EA Games' online digital distribution service, and primary competitor to Steam, Origin, has just launched for the Mac today. The client was beta tested prior to its release today by a few thousand volunteers with a limited number of games.

Today, the list of games available on the Mac client expands substantially, with support for many first and third-party titles including Dragon Age 2 and Batman: Arkham City. Additionally, Sims 3 and all of its expansions are supported on the Mac client, giving gamers running on OSX ample reason to install the service. To promote Origin, The Sims 3 and its numerous expansions are on sale at a heavy discount.

A few of these games also support multi-platform play, so players on both Mac and PC can play with each other.

Origin for Mac supports every feature available to the PC version, including cloud storage for save files and instant messenger.

"Our vision with Origin is to connect your gaming universe online, and today we're taking a major step in expanding our service to reach Mac-based gamers worldwide," said Origin VP Michael Blank. "In delivering great game content, connecting the Origin service across PC, Mac and iOS devices, and offering great value to gamers with dual-platform play on select EA titles, Origin is making it easier than ever before for gamers to connect and play anytime, anywhere."

The upcoming SimCity is expected to make full use of the Origin platform on both the Mac and PC.

The minimum requirements for Origin on the Mac is OSX 1.0.68, so anyone running on Lion or Mountain Lion should be good to go.