No Origin isn't DRM. If the game doesn't have DRM then Origin doesn't add anything extra. Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins for example. Origin Vs Steam? Origin does not need to be active to run your games or patch them.

Yes.

Updated version.

More or less, I think. Haven't really looked up the differences though. Perhaps EADM trying to be Steam.

I've seen people say Origin is EADM, but with half-hearted social features tacked on.

This does look like EA is trying to muscle in on the digital distribution market with a rebrand of their old service and some news controversy to ensure it's heard about. One of the benefits of Origin, is of course, it doesn't need to be open to play games, but there are already plenty of DD services out there that already do that. However I did hear that Origin does correctly charge Euros so if you live in the right part of the Eurozone, you could probably get your game cheaper on Origin. For the rest of us however EA is charging full RRP for their games so I don't think Origin will do too well.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/07/21/ea-steam-keys-can-be-activated-on-origin/

Nothing changed when EA renamed EADM to Origin.

Going by other EA releases on Steam, unless Valve decide they don't want it on their service (as they did with Crysis 2) it will almost certainly eventually end up on Steam.

Personally, I don't see why people are being so stubborn. What's so great about being forced to use a third party client when you could simply buy it from anywhere else and do without the mandatory client altogether.

Cheaper, maybe?

Just to mention, it's not a pre-order charge, it's essentially a down payment.

It's the companies way of ensuring that yes, you will buy the game when it comes out. Granted with the digital market it's not really as needed, because they can easily set you credit card to not charge until the game releases.. it's just a hold-over from the physical copy pre-orders.

My only experience with EA Origins has been trying to download ME2. And it hasn't been that positive.

I often get subpar speeds, and at one point, the download was wiped out forcing me to restart. For a game that is 12 gigs, that's not fun at all.

I know I am not going to buy on Origin anytime soon. The biggest reason being the charge me in Euro because Spanish is spoken in Puerto Rico. That is the response I got when I asked support why I was sent to the Spain page.

People will sign up for Origin because they want to play with their friends. To me I'm watching a couple of industry douche bags duke it out, don't care who wins, now pass the popcorn. EA does release content and a lot of it, I think they can produce exclusive content if they so desire.

Orirgin actually temporarily charge you the full amount to make sure you can cover the full amount, then reduce it back to $5 within 72 hours which is a common procedure.

But just because it's digital, doesn't mean they can't run out of keys or not produce enough keys. Pre-order depsoit helps them gauge how many copies will roughly be needed at launch.

BTW, what's the the recent steam invasion. Their threads are slowly leaking into GOG's forum. At least the attitude is more reasonable naturally.

This isn't new. It's been possible to activate Steam games and retail games using EA Download Manager for years now.