Origin Bulks Up With New Publishers

[babinro]

Good to hear that Origin is expanding. Their list of of available titles is weak at the moment and they'll need a lot more to be considered an actual competitor to Steam.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I investigated the whole Origin invading a few weeks back. At this moment Origin does not "read" or view anything Steam doesn't. Origin only checks a few folders. (some guy more clever than me checked it in Sandboxie)
But the EULA says that Origin and EA retains the RIGHT to read all kinds of folders and get all kinds of information of whats installed on your PC.
READ: only whats installed. So those pirated movies it will not tell EA about, but if you have something installed, like a game, application or program; then Origin COULD be used to tell EA. It doesn't at the moment, but the EULA tells you the EA has the intention to do so at some point.
Now Steam CAN do the same thing and indeed Steam asks if it can get more info by prompting you to participate in this info-harvest. The difference being Steam asking and giving me an opportunity to deny. Origin is not asking just stating it keeps the right to harvest without consent.

I too like that Steam gives you the option to opt out.

I mean, if EA are searching your hard drives for "inappropriate" materials, don't we have an obligation to tell the real police?

I'd like to know what areas of my hard drive they are saying we are letting them look at so I can lock them down tight.

 

[pillinjer]

Id use origin more when they
1) make it easier to update Origin
2) make the search bar not give suggestions (seriously try finding a sims add on pack you are 100% certain of the name and you wont find it)
3) pretty much all the other things people have mentioned are fixed or at least improved.

i dont hate Origin because of the idea of it...just the practice. Plus more of these bugs should have been spotted with EA downloader or the old EA store.

 

[RA92]

But how low will it have to go before you're willing to give it a fair shot?

Fair shot? How about already giving it 6 years? Because Origin is simply a rebranded EA Downloader, which was previously EA Store. If they couldn't learn from years of experience, when will they learn?

Before people go up in arms about Steam being shit back in 2004 - remember, Valve was a tiny company back then compared to EA and infrastructure was shite.

 

[JeppeH]

-snip-

-snip-

I investigated the whole Origin invading a few weeks back. At this moment Origin does not "read" or view anything Steam doesn't. Origin only checks a few folders. (some guy more clever than me checked it in Sandboxie)
But the EULA says that Origin and EA retains the RIGHT to read all kinds of folders and get all kinds of information of whats installed on your PC.
READ: only whats installed. So those pirated movies it will not tell EA about, but if you have something installed, like a game, application or program; then Origin COULD be used to tell EA. It doesn't at the moment, but the EULA tells you the EA has the intention to do so at some point.
Now Steam CAN do the same thing and indeed Steam asks if it can get more info by prompting you to participate in this info-harvest. The difference being Steam asking and giving me an opportunity to deny. Origin is not asking just stating it keeps the right to harvest without consent.

So from what you are saying Steam, at the moment, is gathering a lot more info than Origin, but with steam I can opt out of it collecting the info. Whereas with Origin I cannot opt out. Then I know which one I pick, the one that gatherings more info, but that I can opt out of, which has net result of least invasion of privacy. That's Steam. Done....

At the moment Steam only accesses info about your system directly related to you gaming = driver-versions and hardware and the like, but not installed programs like Adobe or iTunes. Steam then asks you if you want to submit additional info, like browsers, players and other info, which you can say NO to. The harvest isn't opt-out, its opt-in. The Steam EULA says it will only collect info on your system directly related to gaming.

The Origin EULA says it CAN collect all information EA sees fit. This was changed to that EA can collect all info about installed programs EA sees fit; But that is still too invasive. Because EA does not NEED to know which browsers I have installed and if I have adblocker or not or which version on VLC I use. This info in only interesting if you want to circumvent it and that is none of EAs business.
Even if EA promises that all info is anonymized I do not trust EA enough to believe that. Also I am afraid that EA will somehow block or ban my account with my games on if I install some program they don't like.

 

[JeppeH]

But how low will it have to go before you're willing to give it a fair shot?

Fair shot? How about already giving it 6 years? Because Origin is simply a rebranded EA Downloader, which was previously EA Store. If they couldn't learn from years of experience, when will they learn?

And this is exactly why I do not trust EA.
They have the money, they have the power and I should hope the knowhow or can hire the knowhow. But they simple do not care. EA never cared. Its about the dollers, not the product or service. No passion, no vision, just safe run of the mill solutions implemented at a minimum effort and stability.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

If Valve games were exclusive to Steam, we could talk competition, but Steam is just a store that sells games, whereas Origin is a required platform for all future EA games disguised as a store so they can hopefully get a little more of your money while you are there.

Alright, I just saw this part of your post and it gave me a headache. Valve games are exclusive to Steam...even if you get a physical copy you have to install Steam. Much like getting a physical copy of BF3 requires Origin.

Valve games have required you to install Steam since 2004. So somehow you've missed this for nearly 8 years. Even some non-Steam games are starting to require Steam, such as DoWII: Retribution. Dead Island. Space Marine.

There's a difference between Steam as DRM (Steamworks) and Steam as a store... when you buy the game elsewhere, elsewhere gets your money. When you buy a Steamworks game on Origin, Origin gets your money. (Well whatever the split happens to be, obviously not all of it goes to the retailer but hey just roll with it.) Point being, exclusivity of storefront is the issue here, NOT exclusivity of DRM system. If companies want to use Steamworks for their digital rights management, achievements, update streamlining and matchmaking, then power to them. It does not make it "exclusive" to the system any more than if they used Stardock or Games for Windows LIVE.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Snip

That still makes Steam the exclusive digital distribution platform for games like Half Life 2, Portal, Portal 2 and the ilk.

Which is no different than Origin being the exclusive digital distribution platform of Battlefield 3, ME3 and TOR.

I mean, Amazon actually has Battlefield 3 as a digital download. It doesn't however have Portal 2. Which came out recently enough for it to be included in Amazon's digital downloads. You can check for yourself, I already closed the tabs and don't care enough to open it again to copy and paste the links.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Snip

That still makes Steam the exclusive digital distribution platform for games like Half Life 2, Portal, Portal 2 and the ilk.

Which is no different than Origin being the exclusive digital distribution platform of Battlefield 3, ME3 and TOR.

I mean, Amazon actually has Battlefield 3 as a digital download. It doesn't however have Portal 2. Which came out recently enough for it to be included in Amazon's digital downloads. You can check for yourself, I already closed the tabs and don't care enough to open it again to copy and paste the links.

Battlefield 3 doesn't use Origin in-game.

But digital distribution is only an issue once the product gets to your computer. Until then, the distributor is whoever you're buying it from. You download the game from the Steam client, but you don't buy the game from it. You can, but you really don't have to. I can buy Portal 2 in a retail store, and until it reaches my PC the "distributor" was the game store I bought it from.

That's not a monopoly. It's like saying your DVD player has a monopoly over your DVDs. You're running the movie off of the DVD player, but no money passed through the DVD player. There are games that are exclusive to Steam, usually indie titles, but even then, GamersGate usually has it covered too.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Snip

That still makes Steam the exclusive digital distribution platform for games like Half Life 2, Portal, Portal 2 and the ilk.

Which is no different than Origin being the exclusive digital distribution platform of Battlefield 3, ME3 and TOR.

I mean, Amazon actually has Battlefield 3 as a digital download. It doesn't however have Portal 2. Which came out recently enough for it to be included in Amazon's digital downloads. You can check for yourself, I already closed the tabs and don't care enough to open it again to copy and paste the links.

Battlefield 3 doesn't use Origin in-game.

But digital distribution is only an issue once the product gets to your computer. Until then, the distributor is whoever you're buying it from. You download the game from the Steam client, but you don't buy the game from it. You can, but you really don't have to. I can buy Portal 2 in a retail store, and until it reaches my PC the "distributor" was the game store I bought it from.

That's not a monopoly. It's like saying your DVD player has a monopoly over your DVDs. You're running the movie off of the DVD player, but no money passed through the DVD player. There are games that are exclusive to Steam, usually indie titles, but even then, GamersGate usually has it covered too.

I think you and are I on the same wavelength, guy.

The original guy was complaining about Origin being the only digital distributor of Battlefield 3, ME3 and TOR. With Battlefield 3 it's a straight up untruth as evidenced by Amazon. But he uses Steam, which uses the same tactics for digital distribution. I don't mind it, at all. It gets people to use your service.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

I think you and are I on the same wavelength, guy.

The original guy was complaining about Origin being the only digital distributor of Battlefield 3, ME3 and TOR. With Battlefield 3 it's a straight up untruth as evidenced by Amazon. But he uses Steam, which uses the same tactics for digital distribution. I don't mind it, at all. It gets people to use your service.

The thing that gets me about Origin vs Steam, is that Steam offers genuine customer improvement and support. I've said this elsewhere too many times to count, but if I must be tied to a system, it's nice that the system offers me free content for my games, organizes my games, gives me achievements and Cloud saves, a robust IRC client, and direct online server creation. Steam's feature list is huge and ever-growing beyond being a digital storefront and DRM client. What does Origin have that even compares to those features? Nothing. There's no compensation, no extra content, just a bunch of games laid out and tied to a DRM client.

And that's the story of how I became a fanboy >_>

 

[Frostbite3789]

I think you and are I on the same wavelength, guy.

The original guy was complaining about Origin being the only digital distributor of Battlefield 3, ME3 and TOR. With Battlefield 3 it's a straight up untruth as evidenced by Amazon. But he uses Steam, which uses the same tactics for digital distribution. I don't mind it, at all. It gets people to use your service.

The thing that gets me about Origin vs Steam, is that Steam offers genuine customer improvement and support. I've said this elsewhere too many times to count, but if I must be tied to a system, it's nice that the system offers me free content for my games, organizes my games, gives me achievements and Cloud saves, a robust IRC client, and direct online server creation. Steam's feature list is huge and ever-growing beyond being a digital storefront and DRM client. What does Origin have that even compares to those features? Nothing. There's no compensation, no extra content, just a bunch of games laid out and tied to a DRM client.

And that's the story of how I became a fanboy >_>

The other guy already informed you that Origin has Cloud and a (better) chat system with a friends list and all that.

Steam didn't have most of those features you listed up until recently either. It's growing, but what's to say Origin won't? Because it's EA? I guess that falls in line with Valve and how much Steam has changed and how fast those improvements came. IE: Stupid slowly.