Mass Effect 3 Gives Steam a Miss at Launch

[KrossBillNye]

Actually I saw this:

Interestingly enough, however, due to the EULA uproar about spyware, ME3 will have an option to ?opt-out of Mass Effect 3 data collection from inside the game.? That?s handy, if you don?t want to be part of their marketing database. If you?re a German gamer, or want to know more about EA?s beef with Steam, check the full post.

 

[thiosk]

I love me some steam. Irrationally. I hate origin because impulse let me down, and I don't want to install ANOTHER crap.

 

[Auesis]

Who the hell WANTS to be directly connected to EA? Take your filthy spyware somewhere else.

I was thrilled for ME3, looks like it's a miss for me now.

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

origin and online stuff is here to stay so leave if you don't like it since that's really the only course left at this point

You're not catching everyone's major complaints, one of them being you're required to have a constant connection to the Origin service even when you're playing single player. Apparently EA didn't learn from when Ubisoft tried this.
What happens if on launch day, or any other day and the authentication servers go down? This will. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98927-Ubisoft-DRM-Authentication-Servers-Go-Down]

Also there's the issue that Origin spies on you at all times, and while you may argue that Seam does that too, they at least ask you if you want to give up info, and if you don't they won't take it.

Origin also has that nasty business where if you're banned on EA fourms you can't play your games. [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/11/14/ea-forum-bans-are-still-affecting-games/]

Seriously dude, you need to realize that EA's Origin service really, really sucks.
Sure Steam isn't perfect, but I'd rather take a sucker punch to the gut than a kick to my balls any day.

 

[koriantor]

To buy and pirate?
To not play?

I don't know anymore. Please EA, just treat me like a human. kthx.

 

[Superior Mind]

I fucking hate Origin. It's a shitty fucking service that does nothing for the consumer. Absolutely fucking nothing. While I would be okay with EA if it really wanted to hog it's big franchises to it's own digital distribution network, forcing those who buy the game retail to download, sign up, log in, activate and keep the fucking thing running - jumping through all these fucking hoops to play a legitimately bought copy - is just shit. You know when Gabe Newell was saying the problem of piracy was a service problem? This kind of shit is what he meant.

I recommend going about it like this:

I'm a fan of the Mass Effect series and am looking forward to playing the third. However I don't want to accept this shit from EA and I don't want to show them that their Origin crap isn't enough to turn me away as a paying customer. I also don't want to pirate and I don't want to not play Mass Effect 3, (although I took the latter stance with the Call of Duty series and haven't looked back since.)

So instead of pre-ordering or flocking to game stores on release day I'd recommend that people who want to play Mass Effect 3 just wait. Wait a week or two, maybe a month, after launch. Publishers pay attention to how their games do in pre-order figures and how they do in opening week sales. If these numbers are shit it sends them a message, even if sales pick up later on.

Gamers are a demanding but loyal customer base and we put up with so much shit and we have to have a way to make our opinions heard without having to miss out.

 

[maxmanrules]

"Mass Effect 3 will require a one time, single authorization for the single player game.

Now does that mean I can run the game without starting Origin after the first time? If so, who cares if I have Origin? I'd never need to run it again.

Origin starts accessing EVERYTHING, including, I've seen, Steam when you hit the installer. Before you've even agreed to anything. It'll mine all your data in one big long glump (I would imagine that part of the install progress bar would be for that)

Apparently there's a way to limit what Origin accesses using something called Sandboxie

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/960869-battlefield-3/60145714?page=1

Second last post on page 2

Hmm, interesting. I would rather not have to install an additional program just to run a program, while preventing it from accessing a bunch of stuff it has no right to, to run another program which I want, however. But this sandboxie tool looks interesting.

 

[MetroidNut]

Wow! Thanks, EA. I've been looking forward to Mass Effect 3 since the moment I played its predecessors, in June of 2010. And now, as a matter of principle - just as I did with Battlefield 3 - I have to boycott it.

So...yeah. Fuck you, EA.

Fuck you.

 

[AMMO Kid]

Buys ME3 on 360

FOREVER ALONE

 

[ultrachicken]

Good thing I have consoles to play ME3. I hope EA will eventually alter Origin to remove the spyware aspect of it, because right now PC users have to either whore themselves out to EA or miss some great games.

 

[Tony2077]

origin and online stuff is here to stay so leave if you don't like it since that's really the only course left at this point

You're not catching everyone's major complaints, one of them being you're required to have a constant connection to the Origin service even when you're playing single player. Apparently EA didn't learn from when Ubisoft tried this.
What happens if on launch day, or any other day and the authentication servers go down? This will. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98927-Ubisoft-DRM-Authentication-Servers-Go-Down]

Also there's the issue that Origin spies on you at all times, and while you may argue that Seam does that too, they at least ask you if you want to give up info, and if you don't they won't take it.

Origin also has that nasty business where if you're banned on EA fourms you can't play your games. [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/11/14/ea-forum-bans-are-still-affecting-games/]

Seriously dude, you need to realize that EA's Origin service really, really sucks.
Sure Steam isn't perfect, but I'd rather take a sucker punch to the gut than a kick to my balls any day.

since we use it for tv its always online so that no big deal. the spying doesn't really seem like its harming anything since i haven't gotten any odd phone calls or weird withdrawals from my bank account so at this point its nothing more then baseless paranoia or i hate this just because i want to be like all the other sheep. unless the other tings happened more often doesn't seem like its a big deal either.

 

[Metalrocks]

Think beyond your own issues for just a moment there.

There's tons of people having problem with UbiSoft's DRM, "From Dust" was a massacre and UbiSoft is blaming all of this on "PC GAMING IS DEEEAAAD", which is also the reason why I Am Alive's PC version was shelved and the Assassin's Creed games are, control-wise, terrible console ports.

Beyond that, it's a ***** to work for UbiSoft as a developer. I haven't heard specifics from the actual working climate, but it's quite obvious from an outside perspective that UbiSoft is milking cows until can be beaten as dead horses. Assassin's Creed's storyline was needlessly prolonged because of this/because AC2 was a great success, and you can feel how the devs are trying to teach old Ezio new tricks and make the sequel in the same time period somewhat interesting by bloating it with extra stuff - the best they can do really. This bloating has killed the entire Rayman franchise even, and of course people won't pay full price for the latest game that only looks better than a good flash game.

UbiSoft treats their franchises like shit, their devs like tools and their customers like yapping wallets. I see no redeemable qualities here. I only feel pity for the developers, especially those doing the conceptart and animations.

dont get me wrong there. im fully aware that ubisoft is not harmless and that many people have problems with ubis DRM. i also know that ubisoft doesnt care about the pc gamers out there since we are all pirates.
only because i never had any problems with the AC games (at least it shows the pc buttons and not anymore the xbox buttons as in AC2) and their DRM, doesnt mean that ubisoft are good.
but i do admit, that they should take their time with AC before releasing almost every year the next one. revelations did had some glitches but it was still ok to play.

i dint want to buy AC2 first either after i have heard of their DRM, but since i had a stable connection, i got it and really love the game. so i continue with this franchise. at least they dont spy on me and they have fixed the constant online crap.

all im trying to say is, that i rather choose the lesser evil then ?A who really just make the same game over and over again, rib off other companies for their money and closes them down and just cash in where ever they can. plus, they want to spy on people.

 

[Metalrocks]

I fucking hate Origin. It's a shitty fucking service that does nothing for the consumer. Absolutely fucking nothing. While I would be okay with EA if it really wanted to hog it's big franchises to it's own digital distribution network, forcing those who buy the game retail to download, sign up, log in, activate and keep the fucking thing running - jumping through all these fucking hoops to play a legitimately bought copy - is just shit. You know when Gabe Newell was saying the problem of piracy was a service problem? This kind of shit is what he meant.

I recommend going about it like this:

I'm a fan of the Mass Effect series and am looking forward to playing the third. However I don't want to accept this shit from EA and I don't want to show them that their Origin crap isn't enough to turn me away as a paying customer. I also don't want to pirate and I don't want to not play Mass Effect 3, (although I took the latter stance with the Call of Duty series and haven't looked back since.)

So instead of pre-ordering or flocking to game stores on release day I'd recommend that people who want to play Mass Effect 3 just wait. Wait a week or two, maybe a month, after launch. Publishers pay attention to how their games do in pre-order figures and how they do in opening week sales. If these numbers are shit it sends them a message, even if sales pick up later on.

Gamers are a demanding but loyal customer base and we put up with so much shit and we have to have a way to make our opinions heard without having to miss out.

thats why im not getting it either. even when you can sandbox it, you still buy the game and ?A gets their money. plus, i dont want to jump through loops. but i surely hope that ?A will get the message what they have done, but i guess they dont give a damn at all. this might tell them to make games for the consoles.
i just stay away from any games that have a ?A logo on it.

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

Need Origin you say? Well, no Mass Effect 3 for me then. Oh, well. I'm not really losing sleep over it.

 

[Gather]

Basically, Valve didn't want to sell broken versions of the games to their users. Never having the possibility of getting the patches or DLC. Anyone who already bought the games still have access to them on their accounts, though. Also, I hardly consider it being "greedy" for Valve to expect a company to share in the DLC sales when Valve is paying to host, provide, and advertise said content. It'd be like a clothier selling clothes in a store and expecting the store to NOT take any money from the sale.

The Clothier sells the clothes but he does not sell the scarf that goes with it (And he doesn't advertise it's existence; only the creators of that clothing line do) would be a closer analogy. As stated above and before: Steam does not spend any resources on the distribution or advertisement for the DLC. The only thing they lost was the possibility of making a profit from the sale of DLC for the games.

-snip-

You forget that Steam has to support those games with a large network. And if you buy the DLC on another Shop for Steam, Steam still has to maintain this DLC. So essentially they had to pay and support something they made no money with.

Sry but you cant await you get things for free!
Do you think Server Maintanance and an infrasturcture like Steam is cheap?
Sry but you point is economicly invalid.

And they got the profit from supporting and advertising the games from the original sales (Like they did and are still doing with Dragon Age 1). Steam lost only the possibility of creating a profit.

The DLC system for all the games (before Steam gained the utilities for it) wasn't using their servers to deliver the content; the only thing they that steam gave were patches and those patches were just as much for the original game as it was for the DLC.

Id call Steam greedy if hey were the ones complaining, ie if they were the ones that actually created their policy in response to EA. Otherwise..they have a simple enough policy, and EA has tried to bypass it to make more money, and Valve said no. End of story really.

That's the thing; steam doesn't have to complain about someone refusing to use their service. They don't have a say in it apart from "Ok, you do that". I personally would love to read the actual clause that causes these restrictions and see who is to blame; EA not relenting and letting Valve take a slice out of the profits for DLC or Valve enforcing total control over the files inside the games they wish to control.

There is also the subtle problem that Valve could drown kittens and people would still defend them saying those kittens were going to evolve into Genocidal maniacs somewhere down the line. Valve might not have to say anything because of their reputation is worth that much more than EA's that all they have to do is wait and EA will eventually crumble to Steam's "restrictive terms of service"

(I apologize for the broken posting and possibly poor quoting. I have cut some of these quotes down to reduce the quote to original content ratio)

 

[Vigormortis]

Basically, Valve didn't want to sell broken versions of the games to their users. Never having the possibility of getting the patches or DLC. Anyone who already bought the games still have access to them on their accounts, though. Also, I hardly consider it being "greedy" for Valve to expect a company to share in the DLC sales when Valve is paying to host, provide, and advertise said content. It'd be like a clothier selling clothes in a store and expecting the store to NOT take any money from the sale.

The Clothier sells the clothes but he does not sell the scarf that goes with it (And he doesn't advertise it's existence; only the creators of that clothing line do) would be a closer analogy. As stated above and before: Steam does not spend any resources on the distribution or advertisement for the DLC. The only thing they lost was the possibility of making a profit from the sale of DLC for the games.

Even if your point about the DLC had merit (which it doesn't, by the way, seeing as Valve has allowed companies to sell DLC to Steam games from outside sources WITHOUT asking for a "cut"), you're still missing the point.

EA strong-armed Crytek and others into only providing patches to the Origin copies of the games. Ergo, if a bug arose in the Steam or other versions, there would be no patch. None. Unless the community created one. So...in that case, Valve's "restrictive policies" was them getting shafted by EA's bullshit and not wanting to sell potentially broken, unsupported games to their costumers.

My God. Valve really IS the epitome of evil.

There is also the subtle problem that Valve could drown kittens and people would still defend them saying those kittens were going to evolve into Genocidal maniacs somewhere down the line. Valve might not have to say anything because of their reputation is worth that much more than EA's that all they have to do is wait and EA will eventually crumble to Steam's "restrictive terms of service"

And, Valve could come out tomorrow announcing they've found a cure for cancer and that using Steam would heal all wounds and people like you would STILL hate them. Decreeing that they're the most evil, greedy, and conniving games company on the planet and that Steam is the worst thing to happen to gaming...well, ever.

Irrational logic works both ways. Just saying.

Though, I have to admit, the vitriolic hate for Valve on these forums isn't what confuses me. People have different tastes. I get that. Plus, it's hip to hate things others like. What gets me though are those that are actually defending EA and Origin. Especially those that constantly complain about how much they hate Steam and similar forms of DRM. It's baffling.

 

[Aprilgold]

Spoiler

Damn, EA is butt-hurt Origin will never be what Steam is. Therefore, trying to punish Steam which in-turn is just punishing themselves if everyone on PC who says they'll refuse to buy it actually does boycott it.

This man speaks the truth.

funny how everyone cries about it. but when steam took a way larger bite out of our rights a few years back, no such outrage was had. and now it has a bazillion mindles fansheep who will defend it to the death.

i for one would be glad to see valves monopoly on digital distribution broken. maybe that will force them to behave slightly less dickish. maybe.

Steam is dickish? Really? Giving away most of their libary of titles for less then retail, and even cutting them down to 25% of their orignal price on sales. Origin keeps a hold of anything you do on your computer, and will check around your files for whatever it pleases. Its spyware at a legal level. And no, Steam's monolpy isn't broken because unlike EA which has such a vast library of fucking butt raping their customers in the past, PC's were too smart to fall for it. All though some caved in to let Origin into their C/'s and files because they wanted to play a game. Steam asks, Origin gets to work even before the installation. Valve hasn't done a smear campaign against EA, but EA has been throwing mud for at least a year.

Origin also doesn't do a good job customer service wise. There are Ton's of R/gaming threads about being disconnected half way through the conversation, or off the bat. Straight up refusing to allow some purchases through and more. Steam has never once just left me with a problem, ever. Origin crashed and burned and does a very large smear campaign against Steam all the fucking time. You don't see Steam saying "Oh Direct 2 Drive gives off more viruses then any other Digital Distribution platform." Have you?

I think EA's forgetting just how much of an effect what services a game is offered on has on a person's decision to buy a game.

I think your forgetting that gamers are full of shit and dont have the balls to back up any boycott. If the game comes out they will buy it regardless of which platform it is on even if they swore up and down on whatever forums that they never would.

I myself said I would never buy Battlefield 3, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and Gears of War 3. And I don't have anyone of them in any of my game libaries. I also vowed to never buy another EA title after Dead Space 2, well, that isn't broken yet.

Your grouping all gamers together, which makes your argument fall so far flat that I almost pity it. I don't have numbers to back up my arguement either, but at least I can use myself as a example, and my friend. He also boycotted Battlefield 3 and has kept his promise. However, there is also something you must know. Theres a boycott which is not buying a game, its not also playing the game. If I play Modern Warfare 3 at my friends house, then my Boycott still stands, since I haven't purchase the game.

I mean, it happens all the time, and I'm pretty sure this is just EA creating another excuse to keep its games off of steam to promote origin without just flat out saying so.

That might be a valid point if EA wasnt also releasing it on nearly every single digital distribution platform but steam.

Their trying to make Steam look bad through slander, try to drive the business in their favor or in the very least into smaller platforms so they can just buy those platforms. EA wants as much of a monolpy as Valve has, argo, make Valve look bad and steal their customers.

Yeah, that's the biggest problem I have. At one point info collected by Origin was being sold to third parties. It's probably gonna keep happening, as the data that is sent to EA from Origin is encrypted, so no one knows what it actually contains.

It wasnt actually being sold to third parties. What origin collects and what they do with that information has not changed at all. The only thing that did change was that they cleared up a lot of confusion about the TOS.

And how would we know, its our word and the stuff being transmitted is actually cryptic to be hidden. As in not read. Its their word, and thats all we have. They could very easily be selling off the info, and we would be none the wiser.

EA is attempting to set up a competing digital distribution service. Valve is king of that particular business. It's just basic business sense that they don't sell their products on Steam, because they are a competitor.

And finally, get your heads out of your asses. Every single product Valve has released has been Steam only. I remember when I first bought counterstrike way back when, I had to install Steam in order to even play it offline. So basically, Valve did and does the same exact thing.

Steam also does smear campaigns against its competitor, it also doesn't ask and takes info from your computer and cuts you off half way through customer support. OH WAIT, THEY NEVER DO THAT! Get your head out of your ass mate, EA has been doing all of the above for about a year now. I'd also like to Point out that Steam had very little support back in the day. That only ended about when Half Life 2 was released, by then they really didn't bother because, quite honestly, anyone who wants a game bad enough will buy it on there. However, Origin is legalized spyware. And don't say "OH BUT THATS BEEN CLEARED UP" if they had nothing to hide, the stuff being sent would be encrypted.

EA's Plan to Becoming a Monoply on Digital Distribution:
1. Start a smear campaign against Valve to drive their customers to a different retailer.
2. Buy any and all digital distribution platforms and put them under your wing.
3. Laugh very hard in a sinister tone.
4. Profit.

EA has so much god damn money they could probably buy anyone but Steam.

bioware is still bioware ea is the publisher so can with stop with the misplaced hostility. origin is a fine program maybe not as good as steam is but its still new so stop the bs and move on. note to god make the end of the world happen already humanity is too far gone

Too bad there is no god to fall back on WHOOPS DID I JUST WRITE THAT IN A FORUM?! EA will still receive money, and wants me to install their program and wants me to sign up for X and maybe hang up on me on customer service. The hostility is against the fact that EA wants people to install what is equal to legalized spyware, while Bioware has no choice in the matter, it doesn't matter what Bioware wants, EA is their publisher and as such can do whatever they please to the developers.

Oh noes, EA is forcing us to do what Valve has been doing for years, and that was with a service that started out as a piece of shit, screwing over people who brought half life 2 early on. At least Origin worked at launch. I don't get how people are fine with something that has become the standard for steam, but the second another company tries it, it's a sign that they are the devil.

Yes because Valve always did smear campaigns against competitors, doesn't ask and takes information from your computer which may or may not be sold and enforces Wacky DRM.

Its not that EA is trying what Valve did, its just that they have such a high frequency to fuck up their customers. This is a good little search result of a bunch of people who had problems wither Orgin's support. Never had Steam end my problem before its fixed.

 

[Gather]

-The post is just above me- Edit: Well two posts

Could you provide a source for that while you ad hominem away?

Edit: And the source being preferably being before it was pulled. It's just that I'm having trouble believing they strong armed that to be the case with quotes such as this [http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Steam-Crysis-2-PC-Gaming-digital-distribution-David-DeMartini,13054.html] from their PR guys or whatever

 

[12th_milkshake]

Has EA read their own terms and conditions? I really wanted Me3 but i don't want to touch origin with a barge pole. HAVE to sign up? screw them - their stance on steam is solely one of directing customers away from it to origin.

 

[Kathinka]

funny how everyone cries about it. but when steam took a way larger bite out of our rights a few years back, no such outrage was had. and now it has a bazillion mindles fansheep who will defend it to the death.

i for one would be glad to see valves monopoly on digital distribution broken. maybe that will force them to behave slightly less dickish. maybe.

Steam is dickish? Really? Giving away most of their libary of titles for less then retail, and even cutting them down to 25% of their orignal price on sales. Origin keeps a hold of anything you do on your computer, and will check around your files for whatever it pleases. Its spyware at a legal level. And no, Steam's monolpy isn't broken because unlike EA which has such a vast library of fucking butt raping their customers in the past, PC's were too smart to fall for it. All though some caved in to let Origin into their C/'s and files because they wanted to play a game. Steam asks, Origin gets to work even before the installation. Valve hasn't done a smear campaign against EA, but EA has been throwing mud for at least a year.

Origin also doesn't do a good job customer service wise. There are Ton's of R/gaming threads about being disconnected half way through the conversation, or off the bat. Straight up refusing to allow some purchases through and more. Steam has never once just left me with a problem, ever. Origin crashed and burned and does a very large smear campaign against Steam all the fucking time. You don't see Steam saying "Oh Direct 2 Drive gives off more viruses then any other Digital Distribution platform." Have you?

yes, yes they are. even if i'm going to get stoned by hordes of fanboys for saying that.
here where i live their prices are a bad joke most of the time, only during some sales there is something that becomes..well, not atractive, but worth looking at maybe.
their region locking practices are criminal (really valve? when i drive 60 miles west to my other house i'm not allowed to play my legally bought games anymore? really?) and thatyou never had a problem with steam is nice, but frankly, that doesn't mean a thing. for me and many others it's notoriously unreliable, prone to disconnect (on several machines and internet connections, so it's not a settings issue), offline mode is not really working at all either.

now i'm not saying EA would be the good guys here, they are bastards, no question. i just find it hilarious to see people going all white knight over their beloved valve, that is just as bad as EA, and spurting brainles nonsense. like that "origin is spyware dur hurb durb" shit. seriously, get informed, then talk. as someone pointed out earlyer in the topic, origin collects way less data then steam does in it's voluntary surveys. no spying on programs, applications, passwords or anything.