Origin Message Board

Following word that the GameSpy online matchmaking service will cease to be after May 31, EA has revealed plans to move its GameSpy games to the publisher's own online service, Origin.

When asked specifically about the fate of online shooters Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the Origin Twitter account replied with, "We're working on transitioning those games after the shut down so you'll still be able to play them." Later, IGN asked EA for clarification on its plans and were told that work is not yet complete, but more information would appear shortly. "We're working on finding a transition, but still have technical hurdles to overcome," EA said. "We will make an announcement when there is news to share."

In the meantime, those hard up for a military shooter can set their sights on the more recent Battlefield 4. After six months of issues, it now works more or less as it should. [Image: EA]

Those of you buying physical games through Origin will soon have to embrace digital distribution or scope out another store - Origin will cease its offering of disc-based games on April 4, when it transitions to serving solely as a digital license storefront for PC and Mac.

If you're still set on buying discs, remember that this announcement is just for Origin, not EA's general distribution efforts. You'll presumably still be able to pick up physical copies of Dragon Age: Inquisition and the next Mass Effect through other stores. [Image: EA]

Origin is following the leads of PlayStation Plus and Games with Gold by offering selected free games across limited times - the difference is you don't pay to be an Origin member. It's unclear how often Origin's new On the House program is going to trot out its freebies, but for starters members can get dismembering with third-person survival horror Dead Space, which is free to download now.

According to EA's FAQ, "once you've claimed your game, it's yours to keep." You've also got plenty of time to claim Dead Space, because it's staying free to download until May 8. [Image: EA]

"A hedgehog." "Really?" "Yeah, yeah, a hedgehog." "But hedgehogs are really slow." "They don't have to be." "I'm listening..." Beasts Comedy's hilarious reenactment of the birth of Sonic the Hedgehog seems pretty spot-on to me. Read more...

Presenting the second in an occasional series of features in which RPS writers scour their local charity shops for weird and wonderful/terrible PC games they’ve never played, then attempt to play them. This time it’s Origin’s 1991 space combat simulation Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi, found for £1 in a Mind shop in Hove. Better still, it was in a twin-pack with Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (but I have played that one before).(more…)

The same group of "hackers" who last week took credit for bringing down a number of big games and company websites are back at it, today taking responsibility for issues plaguing EA's Origin service on the PC.Read more...

Origin has kicked off its End of Year Sale, chipping away at prices on some of Electronic Arts' biggest PC games. You can grab Battlefield 4 for $42, Need for Speed: Rivals for $35, SimCity for $24, FIFA 14 for $28 and Dead Space 3 for $18. If you don't need your games to be quite as fresh, you'll find better deals on older EA games. Battlefield 3, The Sims 3 and Mass Effect 3 are each a paltry $12, for example.

And since we're on the subject of savings, don't forget that the Steam Holiday Sale is still running as well.

I love watching the streets of SimCity 2013. The cars and people zipping by, streets stretching to the horizon. Look too closely or zoom out too far, and the game's problems are impossible to miss. I'd stay on those streets forever if I could, but there's a review to update. Read more...

A new update for the PC version of Battlefield 4 is currently available for download.

Arguably the biggest improvement is the elimination of "kill trading." Before, when two players both seemingly fired at each other at the same time, both would drop dead in unison. EA has now adjusted the netcode to account for this, so there should be far less "kill trading" in multiplayer matches.

The update also addresses some bugs having to do with vehicle turrets dishing out too much damage when a certain specialization was equipped and another issue where players in Defuse matches would mysteriously get kicked out of the match and into Spectator mode. EA also squashed a few problems involving Nvidia drivers.

Also of note: If you've got SLI enabled on your graphics card, this update may cause flickering and for some graphical overlays to get stuck on-screen. EA is aware of the issues and hopes to resolve them in another future update.

Yes, this is a cheap marketing stunt. But it's one I want to own. Or at least borrow for the weekend.Read more...

In the PC version of Battlefield 4, there's a bug where damage from a single bullet is applied multiple times - essentially a "one-hit kill" glitch. DICE is aware of the issue and hopes to resolve it in an upcoming patch planned for the week of December 2.

The patch will also fix an issue with audio randomly dropping during multiplayer matches and a consistent crash bug that occurs when exiting out to the main menu while within the single-player campaign. Finally, the patch will adjust the network and computer performance screen: players can test their network connection and computer performance on this screen and receive recommendations from the game on how to improve each.

The PS4 version of Battlefield 4 was updated earlier this week. We found the new version to be a much smoother experience, allowing us to freely play both Conquest and Rush modes without any crashes or network disconnects. The server browser, however, still seems to be an issue on the platform.

This past weekend was a rough one for Battlefield 4, with DDoS attacks hitting the PC game and myriad crashes infesting the newly-launched PS4 version.

Over the past few days, it has been nigh-impossible to connect to servers in the PC iteration of Battlefield 4 thanks to an unnamed group attacking EA's Origin servers. Initially the publisher posted a statement to the main page of Battlelog stating that attacks were occurring and that the company was working to mitigate them, but as Kotaku reports, this message has since been removed. Despite this, one of the game's community representatives offers the following in the game's forums: "[W]e are being targeted by a DDOS, but working on fixing it asap. Im sorry somebody is ruining your and my day. Rest assured we are doing our best to mitigate the situation though."

The PlayStation 4 game saw even worse issues, with players reporting crashes, a total inability to connect to Battlefield 4's "Conquest" game type and periodically deleted save games. EA's immediate response involved adding a new server and issuing a sizable patch, but as I can personally attest, the crashes and deleted save files continue to be an issue for some players.

On Sunday, the publisher posted a message to its Help site pinning the blame on the PS4's recent 1.50 firmware update. Specifically, it claimed that "this update ... results in stability issues while playing games on the system," and that all games are affected, not just Battlefield 4. This message has since been retracted, and in its place you'll now find a simple, "The message on EA's Help site was posted in error."

The exclusive Battlefield 4 beta kicked off yesterday with the Siege of Shanghai map available for participants, and while we've already seen buildings collapsing with amazing graphics and physics from the outside, YouTuber TerryxMasters could finally found what happens when you're inside.Read more...

Victory Games believes it has the tech in place to support Command & Conquer for ten years, according to an interview with VideoGamer. Command & Conquer is being developed as a live service and will be both free-to-play and require an Internet connection.

"We built this Command & Conquer shell and frame to be the one-stop place for Command & Conquer for the next 10 years, so we want to add the other universes and maybe even a new universe that we didn't even have before, all under the same landing site, log-in [and] persona that you would keep track of," Victory Games General Manager Jon Van Caneghem said.

Canegham also noted that he believes "the days of a boxed release are probably over," making an exception for any potential collector's editions of the game. Command & Conquer will launch this year for PC through EA's Origin service.Command & Conquer's live service designed for 10-year support plan

Electronic Arts' digital distribution portal Origin will now support a limited "Great Game Guarantee" return policy. Those with buyer's remorse within 24 hours of launching a game for the first time, or seven days after purchase without activation, have the option to return the EA game for a refund. Pre-order purchases will have up to seven days after launch.

"[Downloadable content] and non-EA games purchased on Origin are excluded from the Great Game Guarantee," EA noted in its announcement of the program. "So, this is a guarantee for full game (a.k.a. "base game") digital downloads published by EA for now, including full games on pre-order and most full games on promotional discount."

Don't get clever and think of using it as a rental service; EA says it will remain vigilant of abuse of the refund system. Valve's Steam digital distribution service does not currently support returns.

Usually, if you buy software online, you're kind of stuck with it. But today, EA has set a new policy for games on Origin: you can return game downloads for full refunds within 24 hours of the first time you launch the game, within seven days from when you purchase it, or within the first seven days after the game's release if you pre-ordered. Whichever happens first.Read more...

EA has dusted off the Numbers Trumpet[TM] and is celebrating subscriber milestones for both its Battlefield 3 Premium service and its digital distribution platform, Origin.

Battlefield 3 Premium subscribers have surpassed four million in total, up from the 2.9 million subscribers reported in January. As of January, EA secured $108 million in revenue from the shooter's content service, though no update on that figure is available in the latest financial report.

Over 50 million users have registered accounts on Origin, an increase of over 20 million users since October of last year. EA's DRM and content delivery service was introduced in June of 2011 and, according to comments from EA VP Andrew Wilson earlier this year, is currently shifting away from a means of driving transactions into "a service to gamers."

EA's Vice President Andrew Wilson told GamesIndustry International at E3 this year that the company plans to "really re-establish Origin as a service to gamers, not as a means to drive transactions."

Wilson was on the initial team that planned out Origin, which he said was originally designed as "a service that makes your EA games better." Over time, however, as Chris Roberts (from the same team) told Joystiq earlier, Origin became less about adding functionality, and more about selling games in a branded store.

Origin's role, according to Wilson, is as "a complementary service that enhances your game experience irrespective of where you made the transaction. That's the shift you're going to see from us."

Wilson admits that the change will take time, but would like to send a clear message to EA's Origin users: "We get it. We understand it. We have heard, we have made some changes already in terms of how we do things, and we're looking at more changes that we'll talk about over the coming months that really are gamer-focused."

Victory Games' Command & Conquer, built on EA's Frostbite engine, is launching as a free-to-play game later this year through Origin. Tim Morten, development director, says that while Command & Conquer will require an internet connection, it's not such a far-flung idea given the multiplayer nature of the game. The benefits of this are chiefly a more nimble game that can be updated far more frequently than any retail product.

With SimCity still fresh on everyone's mind, I asked Morten about the choice to take the online path. "First thing to know is this is not only a multiplayer game - we do offer skirmish so that people can practice up. I think with SimCity, a lot of people had an expectation to play solo. Many people are going to come to us to play multiplayer so we came from the mentality of how do we the make multiplayer experience as good as we can make it? The answer to that question is, we try to get rid of as much cheating as we can, and we try to get rid of as many problems with other peoples' lag impacting your own game."

Incoming deals on several of the biggest releases in recent months, dive in. EA's running an action game sale on Origin. It's not just on EA games, and it's not just for PC, but it is all cheap. Free shipping over $25. These are the best deals you'll find on these titles today (if that changes, you can be sure I'll let you know), and there are several lowest prices ever here. [Origin] I'm going to list some of the biggest titles, but there's a ton of stuff on sale, including a lot of DLC. PC • Tomb Raider Survival Edition ($29)• Tomb Raider ($25) • Crysis 3 Deluxe ($40)• Crysis 3 ($30) • Dead Space 3 ($30)• Dead Space 3 [Physical] ($40) • Sleeping Dogs ($12.50)Get this one at Gamefly instead for $10.89. Use code GFD20OFF • Assassin's Creed 3 ($25) • Hitman: Absolution • Battlefield 3 Premium ($30)• Battlefield 3 Premium [Physical] ($35)• DLC Battlefield 3 Premium Unlock ($25)• Battlefield 3 ($10)• Battlefield 3 [Physical] ($20) • Medal of Honor Deluxe ($12.50)• Medal of Honor: Warfighter ($10) PS3 • Crysis 3 ($40) • Dead Space 3 ($30) • Battlefield 3 Premium ($35) • Battlefield 3 ($20) • Medal of Honor: Warfighter ($10) 360 • Crysis 3 ($30) • Dead Space 3 ($30) • Battlefield 3 Premium ($35) • Battlefield 3 ($20) • Medal of Honor: Warfighter ($10) That about covers it, see you at 2:15pm EST for today's full Moneysaver roundup. You should also check out yesterday's Moneysaver if you haven't already- the majority of the deals are still on. Welcome to the new Moneysaver, now brought to you by the Commerce Team every weekday at 2:15pm EST. We're here to bring Kotaku readers the best gaming deals available, and to be clear, we also make money if you buy. We want your feedback.

Security research firm ReVuln has discovered a fairly simple way (in theory, at least) for unscrupulous folks and their hacking machines to execute malicious code on your computer, by way of EA's Origin platform.

The exploit takes advantage of Origin's uniform resource identifier -- the protocol through which hyperlinks and shortcuts launch Origin itself and execute commands. Typically, a URI is clicked on by the user, either in the form of a link in a web browser or as a shortcut on a desktop, at which point the URI launches Origin and tells it what game to load, and how.

As it happens, certain Origin-exclusive games are vulnerable to having their execution commands subverted by precisely formatted URIs. As seen in the graph above, this can be used by bad dudes to piggyback instructions onto the URI, which can instruct Origin to load and run malicious software, rather than Crysis 3.

Avoiding this exploit is thankfully simple, however: Open Origin first, and launch games from there. The exploitative instructions are contained within the URI hyperlink -- take that out of the equation, and you should be fine.

"Our team is constantly investigating hypotheticals like this one as we continually update our security infrastructure," an EA representative told us. Uniform resource identifiers aren't unique to Origin, of course, and are widely used in everything from iTunes to Steam, the latter of which has an extremely similar vulnerability [PDF] that was discovered by ReVuln last year.

Despite all of its launch complications, EA Maxis' series reboot SimCity has managed to sell over one million copies since launching two weeks ago. EA reports this is the biggest launch for the franchise, the majority of players - 54%, EA says - choosing to download SimCity. In fact, EA says 44% of total SimCity sales went directly through the publisher's digital distribution platform, Origin.

Two weeks ago, EA disabled some "non-critical" SimCity features in the interest of improving server issues. Also, EA added more servers and sought to quell dissatisfied customers with a free PC game. If you purchase and register SimCity before next week, you can choose between a free copy of Mass Effect 3, Battlefield 3, SimCity 4, Need for Speed: Most Wanted or one of several other eligible games.

The last iteration of the Mass Effect series went on sale one year ago this week, and to celebrate, EA is offering a big sale on all three versions of the game over on Origin. You can grab the original Mass Effect for just $7, the critically acclaimed Mass Effect 2 for $10, or a digital deluxe edition of the third game for $15, all about half off the standard prices.

Or if you haven't yet taken a trip aboard the Normandy, the whole trilogy is on sale for only $25, which is less than half what it would usually cost. That's a whole lot of excellent gaming hours, but then again, you'll need something to do while waiting for those SimCity servers, right?

[Thanks, Alex]

EA reveals Dead Space 3 wakes up to its first DLC expansion on March 12, and it's coming to Xbox 360, PlayStaton 3, and PC for $10/800 MSP. As Visceral Games' Shereif Fattouh told us in our preview, 'Awakened' serves as a continuation of the game's story, providing "the real epilogue of some of the events that took place."

Visceral Games' Shereif Fattouh says the 'Awakened' DLC is a "real epilogue" to Dead Space 3, and harkens back a bit more to the franchise's "claustrophobic, psychotic" themes. This trailer is less Armageddon and more Alien, that's for sure. Brace yourself and read our preview here.

#simcity All of the apprehension fans of the series have exhibited over the prospect of a SimCity game requiring an internet connection to play, justified in a single message in the top-left corner of my screen. More »

Despite only arriving on store shelves a month ago, Dead Space 3's price has been dismembered down to just $31.99, thanks to GameFly. Currently marked down to $39.99 on the retailer's site, using the coupon code "GFDMAR20" - which earns you 20% off PC titles - will slice off an additional $8 off at checkout.

Because this is a digital PC version, remember that you'll need an EA Origin account and your PC will need to be connected to the Internet as you play. Still, there's no cheaper way to get into the game our reviewer called "an exciting, shocking and mammoth adventure through the ghostly, unvarnished segments of space."

Soldiers, sweep your sectors - discounts are creeping in the brush. Select Battlefield games are up to 75% off until February 27 on EA's Origin online store, with discounts applying to both digital and physical products.

Highlights include Battlefield 3 for $10 as a download on PC or $20 for a physical copy on all platforms. A Battlefield 3 Premium subscription is also on sale for $30, a discount of $20 - Battlefield 3: Premium Edition physical copies are on sale for $40; $35 for a PC download. Bad Company 2 is also on sale for $5, with its Vietnam expansion's price tag a hot $5 compared to its usual $15 asking price.

Make way, because the Crysis 3 open beta super-speeds onto Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC today. The beta went live earlier this morning on Origin and Xbox Live Marketplace (for Gold subscribers only), and should arrive on PSN later today (tomorrow in Europe).

Crysis 3 producer Mike Read gets into the nitty-gritty of the beta's two multiplayer modes in this video. Hunter features cloaked assassins taking out CELL soldiers with bows, while Crash Site has teams vying to capture and hold pod locations dropped across the map.

The beta runs until February 12, and the game proper hits a week later on February 19.

EA has announced an alpha version of the Origin client for Mac is available for testing to a limited number of users in the US and UK. Origin for Mac will eventually evolve, offering a similar experience for Mac users as already seen on PC. In its current form, however, the Mac client does not include the ability to stream gameplay directly to Twitch or purchase software. According to the Origin FAQ, those features will be added soon.

Origin for Mac requires OS X 10.6.8 or newer, with an Intel Core Duo 2 processor or better.

As a reward for those willing to test the client, EA is giving away a copy of Popcap's Bookworm to all downloaders, so log in and download it while you can. Spaces are limited.