Author: dpugh007

Following yesterday’s additions of Mirror’s Edge and Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, the EA Access free game library on Xbox One grows with another title today.

EA Sports UFC 2, which came out in March this year, is now free to play for EA Access members. GameSpot’s EA Sports UFC 2 review scored the game a 7/10.

To celebrate Mass Effect’s N7 Day on November 7, EA released the first three Mass Effect games into the EA Access free game Vault, meaning a total of six games have joined the lineup this week. EA will add at least one more game to the EA Access free game catalog this year, as DICE’s Star Wars Battlefront is scheduled to arrive before the end of 2016. A specific release date has not been announced.

There are already more than 30 games in the EA Access free game vault, all of which you can see in GameSpot’s roundup. A version of EA Access for PC, called Origin Access, has its own lineup of free games that you can see here.

EA Access costs $5 per month or $30 per year and offers discounts and early access to upcoming games in addition to its library of free Vault games. A PlayStation 4 version of EA Access does not exist.

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Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney has donated $15 million to permanently protect a 7,000-acre forest in the developer’s home state of North Carolina. Specifically, the money provides for an easement that protects the Box Creek Wilderness, which is in western North Carolina, near the Blue Ridge Mountains.

As Gamasutra explains, a “conservation easement” like the one Sweeney paid for mandates that landowners cannot develop, subdivide, or interfere with the tract of land in question.

“It’s still in private ownership but the easement ensures it can never be developed,” Sweeney told the Citizen-Times. “It’s not open to anyone in the public at any time, but people can email and get a permission card and go and enjoy it.”

“I’m grateful for the efforts of Senator Burr to help protect Box Creek Wilderness,” Sweeney added in a statement. “And I’m grateful for the whole Fish and Wildlife Service team’s tireless efforts to preserve vital North Carolina natural areas in partnership with conservation-minded landowners like me.”

The $15 million donation is thought to be one of the largest conservation easements by an individual in the history of North Carolina. The easement is being donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Jeff Fisher, the CEO of the land management firm that organized the deal, said the Box Creek Wilderness has “such rare plant and wildlife species.” A wildlife biologist cited in the story said ecologists found more than 130 rare and “watch-list” plants and wildlife species there.

This isn’t Sweeney’s first time buying land in North Carolina for conservation. He’s been doing so since 2008 and now has collected 40,000 acres of land across the state, some of which has been donated for conversation efforts.

Epic Games’ other founder, Mark Rein, is a part-owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. In 2012, Chinese internet company Tencent paid $330 million for a stake in Epic Games.

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Electronic Arts’ Xbox One subscription service, EA Access, launched in August 2014 with four free games, including FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, Peggle 2, and Battlefield 4. Since then, EA has added over 30 more and launched a version of the service on PC called Origin Access.

We’ve now rounded up all the freebies into lists, which you can see below. We will update this post in the days, weeks, and years ahead when more games are added. EA has vowed never to remove any games from the “Vault” of freebies. “I think one of the key things is that once a game goes into the Vault it stays there, it’s not going to be taken out, that’s a commitment we’ve made,” Peter Moore said.

No version of EA Access is available on PlayStation 4. According to Sony, the service does not offer the kind of value PlayStation fans have come to expect. That being said, Sony maintains that it is open to having a dialogue with EA about how it might be able to bring EA Access to PS4 someday.

In addition to free games, EA/Origin Access members can play some games (but not all) ahead of launch; most of the time, subscribers get a five-day headstart. Another benefit is that subscribers save 10 percent on all EA digital content, which knocks down the price of a $60 game to $54.

The service costs $5/month or $30/year.

EA Access Free Games (As of November 9, 2016)

New and upcoming games are bolded

• Battlefield 4
• Battlefield Hardline
• Bejeweled 2
• Bejeweled 3
• Dead Space
• Dragon Age: Inqusition
• EA Sports UFC
• EA Sports UFC 2 (coming November 10, 2016)
• Feeding Frenzy
• Feeding Frenzy 2
• FIFA 14
• FIFA 15
• FIFA 16
• Heavy Weapon
• Madden NFL 15
• Madden NFL 16
• Madden NFL 25
• Mirror’s Edge (added November 9, 2016
• Mirror’s Edge Catalyst (added November 9, 2016)
• NBA Live 15
• NBA Live 16
• NHL 15
• NHL 16
• Need for Speed
• Need for Speed Rivals
• Peggle 2
• Plants vs. Zombies
• Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare
• Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2
• Rory McIlroy PGA Tour
• SSX
• Star Wars Battlefront (coming before end of 2016)
• Titanfall
• Unravel
• Zuma

Origin Access Free Games (As of November 9, 2016)

• The Banner Saga
• Battlefield 3
• Battlefield 4
• Battlefield Hardline
• Crysis
• Crysis 2
• Crysis 3
• Crusader: No Regret
• Crusader: No Remorse
• Dead Space
• Dead Space 2
• Dead Space 3
• Dragon Age: Origins
• Dragon Age 2
• Dragon Age: Inquisition
• Dungeons of Dredmore
• FIFA 15
• FIFA 16
• Jade Empire
• Mass Effect
• Mass Effect 2
• Mass Effect 3
• Medal of Honor Allied Assault
• Mini Metro
• Mirror’s Edge
• Need For Speed
• Need For Speed Rivals
• Peggle
• Plants vs. Zombies
• Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare
• Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2
• Sim City
• Sim City 2000
• The Sims 3
• This War of Mine
• Titanfall
• Torchlight II
• Trine
• Trine 2: Complete Story
• Unravel

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