Quick rant - Games and their updates
I have been quiet with regards to posting on my site. I'm mostly blaming StarCraft 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 for the Xbox 360 and finally Battlefield 3 for the PC.
On StarCraft 2, I've been climbing the ranks of the (admittedly) Bronze ladder. On Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, I've been beating up super villians. Battlefield 3...
Battlefield 3 has been keeping me busy for the entirely wrong reasons!
<start-rant>
After I popped in the discs, the installer informed me that I need to install Origin, EA's new digital distribution service that seems to be a competitor to Steam. I was still good with this, even though Origin clocks in at a 50MB download vs. Steam's 1.5MB update. The installer was on the disc, so it wasn't that bad. After it installed though, it needed to update with the update clocking in at 30MB. I'm still okay with this.
Once I got my Origin account up and running, I finally started installing Battlefield 3. This went smooth enough. Then Origin informed me that my game needed an update. A whopping 3.9GB update.
This game released on the 25th of October 2011. How broken is your game that you have to release a nearly 4GB update less than two months after your games release!? How bad is your code that your update clocks in at almost half the game's total size? Was there an issue with every character model, map and weapon in the game? Why is this update so gigantic!?
I swallowed my rage and started the download.
I've been using Steam for almost two years now. Steam is a very mature product, released in 2003. One thing that really helps is that whenever you lose your internet connection or your PC restarts, Steam knows how to repair your download or update that was interrupted. Origin knows how to do one thing and one thing only.
It restarts your failed download! This is really frustrating after you've completed nearly 2.5GB of the download. I've restarted the download last night and I'm back up to 1.4GB today.
Let's hope it stays stable this time.
</end-rant>
There are some good things that I will highlight. Origin looks a lot better than Steam, with a clean looking and functional user interface vs. Steam's dull-grey look that they've been sporting for years.
I'm also sure Origin will also have a larger library of games and will also have awesome gaming specials just like Steam. It just irks me slightly that I now have two digital platforms where I need to keep track of any digital purchases that I make. Three if you include Xbox Live.
In the meantime, I've bought a game that I haven't been able to play for 2 days.
Welcome to the age of digital distribution.
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4 comments
I've had similar issues with
I've had similar issues with Origin,
I'm more of a MMO'er, and have been shopping around a lot with MMO's of late. A few of the MMO's have used Origin as the middle-man for they account-management.
As a system designer, I have a 3rd sense for badly-patched systems, and my "badly-sensed-o-nometer" went crazy with several of the games Origin touched. Most recently, Star
Wars - The Old Republic. I have to admit, I kind of (easily) broke their system, as they do not allow the game to be purchased from South Africa. So, I simply used TOR to bypass this, and make it look as if I signed in from some European country. I purchased the game, paid for it, saw the money go off my credit card, and received a code to early access to the game. A day or two later, EA starter allowing people to enter in waves, by notifying them by email. Whenever they released a mail, I would stare at my gmail account in hope of an email coming in. Three days passed, and nothing happened.
On the 3rd day (of christmas origin gave to me ... ), I received an email from Origin, notifying me that the game is now purchased, and I can enter my code to activate my game on the SW;TOR site. Really Origin? Really now? What was the purpose of the first code? Why did you give me a "fake" notification, to make me "think" that I already owned the game, when I did in fact not? Even though you took my money three days earlier?
Luckily, EA allowed everyone in a few hours later, and I could finally logged in. I sent them an email on the 2nd day with a question, to which they replied a week later, with an answer that was totally unrelated to my question. I replied to the email, asking them to read my original email again, and then reply to me. This was more than a week ago, and still now answer.
It feels like we are being bullied by the middleman. In this case, Origin, by large updates, and horrible support. Once the sale goes through, they don't care about the client anymore.
But in reality, what can we do? We are powerless. We can try to boycott the game, but in the end, lets be honest. It won't make a sale on their sales. "Cut your nose to spoil your face".
* won't make an effect on
* won't make an effect on their sales
MW3
Morning.
MW3 on PS3 took 30sec to update.
Assassin's Creed total updates 48mg.
Later
Thank you John
Not sure how that's supposed to make me feel better, but I'm glad you can play your games so quickly!
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