EA Launches Origin, a steam-like game selling service.

[Blix]

Do you care?

I personally don't have a negative opinion on EA thanks to the fact that I buy around two games published by them every decade. Not their fault it's just almost always someone else publishes the games I look forward to. But I bought Crysis 2 for PC yesterday and it came with this (well, it originally was the EA download manager and after an update it changed to Origin). I also pre-ordered Battlefield 3 so I may be using this platform often if it demands me to use this service.

It felt nice to know there was someone else doing digital distribution as I love it for several reasons I've stated in the past. The first one is that I can always find the games that I want, even if they're no longer available at stores. And also the fact that these things update the game for you, have community features and several other things that add value to the product. But then I started thinking... I'm already happy with steam, they have treated me so nice that whoever wants to become a renown digital distributor will have to up their weekend and mid week specials and other nice things steam has going. In short, Origin isn't quite there yet. Second (and this is the one that really has me thinking) EA is known for using some DRM stuff that can become a nuisance. And every game that I see available on both platforms I'd rather buy on steam.

So... what is your opinion about this service, guys?
www.origin.com

PS: Even though Crysis 2 came with this software it did not add the game to my library of games. WTF? At least the game updates on its own.

[thatmariolover]

I think it was inevitable. But Steam has really won a lot of people over so I rather doubt this will take hold. Particularly considering EA's penchant for game crippling DRM.

[Angrist]

Didn't they try something similar before? I remember I had to download some weird system to get the Spore demo.

[Blix]

I don't know what they used before since this is the first EA game I buy in... God, I don't remember. Anyways, I just read some stuff about the DRM in Crysis 2 and they let you use the game on up to five computers and let you authorize and de-authorize the computers to your liking. If you ask me, they're finally reaching a happy medium. I can definitely deal with that. I don't think I'll be using this system too much, but I'm looking forward to it. I want to see how they manage it and what features they offer. I'm happy with Steam and like everything about it but if EA can do something as good I'll support it too. They just better offer something that sets the service appart because I'd rather keep my collection all in one place. They have to find a good incentive to get me to buy it on their service over steam.