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EA SimCity 'sorry' games include Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3

After the disastrous launch of SimCity, EA is offering free games including Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3 and Dead Space 3. All the 3s!

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
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Richard Trenholm
2 min read

Free games! Getcher free games! If you're still smarting from the disastrous launch of SimCity, the game's developer EA is offering a free game to say sorry, including Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3 and Dead Space 3.

And you can claim your free game even if you weren't affected by the server issues of SimCity's launch. Just buy it this week and you can get a choice of these games for nowt:

  • Battlefield 3
  • Bejeweled 3
  • Dead Space 3
  • Mass Effect 3
  • Medal of Honor: Warfighter
  • Need For Speed: Most Wanted
  • Plants vs Zombies
  • SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition

If you're not a fan of blowing foreign people up or shooting aliens' heads off in extreme close-up, you may well be feeling hard-done-by: Bejeweled or Plants vs Zombies, anyone?

Several games on the list are rated 18, so if you're under 18 you get both Bejeweled and SimCity 4. Woo!

Your free game is available on Thursday 21 March if you're in the UK and you have until next Friday, 30 March, to claim it. To grab your gratis game, load up Origin and look for the free games in the Featured Today section.

You only have to have activated SimCity by next Monday, so you can claim a free game even if you haven't already bought it -- it's basically a week-long buy one-get-one-free offer.

Meanwhile, EA boss John Riccitiello has resigned, not specifically over the SimCity debacle, but rather the company's poor financial results. Other controversies in his six-year tenure as CEO include the failure of MMORPGStar Wars: The Old Republic, the botched ending of Mass Effect 3, and the closure of its UK studio.

The disastrous launch hasn't stopped SimCity doing boffo business, though, shifting 1.1 million copies in two weeks -- not bad for a PC game with no head-shooting.

Are you happy with the free games on offer? Has EA done enough to make it up to you? Is this a sign of the future of gaming? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page -- and for more gaming goodness, check out our console-caning compadres at GameSpot.