EA really wants their new digital distribution service, Origin, to succeed. The service's most anticipated release, "Battlefield 3," is coming exclusively to Origin, and EA is doing everything in its power to ensure that people pick up the game there instead of from retailers. Thus far, EA has rewarded those who pre-order on Origin with in-game items and access to the upcoming beta for "Battlefield 3." Seems they're taking it one step further, now.
Ars Technica is reporting that those who pre-order "Battlefield 3" on Origin will receive a voucher to download a free PC game through the service. An email obtained by Ars from EA to those who pre-order is as follows:
"As a special thank you for pre-ordering Battlefield 3 early at Origin, we're offering you a bonus PC digital download game. Please apply the code below at the shopping cart to redeem one PC Digital version of one of our recommended shooter titles: Mass Effect 2, Dead Space 2 or Medal of Honor. The price will be reduced to $0 after applying the code at your shopping cart. Hurry—this offer is only good for the month of August, and is exclusive to Origin customers only. See below for more details."
While the inclusion of "Medal of Honor" should probably be ignored, the remaining titles are some of the best releases from the company in recent years and are far from worthless extras. It'll be interesting to see whether people take advantage of this, or whether they'll opt from a disc-based purchase. Even if they do buy from a brick-and-mortar, users will have to connect to Origin in order to install and play the game, so they might as well get something free out of it.