Binky's Groove

Do I miss EA?

So I finally left the great big, slightly insular, world of EA and with it, the videogames industry. Do I want to return? Sure, I still love games, do I want to kill myself with a ridiculous commute to do so? Nah-ah.

I mentioned last time that it all felt bittersweet. It still does. That’s not to say I have regrets about leaving. Not yet anyway. There are things I miss dearly, but the more I think about those things, the more I realise they were already gone. Washed away in waves of redundancies and office moves.

The wonderful people (my remaining few chums aside, obviously), the fantastic campus we lived in with it’s constantly in-use football pitch, and our frankly rather good canteen. I miss my morning latte served violently with a slice of carrot cake by Grace. I miss her constant question, “Where is Johnny boy, still in bed?” And I miss drinking said coffee sitting on the sofas looking out at the lake. I still think Grace might think Johnny and I live together. 

Working late for a reason (mostly the reason being too much table football or FIFA matches) with close friends for nothing more than wanting to get the job done. The feeling that you were part of something, a family of people from different backgrounds all proud to be working for this mega-company that gamers worldwide loved to hate.

I miss the marketing goodies and free games, shit, I think I almost miss marketing. I miss the ad-hoc breaks, the banter and the laughs. So many laughs. I miss the smiles of people arriving at the office and the wide eyes of those that were visiting for the first time. Yup. I work HERE!

I miss Mido and Ghali: the Egyptian geese. Heronboy, Ram-man, Wiggly and the Gwen-o-scope. I miss Sad-Sac, the corporate pastels, the accidental racial slurs in company meetings. I miss the cleaning out of the hutches, the crazy amounts spent on a magic piano and popcorn machine. The good Xmas parties, the bad puns, and the ugly testers.

And I miss, Mo. The one person who would never frown at you and never forget your name.

So do I miss EA? The answer is an unhesitating yes. Unfortunately though, I’ve been missing it for about 3 years.

Battlefield moments?

So those “battlefield moments” that the marketing team would have us believe in. They’re actually real aren’t they.

I’ve been thinking about the differences between the new demo for BFBC2 and the other giant of the shooter world. Both are great and do their thing extremely well but crikey o trousers those battlefield moments, it’s them that make you remember your last hour of gaming. With the other one every (very good) game kinda rolls into one. With battlefield you can be halfway through your admin on a Tuesday and a wry smile will appear at the corners of your mouth as you recall that “moment” from the night before.

The moment the tank exploded before your eyes, inches from the place you were hiding. Or the moment you parachuted through the skylight stabbing one enemy and headshotting the other before arming the bomb. What about that time you and a squad member survived 12 minutes without dying in the apahe chopper causing utter mayhem for the ants beneath you. Not to forget the other night when a well placed airstrike swung the tide of battle your buddy got the final kill on a baddie fleeing to a nearby tank.

These are battlefield moments. These are the reason to play.