36 Origin PC games on the cheap until Sunday

by Jordan Mallory on Jul 30th 2011 10:30AM

When it comes to digital distribution services, EA's Origin is the new kid in school. And who wants to hang out with the new kid? Nobody, that's who, unless the new kid has pockets full of candy. And by candy, we mean really cheap video-games.

From now until tomorrow, you can promise to be Origin's best friend forever in exchange for 36 PC games and/or expansion packs on sale for $4.99 each, including Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Spore, Mirror's Edge, Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box, and Littlest Pet Shop. Whether or not Origin's popularity on the playground will last when the candy runs out remains to be seen, but for right now we're willing to trade our chocolate milk for a copy of Sim City 4.

[Thanks, Thomas!]

Source: Origin

Tags: battlefield-bad-company-2, Burnout-Paradise, Burnout-paradise-the-ultimate-box, EA, littlest-pet-shop, mirrors-edge, Origin, pc, Sim-City-4, Spore

Reader Comments (94)

Would LOVE for EA to drop the prices on Steam, too, but they obviously won't.

I've been waiting for the mediocre-as-all-hell Spore to drop to 5 bucks for years, but I'm not buying it from a company that no question tells me that they have the right to revoke my purchase if I don't touch it for a while. I have a lot of games. A lot of them go untouched for years. And you know where they are? On the damn shelf where I left them, assholes.

@FuzzyPierce

Couldn´t agree more.....and they are trying to buy us, well it´s not gonna happen..........

@FuzzyPierce

Awesome. I was debating on whether supporting another DD platform but now it's obvious that EA still just doesn't get it and still doesn't give a shit. It's simply unbelievable how greedy and stupid they are.

Goodbye Origin. May you die a gruesome, painful, costly death!

@FuzzyPierce

I just double checked their terms of service. What a pice of shit.

@FuzzyPierce

No Steam, no sale.

@Funkmaster General mind telling me what pissed you off, off the ToS, not calling you out just don't really wanna read it all :P

@Funkmaster General

So in 23 months or so, my free copies of mass effect 2 and burnout paradise will be deleted from my origin account?

Wow EA. You lose the DD game.

Tempting...if EA's terms of service didn't void my copy of "x" game after 2 years of sitting in my backlog unplayed. No thanks.

@dragunrising Really?? I heard some mention of some deactivation clause from inactivity but is this for real?!

@dragunrising

http://tos.ea.com/legalapp/WEBTERMS/US/en/PC/#section2

You're right...

5. Content and Entitlement Availability

We reserve the right to change and update Content and Entitlements without notice to you. If you have not used your Entitlements or Account for twenty four (24) months or more and your Account has associated Entitlements, your Entitlements will expire and your Account may be cancelled for non-use. Once you have redeemed your Entitlements, that content is not returnable, exchangeable, or refundable for other Entitlements or for cash, or other goods or services.

@dragunrising

If Origin isn't used in 2 years...

...does it remove itself?

@Ospov

I would quickly spread word of that TOS agreement to anyone wanting to purchase Battlefield 3. It seems like EA and Activision are constantly trying to trump each other as the most evil organization in gaming. Just... freakin' wow. I never expected the company that fought so hard to stay out of the 1983 crash by focusing on computer games and making it so games were seen as art to become so... draconian and evil.

Then again, their founder, Trip Hawkins, is no longer the leader of the company. He tried to found 3DO, and let the really evil, power grubbing folks like John Riccitiello take over. Must be hard watching everything you worked for go straight to hell by the greed of a few... sigh.

Alright, fine Origin.

Just this once.

@jediyoshi Don't down vote this guy for just saying he is going to buy a game BTW The games deleting them self after two years of not being played is (insert swear word here).

@jediyoshi How about not doing it at all, EA is scandalous. Don't support this

@jediyoshi

Don't do it man. Seriously. Vote with your wallet.

@byaboy It's not a personal slight, it's an intervention.

@jediyoshi
EA Jedi mind tricks.

Tempted by Burnout for £5. Repelled by EA. So I won't give them my money. Had it been on Steam, they may well have had a sale.

On the other hand, if EA is taking PC gaming seriously enough to launch a store, it's good for the health of PC gaming in general, which went through a bit of a slump.

On the other, other hand, Burnout Paradise on PC wasn't supported properly and didn't get all the DLC, so EA are paying lip service to PC gamers. And I don't like how they shut down online services for games that could not possibly be considered old. They seem to have very little interest in creating long term classics people looking back on fondly, but want to keep kicking us out of our seats into the next overpriced minor upgrade. Imagine if your favourite band's record company disabled the ability to listen to an album you really like because a new one came out. CONTROL in the hands of corporations is bad, don't give any more to EA.

@Dick Socrates - They shut down online services for games that nobody is playing anymore, not based on age.

I can still play Burnout: Revenge online on Xbox 360 & that game is almost five & a half years old now. If people are still playing, they keep the service open.

@Mcmax3000 not true on sports games that come out every year.

You people bitching about Origin's ToS do realize that Steam and Battle.net now have clauses in their Subscriber Agreements that allow them to terminate your entire account or any single subscription or game license at any time for no specified reason whatsoever?

"13. TERM AND TERMINATION
Either you or Valve has the right to terminate or cancel your Account or a particular Subscription at any time. "

"6. Account Suspension/Cancelation.
BLIZZARD MAY SUSPEND, TERMINATE, MODIFY, OR DELETE ACCOUNTS AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON OR FOR NO REASON, WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE TO YOU"

@Kai Hohiro "At any time" does not mean "for any reason". It just means they have the right to do so, if they feel they need to. It does not mean they have the right to revoke purchases at will.

@Kai Hohiro Steam has a history of taking care of its customers. EA has a history of bending its customers over. There's what you can do, and what you're likely to do.

The DRM that puts us at the mercy of trusting anyone to let us keep what we supposedly 'bought' is a travesty, but if you're going to trust anyone, Steam is the better gamble. I'm a huge sucker for a sale, but even I have my limits.

The 'new' kid in school isn't new. We know him pretty well.

@Kai Hohiro

The difference is that EA states that it WILL do so after a certain amount of time has passed. There is a difference between a vague threat and an actual one.

Tried Origin today.
Had a nice UI but the catalog was too small compared to Steam.
And the games wasn't thaaat cheap either. I'll guess I'll just stick to steam for now.

@Trogdorwhore - Of course the catalog is smaller than Steam's... It's only EA's games whereas Steam sells games from all publishers.

@Trogdorwhore

The UI isn't nice. It's a great example of bloated software and wasted space on your screen.

I think it's hideous.

Unless I'm missing something, it would appear that europeans can go screw themselves. And by screw themselves I actually mean stay on Steam, which really isn't screwing anyone but EA at the moment, I guess.

Oh come on, EA... sale not valid in Germany? Seriously, how do they think they'll EVER be able to compete with Steam at this rate? This is just basic marketing 101.

@Froody42

you are kidding right???? not valid in Germany???? well, you always have steam......... :D

@Froody42

Not available in Brazil as well...this is just plain stupid. I hope it doesn't take too long to EA realize Origin's a failure and stop fighting against Valve.

I like candy + I could use a new friend. Tirrd of having the same shitty friends. Hello friend.

@kmcroc

The candy is inside a van with blacked out windows, and the creepy old dude driving it is your new friend.

Have fun!

I do hope no one goes for these sales. EA has been acting rather anti-competitively and they do not deserve to be rewarded for their douchey tactics against Steam.

Regardless they are trying to fight a war against Steam starting off with those game? At this point everyone probably has Mirrors Edge and BF:BC2 twice over on Steam.

I will pass an stick to steam or GoG. EA got not nothing special right now only game i'm interested in is battlefield 3 but that not coming out until November.

Sale isn't valid in Australia / New Zealand either.

Digital retailers really need to drop this BS. I get sick of steam adjusting prices based on regions. Through steam alone, AU/NZ pays anywhere from 50 - 70% more for the majority of games compared to someone who resides in the US.

This really annoys me especially, because I am a US citizen by descent. I understand some regions have laws to prevent digital retailers from undercutting local retailers, but you can't run with that ball in every region just because one region said to.

Half the time it's cheaper for me to purchase games from the UK and have them shipped to New Zealand, than to purchase it through steam. They don't even change the prices to NZD, they are all USD: blatant cash grab money gouging.

I looked at it last night and I didn't really like the site. I didn't feel like it was put together very well. The login was screwed up so I pretty much gave up after that and it wasn't easy to search for stuff right off the bat since it seems like they throw all the DLC into the searches as well. Maybe if I spend some more time there I will be more familiar with everything and it won't seem so bad, but why bother when Steam is still better?

@Ospov - Because Origin will probably be the only place to play Battlefield 3, sadly. Unless EA and Valve come to some sort of agreement in a hurry.

@BananaBoat

If Battlefield isn't on Steam, then I won't buy it for PC until it is. I'll just pick up a copy for my PS3 so I can play it with my friends on there. I know it won't be as great as the PC version, but I have more friends that play Battlefield on the PS3 so at least I'll have a good squad when I play it.

I hope EA realizes that they're just going to hurt themselves in the long run if they start withholding games from Steam.

@Ospov - It's more of a push/pull type of thing going on with EA and Valve. EA wants to sell DLC through their games (cutting Valve out of the profits), and Valve wants that content available through Steam.

Supposedly they've been at an impasse for weeks.

@BananaBoat

Yeah that's what I've got from it anyway. It just doesn't make any sense to me because they've been in the same situation with DLC in-games before with Steam with other games, but it suddenly becomes a big deal right around the same time EA is kicking off their own digital distribution service Origin.

I know Valve is trying to get them to do it their way and that's why the games are being taken down, but this is just way to coincidental for anybody to think that there isn't something fishy going on here...

@Ospov - Oh it's definitely fishy, but it will all work out in the end. If no one uses Origin, EA's games will be back on Steam before very long.

@Ospov

EA login system has always been... how do I put it... broken.

so does this mean i shouldn't buy Battlefield 3?

isn't this the same reason Valve stopped supporting Orange Box on Xbox 360/PS3? they didnt like how Microsoft told them how to sale DLC/updates

@(Unverified)

Except Valve wanted the updates to be free (like they are on PC) and MS likes people to pay for extra features. Plus there's a lot of authorization and stuff patches have to go through on XBL and PSN that Valve doesn't have to deal with on the PC.

@(Unverified)
Valve wanted to be cool and Microsoft didn't let them. I also doubt they have the infrastructure and storage to update games as frequently as Valve does. Updates aren't even performed in the background! Can you imagine every few days booting Team Fortress 2 up and waiting on a blank menu for 200mb to download. No.

BEsides its cheaper to buy games off of Steam and you get a better experience (better graphics, free online play and more control options)

@Tihn isn't that what does happen with Tf2? i can't play the game until it finishes updating...which can be from a few MB to a few GB

Title Updates are different from DLC other than Burnout Paradise i can't remember many games that go above 5MB

i have over 200 games on Steam and been using it since 2004
Microsoft still has the best system for updates.

but... outside of the main Valve made games its a complete clusterfk
EA games have a login,Rockstar,GFWL,Activision,THQ,Ubisoft,Square...

@(Unverified)
Xbox= I have to sit and stare at nothing whilst an update downloads.
Steam= Downloads anytime my client is running so I don't have to run a game just to see if theres an update, with simultaneous downloads.

That is what I said.

@(Unverified) Technically, Valve didn't STOP supporting the Orange Box on PS3...they just never started.

Portal 2 on PS3 represents the evolution of that relationship, and how open companies can work together to make really awesome things that people embrace.

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 50 Comments

36 Origin PC games on the cheap until Sunday

Reader Comments (94)

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 10:40AM FuzzyPierce said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:14AM Hunter141072 said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:52AM Mmmmz said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:59AM Funkmaster General said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 12:40PM Gibbeynator said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 2:14PM Joker5950 said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 5:23PM Faenix said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 10:43AM dragunrising said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 10:50AM Kazzahdrane said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:49AM Timjoy said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 12:51PM Ospov said

Posted: Jul 31st 2011 3:45AM ShivanSwordsman said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 10:44AM jediyoshi said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:29AM byaboy said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 12:04PM Dance Mofo said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 1:18PM bigwhiteyeti said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 1:23PM fortunzfavor said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 2:19PM Castiel said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 10:47AM Dick Socrates said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:02AM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:37AM Fire Walk With Me said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 10:52AM Kai Hohiro said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:02AM FuzzyPierce said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:16AM fortunzfavor said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 12:03PM Funkmaster General said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 10:53AM Trogdorwhore said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:04AM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 1:19PM bigwhiteyeti said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:02AM Chibithor said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:03AM Froody42 said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:14AM Hunter141072 said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:33AM Dratyan said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:07AM kmcroc said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 2:16PM freaparn said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:20AM RX3115 said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:21AM bargaingamer said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:29AM coledognz said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:32AM Ospov said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 9:59PM BananaBoat said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:00PM Ospov said

Posted: Jul 31st 2011 3:17AM BananaBoat said

Posted: Jul 31st 2011 3:32AM Ospov said

Posted: Jul 31st 2011 4:07AM BananaBoat said

Posted: Jul 31st 2011 9:17PM GCountach said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:35AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:56AM Ospov said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 11:59AM Tihn said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 1:07PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 1:36PM Tihn said

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 3:29PM Lemondish said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

WB conjures up Harry Potter for Kinect this fall

Featured Stories

Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is a stranger in a strange land

Silver Lining: I Am Alive's unfeeling world

Game Of Thrones and the paradoxes of adaptation

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW