Post by trog @ 01:21pm 07/08/11 | 48 Comments
Gamers can pre-order Battlefield 3 at Origin.com as well as over 100 digital retailers worldwide. EA offers games to all major download services. Unfortunately, Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content. No other download service has adopted these practices.EA outline their policy on digital distribution services on their forum - the crux of the issue appears to be they're not happy with Steam because it doesn't allow them to connect them directly with customers (ostensibly to provide them with information about things like new patches).
In EA's defence, they have a bunch of other third party options for people wishing to buy a digital copy of BF3 (although Australia is conspicuously absent from that list), in addition to their own Origin service. However, it's hard to shake the feeling that this move is an attempt to try to take some of the wind out of Steam's sails
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Posted 01:24pm 07/8/11
So one would think it would be utterly trivial for EA to have a similar system if all they really care about is being able to get in touch with customers?
Posted 01:34pm 07/8/11
Posted 01:40pm 07/8/11
Posted 01:45pm 07/8/11
Posted 01:48pm 07/8/11
Posted 01:51pm 07/8/11
pffft what a bunch of bollocks from EA .... what you cant contact us through the details on the master EA account which you will no doubt have to have in order to log into bf3 ....?
weak...... i rly dont want to have to run another direct downloader platform to get access to games under the EA banner, not to mention getting charged more cause im Australian .... but doestnt look like im going to have much of a choice now, they will no doubt do the same thing with SWTOR later in the year to ....
Posted 02:04pm 07/8/11
Posted 02:12pm 07/8/11
Posted 02:13pm 07/8/11
EA also want to be able to sell DLC without having to pay steam a cut of the profits. Steam doesn't like that by the sounds of it. Crysis 2 - in game sale of DLC, game has gone from steam, Dragon Age 2 - buy the DLC directly from BioWare, game is gone from steam. Both games are still available over places so its not just EA being d**** about it in my opinion.
Posted 02:16pm 07/8/11
Posted 02:16pm 07/8/11
Posted 02:17pm 07/8/11
Not only requiring a Live account, but also an extra activation step on top of Steam's own activation ... DRM inside your DRM! That was one of my least favourite game installation/setup experiences.
Posted 02:58pm 07/8/11
Then there is this posted via Rock, Paper, Shotgun as to what you acctually are entitled to after a 2 year period of inactivity with EA's online distribution system...
Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Posted 03:05pm 07/8/11
A little bit of disk space used up by the profile in exchange for angry customer support phone calls. Sounds like a bad deal.
Posted 03:42pm 07/8/11
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/04/eas-comment-on-origin-account-deletion/#comment-760790
Posted 04:07pm 07/8/11
If you buy it on Origin, good chance your copy will be locked to origin forever.
Posted 04:57pm 07/8/11
Posted 04:59pm 07/8/11
Posted 05:23pm 07/8/11
Posted 05:44pm 07/8/11
This is about EA cutting out the middleman as well, and with a couple of big franchises to work with in Battlefield and SWTOR, this move is designed to marginalise the biggest digital distributor of games. With the move into the MMO market perhaps they've made the infrastructure investment that makes content distribution a simpler, cheaper part of the their core business.
Posted 07:43pm 07/8/11
Posted 07:47pm 07/8/11
Posted 07:57pm 07/8/11
this
Posted 09:30pm 07/8/11
lame to the max
Posted 09:32pm 07/8/11
Posted 09:52pm 07/8/11
Posted 10:14pm 07/8/11
Scratch my back and i'll scratch yours.
Posted 10:21pm 07/8/11
Posted 10:26pm 07/8/11
Don't really get this stance, cos the only person you're really punishing here is yourself. If it was on Steam you'd just b**** and moan about how expensive it is and end up not getting it on Steam anyway, so whats the difference? Go find a website selling cdkeys or order it from Ozgameshop or something (which is what people would probably do anyway, even it was on Steam).
Posted 10:36pm 07/8/11
Pisses me off that I will have to load up a different client every time I want to play an EA game. Steam has all my games in one spot.
Posted 11:14pm 07/8/11
seriously the issues with steam just get on my nerves, randomly asking to 'INSERT DVD INTO DRIVE' among them, running several LAN cafes this has become a huge issue add to that crazy stupid DL speeds. Anyways physical disc always a winner, and on the flip side I hope it does link in with steam somehow somewhere!
Posted 09:05am 08/8/11
Also, I don't get why people are saying Origin is good for Steam, and that it will make prices cheaper. No, it won't. Because the games that are exclusive to Origin, aren't on Steam, therefore there is no competition for pricing at all.
Posted 12:11pm 08/8/11
Posted 12:32pm 08/8/11
Posted 12:35pm 08/8/11
Posted 10:23pm 09/8/11
More importantly, the huge amount games that I have purchased on steam means that I don't really need any more games than I already have! Too many games I haven't started yet that are inching to be played for the first time, some that I have only played some way through and others that need to be played through all over again.
If BF3 was actually on steam, I'd buy it and it would have to compete for my attention once dl'd =) But since its not, no money for you EA.
Posted 10:42pm 09/8/11
Additionally: I haven't even played Dragon Age II yet an I purchased it many months ago. I reckon if EA released a empty shell of BF3 for sale on steam that was even less than a pre-order (say "BF3 pre-order countdown to download ends in 3 years" purchase ha) I'd probably still buy it :P
That said... whens Deus Ex Human Revolution coming? feels like I steam pre-ordered that many months ago :S
Posted 02:01am 10/8/11
Now it comes down to "How DARE they release xxx game on console when PC is where this company started! How dare they abandon me when I made them famous! THEY OWE ME!" Guess what, they don't owe you s***! They delivered a piece of quality entertainment software which obviously had a big impact on your life if you feel this passionately about it this far on down the line. If anything, you owe THEM, but no, instead, you'd rather be a d*** about it and abandon them, you who claim to be one of their longest, most loyal fans. Classy.
Or "You mean I have to go and click a few links on a website that is NOT the website I was intending to use to buy this game? Well f*** that, who do they think they are, screwing me over like this. Not buying that game THATS FOR SURE" Remember when we had to actually physically go into a store to buy a game? And this wasn't in the days where every suburb had an EB Games, this would be like an organised trip into the city for the day just to get your game. And then it came in a huge f*****g box and a tonne of excess packaging that you had to do something with. And it would be on floppy discs and a year down the track when you went to reinstall the game one of the discs would be corrupted and your game was f***ed? Now you click a couple of buttons on a website and the game is, magically, transported directly onto your computer, at speeds we couldn't even comprehend back in the days when we were dialing into Bulletin Boards with our 14.4k dialup modems, and its now yours FOREVER. And people still complain, cos apparently, this is too hard.
There are more f*****g awesome games coming out these days than ever before, on so many platforms, so readily available for gamers to consume whenever and wherever they want. And its easier than ever before to get games, even if (god forbid!) you have to actually order a physical copy from overseas it takes like 4 or 5 days to get here. I remember when you used to mail order s*** from overseas and it would take so goddamn f*****g long to arrive that by the time it did, you didn't even remember you had ordered it.
Gamers have it so good these days, and it seems less and less people are actually just taking the time to sit back and enjoy the fun of just being a gamer and having fun and playing some games. Everyone is on a crusade about something; everyone is so obsessed about which platform they're hating on today, which delivery medium they're boycotting, or which game's art personally offends them on a deep and primal level because it uses the wrong colours, that they've lost sight of how f*****g amazing gaming has become these days. From the games themselves to the way we consume them, it just blows my mind when I stop to think about how far this industry has come, what an incredible time we're living in right now, and the infinite possibilities inherent in it for the future.
So enough with the pointless whinging, enough with the retarded boycotts and the temper tantrums. Stop acting like spoilt children stamping their feet while demanding things be done your way and just go play a game, remind yourself what its all about. Enough with the bulls*** sense of entitlement, please. Battlefield 3 looks like a really fun game, and this is why I want to buy it. If you think it looks like a fun game, then you should buy it too, don't let petty s*** like it not being available on your digital distribution medium of choice put you off.
Posted 02:06am 10/8/11
Posted 02:06am 10/8/11
Posted 02:41am 10/8/11
also, well said khel.
Posted 06:45pm 11/8/11
Loyal? Does liking BF2 and the initial desire to play BF3 make me loyal? .. what? So if BF3 was actually a bad game would I still need to play it and cry on the inside while pretending to like it if I was loyal?.. by your reasoning I’m doing the right thing by being loyal to STEAM/VALVE since I love their HL series even better. But it is NOT really about loyalty to STEAM/VALVE. It is about me liking the platform enough to not bother with anything else. Though It isn’t a perfect platform so who knows what could happen in the future..
As for loyalty: If VALVE released Half Life EP 3 on console only – I’m not going to buy it because, A: I don’t own a console & B: I don’t like consoles. I’m going to think they are turds BUT I’m not going to think they have betrayed me :) I’m going to personally think that it is a stupid move on their part ... I like playing FPS with a keyboard & mouse, I really don’t like console controls (except for the Golden Eye N64 controller with the mid joystick bit.. back when I did play with consoles).
Of course they don’t owe me s***. I made them what they are today? Hey I don’t think so, so why say it? Seriously I just liked playing BF2. I didn’t start worshiping them and have some crazed sense of loyalty to them. They just made the game! If they instead magically gave me super powers and the promise for eternal life IN GOD MODE (until I say when) then maybe I’d have a sense of loyalty.
Anyway, they could still make a huge killing if they released it on steam.. its just greed that they don’t, they are a business after all... so its their greed vs my (and I suspect a few others) laziness & comfortable stagnation.
That all said, will I REALLY not buy BF3 from say a store? I don’t know, maybe I’ll change my mind in a few days or months? Maybe they will get my money.. maybe I’ll stop being lazy, turn off the games and go back to reading? Or better yet start to build that raised veg garden finally.
Posted 06:51pm 11/8/11
Posted 06:57pm 11/8/11
So if BF3 is a bad game would I still need to play it like it if I was loyal? No - You go and play BF2
Liking a Game Developer/Producer should be based on the content they produce that YOU like. Liking L4D but hating L4d2 does not make you a back stabbing murderer and Valve are going to stop making games because of you.
Valve will not Release HL3 on console only, If they do even decide to make it
Talk to Trog about the Gardening
Posted 09:04am 12/8/11
I will be intending to purchase BF3 regardless as it's my most anticipated game for quite some time however does anybody know much more about origin/trust them as much as steam (ha ha?)?
I want to pre-order to receive the DLC down the line without having to pay for it (as per origin site), will brick and mortar pre-order give the same access rights to this? Or is it just essentially reserving a copy at a brick and mortar? I'd rather avoid origin if I can. I do not trust Electronic Arts.
Posted 09:33am 12/8/11
https://twitter.com/#!/zh1nt0/status/100892143303925760 Copy paste this rather then clicking. It adds an additional https to the link.
Daniel Matros
@zh1nt0 Stockholm - Global Battlefield Community Manager at DICE. Be yourself at all times and never abandon your goals and dreams. Community is where the heart is. Peace and Love!
http://dice.se
So there you have it. You have to have Steam installed to play Halflife 2 ... I mean Origin installed to play battlefield 3.
Posted 10:23am 12/8/11
There were rumours that you'll only be able to install once if you purchase through origin though?
edit: Nevermind I got off my lazy butt and read the FAQ on origin site.
Seems to operate the same as steam, might just bite the bullet.
Mmmm, origin client isn't as clunky or awkward as I had anticipated, has an overlay (not tested) similar to steam. Guess they really are going to try to be compete with steam. It's actually relatively responsive too, *feels* light and using half the resources of steam at present.
Posted 09:06am 14/8/11
It's not like everyone who buys BF3 is gonna go OMFG origin is awesome I pledge my loyalty to you EA make me your b****. F*****g EA are clueless.