Free Dead Space Launches Origin's "On the House" Program

[snekadid]

...What do you expect me to do with this information? Origin went poorly for you, it's been nothing but sunshine and lollipops and rainbows on my end, while Steam's support is so bad that I had to wait until I bought new computer parts and reinstalled the OS a year after buying Arkham Asylum before I could even play it.

Well that sounds like the problem was on your end. I couldn't play Fallout: New Vegas until I replaced my RAM, the old one had a few corrupted sectors. Similarly sounds like you had a hardware issue, or just plain didn't meet specs.

Heck my old computer couldn't run Bastion because it required 500mb VRAM and I only had 320MB on my GeForce 8800GTS and some newer games required me to have a newer OS than windows XP. That's not steam's fault.

That doesn't change the fact that I submitted a ticket and it took them over a week to collectively shrug their shoulders and say "good luck" without even a suggestion.


And I once tried to get DLC deleted off my account, since I didn't want it and couldn't turn it off. It took them three weeks. That is Steam's fault. Ergo, I like Origin better.

So you have only problems that were your own fault from
A. not having the system/a broken system to run a game and then wanting the equivalent of gamestop, since valve didn't make the game, to fix something that was YOUR FAULT.
B. They didn't immediately remove content from your account that YOU BOUGHT AND/OR CHOSE TO DOWNLOAD since even free DLC you pick off the store page, and thus it is some how steams fault you don't have any sense of personal responsibility?

Even your reasons of supporting Origin lack any real information. My favorite being that Origin has better functionality than steam and then didn't say WHY. You offer no arguments that aren't a collection of reasons you can't be trusted to have a credit card since you obviously have a history of not thinking through your actions.

Your sole counter that was based on reality was that Origin doesn't sell peoples information anymore and that Steam still collects our system specs. Ok, but Origin collects our system specs too, and Steam never sold our information. This brings up the same point that I brought up during the Xbone debacle, just because a company decides to reverse a violently anti-consumer practice because of consumer outrage, doesn't mean that they get a clear record, because they didn't decide what they were doing was wrong.

All they did was realize that they wouldn't get away with it, they still thought that doing something that victimizes the consumer was a good idea. We're not gonna let Charles Manson out of jail just because he hasn't ritualistically murdered someone recently, because we know what he's done in the past and are aware that he would do it again in the future if we allowed him to. EA does anti-consumer bullshit every month, sometimes immediately after promising that they want to stop being a horrible company.

OT: Free games are good, but this is a really dumb free game to give out as a starting point for this program that may or may not continue after this one game. I'm not saying deadspace is a bad game, I in fact really like it as opposed to that soulless abomination that was DS3 where me and my cousin played through it just to see how bad it was and only made it to the end because we wanted to see just how bad it could go(spoiler: its really fucking bad).

This game is old, seriously. While I'm not saying they should give out new releases, that would be stupid when their library consists of only their games and is thus tiny, they picked a game that was not only in the humble bundle, but even if you missed that, it was about 2 bucks on any number of steam sales and other gaming store fronts many, many times. While making a game free that everyone owns makes money sense, it doesn't make publicity sense.

Besides that, they picked a game that gives poor credit to their deal by picking a game with no notable DLC or bonuses. Seriously, look at the list, its all 1-3 dollar weapon power ups. No content, nothing that actually improves on the game. Just examples of pay to win DLC and a few skins(2 of which are console exclusives).

As a flagship title for their new promotional campaign to get people to forget their latest string of transgressions, this is just bad, though I will admit it could be worse..... they could have made it populous.

 

[lacktheknack]

snip

That's a lot of words for a complete failure to understand on your part.

To completely kneecap you, my problem with Steam isn't the problems I had (my sense of personal responsibility is far more encompassing than pretty much everyone else here, thankyouverymuch), it's the weeks-long response time. How very telling that immediately had to resort to personal attacks.

Meanwhile, my contact with EA's customer support over a problem with The Sims 3 was responded to within two hours. If I had a similar problem as I did with Arkham Asylum on origin today, I could have immediately returned it for a refund after the quick customer support told me they didn't know how to fix it. Similarly, they could have removed the DLC in hours rather than weeks.

I've said many times before that Origin and Steam are essentially equal in terms of function (I even wrote a <link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.825489-So-I-got-Origin-from-EA-A-Review-Image-Heavy>review on it) and I just didn't re-iterate, so sorry for that.

However, I didn't say a single word on data collection, so I have no idea where you got that from. Your rant was irrelevant.

Don't be antagonistic and insulting because I had issues with tech support, dude. You only look desperate and contrarian.

 

[Kolyarut]

snip

That's a lot of words for a complete failure to understand on your part.

To completely kneecap you, my problem with Steam isn't the problems I had (my sense of personal responsibility is far more encompassing than pretty much everyone else here, thankyouverymuch), it's the weeks-long response time. How very telling that immediately had to resort to personal attacks.

Meanwhile, my contact with EA's customer support over a problem with The Sims 3 was responded to within two hours. If I had a similar problem as I did with Arkham Asylum on origin today, I could have immediately returned it for a refund after the quick customer support told me they didn't know how to fix it. Similarly, they could have removed the DLC in hours rather than weeks.

I've said many times before that Origin and Steam are essentially equal in terms of function (I even wrote a <link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.825489-So-I-got-Origin-from-EA-A-Review-Image-Heavy>review on it) and I just didn't re-iterate, so sorry for that.

However, I didn't say a single word on data collection, so I have no idea where you got that from. Your rant was irrelevant.

Don't be antagonistic and insulting because I had issues with tech support, dude. You only look desperate and contrarian.

I'd echo the tech support thing, actually. Steam's support is downright abysmal, and Origin's is pretty good. My annecdotes - I bought a regular edition of a game during the sale, then realised I should have bought the collectors edition. Submitted a ticket, basically saying "hey guys, can I give you some more money please?" - they replied three days after the sale ended telling me that as a gesture of good will they could refund the game I bought and then allow me to repurchase the CE for double the price, would I like to do that now? Uh, no, thank you Steam.

Whereas when I had difficulty getting hold of Mass Effect 1 DLC (seriously, it's frickin impossible to buy it direct from Bioware now), an Origin tech support person IMed me within an hour or two and not only gave me the one I asked for, but gave me a key for the other one for free too. Genuinely pretty cool of them.

At the end of the day, obviously I'm more a Steam user, because it's where the games are, but there really isn't anything beyond that you can say Steam does better.

 

[snekadid]

snip

That's a lot of words for a complete failure to understand on your part.

To completely kneecap you, my problem with Steam isn't the problems I had (my sense of personal responsibility is far more encompassing than pretty much everyone else here, thankyouverymuch), it's the weeks-long response time. How very telling that immediately had to resort to personal attacks.

Meanwhile, my contact with EA's customer support over a problem with The Sims 3 was responded to within two hours. If I had a similar problem as I did with Arkham Asylum on origin today, I could have immediately returned it for a refund after the quick customer support told me they didn't know how to fix it. Similarly, they could have removed the DLC in hours rather than weeks.

I've said many times before that Origin and Steam are essentially equal in terms of function (I even wrote a <link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.825489-So-I-got-Origin-from-EA-A-Review-Image-Heavy>review on it) and I just didn't re-iterate, so sorry for that.

However, I didn't say a single word on data collection, so I have no idea where you got that from. Your rant was irrelevant.

Don't be antagonistic and insulting because I had issues with tech support, dude. You only look desperate and contrarian.

Again, you need reading comprehension, you went to STEAM to get tech support for A GAME THEY DIDN'T MAKE.

Its funny how you keep trying to insinuate that I'm wrong because I'm hostile, when you have done nothing but make posts that range from hostile to passive aggressive all through the thread.

O dear, you wrote a review, I guess I should google search everyone that makes unsupported claims on a forum. You didn't post it in the thread so it was irrelevant to your point because you didn't make it here. I called you out on the points you made in the thread.

You wanna know something that makes Origin worse than Steam? Clicking on games from your library page takes you to their massive DLC pages, not options, not a forum. Just gallons of steaming, stinking DLC. Games without DLC don't get anything except a blank page if I remember.

It's funny how you ignored the entire post except that I called you on your nonexistent argument that only contains blatant name calling, veiled insults and baseless fanboi-ism, o and you screwing up and then expecting people to fix what you did immediately. Present something, ANYTHING, to support your argument or go away, you keep making insulting posts at people and are providing nothing factual or relevant.

 

[Avalanche91]

You know, this is a good idea coming from EA. Maybe to celebrate nót winning the Golden Poo, maybe to try and pull in some actual new users to their system. Dead Space was not a bad game if memory serves and may actually pull some new players in. Kudos for actually making a promotion campaign that will actually benefit the players.

I mean, I'm not going for it but it gives them sóme good will on the big karma meter of life.

First thing that popped in my head however was that EA, about a year ago, claimed that Steam's many many sales were cheapening and even hurting intellectual properties. I know this is still EA but a little consistency is nice.

 

[lacktheknack]

snip

That's a lot of words for a complete failure to understand on your part.

To completely kneecap you, my problem with Steam isn't the problems I had (my sense of personal responsibility is far more encompassing than pretty much everyone else here, thankyouverymuch), it's the weeks-long response time. How very telling that immediately had to resort to personal attacks.

Meanwhile, my contact with EA's customer support over a problem with The Sims 3 was responded to within two hours. If I had a similar problem as I did with Arkham Asylum on origin today, I could have immediately returned it for a refund after the quick customer support told me they didn't know how to fix it. Similarly, they could have removed the DLC in hours rather than weeks.

I've said many times before that Origin and Steam are essentially equal in terms of function (I even wrote a <link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.825489-So-I-got-Origin-from-EA-A-Review-Image-Heavy>review on it) and I just didn't re-iterate, so sorry for that.

However, I didn't say a single word on data collection, so I have no idea where you got that from. Your rant was irrelevant.

Don't be antagonistic and insulting because I had issues with tech support, dude. You only look desperate and contrarian.

Again, you need reading comprehension, you went to STEAM to get tech support for A GAME THEY DIDN'T MAKE.

And? It wasn't my best move, but does that excuse multiples weeks for an "I can't help" without so much as a link to Rocksteady support? I would have been fine if even a few days passed followed by a "please contact Rocksteady", which the never did.

Its funny how you keep trying to insinuate that I'm wrong because I'm hostile, when you have done nothing but make posts that range from hostile to passive aggressive all through the thread.

You're not wrong because you're hostile. I'm just significantly less open to anything you say because you're hostile.

O dear, you wrote a review, I guess I should google search everyone that makes unsupported claims on a forum. You didn't post it in the thread so it was irrelevant to your point because you didn't make it here. I called you out on the points you made in the thread.

And I apologized. Keep ragging on it, please.

You wanna know something that makes Origin worse than Steam? Clicking on games from your library page takes you to their massive DLC pages, not options, not a forum. Just gallons of steaming, stinking DLC. Games without DLC don't get anything except a blank page if I remember.

False. It takes you to a standard game info page, containing a list of options, epilepsy/etc warnings, date purchased, date added, the CD key, and, if you scroll down, any expansions.

Calling it a "DLC page" is dishonest.

It's funny how you ignored the entire post except that I called you on your nonexistent argument that only contains blatant name calling, veiled insults and baseless fanboi-ism, o and you screwing up and then expecting people to fix what you did immediately. Present something, ANYTHING, to support your argument or go away, you keep making insulting posts at people and are providing nothing factual or relevant.

k.

Origin is better because it has a guaranteed refund period.

Origin is better because the customer support is significantly better.

Origin is essentially identical to Steam in every other way, from purchase method to library arrangement to ease of use.

Your move.

 

[Andrew_C]

Uh... how does one acquire free games if there isn't a storefront? D:

By having a web based store front instead of building a locally run application. The key difference between Origin and Steam is that EA has built their storefront specifically to toss around their own products. Valve shifted away from that approach and instead just regards steam as a product to conveniently distribute games to consumers. They have games published by them on there, but they aren't necessarily the main attraction.

Both Steam and Origin use a web-based store front and both Steam and Origin have a browser built into the client to access that store front from the client. They both use WebKit, as a matter of fact.

 

[lacktheknack]

Uh... how does one acquire free games if there isn't a storefront? D:

By having a web based store front instead of building a locally run application. The key difference between Origin and Steam is that EA has built their storefront specifically to toss around their own products. Valve shifted away from that approach and instead just regards steam as a product to conveniently distribute games to consumers. They have games published by them on there, but they aren't necessarily the main attraction.

Both Steam and Origin use a web-based store front and both Steam and Origin have a browser built into the client to access that store front from the client. They both use WebKit, as a matter of fact.

I think you botched up your quotes a little bit (you swapped who said what), but nifty information regardless.

 

[major_chaos]

"We appreciate you making Origin your gaming home... and besides, who doesn't like reinstalling their OS?"

Funny thing, last time I had to reinstall Windows I'm almost 100% positive it was Steam's fault.

OT: For all the uninformed shrieking bandwagon hate I have always found Origin to be equal to or better than Steam, especially when it comes to customer support and giving away free stuff. Shame I already own DS, but I think I'll find something to buy just to show support.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I have Origin running in the background 24/7, never had a problem with it. Perfectly satisfactory. I have all of two Origin games, so it doesn't get a lot of miles, but there it is.

Maybe I overlooked it in an earlier post, but is there a good, sound reason why people don't want to use Origin? Or is it just another manifestation of "EA sucks?" I'm asking seriously, because I really don't understand the hostility at this point.

 

[Nazulu]

Also, it's not just "having doubts". We've already had someone get banned in this thread for calling everyone who likes this move a massive toolbox. Bullheaded, unpleasable and surly sound perfect.

I wouldn't count that. Many users/bots who have that exact same avatar keep getting banned over and over again.

1. The guy's been around almost as long as me.
2. That avatar is automatically applied to all the user's posts when they're banned. It's not their real avatar. I'm amazed you haven't noticed that.

No, I didn't look at the date. I just remember there were bots on other sites who could rake up post counts in no time with predictable dribble. And I thought the avatar was just a troll thing.

 

[Nazulu]

Maybe I overlooked it in an earlier post, but is there a good, sound reason why people don't want to use Origin? Or is it just another manifestation of "EA sucks?" I'm asking seriously, because I really don't understand the hostility at this point.

I don't know if it's a good reason, but it's mainly just trust issues with EA altogether. They feel after all the crap EA has pulled they don't want to discover even more crap with Origin, though some people have actually had bad experiences with Origin like many have had with Steam, so there's that.

I use Origin for certain games and it functions well for me at the moment. The only issue with EA I had was when I bought that whole humble bundle from them and they only gave me half the games, so I had to badger them till they gave me the rest

 

[lacktheknack]

I have Origin running in the background 24/7, never had a problem with it. Perfectly satisfactory. I have all of two Origin games, so it doesn't get a lot of miles, but there it is.

Maybe I overlooked it in an earlier post, but is there a good, sound reason why people don't want to use Origin? Or is it just another manifestation of "EA sucks?" I'm asking seriously, because I really don't understand the hostility at this point.

The second one.

People remember just how hard it blew when it first came out, and they don't know/don't care that it's gotten significantly better since then.

And I thought the avatar was just a troll thing.

Well, you could say it's Kross trolling the banned.

 

[Nazulu]

And I thought the avatar was just a troll thing.

Well, you could say it's Kross trolling the banned.

It is funny, but unfortunately I remember users more by their avatar than their name, so it wipes them out of existence to me

 

[Roxor]

Getting desperate, are we, EA?

Well they already seemingly dropped the whole 'sales cheapen the IP' BS they were trying to espouse a while back so this is the next logical step.

Too bad they chose a game that handled like arse.

Really? What was wrong with it? I got it on Steam ages ago, and I don't recall having any trouble playing it. Mind you, I only played it through once, so I might have missed something in there.