EA’s Latest Online Kill Spree

The Saboteur - an odd inclusion on the list...

Just when you think they may have been showing their nicer side, with the whole Edge trademark court stuff, EA have sadly gone and dragged growing gamer goodwill through the mud somewhat.  Up to their usual tricks of killing online servers for games which show little online activity, their latest list of impending kills has caused something of a stir, given the games in the firing line.

EA are planning to switch off the online servers for 11 recent titles, including at least one which requires their ‘online pass’ to play online.  While gamers have become used to EA’s trigger happy nature over the years, as frustrating as it is, this would appear to be the first time that a game requiring the controversial online pass system has been selected for termination and, to be honest, it is a pretty shitty move, no matter how low the online activity is.

Aside from the following: “[it is]no longer feasible to continue the behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping these games up and running”, there is still no word from EA in response to angry forum posts, especially regarding MMA.  The least they could do, in our opinion, is offer some sort of partial or full compensation for any online passes purchased.  We’ll be here holding our breath.

The full list of games to have their online services terminated are as follows:

• BOOM BLOX Bash Party (Wii)
• Burnout™ Revenge (Xbox 360)
• EA Create (PC, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360)
• EA Sports Active 2.0 (PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360)
• EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp (Wii)
• FIFA 10 (PlayStation Portable and Wii)
• The Godfather™ II (PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360)
• MMA (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360)
• Need for Speed™ ProStreet (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360)
• The Saboteur™ (loss of The Midnight Show access) PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
• Spare Parts (PlayStation 3 Xbox 360)
• Battlefield 3: Aftershock (iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch)
• Fantasi Safari (iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch)
• Ghost Harvest (iPhone)
• Sarah Connor*

An interesting inclusion on that list is The Saboteur – the rather good 2009 game from now, sadly, defunct Pandemic Studios.  While it doesn’t have an online mode or any multiplayer, it does have a piece of DLC entitled The Midnight Show, which unlocks boobs, among other in-game features.  Yes, that’s right, if you want to see actual in-game tits in The Saboteur, you’d better fork out for them now, or forever hold your piece peace.  Frankly, why a piece of DLC can’t remain online for purchase is perplexing, and EA’s decision to include a non multiplayer game on the list is an odd one.  Still, gamers have until 13th April to get any multiplayer achievements they have outstanding on the affected games, and to purchase The Midnight Show for The Saboteur, so crack on folks.

*Kidding.  EA are in no way responsible for the termination contract on Sarah Connor.

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