Theme Hospital is Free on Origin

[Steven Bogos]

Theme Hospital is Free on Origin

Theme Hospital, one of the most classic sim games of all time, is completely free for a limited time.

Origin's Theme Hospital [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/133314-Free-Dead-Space-Launches-Origins-On-the-House-Program]. As usual, there's no catch of any kind (unless you consider having to install Origin a catch), and once claimed, the game is yours to keep forever.

Theme Hospital was originally released back in 1997 by the now-defunct Bullfrog Productions. It was the spiritual successor to Theme Park, and like the prior game, was praised by fans and critics for its addictive, rewarding game play, and quirky sense of humor.

The On The House version of Theme Hospital is the complete, full version of the game (it's from a time before DLC...), and will only be available for free for a limited time. As with other On The House specials, EA declined to comment exactly how limited that time would be, stating simply "Just make sure to act fast because On the House specials can appear and disappear at any time."

After it's taken off the On The House program, Theme Hospital will return to its regular price of $5.99.

I know a lot of people still harbor a lot of ill-will towards EA Games and Origin for past mistakes, but now that they are literally giving away classic masterpieces like Theme Hospital and SimCity 2000, maybe it's time to finally bury the hatchet?

Source: Origin [https://www.origin.com/en-us/store/free-games/on-the-house]

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[bdcjacko]

Woot, know what I am doing when I get home.

 

[Gennadios]

Never thought I'd see the day, but I spent more time on Origin than I did on Steam the past two months. Probably the freebies and DA:I being on sale. EA might have a chance at not being the most hated company in Ameria this year.

 

[Vincent Bernardo]

After what they did to Dungeon Keeper!? Oh I will bury the hatchet on someone alright...

 

[chiasmata]

Trying to grab my free copy of Theme Hospital but oh look! Can't log in to Origin once again. :/

 

[Steven Bogos]

Trying to grab my free copy of Theme Hospital but oh look! Can't log in to Origin once again. :/

You do realize you are literally complaining about having to log into a PC client to get free stuff, right?

 

[RealRT]

Trying to grab my free copy of Theme Hospital but oh look! Can't log in to Origin once again. :/

You do realize you are literally complaining about having to log into a PC client to get free stuff, right?

I believe he is complaining about Origin malfunctioning and him not being able to use it.

That being said, I have nothing but seething, burning contempt for every smartass who makes comments like "Oh, stop telling people it's free, you have to use ORIGIN for it, free is still too much for THAT, hurp-durp"

 

[chiasmata]

I don't begrudge having to use Origin to get a free game.

I do get a bit antsy when I need to log in to Origin to play Ubisoft games I have purchased and the Origin servers are down about once a fortnight.

 

[xxobot]

That being said, I have nothing but seething, burning contempt for every smartass who makes comments like "Oh, stop telling people it's free, you have to use ORIGIN for it, free is still too much for THAT, hurp-durp"

There is a reason why people make those comments; Origin is trying to buy back goodwill that has been burnt in the past. Funnily enough a lot of the goodwill burning has not even been done by origin itself *stares at ea*

Personally, I am trying to decide if the (awesome) game is worth the minor hassle of installing origin again.

 

[RealRT]

There is a reason why people make those comments; Origin is trying to buy back goodwill that has been burnt in the past. Funnily enough a lot of the goodwill burning has not even been done by origin itself *stares at ea*

Personally, I am trying to decide if the (awesome) game is worth the minor hassle of installing origin again.

The reason why they make these comments is because Origin was a very unstable and poorly designed piece of technology in the past and it was the client EA bound some of its disappointing games to, such as Dragon Age II and Mass Effect 3, which made it an easy target for assholes who want to look smart but end up looking bratty over complaining about doing a small thing for free stuff.

 

[Rawbeard]

Theme Hospital is Free

Yay!

on Origin.

never mind.

 

[Genocidicles]

I'd rather just pay for it on gog instead of having Origin on my computer.

 

[zumbledum]

You do realize you are literally complaining about having to log into a PC client to get free stuff, right?

well i have to let that vile piece of malware onto my system before i can log into it but yes i do realise that. you can forget if you want you can let it slide, offer up your ass and ask them if the angle suits as you line it up to take it again. but i remember! i wont forget! the travesties of bullfrog , westwood (the guys that made the modern RTS genre! there would of been no warcraft or starcraft without dune 2 to steal from!) , pandemic, day 1 dlc , the mass effect 3 ending (ok how a publisher gets the blame for that one is tenuous) but they are facilitators!

Truth be told i don't actually care about that lot myself, i just don't want to live in a world where every damn publisher and every game have their own launchers and front end stores. so im being the change i want to see in the world and not taking the wages of sin. (and don't go looking at elite dangerous that's a special case i have too much nostalgic love for that game and those school holiday sleep overs at my mates house who had a BBC when they were cutting edge!)

 

[Feraswondervahnn]

Sweet! Love this game! I think I'm starting to like Origin, I mean I haven't paid for a single game but I have Dead Space, Theme Hospital, Peggle (Haven't played), The Sims 2 and Sim City 2000. Now just make an actual Dungeon Keeper 3, devoid of microtransactions and following the old formula and we'll be good!

 

[Rituro]

As usual, there's no catch of any kind (unless you consider having to install Origin a catch)...

Yyyyyyyyyyep. That's definitely a catch for me and, I suspect, quite a few other grudge-holders out there.

For those who don't know and don't want to use origin, Theme Hospital has been free on abandonware websites for years.

Or, you could go to GOG.com as I did and get it legally [http://www.gog.com/game/theme_hospital] for the exact same price EA is charging on Origin once the free deal ends. It's the next best thing to digging through your old box of game CDs to try and find where the heck your old disc is hiding.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

If there's free games involved, I'll suck anyone's dick use anyone's gaming network.

 

[Blachman201_v1legacy]

Once you have picked up Theme Hospital, remember to check out CorsixTH, which makes it easier to run the game on modern computers and at higher resolutions: https://github.com/CorsixTH/CorsixTH