Mass Effect 3 - EAs Origin Required - both for single and multiplayer

Chris Priestly mentions in a post on the Bioware Social Forum that Mass Effect 3 will require EA's Origin service both for single player and mutiplayer. Here's a quote from the announcement:

1) Will Origin be a requirement to play all versions of Mass Effect 3? (Digital and/or from a retail brick and mortar store)
Yes, Origin is required for all PC editions of Mass Effect 3, physical or digital.
2) Is constant Origin connection required or is it a single one off authentication when the game is first installed. Is there also a limit to the number of installations available?
Mass Effect 3 will require a one time, single authorization for the single player game. There is no limit to the number of installs. Playing Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer will require a constant connection.
3) Is Origin required for the retail versions of the game?
Origin is required for the PC versions of Mass Effect 3, both physical and digital.
4) Will ME3 be available on Steam?
During initial release Mass Effect 3 will be available on Origin and a number of other 3rd party digital retailers, but not on Steam at this time. Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content. We are intent on providing Mass Effect to players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play their game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with our consumers.

More information.

Another reason to not buy it.

My two cents.

Not a big deal imo. As long as the single-player mode doesn't require a constant connection, I'm fine with it.

Mass Effect 3 will require a one time, single authorization for the single player game. There is no limit to the number of installs.

If this was just for ME3 then it wouldn't be a big deal. I'm getting that on the XBox more than likely anyways, but I'm not passing on Amalur.

Great, three of these damn 3rd party things now. Well one more won't kill me, but I really would like it if they made it so I could choose the language when visiting their website. How hard is it to do that?

I just went there and it's going to be a pain to even register and download the stupid thing. I'm guessing you can download it now because I can't read a freaking word on that website.

Apparently you need a mouse and keyboard. And a decent graphics card.

B*llsh!t.

Funny, I said almost exactly the same thing (minus the decent graphics card) when Sierra started making point & click adventures.

I'm not buying/playing ME3 and am buying Amalur for PS3, so I'm more than happy to tell EA what they can do with "Origin".

I have had to use Origin for my daughter's Sims 3 retail games to get patches and such. In some ways I like it better than Steam, for instance I am not required to have the Origin client running to play a game. That has been my biggest complaint with Steam - the unreliable offline mode. Origin doesn't have that issue. Once you have activated a game you can play offline indefinitely.

I have also heard that if you have an issue you can talk to a real person, though I have not contacted Origin support myself to see if that is so. The email only approach to support that Steam uses is my second biggest gripe with their service. For a company that made nearly $1,000,000,000 in sales in 2010, Valve could put some of that profit into a real system with live support.

I know EA is teh evil!!1! but so far my limited experience with Origin on behalf of my daughter hasn't been bad.

Originally Posted by Xian
I have had to use Origin for my daughter's Sims 3 retail games to get patches and such. In some ways I like it better than Steam,

I'm glad your experience has been OK. For my part, I didn't like moving to Steam but I was too big a Half-Life fan at the time not to. Now, EA asks me to install yet another client, because they don't want to give Gabe Newell any more $$… classic EA bully tactic. They can suck a duck.

Well, guess I'm cancelling my pre-order then! And probably just pirate it instead. {ya know…. Its BS like this that forces many legit/honest gamers into piracy} ~ being forced to use Origin or any stupid service like this to play a game is dumb ~ especially for a final part of a series that doesn't require it for the previous 2 is ludicrous.{yes I know Origin didn't exist then, but still!}

I will purchasing it though if the hackers find a way to bypass Origin for the single players mode in-the-least though!


oh and btw I did purchase 37 games on Steam over the holidays, so yeah I support the developers when its fair and just and doesn't require {Origin for one or online activation for a 1p Game} or have DRM BS!

Perhaps the biggest concern for me is that delivering via Origin will mean that you will presumably only be able to get the download version via the Origin store, ie. a monopoly where EA will be able to charge what they like. No ME3 in the Steam sale for example.

I don't care much about the Origin client itself one way or the other, it is probably no worse than Steam.

One of the questions asked by one of the forumites on the BSN to Chris Pristly dealt with exactly this issue. He or she asked something like this 'will we be able to install Origin to get the game, to activate the game, then uninstall Origin, and play the game?'

Chris Priestly promised to investigate this question with the Origin team. No answers as of yet, though.

Khalus, we don't support piracy here. I don't care what your justification is. Full stop.

Originally Posted by coaster
Perhaps the biggest concern for me is that delivering via Origin will mean that you will presumably only be able to get the download version via the Origin store, ie. a monopoly where EA will be able to charge what they like. No ME3 in the Steam sale for example.

Nope. Widely reported to be the case (and at least it's slightly more accurate than the "origin will read my medical records" cretinism/ FUD) but that's only true for download versions of TOR. As with BF3/ DA2/ Crysis2 Steam will be just about the only estore that won't have it- Gamersgate and [whatever Impulse is now being called] for example will.

Publishers have 'monopoly' rights anyway, no DD store can arbitrarily set a price without asking the publisher first.

What the crap is Origin and what the shit is Mass Effect?
This may be the time to note although Mass Effect may support Windows XP, and list it on its minimum system requirements, Origin or some other adjacent technology required for the game(Such as Direct X 11) may not support XP.

Just because you meet the minimum system requirements doesn't mean you can run the title anymore.

Originally Posted by flabbyjack
This may be the time to note although Mass Effect may support Windows XP, and list it on its minimum system requirements, Origin or some other adjacent technology required for the game(Such as Direct X 11) may not support XP.

What?

isnt me3 just a shooter?
do we need this here?

Yeah even covering Mass Effect 1&2 was highly questionable. It is a twitch based shooter.

Originally Posted by Zygo
As with BF3/ DA2/ Crysis2 Steam will be just about the only estore that won't have it- Gamersgate and [whatever Impulse is now being called] for example will.

Fair enough, my nerdrage is somewhat abated.

Called it! From a business perspective it would be ridiculous to do otherwise. This is a great opportunity for EA to expand the Origin install base.

Personally I prefer Steam (or no DRM) but I understand why they are going with Origin.

Originally Posted by aries100
One of the questions asked by one of the forumites on the BSN to Chris Pristly dealt with exactly this issue. He or she asked something like this 'will we be able to install Origin to get the game, to activate the game, then uninstall Origin, and play the game?'

Chris Priestly promised to investigate this question with the Origin team. No answers as of yet, though.

I've installed a number of games via Origin and I can already tell you I'm pretty sure the answer is going to be no. If I try to uninstall Origin, I have to reinstall it if I want to run ME2 or DA2.

However, it seems that many games can be run without launching the Origin client (unlike Steam, which requires the client to be running). I'm not sure exactly how this works, perhaps it just checks to make sure Origin is installed, or maybe for future releases the Origin client will be required to run in the background like Steam.