EA Launches Alpha Test of Origin for Mac

Steven Bogos

The Taco Man
Jan 17, 2013
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EA Launches Alpha Test of Origin for Mac



The first few thousand Mac users to sign up for the Alpha will also receive PopCap's Bookworm free of charge.

The Mac version of the platform boasts most of the same features PC users currently enjoy, including cloud-storage, auto-patching and friends lists. One-click streaming to Twitch.tv, an exciting new feature announced for the PC late last year [http://www.origin.com/news/whats-coming-in-the-next-origin-update], is the only major feature not available to Mac users at this time, although EA promises that it will be added in as soon as possible. Access to the EA store is also not included in the Alpha trial.

Mac users opting-in to the trial will receive a free copy of PopCap's hit puzzler, Bookworm for use with testing the client. Just like with Steam's Mac version, games will have to be specifically coded for use with the Mac - don't expect to be able to jump right into Battlefield 3 or Dead Space on your Mac. EA recommends that users have a Mac running OS X 10.6.8 or newer with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better to get the most out of the experience.

Origin is EA's answer to Steam, and an attempt to wrest away some of the market for digital downloads that the Valve-owned platform currently dominates. When the service launched back in 2011, EA pulled all of its first party titles from Steam, including big hitters like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, in an effort to persuade users to try their own platform. It got off to a fairly rocky start, with stories from customer support hell and frequent hacks, but has been steadily improving since.

Supporting the Mac is the latest in EA's attempt to play catch-up with Steam, who launched the feature back in 2010. Early adopters of Steam's Mac version were treated to a free copy of Valve's smash hit Portal, an arguably better deal than Origin's offering of PopCap's Bookworm.

US Mac users can opt into the Alpha follow this link. [http://store.origin.com/store/ea/en_US/html/pbPage.demos-en_US]

Source: Origin.com. [http://www.origin.com/us/news/origin-for-mac-the-alpha-starts-today-sign-up-now]

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Slash2x

New member
Dec 7, 2009
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Those poor poor SOBs... So now there is a new group of people being exposed to EA spyware.
 

Not Matt

Senior Member
Nov 3, 2011
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Okay.
1. You're late EA
2. Nobody buy a mac for gaming (that's just shooting yourself in the foot)
3. Do anyone else remember that "I am a mac/I am a pc" spyware commercial?
 

Eduardo Rivera

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Jul 6, 2011
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I don't know if it is because the servers are over loaded but the download keeps failing. It could just be EA being all fraked up. Actually I'm going to say both.
 

Aeshi

New member
Dec 22, 2009
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Might actually be worth using if it actually works (which would be more than can be said for the Mac version of Steam)
 

Hairless Mammoth

New member
Jan 23, 2013
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Aren't they going the wrong way? Mac OS X is about as closed as Windows and has little market share (More than Linux right now, I admit). What if Steam on Linux does take off and cause a mass exodus of gamers and developers to the penguin side? Then, EA is gonna be even more behind trying to port everything to another OS. Plus, most Mac users I've heard of dual boot to Windows for games anyway. They probably aren't buying the Mac version unless EA lets you download both versions for the price of one.
 

jackpipsam

SEGA fanboy
Jun 2, 2009
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Hairless Mammoth said:
they probably aren't buying the Mac version unless EA lets you download both versions for the price of one.
I would imagine that you buy the game once and you download it based on your platform.

You can download your Origin games as much as you want.
 

zumbledum

New member
Nov 13, 2011
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classic EA takes 3 years to copy someone else and they hit he wrong OS /golfclap
how are they getting paid? i just dont understand this world.