Plants vs. Zombies is Free on Origin

[Callate]

Shrug. It was available for free as a Halloween giveaway a couple of years ago. If you weren't willing to put up with the trivial amount of work necessary to redeem a code then, well, installing Origin is probably more than you're willing to put up with.

I'm not going to fault EA for making PvZ available for free. It is, in fact, a great game. A great game I've played through on multiple formats.

But I'm still not putting Origin on my computer.

 

[shrekfan246]

Shrug. It was available for free as a Halloween giveaway a couple of years ago. If you weren't willing to put up with the trivial amount of work necessary to redeem a code then, well, installing Origin is probably more than you're willing to put up with.

Or you, you know, didn't know about that giveaway?

Sweet, free game.
I'm fairly sure that I'm supposed to find something to complain about, but I like free stuff.

At this point, I'm more surprised that EA is actually still trying than by all of the snide, smug, and snarky comments from the gaming community about how "terrible" Origin is--when in reality it's basically just Steam with a differently-colored interface and less third-party content (which, to be honest, is more of a boon than hindrance at this point what with all of the complete shite Steam has been letting on to its store lately)--and how EA are the worst company in the history of the universe and how even if they gave cookies to every little boy and girl on the planet it still wouldn't make them not Mecha Hitler.

 

[Callate]

Or you, you know, didn't know about that giveaway?

...This wasn't some little-known "corner of the Internet" giveaway. They teamed up with the ADA. They gave out millions of copies of the game. Dentists got pre-printed cards, and anyone could print out their own. I personally gave a dozen copies to trick-or-treaters myself.

If one didn't know about it then, what are the chances that someone has been following EA closely enough to know about a giveaway limited to their download service?

 

[Korzack]

Cool, I remember getting a copy years ago, but I've long since forgotten me account details to get it (And had to change email addresses, so it wouldn't work any way), so this is handy. No MJ-zombies, though... le sigh

 

[evilnancyreagan]

I don't look at this as a free game but, more an opportunity invoke expense upon EA with little effort on my part - swarm the servers, let's clog em up!

 

[shrekfan246]

Or you, you know, didn't know about that giveaway?

...This wasn't some little-known "corner of the Internet" giveaway. They teamed up with the ADA. They gave out millions of copies of the game. Dentists got pre-printed cards, and anyone could print out their own. I personally gave a dozen copies to trick-or-treaters myself.

If one didn't know about it then, what are the chances that someone has been following EA closely enough to know about a giveaway limited to their download service?

Well, pretty high apparently, since I'm one of those people.

It's only been the last few years that I actually started following all kinds of gaming news. I didn't get a PS3, Xbox 360, or modern gaming PC until 2010, and before that I was more concerned with things like high school. I wouldn't have been able to tell you what IGN, Kotaku, NeoGAF, Destructoid, or The Escapist even were. Even then, it wasn't until very late 2010-early 2011 that I started actually finding these types of websites.

I imagine there are plenty more people who have only started following this kind of gaming news since 2012, or 2013, or even this year.

 

[Rad Party God]

I'm also curious if Steam will/has to respond with something like this.

Well, aside from the TONS of free games it already has, Valve has kinda/sorta done something similar with Left 4 Dead 2 last december... although it was only for 1 day... and Origin's On The House program and PS+ free games last an entire month... so yeah, I'm wondering if Valve would respond with a similar program anytime soon.

 

[Rad Party God]

Red Orchestra 2 was free on Steam just a couple weeks ago:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.848108-Red-Orchestra-2-Free-on-Steam-to-Keep-Forever-Update

Not to mention the Free Weekends they have fairly often.

But if there's one thing I learned after working in a casino: People don't care how much they lose just so long as you give them free shit afterwards.

Oh right, I forgot about Red Orchestra 2, but my point still stands, they only gave it away for free for a couple of days, not for an entire month.

 

[antipunt]

Ohh, I read this as 'Plants vs Zombies is Free OF Origin'

>_>

<_<

*abandon thread

 

[Grabehn]

There was/is a free version of Dead Space if you use the platform... I LOVE the first game, and yet that wasn't enough reason for me to even think about downloading Origin.

There's just something about it that yells "NOPE" at me whenever I get the idea of even trying it.

 

[Callate]

Well, pretty high apparently, since I'm one of those people.

...Okay, fair enough; enjoy the game. It is, as I said, a good game.

I still find it pretty hard to imagine there are that many people who fall into the category of both having not gotten the game before (one way or another) and either having Origin or having been waiting for this particular reason to install it, but I could be wrong.

 

[FalloutJack]

About the same number of times as I have to answer, "Why does everyone still have a problem with Origin?"

So, I'd say about 42 times. Yeah. Forty-two sounds like a good number.

Actually, the answer should be more fluid like "As many times as it takes to have the problem properly rectified'. That could be a long time, but the idea is that even after Mention #330, IT'S STILL RELEVENT. Issues don't go away just because people stop talking about them...

 

[Something Amyss]

It is the best out of the three games so definitely worth picking up. I find it kind of funny that EA felt the need to state there wasn't a catch though. At least they are aware of the lack of faith people have in them.

It's definitely not surprising though. I mean, they added MTs to the first PVZ on Android, they added MTs to PVZGW, and they "tweaked" PVZ 2 to push MTs harder.