EA launches 'Origin' online store
EA announced a new online storefront and beta application, aimed at providing Steam-like features built specifically for EA's first-party and partner-published games.
EA announced a new online storefront called Origin today, aimed at providing an dedicated home for EA and EA Partners games, with features similar to competing services.
The store already houses roughly 150 games, and EA promises it will offer downloads of limited edition versions of games like Battlefield 3, FIFA 12, Alice: Madness Returns, and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The announcement also teased that digital purchases of Star Wars: The Old Republic will be exclusive to Origin.
The company also launched a beta application, which can be downloaded through the site. It lets you create a friends list, check on your friends' gaming habits, and download EA PC games. It also functions as an overlay during games, not unlike Steam. A mobile application is also planned, to play EA's smartphone games and check on their friends list features from their phone.
"Origin is a game service with two fundamental features," said VP of global online at EA, David DeMartini, in the announcement. "It's a download service for the very best content from EA and its partners. It also offers a social function which, over time, will connect to a player's profile with friends list and a cross-platform feed that shows what your friends are playing and where." He also promised that the company will be adding new features and services in the coming months.
"We're committed to offering consumers direct access to great content and community in a way they have never experienced before," said CEO John Riccitiello. "Today we're launching Origin.com and the Origin beta application. Over time, Origin will grow with new functionality and unique new content that consumers can't get anywhere else."
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replySteve Watts posted a new article, EA launches 'Origin' online store.
EA announced a new online storefront and beta application, aimed at providing Steam-like features built specifically for EA's first-party and partner-published games.-
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Yeah me too- when I read the title I got all pumped for some Wing Commander II. Oh well.
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It was launched ages ago...they just renamed it.
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How many reboots does this make now?
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Was there something before the EA Store? I only remember their MMOs, which you still had to buy retail.
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You didn't actually need to buy that crap. Digital River storefronts often had that useless feature.
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As a guy who tracks digital distributions and freebies, I support this message.
Remember when Games for Windows relaunched with a $0.10 Age of Empires 3? Remember how much buzz there was?
(Yeah, I know GFW still sucks, but that's what proper promotion can make people believe.)-
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I apologize for not making myself clear. I'm talking about the digital distribution store (http://www.gamesforwindows.com/en-US/), which used to go by "Games for Windows LIVE" and was rebranded as just "Games for Windows" last year.
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The diffrence between them and Blizzard B.net is they have their exclusive games you can't work with elsewhere. You have to use B.net for WoW, Diablo, and Starcraft. EA's is doing STEAM with just their games. Why would I fracture my Library and contacts with STEAM? Unless they offer big discounts on their games under this service I have no reason to use it over STEAM.
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We're just not surprised by how tactless EA is anymore.
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Ten bucks says BF3 will use Origin for it's friends system and chat.
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SWTOR only available digital via Origin? No Steam/Impulse/D2D?
I'll buy the game at retail just to deny them a piece of the sale price now :P-
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Pretty much what has happened to BioWare since EA took over. I'd rather wait for a good polished game to come out then get a buggy game with good potential. BioWare is turning into Obsidian.
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If I can type in my BF2:BC2 EA store key and have an "Origin" version of it with unlimited downloads, then I may consider making more purchases directly from EA.
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Yeah. In Australia it charges in local currency and retail prices, which means its is more expensive than Steam, which charges USD$ and prices.
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1) Love the re-use of the long-defunct name they own. It's like taking a work of art, breaking it into a million pieces, and then using it to prop open a door. Next, we'll have Bullfrog used as the name for EA's exclusive technology powering their NBA Live/Elite/Whatever title. And Westwood will become the code name for EA's long-simmering update to the toilet, the Gaming Toilet. "Use your feces to play a game! PLOP! SPLASH! HIGH SCORE!"
2) This is EA DM. It's nothing BUT EA DM. I'm fine with EA DM because I see it as a bonus, a way to always have downloadable versions of games I already own (for the most part since some games inexplicably do not work despite the fact they are listed as ones that should work). The application is not THAT annoying imho. The problem is... this is just EA DM. How can it be a beta if it's the same damn application as EA DM which was a final application? What's beta about it? The new name? Is the new name and icon going to cause it to go haywire because it's offended by the color choice or the tacky repurposing of a once-great developer's name? Will it gain sentience and in its artificial offense begin hacking Sony, too?
3) If you want to be like Steam, then you have to auto-patch like Steam. You also have to give me an option to disable the damn chat window crap on the right side. It's not that hard. Some people, especially gamers that will have PC titles, are antisocial and do not want to have a chat window taking up a fourth of their screen on the right side all the time for no good reason.
4) PIck a better color scheme. You might cause the damn program to gain sentience just to hack Sony (since that's the cool thing cool kids do) in protest. Go black, gray, and white. That always works out.
5) Valve Steam, EA Origin, Activision/Blizzard Battle.net, Ubisoft U-Play... I don't want to run 25 programs on my computer just to house all my games with their downloadable copies. That's the point of Steam, to centralize. Sure, you toss in a couple of alternatives to give competition (D2D, Impulse) and you're done. EA DM is great as a backup for disc copies, but when you try to make it like Steam or Impulse or D2D, you're starting to lose me because we all know no other publisher is going to be joining Origin. No way in hell is Bobby Kotick going to say, "Yah, man, I used to hate EA, but this Origin platform is so awesome, I just got to be a part of it!"
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