EA picks up next-gen rights to Simpsons-based games

Okay, you know a franchise is in bad shape when people see EA picked it up and they become hopeful for improvement.

It's also sad that Konami just took the engine from their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle games, slapped new graphics on it, and still made the best game with the Simpsons license. It's also sad that I'm bitter it was never released on consoles.

Ugh, heven't they made enough bad Simpsons games already?

Simpsons is great and all... but we need a Family Guy Game :)

"A franchise is in bad shape when people see EA pick it up"

Not always.

Everything or Nothing was a surprisingly giid game and many sports fans (especially football fans) argue that Madden is the best sim out there - and now it's the only one with the license. The company's other sports titles - Tiger Woods, FIFA, and NBA Live, have also turned out pretty well. Additionally, the Lord of the Rings games aren't bad.

EA picks up these licenses for a reason - games with licenses tend to sell better than games without licenses. Now yes, there are some licenses EA games (and other publishers' licensed games) that are pretty crummy. But then again crummy licensed games typically don't sell as well as well-made licensed games - wouldn't you agree?

Sweet, now I can avoid buying crappy Simpsons games and continue my ban on all EA purchases all at once! Kickass!

I loved those Konami multiplayer arcade games. Ninja Turtles, The Simpsons, Xmen... Pizza, Pepsi, and arcade games... Those were the days...

The Simpsons arcade is one of the great arcade titles from that period that never got a console release. I would love to see it and X-Men and Aliens vs Predator all released for consoles.

Thanks for the warning Joystiq.

They should do it Cel Shaded. COme on all these #D SImpsons games sucks. Make them look like the show.

EA is great with sports titles, when it comes to other games not so good. unless the game has some sport related stuff to it =)

after seeing how EA maintain Ultima Online and the 007 franchise (n64 version golden eye was still the greatest :D) i think EA uses the name to sell, than trying to make a better game =(.

its true that a well known name will sell more, but they should make an effort to make a good game with that name not just stick a [popular series] wrapper around it and make a game that at the end of the day stinks xD

"after seeing how EA maintain Ultima Online and the 007 franchise (n64 version golden eye was still the greatest :D)"

GoldenEye was not related in anything to EA.

I never played Crazy Taxi, so I guess that's why I enjoyed Road Rage as much as I did. I always wanted to play Hit & Run (haven't played GTA much either), but never picked it up. Simpsons games seem kind of easy to me: a bunch of samples, simple graphics, lots of characters, and that's about it.

That said, while I enjoyed the Simpsons arcade game at the time, come on. Random guy in a suit? Old fat guy with a tie? What episode were they ever on?

ya it was made my nintendo i was meaning it as a comparison >.< lol

I'm sure nobody goes into work each day at EA saying "I'm going to make a bad game today". The intention is there - sometimes they pull it off, sometimes they don't. It's the same with most other developers, the difference with EA is that they release so many games and therefore more dodgy ones.

I imagine that they'll be taking liberties with the meaning of the word "original".

meant by nintendo on my last post xD

i guess that may be so and i don't intend to blame the developers, i mean every game maker has a game that was teared apart by the gaming community, in some ways i think it could be higher up. wanting to spit out so many games at once at the expense of the developers having less time to make the game.

i dunno myself though so i'll stop saying anything on this.

just seeing EA's track record i see where this probably will go. but not gonna cut out the small chance EA makes a hit, i mean madden was once a farfetch idea and see where EA got with that =)

Spence, lol it wasn't made by nintendo

It was published by nintendo, and made by rare.

EA is like this generation's Acclaim: Bad games from good licenses

Oh man, EA totally struck it big...


if this were 1995.

err ya published lol i dunno what i was thinking this morning lol

published: nintendo
made by rare

thanks bd lol

What really bohered me about the current Simpsons and Futurama games is as mentioned, the goddamned crappy cel shading! Especially Futurama. They had the best lines, but the damn shadowing and shading was way off. Horrible. If SOMEONE could get it right, even if it's EA, I'd kiss their feet. C'mon, EA, make a remake of the arcade game and make it Cel-Shaded. Think the current TMNT games. Oh damn.. that's Konami.. the people who did the Simpsons originally.. we're doomed if anyone other than Konami makes that game.