@deathshand It's a random number that EA included in their FAQ/TOS, a random number of games that even the community doesn't know about (these are the people that actually use it, they don't read rumors on the internet).

DanielDust

How is it a "rumour" if it is actually STATED in EA's Terms of Service ? or are you saying EA just makes up rumour about themselves for the hell of it ? I would say that removing 7% of your catalogue is a pretty poor percentage personally. I also noted that Steam also removes games from their service I don't have exact numbers but at the end of the day steam hosts nearly 4,000 titles and as far as I recall they have only ever removed a handful of games from their service. So again why should I trust or want to use Origin ?

Some of the online games they removed because their weren't enough people playing them, and sequels had already been made. Make sense to remove older versions of games to free up server capacity.topsemag55

If you are happy with that kind of thing then there is no point in me trying to argue against it. No I don't think it is acceptable that they close MP servers down without giving those that paid for the game a way to continue playing MP.

Hey DanielDust, you have to give EA credit, as ME1 is still on my account, and it's been almost 3 years since I purchased it.topsemag55

WOW a whole 3 years eh get back to me when EA and Origin are still allowing you to purchase 12 year old titles on it, all assuming they haven't been removed to "free up server capacity". But I guess I am just a steam fanboy rather than a consumer that recognises that steam offers me a far better deal and service than Origin does.

Exactly that, if Valve does something it's good, if EA does something it's evil, because it's EA.DanielDust

People judge companies on their past history, if a company acted unscrupulously in the past then they are likely going to expect that company to act unscrupously in the future. As far as I am aware Valve has a very good history with consumers and therefore people tend to trust Valve more than they trust EA. Naturally of course that isn't allowed is it, oh no if you trust Valve more than you trust EA you are a fanboy.

Now speaking of EA's history they have shown in the past that they are not against removing games/content that people have paid for just because it is in their business interest to do so. I believe they have removed at least 10 games from their download service since it's inception which is quite a high number when you consider they only have around 150 games on it. They also make a routine habit of closing down servers a year doesn't go by without a regular announcement from EA saying "we are closing down blah de blah tough luck".

If you compare that with steam which has nearly 4000 titles on their service and in it's 7-8 year history has only ever removed a handful of games from that service. A company that supports games multiplayer even when they are 7 - 8 years old. I mean seriously do you not plainly see why someone who isn't even a "steam fanboy" would trust Valve a hell of a lot more than they would trust a company like EA ? Oh wait I forgot anything nice said about steam = steam fanboy.

I don't believe they sold out. They did what was best for their company and their games haven't suffered. I just thought they were a big enough assest to go "I want MY games on Steam" and they'd get it.immortality20

I would say there are a great many Bioware fans that would disagree with you about them "not selling out" but that is a topic for another day. They are not partners they are owned by EA. It is EA that calls the shots Bioware have to do what EA demands. You just need to look at the whole Dragon Age 2 signature edition mess. I really do not know what you are basing "if Bioware want the game on steam they will get it on steam" on ?

I believe Bioware and EA are more working partners in the publishing department, meaning EA has publishing rights but Bioware has final say on where it's game goes. EA just gets more money, is all.immortality20

EA own Bioware, they bought them in in October 2007. In reality Bioware have no control over their products anymore, if EA says "jump" they have to say "how high".

Obligatory link proving the fact before people go "oh don't believe you show me proof that Bioware sold out"

I think you may be confusing Bioware with Crytek. It is Crytek that have a "partnership" with EA in the publishing department not Bioware.

I thought 360 dvd drives had special lasers so that they could get the data off of the discs. If so, I fail to see how an OS can allow for these games to work. I would think you'd have to get a secondary dvd drive

True_Sounds

The Xbox uses a standard DVD drive that is the exactly same as the one you have in your PC. I believe the only difference is that Microsoft use a non-standard power connector. So yes PC's can easily read Xbox discs with no problem.

Personally I call bull on this, it is no mean feat to emulate a console. Yes the Xbox 360 is a Dx9 console but the CPU is completely different to the CPU in the PC. Now as much as I love PC's even I find it hard to believe that even the fastest i7 CPU on the planet would be able to emulate a 3 core with 6 threads PowerPC CPU. You just need to look at PS2 emulation which needs a decently hefty PC to emulate a 300mhz CPU.

I get the feeling this rumour is probably a mix up with the fact that MS has said Xbox live is coming to the PC with windows 8.

Do you know more about making money than the EA bosses? GeneralShowzer

Since all EA seems to do these days is post hundreds of millions of dollars in losses I would hardly go around trying to emphasise that "EA bosses know how to make money" they clearly don't. So does anyone here know more about making money than EA bosses ? well they couldn't do any worse than the bosses in charge at the moment that just lost $391 million dollars.

As for the whole steam thing, I wasn't really going to buy Battlefield (yeah another military shooter my god I am so not bored of them). I probably would have picked it up at some point on steam but since they aren't bothering to engage the largest DD business on the PC platform I guess they aren't too fussed about having my money.

It seems rather odd to me that they didn't put in gamepad options for the sole fact that ME 1 and 2 are pretty big on the Xbox.

PEELEDbanana

Not really there are UI differences between the PC and 360 version (less so with ME 2 but there are still differences). If you play Mass Effect on the console then naturally you will use the joypad because the game and user interface is specifically designed for that control system. It is the same with the PC, this has always been Bioware's stance with regards to DA and ME.

The DDE version is a complete and utter waste of money. The extra $10 gives you :-

An additional suit of armour called "The Collectors Armour" it is next to crap the helmet cannot be removed and I have never used it once.

An additional Assault Rifle called "The Collector Assault Rifle" again it is a horrible looking gun and there are better guns available and I have only ever used it once.

The "Making of DVD" is three crappy AVI's you will probably never watch

The Artbook is surprisingly poor and very short

The sound track well they even gimped us there and only included half the sound track.

Save your money and just get the standard version of ME 2.

Since neither Mass Effect game supports joypad controls the question is pretty pointless. The PC version was designed with the mouse and keyboard in mind. You can use third party programs to get joypad support in ME 1 and 2 but you would have to google for that.

The latest statement with regard to this mess was from EA's David DeMartini :-

Unfortunately, if we're not allowed to manage this experience directly and establish a relationship with you, it disrupts our ability to provide the support you expect and deserve.At present, there is only one download service that will not allow this relationship. This is not our choice, and unfortunately it is their customer base that is most impacted by this decision.We are working diligently to find a mutually agreeable solution.

Going forward, EA will continue offering our games to all major download sites. We will also remain committed to providing you, our players, with the best possible content, services, and gaming experience that we can.David DeMartini

You can read the full statement here :-

http://www.ea.com/news/demar-at-ea-we-believe-in-choice

Personally this smells to me like EA is engineering a situation where they are trying to make Valve look like the bad guys here. At the end of the day I am not a big fan of Valve or EA but if I had to make a choice between which company could urinate on me if I was on fire then I would go with Valve any day of the week.