I apologize for being late with this (we already missed the first weekend), and I have to say that it is not because I didn’t know about the sale. Rather, I was deciding whether or not to even post it, and for one reason: DRM. In the end I decided that the deals were really good and that you all should make the choice for yourself. A final finding on my part tipped the balance, which I’ll mention in a moment.
The EA store sells digital games and has since around the time of the release of Battlefield 2142 back in 2006, or at least that is when I came upon it. My review copies of that game came in the form of a voucher code on the EA store. You download the EA Download Manager and then you purchase games which are downloaded through the Manager and can be installed and uninstalled from there.
The problem? The download files were huge (~4GB in the case of Battlefield 2142 and add-ons and patches, and even more for Crysis and expansions) – and when you purchased the games you were given the typical Digital River checkout deal: you can access the downloads online for ~6 months, or pay more for ‘extended download service’ for ~$5 and get access for 2 years. Naturally I didn’t pay, and instead backed up the files to an external hard drive. I have had lousy experiences with Digital River in the past and therefore was leery of recommending this sale.
But this week I decided to reinstall my EA games on my new Alienware m11x R2, so I grabbed the EA Download Manager from the store and then logged in just to see … and ALL of my games, going all the way back to 2006 were there! So I was able to simply click on the download buttons to get the installers, then re-install everything. Looks like EA has gotten much better with the customer side of Digital Downloads – so now I heartily recommend this sale!
This is Mass Effect Week – you can grab the original game for $4.99, and the recently released Mass Effect 2 (reviewed here and featured here) for as little as $24! I would recommend grabbing the Digital Deluxe to add on all of the nice DLC and goodies, but you will also be fine with the normal version.
For the sale page, head to the EA Store!
I will highlight what new items are on sale each week when I get the email, but for now here is the complete listing for the sale weekends for the rest of the summer:
Summer Sale Schedule
Weekend 2 (7/22/10 – 7/25/10):
* 75% off Mass Effect – $4.99 (Reg. $19.99)
* 40% off Mass Effect 2 – $23.97 (Reg. $49.99)
* 40% off Mass Effect 2 Digital Deluxe – $35.97 (Reg. $59.99)Weekend 3 (7/29/10 – 8/1/1):
* 50% off Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
* 50% off Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath
* 50% off Command & Conquer 3: Red Alert 3
* 75% off Command & Conquer 3: Red Alert 3 Uprising
* 33% off Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian TwilightWeekend 4 (8/5/10 – 8/8/10):
* 50% off Dead Space
* 75% off Mirror’s Edge
* 33% off SPORE
* 33% off Creepy & Cute
* 33% off Galactic AdventuresWeekend 5 (8/12/10 – 8/15/10):
* 75% off Burnout Paradise
* 25% off Need For Speed Shift
* 50% off Need For Speed UndercoverWeekend 6 (8/19/10 – 8/22/10):
* 33% off Battlefield Bad Company
* 50% off Battlefield 2 Complete
* Battlefield Bad Company 2 + Battlefield 2 Complete Collection + Medal of Honor Beta Key Bundle ($79.94)Weekend 7 (8/26/10 – 8/29/10):
* 33% off Dragon Age: Origins
* 25% off Dragon Age: Origins Awakening
* 33% off Dragon Age: Origins Digital Deluxe
* 40% off Dragon Age: Origins + Awakening Bundle
* 40% off Dragon Age: Origins Deluxe + Awakening BundleWeekend 8 (9/2/10 – 9/5/10):
* 40% off all PCDD titles
Source: EA Games Store
