X
CNET logo Why You Can Trust CNET

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement

Get 9 EA games for $5, support charity

The Humble Origin Bundle 2 serves up a great mix of oldies and not-so-oldies, all of them definitely goodies.

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
See full bio
Rick Broida
2 min read

humble-origin-bundle-2.jpg
All this for around five bucks, and most of it goes to charity. Yes, please! Humble Bundle

Hope you didn't have any big plans for this weekend. Or the weekend after that. Because it's game time!

The Humble Origin Bundle 2 lets you name your own price for an EA game bundle. As usual, there are a couple different tiers, but let's not monkey around: You get everything when you beat the average price (currently a paltry $4.79), so pony up five bucks and get shootin'.

command-and-conquer-generals-box.jpg
Real-time strategy at its finest. EA

That nets you nine EA games, newer and older classics alike, nearly every one of them a gem. And here's the really amazing part: Your money goes to charity, the Humble Bundle folks or a combination of the two. But EA isn't taking a penny. So instead of paying a mere $5, why not make it $10 or even $20? You're still getting serious bang for the buck. (The bundle has a total value of $134.)

I doff my hat to you, EA.

The game that excites me most in this bundle is Command & Conquer: Generals (including the Zero Hour expansion pack), which to my thinking is the best real-time strategy game of all time.

You also get the beloved action-RPGs Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins (plus its divisive sequel, Dragon Age II), along with the extremely popular shooter Dead Space 2. Still to come: at least one "mystery game" addition to the bundle.

For casual gamers, the collection includes both Bejeweled 3 and Peggle. And for those somewhere in between, there's Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, a recent (2014), multiplayer-friendly twist on the tower-defense classic.

All the games can be redeemed via EA's Origin client, though a few come with Steam keys as well if that's your preferred ecosystem.

I already own several of these titles, but to me this was a no-brainer: a great game bundle supporting great causes -- Girls Who Code, the V Foundation and buildOn. You better believe I kicked in for it.

Your thoughts?

Bonus deal: Another game deal, this time for Xbox owners! For a limited time, and while supplies last, Microsoft is offering Titanfall for Xbox One for $12.99 shipped, via eBay. (Aha, it's also on Amazon for the same price.) The darling of 2014 and quite arguably the console's showcase game, Titanfall cost a cool $60 when it debuted around this time last year. Let this be a lesson: never, ever buy a console game when it first comes out. Wait six months or even a year and you'll be able to get it for significantly less!