: Content creators and providers want protection for their investments into your platform and if they can't get that protection, they won't bother with you, period.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

I suppose, so long as Nokia doesn't succumb to pressure to eliminate root access and the ability to disable the DRM, I guess it would be "acceptable" to include it.

Re: Why EA games are not likely coming to the n900
 

Here are a list of games made by EA mobile for the iphone:

Worms

NFS

Asphalt 5

Sims 3

FIFA

Worms

I can go on...I by no means like apple ipod/iphone, there's more than a thousand reasons why I dont like the idont. The easily crackable glass screen being one of em. However I must admit that some high quality games are being released for their product. Gaming, software, mp3 capabilites and price tag are what makes a gadget sell these days. Games increase popularity...
What's the point of having graphics accelerated hardware if no high quality games are going to be released for it? If just one or more quality gaming companies were to develop high quality games for the n900, there'd be a massive increase in the n900 sales, which in turn makes nokia gain more, which in turn makes n900 price tag less which in turn makes the consumers happy, which in turn attracts more developers to the phone whether game wise and or software wise, which in turn makes the phone extremely popular, which in turn makes everyone happy :D.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

That's precisely analogous to saying:

"You don't need to argue whether dancing on a field will bring rain. It obviously won't. But farmers will not plant crops unless they can dance the rainmaker."

At some point, the industry will need to "grow up" and realize that DRM is:

1. Mathematically flawed (not hard to do right; mathematically impossible), and
2. A weakness against the competition (pirates)

Software locks should either exist as an accident deterrent (enter serial number), or as mathematically sound protection (encryption by and for the user and associated parties).

Attempting to obfuscate code in order to slow down crackers only encourages them. Many do it for the pride. It makes your software less valuable (it wastes the time of paying customers), less competitive (pirates strip out DRM and software locks), less reliable (added complexity), and more expensive to develop.

The n900 is one of the few pure devices out there at the moment that, almost without exception, obeys its owner by default.

If it gains popularity and the established players refuse to develop for it, great! That leaves the playing field open for new, innovative software shops that will start with the advantage.

Considering the millions of lines of solid, unencumbered code already running on these devices, why compromise now? We don't need to play this stupid game (no pun intended) any longer.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

That's all fine and dandy in theory, but that's not how the real world works. Without the established players, you won't gain popularity. Until piracy disappears or there's a way to guarantee the content creators that their work won't be stolen, yes, we do have to play this stupid game or else it's pretty much game over and everyone will just head over for that little fruit company's products.

By the way, yes, ALL DRM can be hacked. That doesn't mean it's not useful. DRM isn't meant to stop everyone from doing what they want with the media they buy. It's there to stop *casual* copying and piracy. Hardcore pirates are going to get around the restrictions and they know that. DRM's not meant to stop those... it's meant to stop your everyday Joe from copying over everything his friend has, much like they used to do with cassettes back in the day.