Battlefield 3 and Plants vs. Zombies are "On the House" at Origin

Today is the day you get Battlefield 3 ! Why, you ask? Because today is the day you can pick it up at absolutely zero cost—that is to say, free—as the second game in Origin's "On the House" program.

Electronic Arts unveiled "On the House" in March with a Dead Space giveaway and implied that there might be an element of randomness to the thing, saying that OTH freebies "can appear and disappear at any time." Today's announcement of Battlefield 3 as the next OTH giveaway, on the other hand, suggests it something more regular, coming as it does almost exactly one month after Dead Space, but does it matter? I say, no. I say that free is free, and I'll take it wherever and whenever I can.

And no worries if you already have Battlefield 3, because there's a Plan B: Plants vs. Zombies , which has also been marked down to zero. That is perhaps somewhat less compelling as deals go since it's only five bucks at regular price and just about everyone on the planet already owns it anyway, but again, free is free—and to be perfectly honest, if you haven't played either of them and for some odd reason can only get one, I'd actually recommend Plants vs. Zombies. It really is a brilliant game.

But the smart thing to do is to grab them both, which you may do here for BF3 and here for PvZ , until June 3. For all the details, point yourself at Origin .

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.