EA admits that it has a back catalog... maybe

[A Black Falcon]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6155767.htm...ws;title;0

... if Gamestop's listing of an EA classics collection for PSP is accurate, that is.

Retail Radar: PSP to get EA retro comp
GameStop details 14-game collection of old-school classics, says Electronic Arts is bringing Syndicate, Ultima, Wing Commander, and more to PSP.
By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot
Posted Aug 14, 2006 7:12 pm ET

Publishers like Capcom, Sega, Midway, Taito, and Namco have been offering retro-themed compilations for years on a variety of platforms. However, the biggest third-party publisher of them all, Electronic Arts, has generally shied away from the practice, other than a few offerings such as the recent Command & Conquer: The First Decade collection.

That might be changing, if a new GameStop product listing is accurate. According to the retailer, Electronic Arts is jumping into the retro trend headfirst with EA Replay for the PSP. Slated for release October 3 with a price tag of $29.99, the compilation will let players relive 14 of the publisher's back-catalog offerings, including fondly remembered hits like Syndicate, Ultima VII: The Black Gate, Road Rash, Wing Commander, and Jungle Strike. Some of the games will support head-to-head multiplayer action, all will be playable in widescreen or normal views, and all of them will allow players to save their games at any time. The site even says it will include unlockable game art.

The full list of games listed for the compilation is included below, along with their first release dates and systems. Given the difficulties inherent in porting a keyboard-and-mouse control scheme to PSP, it is likely that the compilation would feature shrunken-down versions of the games' console versions, so those are the dates and systems given below.

B.O.B.--1993--SNES and Genesis
Budokan--1990--Genesis
Desert Strike--1993--SNES and Genesis
Jungle Strike--1993--SNES and Genesis
Haunting Starring Polterguy--1993--Genesis
Mutant League Football--1993--Genesis
Road Rash--1992--Genesis, later on 3DO
Road Rash II--1993--Genesis
Road Rash III--1995--Genesis
Syndicate--1995--SNES, 3DO, Jaguar
Ultima: The Black Gate--1994--SNES
Virtual Pinball--1993--Genesis
Wing Commander--1993--SNES
Wing Commander: The Secret Missions--1993--SNES

Please note, while retailer listings frequently jump the gun on publishers' product announcements, they should not be taken as final confirmation of a game's existence; nor should the absence of a listing be considered as proof that a game isn't coming to a given platform.

Of these games, I have Wing Commander (PC), Wing Commander: The Secret Missions 1 and 2 (PC), Wing Commander: The Secret Missions (1) (SNES), Road Rash II (Genesis), and Haunting starring Polterguy (Genesis)... and I've played quite a bit of Desert Strike and some Syndicate. (and bits of some of the games in the Ultima series, but not seriously enough to count it really...)

That's a very nice collection... Wing Commander and its first expansion pack (hopefully minus the horrible slowdown that kills the SNES versions.. of course PC ports would be best, as the graphics are far better there (and there's also a PC-only second expansion pack), but whatever...)), Syndicate (classic!), Haunting, Ultima VII (if this is true it's the not as good SNES port and not the great PC game though, which would be an odd choice...)... Desert Strike too, though it's aged somewhat hard (same with Road Rash -- tried playing Road Rash II, it doesn't look so good anymore...)... even with those caviats though, and the fact that it might not be real and even if it is it's on PSP, hopefully this means that in the future EA will make other classic games it has in its catalog available... like, oh, all of their SNES and Genesis stuff on the Wii? :) Sure, sure, I just countered half of that point by saying "most of EA's non-sports titles of the early '90s are PC ports of games that were better on PC", and it's true, but even so, it'd be nice to see... (they have many more than just these, to say the least)

EA may be Sequels, Inc. now, but them and the companies they consumed used to make a lot of great games... perhaps, like Lucasarts, they don't want people to see them because it'll remind people that their company used to actually make interesting games, but that doesn't change that fact. :)

On a related note, I got EA's Genesis port of the early '90s New World Computing (later on the makers of Heroes of Might & Magic) PC RPG 'Faery Tale Adventure' today. $2 game complete with case and manual > game I will probably never play because of 36-letter password save system (with save anywhere! :D)... :)