Valentine's Day was a special day this year for gamers. Not only did the Twisted Metal franchise return for PS3 players, but Electronic Arts and BioWare let the world try out Mass Effect 3 for the first time via demo that included samples of both its single-player campaign and the series' first ever multiplayer mode.

On that same day, EA announced an amazing deal for PC gamers who are forced to utilize the browser-based Origin service: pre-order Mass Effect 3 and receive a FREE copy of Battlefield 3. Amazing deal, right? For a limited time.

Just two days after announcing the deal - and confirming via Twitter that it would last up until March 5th, the day before Mass Effect 3 releases - they quickly canceled it.

Here's a tweet from the day we reported on the news from the official EA Origin account, confirming the Mass Effect 3 pre-order deal for a free copy of Battlefield 3 and the date that deal expires - Note how the above tweet goes against what the same Twitter account confirmed two days earlier:

Explanation? None. Contradiction? Yes.

Now if players go to the still-buggy Origin service and take a look in the store for Mass Effect 3, they're greeted with a fun little note informing them how they cannot get Battlefield 3 for free if they pre-order:

At least the lucky few who managed to pre-order during the two-day window will get their free game code, but to throw salt in the wound, they won't even get that until March 8th, two days after Mass Effect 3 comes out... so they can't even play it as much.

This was a great idea to help grow the PC community for Battlefield 3 but now it's absolutely not that at all and instead, is both a wasted opportunity, and a frustration for gamers since EA is going back on their word.

Mass Effect 3 releases on March 6, 2012 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

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Follow me on Twitter @rob_keyes.

Sources: EA