Mass Effect 3 - PC Digital Deluxe Version on Origin Only

Destructoid has the (unsurprising) news that the PC Digital Deluxe Edition of Mass Effect 3 will only be available on EA's Origin system. To be fair, there's no suggestion the ordinary edition will be exclusive and apparently you get three in-game items for a massive $79.99, so perhaps it's not a big deal it's only on one vendor.
More information.

Interest in Mass Effect 3: Near zero.
Interest in discovering first-hand the "joys" of EA's Origin service, considering their past history: Absolute zero.

If EA seriously thinks people will buy from their shitty service "Origin" just because they are the only ones selling the Digital Deluxe Edition…. They fail.

$80 for a digital version? Are they joking?

My interest in Mass Effect 3 is, so far, close to 100. But there is no way such a digital "exclusive" will make me become a member of yet another online service.

Im already on Origin. My opinion is that the games there are EXTREMELY expensive to be digital downloads. Crysis 2 costs $3 more than it does in a Swedish store WTF?

I was also frustrated when it refused to let me see the site in English (language is set to the area in which you use it, an idea that fails on so many levels).

No. I will probably hold of ME3 for awhile. I no longer preorder Bioware and I have yet to buy DA2.

EA's Origin is making me wary of buying their games anywhere but retail.

Steam just recently had the Sims 3 Generations on sale and my daughter asked if she could get it. I looked and saw that it required the Steam version of the Sims 3, not the retail version that she already has. Still, with the sale price I could get the Steam version of the Sims 3 + Generations cheaper than the retail version of the Generations expansion by itself.

What gave me pause was the fact that Crysis 2 had recently been pulled. If we bought the Sims 3 on Steam, we don't know for sure that the next expansion, such as Sims 3 Pets coming out this fall (one she is really wanting to get) will be on Steam or if EA is going to only have it on Origin and retail. Now I see the Digital Deluxe version of ME3 is only going to be on Origin. I bet it's not long before some titles are only available through the company store.

I also hate the bastardization of the name Origin. EA has took one of their most respected company acquisitions and not only ran them into the ground, but now is using the name for a completely different purpose.

Origin - We Create Worlds
EA - We Create Mediocre Shovelware

Origin's great. I was already using EADM, which unlike Steam, lets you view manuals. Origin is just a nice refresh of EADM, and getting nice freebies for shift 2 is a bonus.

Its called competition. Steam has been the big dog in the house for years. Get used to it its not the end of the world.

Steam forcing you to have steam games to use expansions is why I prefer Gamersgate. And Origin should allow you to mix retails with digital too, I haven't tried it though.

Also, Origin is just a re-branded EADM with a friend network. The thing have existed for a couple of years and you can buy retail box from the Origin website too, not just DD. So, I'm not sure what the fuse is about…

I find people who defend Steam keeping all digital download of their games to themselves while hating EA limiting the deluxe/collector/limited editions to their own services while allowing the normal version to be distributed by other digital retailer really strange.

Originally Posted by Xian
What gave me pause was the fact that Crysis 2 had recently been pulled. If we bought the Sims 3 on Steam, we don't know for sure that the next expansion, such as Sims 3 Pets coming out this fall (one she is really wanting to get) will be on Steam or if EA is going to only have it on Origin and retail. Now I see the Digital Deluxe version of ME3 is only going to be on Origin. I bet it's not long before some titles are only available through the company store.

Probably. So what? It didn't take long until Valve's titles were exclusively on Steam. It's perfectly natural other publishers want to do the same. Whether they succeed in this is a different question.

The first sentence I've quoted is factually wrong. Crysis 2 wasn't "pulled", it was kicked by Valve because EA did too much business with their competitors, which Valve considers against their contract.

Originally Posted by Gorath
Probably. So what? It didn't take long until Valve's titles were exclusively on Steam. It's perfectly natural other publishers want to do the same. Whether they succeed in this is a different question.

The first sentence I've quoted is factually wrong. Crysis 2 wasn't "pulled", it was kicked by Valve because EA did too much business with their competitors, which Valve considers against their contract.

Yes because it was okay for steam to shove there software on games but not okay for others. Its a double standard. Notice how steam hasn't responded and all there fans blame EA.

This Origin SH*T only sells games in Euros, and I live in South America where Euros are a lot more expensive than US Dollars. Steam sells its games in USD instead. I hate you EA, I will pirate this game just to show you my hate.

I will be forced to sign up due to The Old Republic, which means I'm most likely already a member by the time ME3 is out, but.. 80 bucks? There has to be a lot of extra stuff for me to even consider that.

Originally Posted by fastica
This Origin SH*T only sells games in Euros,

No, it doesn't.

Wow, this is 599 DKR.

Which is 75-100% more expensive than other Deluxe versions of other games, at other DD. Not just that, but the "Deluxe" part consists of an amazing 3 in-game items!

That's extreme, even for EA.

I wonder how many of the usual shrug&smilers will accept something like this. Even they must draw the line somewhere.

In an recent article, EA stated that Steam couldn't do customer binding … at least the way EA wants it to be. http://www.industrygamers.com/news/e…-valves-steam/

In another Interview a David DeMartini of EA said that Origin might support other publishers, too, one day.

They'll do whatever it takes to get a hold on the market. Not sure they have much of a chance, though.

A lot of people seem almost spellbound by Steam.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
They'll do whatever it takes to get a hold on the market. Not sure they have much of a chance, though.

A lot of people seem almost spellbound by Steam.

Why is that please? I have never bought anything from Steam before these sales started and I found that their servers are slow when i tried to download the games. Also I am not sure how mods will work for games like Oblivion or gothic 3 if I buy things from them. Also how about patches? u need special patch for steam?

Originally Posted by lostforever
Why is that please? I have never bought anything from Steam before these sales started and I found that their servers are slow when i tried to download the games. Also I am not sure how mods will work for games like Oblivion or gothic 3 if I buy things from them. Also how about patches? u need special patch for steam?

Steam = convenient
Mods: depends on the game. If modding is designed as part of the game it works fine, you just have to find the right directory to put the files in etc. If a game isn't designed to be modable though, then it can be harder work than a native game install.
Patches: also depends on the game. Most submit patches directly to steam, so the game auto patches (which works very well). The patch isn't the same as the non-steam version, and you can't run old versions. A few games use patches outside of steam instead of steam's patching.

Originally Posted by lostforever
Why is that please? I have never bought anything from Steam before these sales started and I found that their servers are slow when i tried to download the games. Also I am not sure how mods will work for games like Oblivion or gothic 3 if I buy things from them. Also how about patches? u need special patch for steam?

I'm not really sure, to be honest.

But I guess it has to do with it being very simple to install games - even though I find it stupid that you can only have one "installation drive" - or maybe I just don't know how to have two simultaneously.

But other DD have their own installation-agents working in the same way - more or less - so it's not like Steam has much of an advantage there.

Certainly for many europeans, Steam is simply too expensive to consider for non-sale titles. Well, I'd think so - but I personally know a lot of people who still pay 25-50% more on Steam because it's where they have most games already.

I like to call them pragmatic idiots, but to each his own.

Then there's the whole Valve-thing. It seems Valve have a good reputation - for reasons unknown to me.

They made a couple of decent shooters - but beyond that, I don't think they've done anything to deserve a particularly good reputation. Even if they made the best games in the universe, Steam is still just an overly expensive DD to my mind.