BF3 - To Origin or Not?

[DannibusX]

Don't you need Origin to play the game as well?

Yes, you do.

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

Yes, you do.

I am not sure that is 100% correct yet. If you have a source for that please post it. From what I read you will need an Origin account, which is just a renaming of your already existing EA account. Not sure you need the Origin Software installed.

 

[INSTG8R]

You will need Origin to play the game. No if's about it. So no matter how you purchase you WILL have to use Origin.

 

[Mr McC]

I am not sure that is 100% correct yet. If you have a source for that please post it. From what I read you will need an Origin account, which is just a renaming of your already existing EA account. Not sure you need the Origin Software installed.

Be sure:

http://uk.pc.gamespy.com/pc/battlefield-3/1187583p1.html

 

[Deleted member 27327]

I don't see what difference it makes if you have to have Origin to play it? Get it wherever you want. You will still be installing Origin.

 

[qubit]

No, because I don't like their style of DRM. Steam is the only one I find acceptable - and that's borderline.

 

[Crap Daddy]

Bought from Origin. Hopefully it'll be OK.

 

[H82LUZ73]

Origin is was EA download manager turned Steami-sh ,Also you will need Battle log to run the front end of the game(Example try playing Battlefield free to play without the IE or Firefox opened)Battle log is the web based Stat collector + server browser base for online play.Origin also has a offline mode similar to Steam and works great if you want to play offline single player.Only downfall to this is if you have no online connection (like Steam) you can`t install the game Example of that is MW2.

 

[caleb]

No, because I don't like their style of DRM. Steam is the only one I find acceptable - and that's borderline.

Yeah specially with euro=dollar its soooooo good. I don't get the fuss just add non steam game and you are hooked up. I have BC2 digitally from EA and I'm very happy as it was ridiculously cheap on e-auction.
AD1. yes you have to have Origin to play BF3
AD2. lol @ Kurgan that payed for games to get a veteran status

 

[Mr McC]

Yeah specially with euro=dollar its soooooo good. I don't get the fuss just add non steam game and you are hooked up. I have BC2 digitally from EA and I'm very happy as it was ridiculously cheap on e-auction.
AD1. yes you have to have Origin to play BF3
AD2. lol @ Kurgan that payed for games to get a veteran status

The "fuss" for me is that, if this game proves popular, as it undoubtedly will, others may follow suit and soon each and every publisher will require us to install their own online client. This is not a development that I wish to see within pc gaming, nor do I wish to enter my bank details on various sites and in several accounts. I have decided that, unless this is eventually sold on Steam, I will forego Battlefied 3, without advocating this approach and in full awareness that my gesture will have no lasting effect on the wider scheme of things.

 

[1Kurgan1]

I don't get the fuss just add non steam game and you are hooked up. I have BC2 digitally from EA and I'm very happy as it was ridiculously cheap on e-auction.

It's not a fuss about Origin, it's a fuss about multiple digital developers. D2D, Steam, Origin, GOG, Impulse, Gamersgate. After a while it's just a mess trying to figure which game came from where and what clients you need. And then it makes you wonder, how many more publishrs are going to make their own client and cut off from Steam, will suck if every Publisher has their own client and requires you to use it to get their games.

lol @ Kurgan that payed for games to get a veteran status

$5 a game caused me to go bankrupt, I will be selling my vehicles and belongings and moving into a cardboard box.

 

[caleb]

Sorry guys I'm on the side where competition should be everywhere ,otherwise you get ripped off. And this is what steam is all about. All their prices are fkn high and you get happy when the game is sold at real market value. Actually its Steams own fault that EA pulled their stuff off. If Steam was a normal open client (with open API for developers) where you could add the same game you buy in a store so the steam client behaves exactly the same way it would with steam bought stuff then I agree its cool because steam client does its job nicely. Sadly all the noob producers go with steam and its only EA that has a leet enough title to turn the tables a bit(so don't worry not all producers will go this way).
I agree that having another noob client is a crap solution but lets me hope there will be one open standard that would link all games without the need to buy games through it so it works.

 

[1Kurgan1]

Steams prices are high? 10% discount on all games that usually aren't even out yet, constant sales, are you drunk? Before I used Steam I was a pirate, the insanely low cost of games on Steam is the one and only thing that actually brought me back into buying games. You are the first person I have ever heard complain about Steam prices.

You must not understand how the market works on setting prices though since it seems you assume Steam sets their price at the same cost as boxed prices (when they don't have to make a disc, manuals, or a box), which is what I assume by your real market value statement. Retail chains would never allow Steam to put their copies at a lower price, Wal-Mart and Gamestop are massive resellers, and if they knew someone else was allowed to sell it cheaper, they would just pull that publishers titles from their shelves until that publisher wised up.

 

[xenocide]

Sorry guys I'm on the side where competition should be everywhere ,otherwise you get ripped off. And this is what steam is all about. All their prices are fkn high and you get happy when the game is sold at real market value. Actually its Steams own fault that EA pulled their stuff off. If Steam was a normal open client (with open API for developers) where you could add the same game you buy in a store so the steam client behaves exactly the same way it would with steam bought stuff then I agree its cool because steam client does its job nicely. Sadly all the noob producers go with steam and its only EA that has a leet enough title to turn the tables a bit(so don't worry not all producers will go this way).

Oh, someone praising Free Market economics that doesn't actually understand how they function and play out. How adorable. Steam's prices are not any higher than most places, I'm sure in a few countries they are, but that is mostly because Steam does not force prices for content that is not their own. So when you want to go and blame EA or Activision for one of their games that's 2 years old still costing $60 on Steam, blame those companies.

If you want to look at how Free Markets work, check out the Cell Phone of ISP industries. If you want High Speed Internet in the United States, you're stuck between 0 and 2 different companies, that can set the prices as high as they want, and you essentially have to go through them. Why is this you ask? Because nobody is making it so they can't. They also can do whatever they want because it's a "free market" with no intervention. They decide you are downloading too much? Throttled. They decide they aren't making enough? Price Raised. FREE MARKET BABY! YAY FOR CONSUMERS!?!

Now the most hilarious part of your post, is that all the stuff you bash Valve\Steam for, EA is doing much more aggressively. They are now selling their titles exclusively through that client meaning in the future they may not even allow you to shop around for a better price. Steam is the best marketplace for Publishers. Team Meat (makers of Super Meat Boy) recently said they would no longer work with Microsoft because XBLA was hyper-restrictive, and would instead be going exclusively through Steam because they allowed Publishers\Developers much more control.

As for adding a game, you can add any game that runs on your computer to Steam, and allow the overlay, sans Achievements. Origin on the other hand, will NOT allow this functionality. You will only be able to use it's features on Games you purchased using Origins. Also, allowing anyone to just pop in a CD-key and have their content stored on Steam is very difficult when you have Thousands of Titles with similar and in some cases identical Serial Keys. I don't exactly blame Steam for only allowing that with their own Titles (which they do).

 

[caleb]

Oh, someone praising Free Market economics that doesn't actually understand how they function and play out. How adorable. Steam's prices are not any higher than most places, I'm sure in a few countries they are, but that is mostly because Steam does not force prices for content that is not their own. So when you want to go and blame EA or Activision for one of their games that's 2 years old still costing $60 on Steam, blame those companies..

Yeah sure thats why CODMW4 Preorder at steam is 59,99euro and at amazon its 40 reduced to 35. It must be Activision thats fixing the price...
Ow wait you get MW2 free but its still +20e more with steam

Edit: Sorry that price is significantly cheaper in pounds but still 35Ł is cheaper than 60e. So my point remains.

 

[jasper1605]

I always prefer physical discs over digital just so I don't have to wait to download anything and I like building my at home e-peen library haha

 

[TheLaughingMan]

Don't you need Origin to play the game as well?

Steams prices are high? 10% discount on all games that usually aren't even out yet, constant sales, are you drunk? Before I used Steam I was a pirate, the insanely low cost of games on Steam is the one and only thing that actually brought me back into buying games. You are the first person I have ever heard complain about Steam prices.

You must not understand how the market works on setting prices though since it seems you assume Steam sets their price at the same cost as boxed prices (when they don't have to make a disc, manuals, or a box), which is what I assume by your real market value statement. Retail chains would never allow Steam to put their copies at a lower price, Wal-Mart and Gamestop are massive resellers, and if they knew someone else was allowed to sell it cheaper, they would just pull that publishers titles from their shelves until that publisher wised up.

Well Kurgan, Steam in the US is great, but there is a kink in their armor. They do a 1 = 1 conversion of all other currencies so people in other countries pay more for the same game. Hell some countries get a bigger discount for the same reason. That is something that needs to be fixed. They claim they can't keep up with market flux, but they just have to try a little. Update the foreign currencies once every 2 weeks. It shouldn't be that bad.

As for Origin, everyone will have to use it period. Origin is not just their "Steam" client. Origin is now the name of the EA store, EA server login, EA entire online backend. If you play a game by EA or EA owned subsidiaries and it has a online component, it will be using EA Origin. I personally like them unifying everything into one service. While I would prefer Steam, I think Origin is leaps and bounds better than the EA Download Manager and the 12 accounts I have through them for various titles.

 

[digibucc]

Yeah sure thats why CODMW4 Preorder at steam is 59,99euro and at amazon its 40 reduced to 35. It must be Activision thats fixing the price...
Ow wait you get MW2 free but its still +20e more with steam

Edit: Sorry that price is significantly cheaper in pounds but still 35Ł is cheaper than 60e. So my point remains.

no, your point is moot. a used game or even a "new" copy that has sat on a shelf for 3 years will get sold cheaper, that makes sense. steam is digital, there is no degradation of product.
there is a different reason it's cheaper on amazon, that in no way means steam raises prices. They are not the ones getting the cash from higher international prices, so why would it be their decision?

your logic is so faulty it makes my head hurt!

 

[scooper22]

Origin as DRM has no offline mode and forces you to an "always on". Once the internet connection gets lost the game stops. No play without a live connection to Origin. Seriously- WTF they're thinking!?
This is also true for disc versions, so the question of distibution channel is quite mood as they all come down to this. You can play if EA says you can play. No guarantee their servers are online in 5 or 10 years. Try to run or sell a game that's disfunctional and dead. (and this is by design. OT: reading excursion).

 

[Frick]

Well Kurgan, Steam in the US is great, but there is a kink in their armor. They do a 1 = 1 conversion of all other currencies so people in other countries pay more for the same game. Hell some countries get a bigger discount for the same reason. That is something that needs to be fixed. They claim they can't keep up with market flux, but they just have to try a little. Update the foreign currencies once every 2 weeks. It shouldn't be that bad.

This is how everything is, pretty much. Computer tech, phones and everything is 1 = 1, so I'm not sure Valve is the only one to blame.

 

[ctrain]

I am not sure that is 100% correct yet. If you have a source for that please post it. From what I read you will need an Origin account, which is just a renaming of your already existing EA account. Not sure you need the Origin Software installed.

you do, battlelog is tied to origin. you don't need to do anything in origin though. it asks you to login and then sits in the background, much like steam when it's minimized.

Yeah sure thats why CODMW4 Preorder at steam is 59,99euro and at amazon its 40 reduced to 35. It must be Activision thats fixing the price...
Ow wait you get MW2 free but its still +20e more with steam

Edit: Sorry that price is significantly cheaper in pounds but still 35Ł is cheaper than 60e. So my point remains.

it's entirely up to the publisher to set the price on steam, afaik steam doesn't force any kind of currency conversion, the publisher sets what they want and that it is.

 

[caleb]

your logic is so faulty it makes my head hurt!

omg you still dont get it ? I'm not talking about 3 year old games about which nobody cares but new title CODMW4 : 60e(steam) - ~46e(amazon box copy UK).
Ofcourse they are the ones making the exchange rate (hence profit) and they fixed like TheLaughingMan posted.
Type into google "how much is 1 usd to 1 euro" so your head doesn't explode.

 

[digibucc]

omg you still dont get it ? I'm not talking about 3 year old games about which nobody cares but new title CODMW4 : 60e(steam) - ~46e(amazon box copy UK).
Ofcourse they are the ones making the exchange rate (hence profit) and they fixed like TheLaughingMan posted.
Type into google "how much is 1 usd to 1 euro" so your head doesn't explode.

i understand that there is a difference in price, my point is that amazon is not a regular retailer, and so basing anything off their price is disingenuous.

do you really think activision can control the price of every copy sold in the world? no. and they can't stop amazon from reselling copies either, just like ebay.
steam though, they can stop. they can set a price and tell steam they can not sell it for any less, under any condition. and that is what happens.

obviously the prices are different. obviously even higher with the exchange rate. the point is it is not steam's decision. your logic leading to say that it is was my issue, not the specifics.

if my head explodes it's simply because you've been explained this multiple times in different ways and still refuse to recognize the point.

 

[TheLaughingMan]

This is how everything is, pretty much. Computer tech, phones and everything is 1 = 1, so I'm not sure Valve is the only one to blame.

They kinda are. The issue with price is how its coded would require the entire Steam Plateform to be updated daily. This is why I said they should do a 2 week scheduled update. They could even integrate other updates into the schedule like AMD does with the monthly driver updates.

omg you still dont get it ? I'm not talking about 3 year old games about which nobody cares but new title CODMW4 : 60e(steam) - ~46e(amazon box copy UK).
Ofcourse they are the ones making the exchange rate (hence profit) and they fixed like TheLaughingMan posted.
Type into google "how much is 1 usd to 1 euro" so your head doesn't explode.

One other interesting thing about this and Valve is content is based on the region you purchased the game from. So if you live in a country like Australia where Left 4 Dead 2 is Left 4 Huggy Monsters 2, a PM, Paypal, and a friend can get around their rather strict policies.

If you can find a place that will do currency conversion for free like you send Z euros and get exchange rate x Z USD you could do the same to get standard market price. Its a pain, but possible.

 

[digibucc]

The issue with price is how its coded would require the entire Steam Plateform to be updated daily.

that makes no sense. with millions of users and millions of dollars there is no way it is a simple programming issue causing it. it may be true that the current code doesn't support it, but that's not something they would keep out of laziness. there is an actual legal reason for it.