EA’s Origin has had a bit of a bumpy ride since its June announcement; conflicts with competitor Steam, Terms of Service complaints, and reports of bundled spyware have muddied the service’s reputation. With EA’s first-party content being locked to exclusivity on Origin, it wasn’t clear how EA intended to compete with Steam’s sheer volume of content from countless publishers and indie developers. Speaking at a conference in London earlier today, EA CFO Eric Brown stated that “Initially, Origin is set up to deliver EA games, but very soon, we’ll be delivering third-party content to Origin....

Are you excited about Wii MotionPlus? I know you are. And I also know how you can get the device as a third-party game pack-in on launch date. EA just sent along an alert that tells us that two of their titles will hit retail one week early:Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10andEA Sports Grand Slam Tennis. The Wii version ofTiger Woods PGA Tour 10actually ships with the Wii MotionPlus accessory in both Europe and North America....

Engadgethas been standing on the corner all day yelling “Extra! Extra!”, and after throwing rocks at them and screaming obscenities, we finally deigned to leave the Towertoid to see what exactly was going on. It turns out that European Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, Meglena Kuneva, has bees in her bonnet over all of the alleged cases of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 system slicing rings into disc-based media! You may recall a short time ago whena Dutch television program, by thenaamwoordKassa, aired an exposé that did a very convincing job of demonstrating the destructive capabilities of the MS console, to much outrage and gnashing of teeth....

They’ve done it. They finally cracked our secret code. Four screenshots of your game? Exactly enough to warrant a post. Anything less, not so much — unless it’s a reveal, in which case a single picture is plenty to go on. Curse you, Splash Damage! In these four new shots forBrink, we get yet another look at the crazy variety of clothing options we’ll have access to later this year. Just because it’s a first-person shooter that doesn’t mean you get to skimp out on the outfits....

A letter to my father: Dear Dad, I use to think that you raised me well, and were the best father in the world. I now know the truth: you and every other father in the world except for 11-year-old Joseph DeRose’s father are not the best father’s ever because you didn’t make me a Samus Aran arm canon for Halloween, and plan to eventually make me an entire Varia Suit at some point in the future....

Electronic Arts has announced aNeed for Speed The RunLimited Edition, because it had no other choice: every game needs a “limited edition,” obviously. What you’re getting with the limited “while supplies last” edition of the game are cars and additional challenges. If you want the 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S, the Lamborghini Aventador, and 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, you’ll need to run to the store on day one and buyThe Run....

Welcome back, Sony! After weeks of downtime, the PSN is (mostly) back up for business. Well, at least the part of PSN that matters for the FNF crew. ensure to celebrate the return of Sony’s online play by taking part in some FNF’s with the Destructoid community! And lets hope that our combined fun doesn’t crash anything! Also, just a reminder that this is the last weekend that you have a chance to enter the contest towin a Razer fight padthroughFight....

Slate just pubbeda piece about the whole “serious games” phenomenon. If you haven’t heard, the serious gaming concept refers to games whose primary purpose isn’t fun. A game that isn’t fun? Good luck with that. Seriously, though, a lot of different groups — philanthropists, business dudes, educators and academics, for example — see a lot of potential in the idea of using games to effectively educate audiences about SERIOUS ISSUES, communicate ideas, and promote action....

GameStop has apologized to consumersfor the removalofDeus Ex: Human Revolutionfrom store shelves, an act committed after discovering OnLive codes contained within the PC version’s box. However, it is still sticking by its boycott, apparently only sorry that it didn’t know about the OnLive codes sooner. “We were not aware that the product box would contain this competitor’s offer,” stated an email toDX:HRcustomers. “We regret the events surrounding this title release and that our customers were put in the middle of this issue between GameStop and Square Enix, the publisher of this game....

At Gamescom 2009, Sony has just announced that PS3 firmware 3.0 is coming, and it’ll be a pretty nifty update. The new firmware will provide a few notable updates to the PS3 interface, including a What’s New section and animated avatars for your PSN identities. As well as animations, an improved friends list is on the way, along with status bars that show your current friends and messages at a glance....

No, not Tera Patrick, you dirty minds!Terais the upcoming MMO from Bluehole Studios, published by En Masse Entertainment. Yeah, another MMO — do they ever stop pumping these out? To be honest, when I first saw the trailer forTeraa week or two ago, I thought exactly that. But after playing an instance with two developers from En Masse today, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself having a lot of fun....

Earlier last afternoon I met with Disney Interactive Entertainment and a representative from Black Rock Studios to see a demo for Split/Second, the studios first racing title sincePure. It was, as I expected, a pleasant experience. In a Nutshell Split Secondis a furious, teeth-gnashing arcade racer that takes several pyrotechnic dumps in your eyeholes during each outing. Its aggressiveness is its signature and also happens to serve as an example of how far removed it is from most other racers and most certainly Black Rock Studios last, Pure....

Teextile has fast become my favorite shirt supplier store on the Internets. Each week, five new designs go up and you only have that same week to get the shirt you want. Teextile has a videogame related shirt on salethis week based onthe three starter Pokemon from the originalPokemongames. If you want to pick this shirt up, be sure to wait until Thursday when the shirt goes on sale for $12 instead of $15....