It's a bit vexing that, instead of being discussed for being what looks to be a real step forward in the military shooter genre, all talk regarding EA's Battlefield 3 seems to revolve around the company's plan to use it to push its EA Original digital distribution and social networking service.
While the game will be available both at retail and at other digital retails -- except, notably Valve's popular Steam (for more on that saga, click here) -- EA has now confirmed that players will be requiring that players install Origin on their PCs to play Battlefield 3, even if they bought a boxed copy at retail.
The news was confirmed by Battlefield community manager Daniel Matros via his Twitter account. Ironically, this tactic is something EA actually copied from Valve and Steam, which has been requiring Steam installs for its PC games since Half-Life 2.
Source: Gamespot