Well Battlefield 3 had already dropped of my list of games I want. However curiosity got the better of me and I read the article. The internet does not have enough facepalm pictures to adequately portray how face palm worthy this whole situation is. Here are my favourite two quotes from the article :-

we can now report that PC gamers won't have an in-game server browser. DICE's Alan Kertz has confirmed that in order to switch servers, you have to exit Battlefield 3, and use Battlelog to find another server and join.Website

So you quit the game, find a server, start the game, quit the game, find a server, start the game :roll: I some times wonder if humanity is "de-evolving" when I read crap like that.

Then this was an excellent quote :-

Console gamers now have in-game server browser, while PC gamers don't. Oh the irony.Website

You just couldn't make it up if you tried.

It just sounds like you're extremely upset about it. Elann2008

I sought to clarify something that the TC said with regard to how "EA are starting to do sales just like Steam". I felt it necessary to point out that these regional locked sales are nothing like the sales steam offers. I personally do think it is a "big deal" and in 2011 I think it is shocking that with a model like digital distribution a company the size of EA is unable to market their DD service to a global audience. Especially when you consider Steam has been doing it for years now. As for hating EA I do not believe I have said anything disrespectful or "hateful" about EA aside from pointing out that regional locked sales are a ridiculous practise. I would hardly call that "bashing EA".

Exactly. People need to stop with the EA bashing. At least they're doing sales.Elann2008

Not to the rest of the planet they aren't.

They just aren't as popular and wide as Valve sales (summer and winter sales). At least give EA a chance.Elann2008

Yes they choose to exclude the rest of the planet and just make these US only sales. As for giving EA a chance ? how long have they been in the DD market ? it has to be a good couple of years now, yet they are still pulling the same rubbish. I just felt the point needed to be made that one of the reasons why Steam is so successful is the fact that Steam cater for the entire planet and not just the US.

They might even bring up some cool sales in the future. They have to start somewhere. Mirror's Edge is an excellent game. People should pick this one up!Elann2008

I am sure there will be some cool sales in the future and I am pretty sure they will be limited to the US as well going by EA's track record. I quite agree Mirror's Edge is an excellent game and I would pick it up but for the fact this sale is not applicable to anyone outside the US. Thankfully I already own a copy of Mirror's Edge when I bought it on a Steam Sale you know the DD service that realises the PC is a GLOBAL market.

Valve is anything but "a small operation". It's a multi-billion Dollar corporate.NoAssKicker47

Valve hasn't been a small operation in a decade. MadCat46

I should have been clearer in what I meant. I was comparing Valve to EA, unless I have my information wrong I would say EA is a hell of a lot bigger than Valve is. Yet here we are with Valve offering sales to the whole planet yet EA is only offering US special deals.

origin plans to expand to the rest of the world though, they can't possibly imagine to stay in just the USDecrate

Origin is already available in several countries (mine included) however these sales are US only. It is one of the key problems other DD sites have they just can't see past US borders. This is where Steam succeeds, you never get the Steam Summer sale as "US ONLY" nope they include as many countries as they can. Now if a small operation like Valve can do that I have to wonder what is EA's excuse ?

I thought Origin was worldwide?NoAssKicker47

It is but these sales are US ONLY.

looks like origin is going to start offering sales often just like steam doesDecrate

The difference though is that Steam offers them to the rest of the planet and does not restrict them to the US (a notoriously weak territory for PC gaming). Just another reason why Origin will not beat Steam.

I was wondering could we get back to the actual topic of "Dragon Age 2 no longer on steam" instead of ranting and raving about whether it is a good game or not. If Dragon Age 2 had been removed from Steam because it is crap then sure it would have a place in this topic. But it seems Dragon Age 2 was not removed because it was crap. Now if you want to moan and complain about the quality of DA 2 then do a topic on it.

Anyway EA has spoken to clarify what is going on. According to EA's David DeMartini, senior vice president of global e-commerce it was removed because of new restrictions on how DLC is handled :-

Unfortunately, Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to sell downloadable content.

No other download service has adopted this practice, Consequently some of our games have been removed by Steam.

We hope to work out an agreement to keep our games on Steam.

David DeMartini

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-28-ea-valve-removed-steam-dragon-age-ii

So it seems new terms and conditions relating to DLC (which were brought in to deal with f2p games possibly) are to blame

No one can say with 100% certainty that they won't or they will. However going by recent events I think it would be a bit silly to expect Battlefield 3 to appear on Steam. The situation with Mass Effect 3 will depend on what happens with BF 3. If BF 3 blows up in EA's face and sales are hit hard by the fact it isn't on steam then you could see them reversing things and putting ME 3 on steam.

However for now I would just work on the principle no EA game will appear on steam and make your plans around that.

I don't know about f2p, you might be right. But 2K Games did GamersGate really wrong. They told GamersGate they could sell Borderlands (which they still do), but never allowed them to sell any of the DLCs. How dumb can 2K Games be?topsemag55

As far as I am aware the DLC for Borderlands is via steam isn't it ? If that is the case then it is totally wrong to exclude other sellers from selling that content. I don't approve of steam being cut out of the supply chain in favour of other services and equally I don't approve of other services being cut out in favour of steam.

I get the feeling Valve believes the PC platform will eventually end up being primarily a "f2p market" where you get the basic game for free and get micro transactioned up the wazoo. It doesn't take an expert to see that is very very bad for steam if they are not allowed to take a cut of the DLC (essentially they would end up distributing the game for free and see no income).

This problem is NOT insurmountable it can be easily fixed, but I also get the feeling there is a fair bit of commerical posturing here. Like I said both companies are acting like morons, it is bad for EA, it is bad for Valve and it is bad for the commercial prosperity of the PC.

Whilst I am here though can we please drop the talk about "how good a game is/or isn't" that is not the issue here. If you think dragon age 2 sucked then great, fine (I agree) but that is not important at the moment and hardly anything to do with the actual topic.

I believe this has all come about thanks to Steam now distributiing those free 2 play games. It would seem that Valve has changed the conditions to state that any DLC released must be through steam. this was primarily done because of the F2P games to prevent companies from using steam to release their main game and then cutting valve out of any DLC they try to sell.

Personally I would prefer Valve to ditch the f2p games and carry on selling "commercial" games. I have no doubt that there is also a fair bit of arrogance from EA too here choosing to use this as an excuse to side swipe Valve and paint Valve as the bad guys. In short they are both at fault, naturally the loser is the PC gamer and really both Valve and EA should get their head out of their respective rear ends and get the thing sorted.