EA strikes twenty-game deal with Nintendo

Dyne · 03-06-2003, 05:35 PM

http://cube.ign.com/articles/388/388234p1.html

I'm sure that will have more of an impact than the Capcom five.

It's interesting to see Shiggy getting so "involved" with all these projects. I mean, he's head of EAD and all, but it seems people are using his name to get more hype. Which could inevitably be bad... but I'll still love him. Take, for example, that Metal Gear business. Maybe shiggy's sleeping around more now?

Jonbo298 · 03-06-2003, 06:05 PM

It's a good deal. But I'm just not happy or excited about it. Does what Ninendo said about them giving feedback on basically what sucks and what doesnt mean that what they say will stick on the 'Cube only and other systems might get the "crappier" ones? Or will it be done for all versions? And hopefully EA makes Madden 2004 online for 'Cube. Nintendo better not persuade them into thinking there won't be a profit!

I might actually buy a football game on the 'Cube if Madden 2004 adds online play for my system. But overall, good deal. 20 games guaranteed on the 'Cube and all 20 being on the PS2 also (hint hint)

gekko · 03-06-2003, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jonbo298
Nintendo better not persuade them into thinking there won't be a profit!

Judging by EA's stance on Xbox Live, EA already knows this.

TheGame · 03-06-2003, 10:17 PM

Yep, Gekko is right, EA allready has seen the light as far as profit.

I think this deal is good for Nintendo, They lose Sega Sports, but get EA sports games that are made special exclusively for the console.. pretty nice.

Jason1 · 03-06-2003, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TheGame
Yep, Gekko is right, EA allready has seen the light as far as profit.

I think this deal is good for Nintendo, They lose Sega Sports, but get EA sports games that are made special exclusively for the console.. pretty nice.

How do you figure they are made any differently, except for the link capabilites, which probably wont be anything to get too excited over anyways? Or is that all you were talking about?

GameKinG · 03-06-2003, 11:34 PM

Well its not that bad of an idea. It may increase the cube's sports fanbase, and EA has almost no competition with all the devs pulled out.

GameKinG · 03-06-2003, 11:57 PM

[Source: Bloomberg]

03/06 20:51
Nintendo Rises on EA Plan to Make 20 GameCube Titles (Update1)
By Hiroshi Suzuki

Kyoto, Japan, March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Nintendo Co., the world's second-largest maker of video game consoles, rose as much as 4.8 percent after Electronic Arts Inc. said it will make 20 titles for the Japanese gamemaker's GameCube console.

The comments allayed concerns that Electronic Arts, the largest U.S. maker of video games, would make fewer titles for the GameCube after the machine failed to meet Nintendo's sales forecast. In January, Electronic Arts Chief Executive Lawrence Probst told analysts the company would review the number of sports games it designs for Nintendo's console.

``This is a bigger deal for Nintendo,'' said Arvind Bhatia, an analyst at SWS Securities Inc., who rates Electronic Arts ``strong buy'' and doesn't own the shares. ``The GameCube console hasn't gotten as much traction as people were hoping for.''

Electronic Arts said it will also work with Nintendo to create games that share data between the GameCube and Nintendo's portable game player called Game Boy Advance, the companies said in a statement. Financial terms weren't disclosed, Electronic Arts spokeswoman Trudy Muller said.

Nintendo's shares rose as much as 420 yen to 9,160. They were up 4.1 percent at 9,100 as of 10:16 a.m. in Osaka. Shares of Redwood City, California-based Electronic Arts rose $1.15 to $53.94 as of 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.

Electronic Arts makes titles tied to the ``Harry Potter'' and ``Lord of the Rings'' movies.

The 20 games the company will make for the GameCube will include the ``Madden NFL 2004'' football game, ``FIFA 2004'' soccer game, and ``Tiger Woods PGA TOUR'' golf game.

fingersman · 03-07-2003, 08:26 AM

Wow I'm really impressed with Nintendo this time around, althought they are losing to Xbox in USA and UK, they are really courting the third parties ( the major ones anyway, like EA, Capcom, Sega, Namco,Konami) and trying to fill up the holes in the GC's library.

They are doing it with sports games and if your check the GC's release list they have quite a few rpgs coming out.

I'm really impressed and surprised, I didn't expect this from Nintendo.

Seth · 03-08-2003, 02:08 AM

Finally, something to spark my optimism in nintendo. That's a fairly significant % increase from an announcement like this. If madden goes online for the cube i'll definately buy it. sweet.