Origin Access membership becomes available for $30/£20 pa

[HEXUS]

Game library was previously only available for monthly $4.99/£3.99 fee (about $60/£48 pa).

Read more.

[shaithis]

Hmmm, now I'm slightly interested....

[cheesemp]

Hmmm, now I'm slightly interested....

Yes my view exactly. If I didn't have a backlog of about 100 games on steam I want to play (I'll ignore the 500 or so I don't and the 500 or so I've already played) I'd be all over this...

[Boon72]

they just need an option for having both PC & Xbox versions

[EvilCycle]

I bought the EA access yearly account for my son's xbox one and it has turned out to be great value for money. I would recommend it highly as you also get the play first trials for new games as well the vault content (usually 10 hours of play a week before release), I don't think I will be jumping on this for my PC at present though as I am very much addicted to BF1 and Rocket League right now. I might go for it once Mass Effect Andromeda is on there if I don't end up buying it before then.

[this_is_gav]

Wait, are Brits getting a better deal than Americans? Surely not, there must be more games in the American choices or something, surely.

[virtuo]

Risky click at work, but presuming the freebies aren't going to be big or recent?

And the vault just sounds like a paid-for library of time limited demos?

Will have a closer look tonight, but not sure it'll be for me.

[SHSPVR]

Wait, are Brits getting a better deal than Americans? Surely not, there must be more games in the American choices or something, surely.

Not by much and if I recall right that have pay for VAT so it end up being more

[EvilCycle]

The vault is a back catalogue of full games that you can play for as long as you want provided you have an active subscription, EA have basically switched from providing these games as PS+ and Xbox Gold "freebies" and moved them to their own subscription service. On top of that and the play first trials you also get discounted prices on games and DLC's, it really is a good service provided you don't already own a lot of EA games, which is why I have found it great value for my son on his xbox, but probably wouldn't so much for me on my PC.

[AETAaAS]

...And the vault just sounds like a paid-for library of time limited demos?...

They are full versions, but access is obviously limited to while you have an active subscription. I gave it a punt, at 4 quid a month, its about the price of a fancy coffee, so why not?

I played Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 (with some extras). Now I'm playing Mass Effect 3, also with some extra content. It is quite a good deal since some games are quite new as well. Unravel was a artsy fartsy platformer with some unique mechanics, Battlefield 4 and Hardline need no introduction. I'm looking forward to playing Mirrors Edge Catalyst and Need for Speed.

There's plenty more in the vault. The Saboteur was quite fun IIRC, but that may be the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia talking. MOHAA too! Dead Space series if you like that kinda stuff.

Bottomline; it is quite a good deal if you don't already have the games you want from the vault. Plus the 10% Origin discount.

[el_tone]

If I didn't already own a lot of the games in the Access library it might be a reasonable value proposition. The early access thing isn't much of a draw for me.

[Tunnah]

I use access, had it for months, played..5mins. I had good intentions, installed BFH, BF4, Fifa 16 and NFS Rivals, but with so many new games out it's hard to play older games

[Saracen]

Hmmm, now I'm slightly interested....

I'm not, not in the slightest.

And for the usual reasons, mainly, you can kiss goodbye to any control over privacy of any data you provide. Since this includes name, contact details and phone number at a minimum, and deoending on usage, possible detailed time-related geodata, and the contents of contact lists on mobile devices you use, it's not only the user's personal data that's compromised, but to a lesser extent, that of anyone in their contact list.

Their privacy policy helpfully provides examples of data they collect and how they use it that seem eminently reasonable, while glossing over the fact that their policy allows collection of almost anything, and that that merely "includes" those examples. Thus suggests the usage is for "eminently reasonable" (my term) purposes, but masking the fact that they can collect vast amounts and then use it for almost anything.

Then, by using this, or Origin, you have explicitly agreed to

By using our products, you consent that your personal information may be transferred to recipients in the United States and other countries that may not offer the same level of privacy protection as the laws in your country of residence or citizenship.

and

Security of our players' information is a priority at EA, and we take a range of measures to help protect it, including encryption of sensitive financial information. Even so, no security measure is 100% perfect. This means we cannot guarantee the security of your information and do not assume any responsibility for the unauthorized use or access to your information under our control.

From that, I infer that they encrypt financial data, but not anything else, and you can forget any nition that the Data Protection Act offers you any protection at all. And "a range of measures" is so hopelessly vague as to caoable of meaning anything, from locking the datacentre door at night, upward. In other words, it is utterly valueless.

Of course, to each his own, but personally, there is no universe in which I'd agree to that in order to play games, even if not agreeing meant never playing another computer game.

[aniilv]

even with the "discount" that you pay for in first place, you still are better off buying games of cdkey sites

go figure

[Ferral]

I have subscribed to this service since it started and has been decent, playing Dragon Age Inquisition again after first playing it on PS3 has been great and there are loads of classics available on there.

Think I will change my sub on it to yearly, so much cheaper than the £4 per month

They have just added the excellent underrated Aragami to the service, Furi & The Saboteur which are all decent games, it also stops your purchase library getting to backlogged as essentially like PS+ you can only play the games as long as you subscribe to the service.

[Beattie97]

Wait, are Brits getting a better deal than Americans? Surely not, there must be more games in the American choices or something, surely.

lol this is great but so true xD