Electronic Arts
From Sega Retro
Electronic Arts | ||||
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Founded: 1982-05-28 | ||||
T-series code: T-50 | ||||
Headquarters:
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Electronic Arts (エレクトロニック・アーツ), also known as EA, is an American video game developer, publisher, and distributor.
Contents
History
Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers responsible for its games. Originally, EA was a home computing game publisher, however in the late 1980s, the company began developing games in-house and began to support consoles by the early 1990s. EA later grew via acquisition of several successful developers, and by the early 2000s, EA had become one of the world's largest third-party publishers.
Electronic Arts is one of the most significant third-party publishers for Sega consoles - the Sega Mega Drive being EA's main console of choice for the first half of the 1990s. Initially EA had planned to avoid direct contact with Sega[3], reverse-engineering the Mega Drive which later formed a barganing chip for securing a better deal for EA as a third-party developer than rival firms. EA would go on to make huge gains on consoles, particularly when it came to sports games (starting with John Madden Football in 1990), and supported the Mega Drive until 1997 - well after others had abandoned the system.
Success in the sports genre led to EA establishing a sub-brand, "Electronic Arts Sports Network" in 1991, which would adorn most of its sports games until 1993. However, similarities in the name caught the eye of US sports television channel ESPN, who sued EA for trademark infringement. The two parties settled out of court, with EA renaming its brand "EA Sports" and ESPN giving advertising space for EA Sports games. Curiously EA and ESPN would sign a 15-year deal in 2005 allowing for ESPN graphics to appear in EA Sports games (with ESPN having previously worked with Sega in its 2K series of sports titles).
EA supported the Sega Saturn, but its refusal to support the Dreamcast in favor of preparing titles for the PlayStation 2 is seen by some as a contributing factor to the console's failure. At the 2011 Tokyo Game Show, Sega announced it would be partnering with EA to release FIFA 12 World Class Soccer, Battlefield 3, Shadow of the Damned, The Sims 3 Pets, Need for Speed: The Run, Mass Effect 3, and SSX in Japan, making this the first time EA worked with Sega since the Saturn (with the exception of one 2000 game).
Packaging
Electronic Arts are unusual in that they produced their own Mega Drive cartridges, boxes and manuals from factories in Taiwan and Puerto Rico (on a much greater scale than the likes of Accolade and Codemasters who also took manufacturing into their own hands). EA originally packaged its North American games in cardboard boxes, moving to the "standard" clamshell design in 1991. In Europe it began with much larger and "stickier" clamshell designs before conforming with its rivals around the same period. EA cartridges, however, never changed, being taller, less larger (fitting on any region of the system) and iconically having square with a yellow "tab" on the left hand side (colours varied in Japan) which serves no practical purpose.
EA's Saturn PAL games also differ from their competitors, opting for larger clamshell packaging while others were forced to deal with Sega's cardboard/plastic hybrid solution.
Magazine articles
- Main article: Electronic Arts/Magazine articles.
Softography
Hikaru
- NASCAR Arcade (2000)
Master System
- Shadow of the Beast (1991)
- Champions of Europe (1992)
- Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf (1993)
- Road Rash (1994)
- Championship Hockey (1995)
Mega Drive
- Battle Squadron (1990)
- Budokan: The Martial Spirit (1990)
- Zany Golf (1990)
- John Madden Football (1990)
- Lakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs (1990)
- Sword of Sodan (1990)
- F-22 Interceptor: Advanced Tactical Fighter (1991)
- James Pond II: Codename RoboCod (1991)
- John Madden Football '92 (1991)
- M-1 Abrams Battle Tank (1991)
- Starflight (1991)
- Will Harvey Presents The Immortal (1991)
- Joe Montana Football (1991)
- James Pond: Underwater Agent (1991)
- Blockout (1991)
- 688 Attack Sub (1991)
- Centurion: Defender of Rome (1991)
- King's Bounty: The Conqueror's Quest (1991)
- Might and Magic: Gates to Another World (1991)
- The Faery Tale Adventure (1991)
- EA Hockey (1991)
- NHL Hockey (1991)
- Road Rash (1991)
- Fatal Rewind (1991)
- Dark Castle (1991)
- Marble Madness (1991)
- Shadow of the Beast (1991)
- Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday (1991)
- Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf (1992)
- John Madden Football '93 (1992)
- LHX Attack Chopper (1992)
- Lotus Turbo Challenge (1992)
- NHLPA Hockey '93 (1992)
- Team USA Basketball (1992)
- Rings of Power (1992)
- Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? (1992)
- Jordan vs Bird (1992)
- Bulls vs Lakers and the NBA Playoffs (1992)
- Crüe Ball (1992)
- Galahad (1992)
- The Aquatic Games Starring James Pond and The Aquabats (1992)
- Shadow of the Beast II (1992)
- John Madden Football: Championship Edition (1992)
- Risky Woods (1992)
- Road Rash II (1992)
- B.O.B. (1993)
- Bulls versus Blazers and the NBA Playoffs (1993)
- EA Sports Double Header (1993)
- FIFA International Soccer (1993)
- Haunting Starring Polterguy (1993)
- James Pond 3: Operation Starfish (1993)
- Jungle Strike (1993)
- Lotus II: RECS (1993)
- Madden NFL '94 (1993)
- Mutant League Football (1993)
- NHL Hockey '94 (1993)
- PGA Tour Golf II (1993)
- Power Monger (1993)
- Rolo to the Rescue (1993)
- Super Baseball 2020 (1993)
- Two Tribes: Populous II (1993)
- Virtual Pinball (1993)
- Zool (1993)
- Tony La Russa Baseball (1993)
- Bill Walsh College Football (1993)
- General Chaos (1993)
- TechnoClash (1993)
- Blades of Vengeance (1993)
- F-117 Night Storm (1993)
- FIFA Soccer 95 (1994)
- IMG International Tour Tennis (1994)
- La Russa Baseball 95 (1994)
- Mario Andretti Racing (1994)
- NBA Showdown '94 (1994)
- NHL 95 (1994)
- NHLPA Hockey (1994)
- Normy's Beach Babe-O-Rama (1994)
- PGA European Tour (1994)
- PGA Tour Golf III (1994)
- Sesame Street Counting Cafe (1994)
- Shaq Fu (1994)
- Skitchin' (1994)
- Syndicate (1994)
- Urban Strike (1994)
- Mutant League Hockey (1994)
- MLBPA Baseball (1994)
- Bill Walsh College Football '95 (1994)
- Madden NFL '95 (1994)
- Rugby World Cup 1995 (1994)
- Elitserien 95 (1994)
- Australian Rugby League (1995)
- FIFA Soccer 96 (1995)
- Madden NFL 96 (1995)
- NBA Live 96 (1995)
- NHL 96 (1995)
- PGA Tour Golf II (1995)
- Road Rash 3: Tour De Force (1995)
- Theme Park (1995)
- Toughman Contest (1995)
- Coach K College Basketball (1995)
- Triple Play 96 (1995)
- College Football USA 96 (1995)
- PGA Tour 96 (1995)
- Elitserien 96 (1995)
- FIFA 97: Gold Edition (1996)
- NBA Live 97 (1996)
- NHL 97 (1996)
- Triple Play: Gold Edition (1996)
- College Football USA 97 (1996)
- Madden NFL 97 (1996)
- FIFA Road to World Cup 98 (1997)
- Madden NFL 98 (1997)
- NHL 98 (1997)
- NBA Live 98 (1997)
- Aspect Warriors (unreleased)
- Black Crypt (unreleased)
- Earl Weaver Baseball (unreleased)
- Face Plant (unreleased)
- It Came from the Desert (unreleased)
- Jelly Boy (unreleased)
- Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City (unreleased)
- Relentless (unreleased)
- Ring of Doom (unreleased)
- Savage Heroes (unreleased)
- Slam: Shaq vs. the Legends (unreleased)
- The Lord of the Rings (unreleased)
- Theme Hospital (unreleased)
- Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi (unreleased)
- Zombie High (unreleased)
- Mutant League Basketball (unreleased)
Game Gear
- Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf (1993)
- FIFA International Soccer (1994)
- Road Rash (1994)
- Madden NFL '95 (1994)
- FIFA Soccer 96 (1995)
- Madden NFL 96 (1995)
- MLBPA Baseball (1995)
- NHL Hockey (1995)
- Shaq Fu (1995)
- Urban Strike (1995)
- Championship Hockey (1995)
- Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City (unreleased)
Mega-CD
- NHL Hockey '94 (1993)
- Bill Walsh College Football (1993)
- FIFA International Soccer: Championship Edition (1994)
- Wing Commander (1994)
- FIFA International Soccer: Championship Edition (1994)
- Road Rash (1995)
- Savage Heroes (unreleased)
- Super Strike Trilogy (unreleased)
32X
- Toughman Contest (1995)
- FIFA Soccer 96 (1995)
Saturn
- Victory Boxing (1995)
- Theme Park (1995)
- Senryaku Shougi (1995)
- FIFA Soccer 96 (1995)
- Hi-Octane (1995)
- Madden NFL 97 (1996)
- Magic Carpet (1996)
- NHL 97 (1996)
- Road & Track Presents The Need for Speed (1996)
- Shockwave Assault (1996)
- Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels (1996)
- PGA Tour 97 (1996)
- Andretti Racing (1996)
- Crusader: No Remorse (1996)
- Battle Stations (1997)
- Croc: Legend of the Gobbos (1997)
- Darklight Conflict (1997)
- Die Hard Trilogy (1997)
- FIFA Road to World Cup 98 (1997)
- FIFA Soccer 97 (1997)
- Madden NFL 98 (1997)
- NASCAR 98 (1997)
- NBA Live 97 (1997)
- NBA Live 98 (1997)
- Rabbit Mihonhin (1997)
- Soviet Strike (1997)
- Warcraft II: The Dark Saga (1997)
- Shin Theme Park (1997)
- NHL 98 (1998)
- Battle Garegga (1998)
- Diablo (unreleased)
- Dungeon Keeper (unreleased)
- Fade to Black (unreleased)
- Gen¹³ (unreleased)
- Nuclear Strike (unreleased)
- PGA Tour 98 (unreleased)
- Rushdown (unreleased)
- Shredfest (unreleased)
- Syndicate Wars (unreleased)
- Theme Hospital (unreleased)
- Viewpoint (unreleased)
- Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (unreleased)
- Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (unreleased)
Dreamcast
- SSX (unreleased)
- The Urbz: Sims in the City (unreleased)
IBM PC
GameCube
Gallery
References
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