This time I’ll be starting something new as an Editor at IGN.

August 1st, 2011 will be my first day in the Guides department and I want to make sure that I give my full attention to the position. I know some of you are sad to see this project come to an end, but I will not be fading away. I’m just moving my work to a new location.

In this new project I’ll be joining an incredibly talented group of individuals and I can’t wait to bring my skills to the table. It will definitely be an exciting time.

When I came to San Francisco I promised myself one thing. That I would do as much as I could in the time I was here. I would see the ocean, see all the city had to offer, and take every opportunity to get out and experience anything new that came my way.

This will undoubtedly be one of those new adventures that I will happily take on.

Below I’ve added a list of places you can find my work in the future, the most important being the My IGN link where you can see all of the work I’ll be doing.

Thank you for all of the support that you’ve given The Daily DL since I began this project back in 2007. It wasn’t until after leaving ScrewAttack that I was able to give it my full attention, and I’m happy to have had the opportunity to bring you the content found on this website during that short time. However, it’s time for one of those new beginnings and during this transition all I can ask is one more thing.

That you accept my thanks and wish me luck.

Thank you.

Destin Legarie
My IGN – http://people.ign.com/destin-ign

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/DestinLegarie
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/DailyDestin
Google + http://bit.ly/n8OBkB

This is a hard thing to do, made even more difficult by the fact that I would no longer have a home for the writers and video editors who have helped get the website to the point it is at today. I had big plans moving forward with the project, but sometimes life just throws you a curve ball.

Thought I’m sad to see it go I know those involved have great potential to go on to do amazing things. I asked each of them if they would like to say a little something and each of them did. You can see their thoughts below. I don’t know if I’ve said it enough, but it was a pleasure working with each and every one of them.

—–

From: Eduardo Reboucas – Twitter: EduardoReb

Hey guys, thanks for stopping by and reading our articles. Even
though I didn’t get to write as much as I would like to for The
Daily DL, my time here has been extremely fun. Destin and the crew are
extremely talented, so wherever we end up at, I hope to still see all
of you reading and commenting on!

You’ll be able to find me on Twitter, under the handle EduardoReb,
where I’ll be sure to update you guys on any new developments, both
art and writing wise.

All the best to everyone and most importantly, good luck!

From: Vincent Tambunga – Twitter: @IllusiveMoogle

Hey, everyone! Even though we, the writers, were only brought on a short time ago, I can’t express how much fun I’ve had contributing to The Daily DL and trying to help bring everyone reading as much of the big gaming news as possible. I’ve enjoyed seeing all of the responses to our articles be it angry, happy, or indifferent. I’m also glad that I’ve been able to bring new things to the site along side all of the other great writers and those making the great audio/video features. I hope that in the future, I can keep writing and discussing gaming because this was a such a great experience. Again, thanks to everyone for making this so much fun and a big thanks to Destin for letting me on to write for you guys.

From: Freiteez – Twitter: @Freiteez

I’d like to say this to the readers

Thank you to all that watched app arcade. I learned a lot from this experience and what I need to work on. I will still be making videos on my YouTube channel Freiteezpro if you want to check it out. Thanks again to Destin for giving us this opportunity and I’ll see you guys around on the site and forums.

From: Jason Oliveira – Twitter: @JasonSOliveira

It’s a sad thing for me to have to stop writing for The Daily DL. Destin was the first person to give me a chance at writing about my passion for video games and I had a blast doing it. He is not only a great guy with a fantastic sense of humor, but also a talented editor who ended up teaching me a lot. My only regrets is that I did not get to tell the tale of the awkward reply I got from Destin about a Halo wallpaper on Output Output. I will be applying to some other outlets soon and I will keep people updated on anything I do via my twitter account @JasonSOliveira so if you are interested in my work please follow me. I would like to thank the fans of The Daily DL so very much for their support and I would also like to thank the staff of The Daily DL. You guys are all awesome, I had a blast working with you, and I wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors.

From: Andrej Peradovic – Twitter: @NewsDrej

I’m no good at this, so I’ll keep it brief. My time here at TheDailyDL was short but awesome, and it pretty much made me want to stay in video game journalism. I don’t have anything specific planned right now, but if you’re interested, you can check out my blog at http://drejsreviews.blogspot.com/ or follow me on Twitter (@NewsDrej) until I find a new gig somewhere. If you just want to say hi, you can send me an email at andrej@thedailydl.com. And…that about covers it, I guess. Thanks to Destin for starting this whole project, thanks to my co-workers and all contributors that helped make the site as awesome as it is, and a very special thanks to all of our readers and supporters. You guys rock.

From: Ryan Stout – Twitter: @Yhono

Ryan from Cold Morning here, I would like thank The Daily DL for giving us the chance to try something new. Not only was our series a learning experience for us, but hopefully a learning experience for our viewers as well. We will still continue the series on our Youtube page (youtube.com/comopro) so if you would like to see more content that we enjoy bringing to our viewers, then please come by our page and stay awhile.

From: Mark Medina – Twitter: @Mark_Medina

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who’s supported the show. I wasn’t sure at first about what content I could provide, and I’m really glad that people were entertained and inspired by my decision to feature music. The feedback was great, and I couldn’t ask for a better set of friends to be able to share my show with. One of the hardest thing about the site closing is losing that tight knit group we had. I also want to say a huge thank you to the other content providers on the site. To everyone who makes videos, keep making them! I know there is some huge talent out there, and you’ll get picked up somewhere for sure. A huge thank you to Gabe for producing Output Output, AKA the most fun Ive EVER had discussing video games. Overall, thanks for the memories. Although it seemed short lived, The Daily DL is something I’ll remember for a long time, and I will always be grateful that I was able to be a part of it. As for future plans, follow me on twitter (Mark_Medina) for an awesome announcement I’ll be able to make soon, and for links to new episodes that will be featured on GameTrailers. Thanks to everyone, I’m gonna miss you all.

From: Gabe Guevara – Twitter: @GabeGuevara

Thanks everyone for listening and commenting on the first podcast I produce. I’ve always wanted to help host and produce a show and you all made this first experience a great one. I also need to give a big thanks to Destin and Mark. Having you two on the show made me look forward to writing, performing, and editing the content for the site. I have some great ideas and plans for the future, and if anyone is interested on how they go down then please follow me on twitter. twitter.com/gabeguevara

—–

Well I suppose I should wrap this up. What else can I say but thank you. Thank you to those that helped build this website with their videos, news stories, and countless hours of dedication, but mostly thank you to every single person who helped keep the website going by reading, leaving comments and just coming here on a regular basis. I’m not good at goodbyes, so my full farewell will be posted early next week revealing where I will be going, and what I will be doing in the future.

In the meantime I will close by saying once more the only thing I can to every person involved with this project.

Thank you.

RIGHT CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THIS EPISODE.

Have a question about ANYTHING that you want to see answered? Make sure you’re posting it HERE.

Also, you can click HERE to download it, get it on ITUNES, or hit the jump to listen in your browser.

RIGHT CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THIS EPISODE.

To compete with this, EA has now come up with Origin. Origin is a service painfully similar to steam which allows you to download many of their newer and popular titles, chat with friends, and claims you can import contacts from Xbox Live or PSN. However when trying to find friends on Xbox Live the following, buggy notice pops up. “Sorry, we couldn’t find any of your friends that also user Origin.” Well there’s a reason for that. It’s because it’s crap.

Origin is a service that EA claims was not created to compete with Steam, yet copies the functionality, store front, and features, and then implements them poorly. In it’s current state, Origin is a disaster. Let’s look at why, and how EA could fix it, but wont.

Problem 1 – It only plays EA’s games.

Brand loyalty is something that you need to earn, especially for a new product like Origin. Telling a user that you can only download your products, play your games, and launch your titles from a new service is like telling a person who wants a burger that they can only get it at McDonalds. If it cost’s the same amount on my current product, Steam, what incentive do I have to download it on Origin? None.

Allowing other games to launch from your platform is not going to hurt your sales, but what will is telling me I can only play Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows when I want to play some Call of Duty. What’s the first thing I’ll do instead? Uninstalling Origin.

How to fix it. Let Origin launch other games.

It seems obvious to you and I, but apparently not to Electronic Arts. If there’s one thing that gamers hate more than anything else, it’s a service that imposes limitations. Well guess what? Telling someone that they can only launch titles that EA has deemed worthy is a huge limitation. If you’re going to make a service that you want to be a destination for games and gamers, get rid of the barriers! Speaking of barriers…

Problem 2 – It’s another barrier to your product.

You know what I don’t want to be doing when a new game comes out? Downloading and installing a new product, so I can download and install a new product. The fact that this is going to be the only location that you can get their games on when it’s not even out of beta yet is, to put it mildly, worrisome. Most players just want to get into their product as soon as possible and Steam has successfully made this a streamlined process. This is another example of taking away options from your players as soon, certain EA games will only be available on Origin. While your at it, why not have them fill out an application before they can sign up. Oh wait, you already do.

How to fix it. Make Origin web based, give us options, and incorporate it into your existing products.

I have community accounts for Dragon Age, Need for Speed, and Mass Effect all of which are EA products. Why hasn’t anyone decided to make Origin a service that ties all these accounts together so that I log onto one of them and I immediately have access to everything? Why not go one step further and instead of making Origin a mandatory download, make it a client that can be opened in your web browser? This would be a grand undertaking, but it would do more than their storefront and a crappy chat system is currently achieving. It would combine all of the social aspects of every EA game a person has ever played into one place.

The final suggestion I have is making it more like a storefront that circumvents Steam. Steam let’s you install games that weren’t necessarily purchased via their service, so why not let people by EA games in this web client version of Origin, and then have a link that automatically installs it onto Steam. As long as this isn’t illegal for some reason, it would eliminate the need to pay Steam, (as they usually get a cut) keep your profits up, and give the player the option.

While your at it, let me buy games in that browser based product and send them to the application of my choice. Perhaps I want to buy Mass Effect 3 on Origin, but play it on Steam, Raptr or any of the other services out there. Give the options back to the player and stop thinking about your bottom line. A bottom line that is going to be hurting because of the following mistake.

Problem 3 – It limits your sales.

Star Wars: The Old Republic, Battlefield 3, and the first piece of DLC for Crysis 2 are a few examples of what I’m sure will be a series of games only available on Origin. It’s like EA is trying to fail. You are going to take some of your biggest games of the year and launch them on a product called “Origin Beta?” Are you mad?

No, they’re not mad, they’re trying to save money. Steam gets a hefty chunk of sales (I’ve heard as much as 30%) and EA is trying to get more bang for their buck. Well they’re cutting themselves off from millions of users if they force people to use Origin. To give you some perspective, at any hour of any day there are 3.5 million people online and ready to buy your product on Steam. Steam has given EA titles great placement, hosted some amazing sales, and been great for the company. As a matter of fact, EA predicted in 2010 that 20% of their revenue came from digital sales, and I’ll bet Steam contributed to that. Big time.

How to fix it. Keep. Your. Games. On. Steam.

Origin is a beta product, it doesn’t work properly, it’s cumbersome to your players, and will have a devastating effect on your sales. Get back on Steam, and come back when Origin is a finished product. It’s as simple as that. People don’t like this product in the stat it is in and it isn’t ready to be shoved down the public’s throat.

If you haven’t figured it out yet I dislike Origin… immensely. I actually see it doing a lot of damage to EA. Regardless I think I know a few ways the can fix it, but won’t. This is a bad product for so many reasons than the ones I listed. I don’t think they know it, but I know it, and I’ll bet you know it.

I guess some companies just need to learn for themselves.

Have a question about ANYTHING that you want to see answered? Make sure you’re posting it HERE.

Also, you can click here to DOWNLOAD IT, get it on ITUNES, or hit the jump to listen in your browser.

RIGHT CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THIS EPISODE.

Have a question about ANYTHING that you want to see answered? Make sure you’re posting it HERE.

Also, you can click here to DOWNLOAD IT, get it on ITUNES, or hit the jump to listen in your browser.

DOWNLOAD

As you can tell there were a lot of people in attendance, and the lines to play any of the games there were quite long. Included on that list of games was Street Fighter X Tekken, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition.

Capcom, as always, put together a nice little event for their fans. Thank you for having me Capcom. I’ll be enjoying my Oni and Evil Ryu bobble heads for some time.

Have a question about ANYTHING that you want to see answered? Make sure you’re posting it HERE.

Also, you can click here to DOWNLOAD IT, get it on ITUNES, or hit the jump to listen in your browser.

DOWNLOAD

During the last week of service, Sony will be having a “galaxy-ending event” that will send the game off in style. I’m guessing it’ll be something like what they did with The Matrix Online. Another title that 5 of you probably remember playing.

Existing subscribers will be able to jump ship to Free Realms, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, EverQuest, or DC Universe Online as fully-paid subscribers from October 15h until December 31st.

I’m just going to take a guess here, but I think DC Universe Online is going to get a lot more players by the end of the year.