New Origin Update Targets High-End Computers

[Earnest Cavalli]

New Origin Update Targets High-End Computers

EA's digital distribution service Origin has a new update available which should be particularly enticing for those of you using powerful gaming machines.

Okay, so EA's Origin service hasn't quite panned out like the mega-publisher initially hoped. "It's going to beat Steam at its own game!" said absolutely no one, yet that's always ostensibly been the project's goal: To deliver an EA-centric gaming experience on par with, or better than what Valve's service can offer. EA's still got a long ways to go, but it's taking steps in the right direction.

To wit, a brief description of the service's latest update:

After downloading this update, you'll notice that we've revamped the look and feel of the Application Settings menu. For PC users, if you've been broadcasting your gameplay, you'll appreciate the new ability to auto-archive your broadcasts. For you power gamers with muscular 64-bit systems on either PC or Mac, the new multilauncher will give you additional options for taking advantage of your hardware when starting up supported games. Finally, you can now keep track of all the achievements you've completed in Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3, and Dead Space 3 on your Origin profile page. Start playing those games after updating Origin, and watch your Origin Point total (displayed underneath your name) increase by completing their achievements.

Gameplay recordings, improved 64-bit compatibility, and title-agnostic rewards points for three major titles. That's something, right?

Granted, this should be a big boon for those Battlefield 3 players who shelled out good cash to run the game with all of its shiny bits turned up to maximum, but beyond that there isn't a whole lot to be excited about. Origin is improving, but it's a very slow process.

As always, those of you wishing to sign up for Origin can do so free of charge on EA's site. This update is free as well, so if these minor, wildly specific improvements blow your skirt up, you're welcome to them.

Source: Origin [http://www.origin.com/us/news/get-latest-origin-update-921-beta-today?websso=1]

Permalink

 

[Worgen]

When I saw the title I immediately thought they would be raising the system requirements so that only the most powerful pcs could run it. Maybe have it sending out friend invites for simcity constantly in the background or some other horrible marketing idea that I can totally see ea doing.

 

[Slash2x]

Ok I read this as a virus notification..... "New Origin Update Targets High-End Computers!!!" Sounds like a notice that the latest virus is power hungry, and with good reason. I do not care if it makes my high end system run FASTER for EVERYTHING. It is still spyware from EA and they can get bent.

 

[Formica Archonis]

Ok I read this as a virus notification..... "New Origin Update Targets High-End Computers!!!" Sounds like a notice that the latest virus is power hungry, and with good reason. I do not care if it makes my high end system run FASTER for EVERYTHING. It is still spyware from EA and they can get bent.

At least it's not mining bitcoins.

 

[LordLundar]

Ok I read this as a virus notification..... "New Origin Update Targets High-End Computers!!!" Sounds like a notice that the latest virus is power hungry, and with good reason. I do not care if it makes my high end system run FASTER for EVERYTHING. It is still spyware from EA and they can get bent.

At least it's not mining bitcoins.

You forgot the "yet" in your post and given EA's track record, I wouldn't put it past them.

 

[Covarr]

Additional options... how vague. C'mon, EA. Will this get me better graphics in Need for Speed: Most Wanted, or faster game start-ups, or more Origin features with higher requirements, or what? "Additional options" doesn't tell us anything.

P.S. Thanks

P.P.S. If you wanna beat Steam, you need a bigger library and more sales. You need to offer everything (or as close as possible) that Steam does, and something that Steam doesn't. Your current strategy of being required for EA games and utterly useless beyond that just makes people buy only EA games on Origin, and everything else on Steam. Look at every game that's on both services, and give users a compelling reason to choose Origin.

 

[Deathfish15]

My position on it: I don't give two shits and a hog about Origin, EA, or any of their bile any more.


They really screwed the pooch on the whole SimCity fiasco, and that was the last straw in a constant stream of disappointment from them. On that last straw, I had uninstalled Origin and completely refuse to buy any more EA games for a very long time.

Did I like BF3? Yes, it was fun (even with the pain in the ass, no-real-reason to have browser launcher).

Did I want to purchase BF4? Yes.

Will I now? Hell no! Absolutely not!

I was actually even considering getting Crysis 3 prior to the whole spiel that went on. They didn't just lose "one customer" on a single product, they lost a fan on several dozen products from here until they get their shit in order (a 5 year minimum break-off).


I've never really wished a company go "bankrupt" because I have an understanding that there's many employed people working under them that need those jobs and shouldn't suffer that punishment. However, seeing as how EA treats their employees like shit, breaks their works for a marginal profit for them, I see no reason why they shouldn't go bankrupt and those people either reform their own studios again (using Kickstarter to back it) or get under a different company like Valve. Their customer service, which is entirely exported to some other country like India or Phillipeans, I couldn't care less about them and SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN! They're the most incompetent bunch of idiots gathered into a single spot on the globe.

 

[Connor Lonske]

i'll start caring when they remove their "no modifications or we ban you forever" rule. also their "if you say anything bad about our games on the official forums we'll ban you for that too" and lastly their "we don't care about making good games anymore hahahahahahahahaha fuck you consumer."

 

[octafish]

Hmmm. I'm pretty sure that BF3 is not 64 bit. So maybe a patch is on its way.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Good for you EA, now make your infrastructure work!

Origin is still horrible, it's needlessly complicated layout is why. Why does BF3 require Battlelog and Origin running and communicating with each other at the same time when all the information and processing (except Battlereports) is stored and takes place on the user's computer?

More to the point, if it's that reliant on everything being connected to everything else at all times, why can one persistent jerk take the whole thing down for a week with a SYN flood? BF Vietnam is more robust!

Having played BF3 for twelve months it's great, but the systems around it are so bad I'm not getting BF4, Dino Survival or not.

 

[Strazdas]

Wait a minute "muscular 64 bit systems"?
Now i understand not going 64 bit in the XP era, the 64 bit XP was extremely buggy, but by now i think most people have moved to 64 muscular or not. Then again there still are a lot of programs running on 32 bits sadly. but that works fine on a 64 bit machine. and trust me, my pc is a old and slow one and it still runs 64 bit fine.

 

[GAunderrated]

i'll start caring when they remove their "no modifications or we ban you forever" rule. also their "if you say anything bad about our games on the official forums we'll ban you for that too" and lastly their "we don't care about making good games anymore hahahahahahahahaha fuck you consumer."

Even if they removed it I still wouldn't trust them. It took Valve years to completely gain my trust and EA's track record would suggest they are a poor investment.

 

[Kahani]

that's always ostensibly been the project's goal: To deliver an EA-centric gaming experience

And, as a green midget once said, that is why they fail. Steam is popular because of the huge selection available. While people interested enough in things to visit sites like this may enjoy arguing about DRM, terms of service, and so on, the majority of the public don't know a thing about any of that, let alone actually give a shit about it. All they care about is whether they can access stuff they want to play in a convenient manner. No-one wants a service that will let them download only EA games, they want a service that will let all the games they want. By keeping Origin exclusive to a single publisher, EA have ensured that it will never stand a chance.

For you power gamers with muscular 64-bit systems on either PC or Mac, the new multilauncher will give you additional options for taking advantage of your hardware when starting up supported games.

So... why the fuck is an online shop affecting how well my computer can run games? What kind of idiot is going to be happy that Origin has added some unspecified options, rather than pissed off that it's interfering with things in the first place?

 

[gyroscopeboy]

Does it uninstall itself now? That'd be an update i'd be interested in

 

[Deathfish15]

My position on it: I don't give two shits and a hog about Origin, EA, or any of their bile any more.


They really screwed the pooch on the whole SimCity fiasco, and that was the last straw in a constant stream of disappointment from them. On that last straw, I had uninstalled Origin and completely refuse to buy any more EA games for a very long time.

Did I like BF3? Yes, it was fun (even with the pain in the ass, no-real-reason to have browser launcher).

Did I want to purchase BF4? Yes.

Will I now? Hell no! Absolutely not!

I was actually even considering getting Crysis 3 prior to the whole spiel that went on. They didn't just lose "one customer" on a single product, they lost a fan on several dozen products from here until they get their shit in order (a 5 year minimum break-off).


I've never really wished a company go "bankrupt" because I have an understanding that there's many employed people working under them that need those jobs and shouldn't suffer that punishment. However, seeing as how EA treats their employees like shit, breaks their works for a marginal profit for them, I see no reason why they shouldn't go bankrupt and those people either reform their own studios again (using Kickstarter to back it) or get under a different company like Valve. Their customer service, which is entirely exported to some other country like India or Phillipeans, I couldn't care less about them and SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN! They're the most incompetent bunch of idiots gathered into a single spot on the globe.

Posts like these are why I weep for humanity when you blatantly throw forth hatred with no credibility and somehow relate it to a game that many enjoyed.

By the way, if they're so incompetent tell me again how their business decisions are failing them? Oh... you're just a little child, who can't read their financial reports and has no idea about anything to do with EA besides 'derrr, they made an MMORTS and didn't label it as such because they have an enormous stigmata attached but DURR HULK SMASH KEYBOARD IN ANGER!'

I had full experience with the game and it's nothing to do with the Always Online. Sure, that was an irk that bothered me, but I still bought the game because I play many always online games (TF2, NS2, GW2, PS2...a lot of 2's there, eh?). My credible hate spews forth from the game being in an unplayable state when launched, and that many of the much touted feature either didn't work or were counterproductive for the player's use.

-This is to say, for example, how many cities became corrupted, didn't save properly, and were completely lost.
-Recycling centers failed to function, along with trading posts, for nearly 2-3 weeks....this made many other cities which relied on those as infrastructure to fail completely.
-Oh and the issues with traffic, traffic, traffic everywhere (stupid traffic which failed to use an empty street to go because for some reason the program was the most basic and told them to always use the shortest distance, even if it's blocked by traffic).


Sure many enjoyed the game, but just as many were beyond frustrated with the game and hated it. Reasonably so, because video games should be fun and not frustrating.



Who cares about their financial situation? That doesn't justify their very shoddy business practices. Should Hitler have been exonerated for his war crimes just because he was a great strategist and political general? Look at his track record at expanding his country's land value by more than double during the war. I know that EA is nowhere near as evil as Hitler, but you do understand the point that I'm making in that single good aspects do not justify publicly bad ones.


P.S. How much money did they throw away in making SW:TOR, just to turn around and make it F2P less than 1 year after launch because of it's poor performance?


P.P.S. What's with your White-Knighting of EA? Are you on their payroll or something? You might be on the outside looking in on situations involving them screwing customers, but those of us who have experienced it first hand are sick and tired of them as a company in whole. That's why I stand by my words that EA, Origin, and all it's bile can just shutter off while other companies bloom into the limelight; such as Indie teams, Valve (free DLC anyone?!), CD Projekt Red Studio, Bethesda...hell, even Activision is becoming a better studio than EA (and I dislike Activision, Bobby Kotick, and their whole BS of treating customers like pockets of cash they can reach into).

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Wait a minute "muscular 64 bit systems"?
Now i understand not going 64 bit in the XP era, the 64 bit XP was extremely buggy, but by now i think most people have moved to 64 muscular or not. Then again there still are a lot of programs running on 32 bits sadly. but that works fine on a 64 bit machine. and trust me, my pc is a old and slow one and it still runs 64 bit fine.

My computer runs 64 bit perfectly and it uses an NVIDIA 315m, that's considered a "Low end entry level card" by NVIDIA and is low end class 3, it's actually only a few steps up from the latest integrated graphics card. If I can run 64 bit on that, then very few people should have a problem running it on theirs.

=snip=

By the way, if they're so incompetent tell me again how their business decisions are failing them?

The CEO of the company resigned two months ago due to failing to meet financial targets.

He said this:

My decision to leave EA is really all about my accountability for the shortcomings in our financial results this year. It currently looks like we will come in at the low end of, or slightly below, the financial guidance we issued to the Street, and we have fallen short of the internal operating plan we set one year ago

Does that count?

 

[Shuu]

A fraction of a step forward, but forward nonetheless. A good next step, which would negate all origin's other shortcomings would be making the prices FUCKING COMPETETIVE EA JEEEEZUUUUUUUUUZ!!!

 

[Strazdas]

My computer runs 64 bit perfectly and it uses an NVIDIA 315m, that's considered a "Low end entry level card" by NVIDIA and is low end class 3, it's actually only a few steps up from the latest integrated graphics card. If I can run 64 bit on that, then very few people should have a problem running it on theirs.

When did 64 bit became about graphic card?
Either way, i run it fine on a 8600M GS and that's something that does not meet most minimum requirements for games anymore. It is laughable that anyone woudl claim modern computer cant run 64 bit with ease, even your phone could.