If you happen to have checked the option for Origin Beta Participation in your Origin client, then you may have noticed some changes within the last 24 hours.

According to this help article on help.ea.com, a new Origin Experience has now entered the Beta stage. While the first and most notable thing about this new client is the updated UI, there are also some new features which have been added and even more that are scheduled to be available in the full version.

Some of the current new features include:

A My Home page - A place to find friends, recommendations for games, articles and videos, deals and more. This page will be tailored to your profile.

- A place to find friends, recommendations for games, articles and videos, deals and more. This page will be tailored to your profile. Updated UI - This new Origin beta has the same look on all platforms (client, mobile and website), although some features, like voice chat and the ability to download your games will only be available in the client.

- This new Origin beta has the same look on all platforms (client, mobile and website), although some features, like voice chat and the ability to download your games will only be available in the client. Improved Functionality - It is now much simpler to find other players, games or extra content in Origin.

And in the future we can also expect the following:

Group chat

Customized box art

The ability to import friends from PSN/Xbox Live

We've been exploring this new Origin experience for ourselves and included some notable screenshots below, for those who are interested in seeing some of these changes for themselves.

If you happen to have gotten access to this beta but prefer the older look of the client instead, you can follow these instructions to go back:

Log in to the Origin client. Click Origin in the menu bar. Click Application Settings. Click the General tab. Scroll down to find Origin Beta Participation. Uncheck the Update to the beta version box.

And if you don't have the beta, but you want to see what it's like, then you can follow the above instructions but make sure the Update to the beta version box is checked instead of unchecked.