I noticed that when I launch origin it minimizes any open steam window, other windows are not effected. lol

Anyone else get this? (Remember to completely shut origin down by right clicking on it's icon first)

I noticed that when I launch origin it minimizes any open steam window, other windows are not effected. lol

Anyone else get this? (Remember to completely shut origin down by right clicking on it's icon first)

No issues here.

Are you sure it isn't just your paranoia leaking into your machine?

No issues here.

Are you sure it isn't just your paranoia leaking into your machine?

Could be.

I only ever said it was general principal, not that they were doing anything (but they are/will soon).
Do you work for ea? lol

[quote name='NumberXaero' timestamp='1317753307' post='4869066']

Honestly, I can't think of a single good, and valid reason to have the user's web browser as part of a game over having an in game system.

Because previous battlefield games had such buggy in game browsers that most of the time people would not be able to play for the first week or till the first patch hit.
A lot of the time it would have broken features, you couldnt filter, add fiends, join through friends, it was a mess, Id rather be playing the game. Separating the browser makes total sense given the games history with browsers, now a fix is a page update not a game patch a week away. They seem to have listened and smartened up this time around.
[/quote]

Wait, so because they had problems with getting a basic menu system to function, they should: Write an external interface, write plug ins for multiple browsers, write menus as a web based service,... And this magically makes the problem easier?


How about an INGAME web browser if they insist on having a web based interface, so I don't get easily slot jumped while I sit there and wait for the full game to load?


Origin is a mess. It insists on launching as a full window, not a minimized task. When you do minimize it, it shows a popup to 'remind you' that it is still running. And there is no apparent way to disable these features. I have six tools that I use daily that load to the tray, and don't make a peep till I need them.
[/quote]

Yes, basically battlefield has always had problems in two main areas, getting in game browsers to work and getting input controls working. They dont seem to have much luck in those two areas. Its always taken at least one patch before these things worked at all. Bad Company 2s browser use to crash on day one just trying to join a game, the problem remained for about a week, battlefield 2s browser was nothing special, they were always unresponsive and felt rushed. It would seem they put their efforts into the main game and not the gui so much.
All I know is having played all battlefield games, the way they did it for BF3, it seems like it was actually given some thought. You can setup your platoons, chat to other players, talk to others players, view all your stats and unlocks, follow friends into games, join them in existing games, and watch news feeds. Its pretty clean. If you got slot jumped Im sure thats not the intention for the final release.

As for Origin starting as a full window I dont know, it always launches windowed for me, when I minimize it goes to the task bar, but Idont get any notifications, that seems like a windows thing I may be wrong. It isnt very old Im sure features like tray only icon will happen in time.

Yeah, but you can have the same interface with an ingame browser using a webkit so they dont even have to try that much.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what luckless was getting at.

Even if we accept the predicate -- that a web-based UI solves many QA/bug/iteration/development problems -- then this fact alone offers no support to the browser-plugin design.

Once we accept this fact, then you've still got the choice of integrating a browser into your game engine, or the choice of developing for exisitng web-broswers.

THEN, once you've make the choice to develop a web-based UI AND to target existing browsers instead of putting one into your game, you've got the further choice of whether you'll develop a custom browser plugin (which isn't required -- e.g. XFire and Steam let me join servers from my browser simply by registering a URL handler instead of making their own plugins).

Note that with each of these decisions, the devlopment cost is actually getting larger -- integrating a web-browser into a game is dead simple and has been done for years. Targetting a web-app at a single known browser is much, much cheaper than targeting a web-app at all of the currently used browsers in the wild.
Making a web-app using standard technologies is cheaper than developing and maintaining custom browser plug-ins, etc...

Comparing origin to steam at this stage shouldnt be done. Origin new, Steam old, simple as that, and this is nothing more then what Valve did when they attached Steam to Half-life 2s launch. If i remember correctly, steam had a similar set of problems when it first launched.

Yeah, and Valve's worked for years to fix those issues, so what? You don't get a free pass just cause you're the new kid on the block (or even the underdog). Right now, Origin sucks compared to steam. If it didn't have BF3, no-one would touch it with a barge pole.

Their in game web browsers have always been a half baked gui made of colored rectangles that are slow and crash when you use them. In this beta they have made changes to the battle log while I was in game without the player even knowing until leaving the game. Many times in Bad company 2 I found that stats didnt load or didnt track. They have also been running web based free to play games that work along these lines for some time now on all major browsers as far as I can tell, Battlefield heroes and Battlefield free to play, so its not really the first time theyve approached launching a game this way, just a AAA game.

[quote name='NumberXaero' timestamp='1317753307' post='4869066']
Comparing origin to steam at this stage shouldnt be done. Origin new, Steam old, simple as that, and this is nothing more then what Valve did when they attached Steam to Half-life 2s launch. If i remember correctly, steam had a similar set of problems when it first launched.

Yeah, and Valve's worked for years to fix those issues, so what? You don't get a free pass just cause you're the new kid on the block (or even the underdog). Right now, Origin sucks compared to steam. If it didn't have BF3, no-one would touch it with a barge pole.
[/quote]

Not saying they get a free pass, but it is new software, it does work, it delivers the game, it may not minimize to the tray and whatever else, but I just havent seen any reason myself for the hate that its getting, to be honest, I dont really notice it or think about it till its brought up in the many many threads I keep seeing popping up on various forums.
I remembering the night Steam launched and being among those wondering why we needed Steam at all to play Half Life 2, what was wrong with the disc I had on my desk. Its pretty obvious now, but I cant imagine a company the size of EA sitting on the side lines while retail sales drop and other companies get a cut of their sales, this was gonna happen sooner or later. To be honest Im surprised Blizzard, Valve, EA (probably more) are the only ones distributing their own games. I thought they would all have their own delivery service by now rather then pay a cent to someone else.

Note that with each of these decisions, the devlopment cost is actually getting larger -- integrating a web-browser into a game is dead simple and has been done for years. Targetting a web-app at a single known browser is much, much cheaper than targeting a web-app at all of the currently used browsers in the wild.
Making a web-app using standard technologies is cheaper than developing and maintaining custom browser plug-ins, etc...

It's not that simple. They've integrated their community site into their game's UI. They are essentially one product that is viewable from any device. Their community site needs to be viewable from any device anyway, so having 3 extra buttons at the top to play the game if you have the game installed is relatively trivial.

Having access to their community site on any platform is one of the biggest selling points of the way they did it. edit: Without having to make another website that is.