Origin Sale Takes up to 70% Off Titles

[SwagLordYoloson]

The sales are pretty bad. They are only discounting so much because their advertised prices are so high.

Regular SimCity price $79.99 -> sale price $55.99
$50+ for a still broken game, no thanks.

Simcity DLC down from $9.99 -> $4.99
Still overpriced as fuck.

It is cheaper to buy the Mass Effect Trilogy in stores during their far more frequent sales.
EB Games Regular Mass Effect 3 Price: $28.00 -> Sale price $18.00
Origin Regular Mass Effect 3: $59.99 -> Sale price $23.99
That $30 markup for the privilege of buying digital.

EA not even trying to be financially competitive, sure they can take away their competition through digital exclusives. But they can't cut off the brick and mortar market yet, which is currently cheaper .

 

[Bat Vader]

Paranoid Wall of Text

I live in Canada. And it's called a toilet.

Maybe I just don't care about internet privacy. I really fucking don't. With the dozens of programs that HAVE to scan your machine in some way or they won't work (Antivirus software being a major thing) and the fact that most governments already monitor interaction through the web. They just don't tell you. The Canadian Federal Government does it, the US Federal Government does it, the EU does it, all kinds of places do it.

You think you have privacy? Hah! As if.

You know what, I'll stick with EA's questionable business practices yet high quality games over Valve's library of garbage. Hmm, would I rather play a deep, complex story from the makers of Baldur's Gate, or play Half Life with 200 different skins... Hey EA, where do I sign up?

You see, with the notion of a right to privacy is also the right to waive your privacy. If I want to let EA scan my machine, I will. And this condescending, douchebag attitude from people who think they're better for protesting the kind of business practices that every fucking game company does is unwarranted. It's video games. You can just not play them.

And I know I'm going to get a warning for this, but you're a douchebag. You really fucking are.

I think you may have quoted me by mistake. I never said anything about privacy. I think the person you were looking to quote is the post above mine.

 

[5mj7R7yf4Dwr3gdZyyu9PeGNwYjlNrjzuh3iTXQG]

And I know I'm going to get a warning for this, but you're a douchebag. You really fucking are.

There's an old Japanese saying, The one who raises his voice has already lost the argument.

Myself, I like the Spaghetti Western version The man who draws first is the one who ran out of options.

As I said, I agree with you: you have every right to like EA games (even over the Valve games you were trying to disparage, a few of which are my favorites.) Of course, you have every right to play the EA games you like, even if it means giving up your privacy. I'm not saying you don't. I'm not saying you shouldn't.

I would argue, rather you shouldn't have to make such a choice. I would say that many practices of contemporary software publishing, including the malware functions of distribution clients such as Origin, are unethical. There are also many games that are released without attachment to a DRM engine such as Steam or Origin which are quite successful and serve as examples of how to sell a product ethically. Skyrim and Just Cause 2 serve as marvelous examples.

I would also argue that just because it is common practice for companies to ignore privacy concerns doesn't dismiss them as legitimate conscerns, which is something implied from your posts. As a social species, humans like tradition and common practice, but in an age when the expansion of equal civil rights are a concern, tradition needs to give way to progress, just as old markets cannot fret over disruptive technological developments, but rather would be better served by trying to adapt.

I might debate that a company that owns rights to an IP franchise that has become a significant part of culture might have a responsibility to treat it with better care than (say) Lucas did with the Star Wars prequels, but that's a discussion way out of the scope of this thread.

Anyway, I can't imagine what subarctic part of Canada you must come that it's natural to take offense at what one calls a head, let alone be comfortable with the state watching you while on it. Maybe one of the glacial research centers on Nunavut? Maybe they have to track your water usage and nutrition intake at the loo or something.

Anyway, yes, please don't get yourself banned on my account.

238U

 

[ph0b0s123]

Origin is still spyware. Games for cheap on Origin is still games (albeit cheap) attached to spyware.

And EA will still arbitrarily close down your account (no refunds) if they feel grumpy that day and take notice of you. This is why so many people create a separate account for each Origin game they play, so that they only lose one game at a time.

So no. Even though I might have had hopes for Sims 4, I will not play it. Why? Origin.

No sale, EA.

Yeah, Origin is spyware for collecting the same data already collected by Steam, your antivirus software, your anti-malware software, your internet Browser, your internet service provider, your federal government, The United Nations, every website you've ever visited ever...

But I guess we gotta that damned EA, right guise?

-Snip- already above

Oh boy, this again. You do realize that the default installation that I put on my laptop a week ago doesn't default the "Send information" or "Scan Computer" at all, right?

And you do realize that it doesn't have a service that perpetually runs in the background like Steam, right?

And you do realize that the information that it (now doesn't) collect if you select it to save your game info is the same as Steam, right?

Is Steam spyware too? It sure as heck used to be. In fact, it used to be worse than Origin. MUCH worse. Companies learn, grow, and change.

Some people just won't let go...

For the 100th time. Steam does scan your computer, but the info only gets sent to Valve, if you opt into their monthly surveys, i.e the communication of the results of the scan are option. Where as EA belies they have the right to this info. So not the same as Steam.

Calling it spyware, I don't agree with, as the term is hyperbolic in this case, like Fox news calling Obama a socialist.

Origin may not scan as much as it used to, but the EULA still stays that they can scan for what applications you have and their usage and all your hardware specs. Also the argument that it is anonymized data is in accurate as they are allowed in the EULA, to collect your IP address as well. This makes the data a lot less to not anonymous at all.

As to the other programs that were mentioned as being just as bad. Windows 8 can be stopped by just disabling the smart filter service. Firefox by a few tick boxes. Chrome, by not using it, there is plenty of choice of other programs that will get you to the same content. This is not the case with Origin. If you want to play game X, you have to put up with the EULA.

I will not financially support this kind of mentality. The NSA maybe also collecting my data, but there is not anything I can immediately do to prevent it. With Origin I can take action by not using it and giving financial backing to EA. I don't just give up and say it is all pointless then.

The stuff that EA is doing with Origin is good. Just a re-write of the EULA to reflect pretty much what Origin is doing now with the scans and making the sharing of the data optional like Steam and we are golden. Don't see that as being too much to ask.

But for that last time, no Origin in it's data collection, is not just like Steam, else I would be using it. And not one of the many people on these forums who have made that claim to me, have been able to back it up. So unless you can back it up, stop putting about this fallacy.