Actually, they've gotten into the habit recently of making those preorder exclusives preorder EXCLUSIVE. This was especially apparent in Medal of Honor, and may have continued into Battlefield 3 if there wasn't such a strong uproar.
Thing is with EA, they have some absolutely FANTASTIC developers, plus some brilliant products, but their marketing and men in suits seem clueless and cynically interested in getting every dime possible out of their games, but in the process, it ends up being bad for the consumer. I can only hope that new middle management, marketing, and leadership will come in soon and change this anti-consumer direction.