Origin Sale Takes a Jab at Steam

[Eruanno]

Argh, and BioWare DLC is still not discounted because it uses their shitty points system. WHY.

 

[VanQ]

I kinda still wanna play Dead Space 3. but not enough to warrant installing Origin. Did they ever remove the part that scans your browser history?

 

[Slegiar Dryke]

Am I the only one miffed that Steam is moving in on GoG's territory by suddenly re-releasing older games without even retro-fitting them?

oh don't get me started XP its insane

OT: nice try EA, but this still doesn't make me want to use your system. Not worth the hassle, and not worth the money.

 

[YodaUnleashed]

Its funny but sad because its true: so many people buy games because they're on sale and they 'might' play it one day but because of this onslaught of cheap content they're always moving onto the next thing, like a ravenous hound, never able to feel satisfied or enjoy playing what they already have. One of my friends has over 200 games and he's only played about 30 of them longer than 4 hours, when most of them are definitely longer experiences than that. Its almost like he's hoarding it all, buying it just for the sake of its cheap affordability rather than because he has any actual intention to play it longer than 20 mins. Its a mindset I suppose that is simply part of this mass consumption civilisation we all live in that I too am a part of even if I don't buy things I have little intention of using or playing in this case.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Heh, I chuckled at the name of it at least. Well played, EA.

I mean, I don't intend to buy anything because I've already played all the games I'd consider worth picking up from that sale, but well done on the naming front nonetheless.

Oh, and I'm a Pepsi guy, for the guy that says everyone loves Coke. Pretty much all forms of Coca-Cola (bar the old one that had vanilla in it) taste absolutely horrible. I'll take Irn Bru over both any day though.

 

[Metalrocks]

well, its good to see that they offer discounts as steam does. already on the last sales i got my self all 3 crysis titles (without the DLCs) for 200HKD (thats 25.80USD....27.80AUD). and crysis 3 was the hunters edition that included crysis 2 and other stuff plus the soundtrack.


@VanQ
yes, they did. a long time ago. now its just like steam.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

But are there any games only available on Origin worth playing?

 

[Quellist]

Origin making fun of Steam sounds like Pepsi making fun of Coke. It's cute and all...but everybody knows what everybody's preferred choice is.

Sorry, im a Pepsi man and after this i'm prepared to give Origin a chance...

EA cant be wrong all the time...even a broken clock is right twice a day.

 

[epicdwarf]

EA does realize that those nice little indie games are not the only ones that go up to 90% off right? Do they also realize that you need good games in order to have people play them?

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

It should say "70% off games that have been out for ages and people already have played."

Seriously though, at least they're trying. Between this and the free games they've been giving away it really shows they're trying to improve.

 

[Andrew_C]

Origin making fun of Steam sounds like Pepsi making fun of Coke. It's cute and all...but everybody knows what everybody's preferred choice is.

Dr Pepper?

-DLC for Bioware Games cant be bought

Yes they can, but you have to buy them from Bioware directly. Again annoying, but not that big a deal.

Yes maybe you can....But they are not part of the sale but worse still, they never receive discounts. It gets even better, you have to buy the DLC with monopoly money. Dogecoin is more of a legitimate currency when compared with Bioware Points.

Last time I checked (which was a while ago) the DLC for Dragon Age and most of the DLC for Mass Effect 1 could be downloaded free from Bioware's site. You needed to sign up and register your CD keys and the links were buried in the forums

EDIT: Just had another look and they appear revamped their site, closed Bioware Social Network and their old forums and replaced them with the forum system EA uses. No idea where the links are now. I'm glad I downloaded the DLC while I could

 

[Andrew_C]

lol what? You mean Bring Down the Sky? That has always have been free from the very start or do you mean selected Day one DLC which is free with every legal copy?

I know their new website, still the same shit.

No, for a while at least, the Dragon Age Origins DLC was available (kinda) free when EA first closed the Bioware store down. I'll agree with you about the lameness of the Free ME1 DLC, but IMHO none of the ME1 or ME2 DLC was very good apart from Lair of the Shadow Broker.

EDIT found it! It was the Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age 2 DLC. If you had valid serial keys they kot added to your old Bioware Social Network account. and for some reason they also gave me the Dragon age II DLC, even though I don't own that.

On http://social.bioware.com/ there is a link at the bottom "Registered Game Content" that takes you to your Registered Game Content page on the Old Bioware Social Network if you had an account there and registered stuff before they closed it. There should be links to all of the Dragon Age Origins and Mass Effect 2 DLC

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Oh EA, i notice you're only saying it's your OWN games that ppl will actually play.

Classy. Very classy.

 

[Andrew_C]

They were just the promotional items, you couldn't have brought them in the traditional sense anyway.

Sorry, edited my post and you posted while I was doing so, here's what I wrote in the edit:

Found it! It was the Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age origins and 2 DLC. If you had valid serial keys registered they got added to your old Bioware Social Network account. and for some reason they also gave me the Dragon age II DLC, even though I don't own that.

On http://social.bioware.com/ there is a link at the bottom "Registered Game Content" that takes you to your Registered Game Content page on the Old Bioware Social Network if you had an account there and registered stuff before they closed it. There should be links to all of the Dragon Age Origins and Mass Effect 2 DLC

EDIT: But still, someone buying the base games on sale on Origin today won't get all that obviously.

EDIT 2: Just to be clear, I don't just have downloads the Promo DLC for Mass Effect 2, but all paid for DLC except the last, and I only bought lair of the Shadow Broker. I assumed that everyone got them, but maybe my account glitched? If it was a glitch it's a good glitch for once.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

The irony to this of course is all the games I want to own via Origin, I already have. And I got Kingdoms of Amalur with all it's DLC for the same price on Steam as the base game on Origin.

Start selling some GOTY editions EA, then you'll really start sticking it to Valve.

 

[Vivi22]

- they got Visceral - a studio famous for its singleplayer campaigns - to work on the singleplayer campaign.

That's a bit of a stretch. They're known for making one good game basically (Dead Space), some so-so sequels, and the rest of their work has been anywhere from mediocre to complete shit. And since the guys who spear headed Dead Space left after they made it, it makes sense that quality dipped. And I wouldn't say they're famous for their single player campaigns. They're famous for a series that happened to be single player, but that's not really the same thing (what you're saying would imply that their other single player games are famous too, but most are barely remembered and when they are, it's because they sucked).

- I'm sorry, I still can't get over how positive a step involving Visceral was. Do you remember that one stealth section in Battlefield 3? When you were supposed to sneak up on a guy and knife him in the throat? When a prompt would appear and ignoring it or moving any further would kill you instantly, even though the guy, or indeed anyone around had no chance of seeing you? Now there are detection meters. And semi-open maps. And freedom of approach. And responsive enemy AI. All those concessions of modern shooters that have actually added something to player enjoyment as opposed to uniformity and frustration.

I'm not sure I'd credit that to putting Visceral on the job. And I'm not sure I'd say it's all going to be some wonderful successful thing just because they're trying to do better. Any studio they put on it would have to be complete and utter morons to not try and change at least some of the things that everyone hated about the more recent Battlefields and the last Medal of Honor. The things that have literally killed the latter franchise. And I still wouldn't be holding my breath on Visceral pulling it all off. There's a rather large gap between knowing what didn't work and managing to effectively fix it.

- they did not pull the leaked trailer immediately, attempting to pretend the game didn't exist and suing everyone involved, like it seems to be a trend in the industry today. that's something I would expect EA to do just a couple years ago. But they seem to be just going with it.

I can't think of any company that tries to sue people involved in leaking trailers. The worst that usually happens is the person who leaked gets fired, which EA probably did here as well if they were able to identify the culprit.

But even still, not pulling a trailer and denying a game exists isn't exactly a 180 degree turn from all of the shit they've pulled in recent years: killing studios, firing boat loads of people, implementing unnecessary always online bullshit. All of it being stuff they still do to this day.

Let's not confuse EA managing to make a few decisions that aren't shoot yourself in the foot stupid with them actually turning anything around and making actual good decisions.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

Argh, and BioWare DLC is still not discounted because it uses their shitty points system. WHY.

Because Bioware has only contempt for us now I guess they taken the reaction to Dragon age 2 very hard because we haven't seen a GOTY edition of any of their games since :/

 

[Slash2x]

I kinda still wanna play Dead Space 3. but not enough to warrant installing Origin. Did they ever remove the part that scans your browser history?

NOPE the did hide it though. That is just the tip though. They still have it in the end user agreement that they can look through your entire system at any point to just make sure you "are better serviced"

Spoiler: LOTS of Legal crap

The funny thing is they have a spot in the EULA (section 2 )that says they are not spyware and do not collect your data.....


"EA knows that you care how information about you is collected, used and
shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly.
Information about our customers is an important part of our business, and EA
would never sell your personally identifiable information to anyone, nor would it
ever use spyware or install spyware on users? machines."

But there is this little note after that in the EULA

"The responsible body for all information collected via Origin is Electronic Arts Inc.
This and all other data provided to EA and/or collected by EA in connection with
your installation and use of this Application is collected, used, stored and
transmitted in accordance with EA?s Privacy Policy located at www.ea.com. To
the extent that anything in this section conflicts or is inconsistent with the terms of
EA?s Privacy Policy, the terms of the Privacy Policy shall control.
"

But in the privacy policy they say btw we are totally collecting your data and selling it to our advertisers. Section III


"Personal information is information that identifies you and that can be used alone, to contact you on-line or off-line. EA may collect personal information from our online visitors during:

- Contest registration and prize acceptance;
- Warranty registration and requests;
- Customer support and/or technical service requests;
- Player match up and other head-to-head online competitions;
- Registration for games and/or special game-specific events;
- Newsletter subscriptions, referral services, and other marketing surveys and email campaigns;
- Registration for Origin and/or other service accounts;
- Creation of a personal profile;
- Product, service and/or subscription orders;
- Service requests from third party service providers on our site;
- Access to our products and/or services on social networks or other third party services; and
- Otherwise through use of our software, mobile or online services where personal information is required for use and/or participation.

Information collected will vary depending upon the activity and may include your name, email address, phone number, home address, birth date, mobile phone number and credit card information."


And section IV, B 5

"The advertising companies who deliver ads for us may combine the information collected or obtained from EA with other information they have independently collected from other websites and/or other online or mobile products and services relating to your web browser's activities across their network of websites. Many of these companies collect and use information under their own privacy policies."

Section VI

"Otherwise, EA uses personal and non-personal information, both individually and combined together, to better enhance your user experience, improve our products and services, understand the behavior and preferences of our customers, to troubleshoot technical problems, to serve advertising, for authentication purposes, to enforce our Terms of Service, to ensure proper functioning of our products and services as well as to help improve them. In addition, we combine non-personal information with personal information, such as an email address, for purposes including providing excellent customer service, administering loyalty programs and tailoring our communications, offerings, web pages or game play experience to you."

;:TLDR EA is still shady with their business practices and your data, they have just got better about hiding it.

Sources
http://eacom.s3.amazonaws.com/EULA_Origin_PC_ROW.final.5.24.13.pdf
http://tos.ea.com/legalapp/WEBPRIVACY/US/en/PC/#section3

:Edited to hide wall of text

 

[Not Lord Atkin]

snippity

don't get me wrong, I'm just trying to stay positive. I'm not delusional, I have not forgotten how EA has been acting. And I am not pretending that the improvement is some kind of a massive turnaround, nor do I think they are now the good guys or whatnot. I qualified all of my statements in my previous post, I shouldn't even be writing this.

The thing is... the fact that the improvement might not be a massive turnaround and EA hasn't turned into this fluffy bunny rabbit made of cotton candy and liquidised dreams of little girls, that does not mean there has been no improvement at all and you should not be so quick to discard it. By all means, be cautious and suspicious. EA fully deserves that. But to not admit there has been an improvement in the face of it goes beyond healthy skepticism and into irrational hatred. You know, the kind that got them the 'worst company in america' thing two years in a row even though the competition included Blackwater and the Bank of America.

See, with EA's track record of making every single decision with no regard for the consequences, going against the most basic of logic and generally neglecting PR, seeing them actually recognise the issues and work toward a solution seems like a major step forward for the company. So yes, by their standards (and honestly? looking at the likes of ubisoft, activision and square enix, those are the shared standards of the entire industry), as ridiculously low as those are, EA have been making good decisions. See, PR has always been their single greatest issue so at this point, even getting better at hiding the corpses is, to me, an improvement.

All I did was notice deliberate improvement and acknowledge it. By all means be cautious, I know I am, but for god's sake, drop the incessant cynicism. This industry is unpleasant enough without it.

 

[Alterego-X]

Steam Summer Sales are basically one of the representations of gaming turning into a post-transactional part of culture, along with Crowdfunding, Humble Bundles, Early Access, etc, and not unrelated to the popularity of piracy either.

People feel more and more like their moral imperative is to just throw money in the general direction of the industry, rather than treating every specific piece of access as a purchase of goods.

Of course as an incorporated business, EA would rather oppose this, and remind everyone of how video games are exactly like apples in that you go to the store, and buy them for a fixed price per unit, and consume them. For them, predictability and control is the best. And of course as a private corporation, Valve is more intersted in fulfilling Gaben's personal wishes about being on top of gaming culture, whatever form it may take.