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EA adds CD Projekt RED, Paradox, and nine other publishers to Origin
When Valve introduced the hat system to Team Fortress 2, you swore off Steam forever. You're a die hard PC Battlefield player, and simply won't play it anywhere else. You refuse to use standalone clients for launching your favorite PC games. Do these things describe you? Then you're probably a big fan of EA's Origin game service, which will be getting content from 11 publishers "in the coming months," according to a press release issued by EA this morning.The first game to be added is the aforementioned Rift from Trion Worlds, with games from Robot Entertainment, CD Projekt RED, Freebird Games, Recoil Games, Autumn Games, 1C Company, Inxile Entertainment, Paradox Interactive, Core Learning, and N3V Games joining Rift's ranks soon. EA says that more specific information on pricing and release dates will be offered in the near future via Origin, so keep an eye out while you're remaining steadfast in your stance against that other major digital retailer.
Battlefield 3, NFS: The Run for $30; many others discounted in Origin Cyber Monday sale
Origin may be the new kid on the block, but that doesn't mean it was born yesterday. EA clearly realizes that its digital-only game service needs to compete with the other digital retailers, as evidenced by its overtly aggressive pricing on today's Cyber Monday sales: Battlefield 3 for $30, as well as Need for Speed: The Run, not to mention package savings that rival Steam's. Beyond the games available for PC, a variety of the publisher's iOS slash mobile titles are also getting deep cuts, all of which end around midnight tonight. If you were waiting patiently for a heavily discounted copy of Risk for your iPad, now is the time!
Pre-order Battlefield 3 on Origin and get a free game
We already knew that pre-ordering Battlefield 3 on Origin (the only place on PC to offer the game digitally) would net gamers access to an early beta in September, but it would seem EA is sweetening the pot with another offer: a free game. According to Ars Technica, one individual was sent the following statement via email after pre-ordering the game through Origin: As a special thank you for pre-ordering Battlefield 3 early at Origin, we're offering you a bonus PC digital download game. Please apply the code below at the shopping cart to redeem one PC Digital version of one of our recommended shooter titles: Mass Effect 2, Dead Space 2 or Medal of Honor. The price will be reduced to $0 after applying the code at your shopping cart. Hurry-this offer is only good for the month of August, and is exclusive to Origin customers only. See below for more details. Regardless of how you feel about EA's new platform, the publisher has given you another reason to consider it.
Origin coming to iPad, iPhone and Android; cross-platform Scrabble coming to Android next week, for free
While EA insists that its new (-ly rebranded) download service Origin has "never been about" competing with Steam in the PC space, the same can't be said for Origin and Apple's mobile Game Center service. During its Summer Showcase event, the megapublisher just demoed a mobile version of Origin running on iOS (through an iPad app in this instance, pictured above) promising a cross-platform experience using the same Origin ID you (may or may not) have on your PC. While originally announced alongside the PC application, today was the first time EA demoed the mobile offering. The Origin app will let you see your friend list and its accompanying news feed, sharing what your digi-friends are doing in Origin, regardless of platform. The EA rep then launched a new version of Need for Speed on iOS directly from Origin; this version uses Origin to push your friends' leaderboard data into the game, a feature EA dubiously claims wasn't possible before Origin. More relevant was the Scrabble demo showing the game being played simultaneously across four platforms, including iPad, iPhone, Android, and Facebook. Because your games are stored "in the cloud" (read: Origin) you can start your game on any platform and continue it on another. EA says the game will be available on Android next week for free, and should support "almost every device at launch." The Origin mobile app will support the iPhone, iPad and Android platforms, though EA hasn't said when it will be made available. We'll update this post when we've got more information.
EA's DeMartini claims Origin has 'never been about' competing with Steam
In a recent forum post, David DeMartini, EA's Senior VP of Global E-Commerce, expressed that gamers should be able to buy EA titles on any site they want, including Steam ... unless, that is, Steam doesn't want them to. Last month's disappearance of Crysis 2 from Valve's service, DeMartini explained, was actually the result of a business deal whereby certain DLC for the game couldn't appear on Steam, and thus Valve removed the title from its service completely. The veep went on to say that EA's Origin platform is a choice for game buyers, not an exclusive outlet for all of the publisher's content going forward. Along with its developers, EA is "working to integrate more and more between the game and Origin," but DeMartini is "absolutely not at this point saying, 'hey, it's Origin versus Steam.' It's never been about that." However, DeMartini's words and EA's actions don't exactly line up. According to the company's policy, EA wants to "continue offering our games for sale on all major download sites." Star Wars: The Old Republic doesn't count, it seems, as that title will only be available for download from its Origin service.
EA quotes '200 hours of gameplay per class' in SWTOR
For most single-player video games, eight to 20 hours of gameplay is currently considered "sufficient." For Star Wars: The Old Republic, those numbers are merely a prologue to the main event. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Electronic Arts' Frank Gibeau said that players should expect around 200 hours of core gameplay per class, not including side activities like PvP and raiding. He was responding to a question about the game's allegedly high budget, which Gibeau says is worth the investment: "It's vast. It's a gigantic game. And that costs money. But when you get one of these launched they persist for a long period of time." Gibeau also commented on the decision to exclusively release the digital version of SWTOR through EA's Origin service: "In the case of Star Wars we're trying to build an audience for Origin. And it's also an opportunity for us to better manage the downloads and how we bring people over from the beta and that sort of thing. For a lot of reasons it made sense for an MMO, which is a highly complex deployment."
