@RobertBowen Those years (2008-2010) when Riccatiello returned and created some really nice goodwill for the company with great ideas such as creating new IP, dumping licensed games and starting the partner program, those days have passed. But why?

I don't believe it's because they "slid into their old ways" but rather that it did not work as a business. It was comsumer friendly and created goodwill but the harsh reality was that nothing became money and stockholders want money. Riccatiello have probably been close to getting fired after a couple of years with bad business decisions. We can critisize them all we want but if they didn't earn money by doing those decisions then it's logical that those practices went away, sad at it is.

I really honstly liked EA during those years. I actually thought they were kind of OK before that. Churning out sequals, that's okey BUT now they are beginning to make wierd and kind of aggressive anti-consumer friendly moves.

People here have a point that the everyday man may not be that interesting. These people also seem to talk about dull tasks that make up our life. To play a game as an avrage Joe does not mean experincing their normal life but to put a ordinary person in an extraordinary situationen that demand them to do tasks they would not normally do. What separates doing this well and doing it bad is how fast these people suddenly seem way to good or capable of doing stuff. I personally never thought Gordon was "normal" in Half-Life. Yeah..he has a life and he's scientist BUT he get's way to good at shooting stuff a bit to early. I understand that this is problem since you are the one controlling him but by being awesome at the game we take away the characters limits. I would like some kind of slower progression in these kind of games so I can actually relate to them. That's the point of them. That we understand them and therefore feel closer to them than other characters in games. On of the best examples I can think of on top of my head in Hevay Rain. That was normal people that was put in very special situations and they never felt like superheroes.