I will get Mass Effect and down the road I will download a No-Auth/No-CD crack for it.

Err... I said one of the reasons - not the main reason.  Sure, I'm still buying and playing games like Stalker, etc. but I will never buy a game with this level of DRM.  And the fact is that this is only likely to increase, not decrease.  With Crytek moaning about Crysis piracy and the 'supposed' success of this DRM on Bioshock you expect this to reduce?

BTW I'll wait for an apology on the stupid comment as to be blunt on the evidence of your rabid response its you that would appear to be pretty stupid - and exctly the kind of PC gamer who puts people off the platform.

I've been PC gaming (hell I still am) since ZX Spectrum - but while I know games still sell well on PC (and still think its the best gaming platform) I'm getting tired of expense as consoles close gap on power, of getting games second and sometimes poorly ported from a console version, of watching piracy growing and the resulting DRM backlash.  Not only that but its pretty clear that the major focus of many developers (and perhaps innovation) is being pointed at consoles right now.  Spore looks awesome, but where are games like LBP?  Why are Epic, etc. putting the bulk of their effort into console versions first and producing (buggy) PC ports second?

Right now if a game is from Valve or on Steam without DRM that's where my money (and backing) goes for the most part - or gems like Stalker (bugs and all).

So you're telling me I should pay for an internet connection at the place where I spend my vacation, just because EA felt like requiring me to have an internet connection on every single computer I use to play games?

How's that for unreasonable?

Thing is very few released games have DRM to such extent, and almost all of them are games that most people never even heard about; and that doesn't make sense when you're using the intrusive DRM arguement when you probably were barely affected by it. You can talk everything you want about the future, but it's uncertain how it will unfold, and more specifically the intrusive DRM's future.

Piracy didn't stop Crysis from crushing everyone's expectations and becoming a million seller in just 45 days. Not that it matters much since Crytek gets the most money from hardware manufacturer deals and the engine licensing.

"Spore looks awesome, but where are games like LBP?"

And where are games like Spore on consoles? Sure Wii and DS will get spin-offs, but they will be nothing compared to the PC version. Epic? Gears of War wasn't really high budgeted, and the game's success was unexpected. UT3 was developed firstly for PC and it was polished with little bugs or glitches, just that the game was dissapointing and was average compared to the other shooters and even it's antecessor UT2004.

The vast majority of people won't even go on vacation with a laptop to play games;

    And if they did, most of them wouldn't be away from home for more than 11 days;

        And if they were, most of them wouldn't be playing that much;

            And if they were, most of them would bring a few more games to play;

                And if they didn't, then yes, bad luck for them. The DRM here would affect heavily on them, but they would still be able to play the game for a few days (and most likely finish the game once or twice, since Mass Effect is a shortish game).  But you'd see that only a reduced number of people would actually be this affected by the DRM, and since EA thinks it's a sacrifice worth making...

Why should EA be able to dictate the requirements for PC gaming? Not all PC gamers have 100% internet access all the time. See Kwaad and Zenfolder's example. Why are you (shio) defending these people?

If Spore was my new favorite game at the same time I was to take a few weeks off to visit family in Puerto Rico (where I wouldn't have internet access, most likely), I would bring a laptop or something to play games here and there. It would be really inconvenient to not be able to play the game.

Ok lets get serious here.
There's this thing called dial up, some of you are maybe too young to remember it but it does exist.
So basically you guys are arguing you don't have a phone line at home ?

PS : Or if you have a cellphone with any kind of net browsing capacity you should be able to connect your laptop to the net through the cellphone..

If you have no internet, no fixed phone line, no cellphone you are screwed. 10 000 BC probably was made after you...

I was answering to those that have been arguing all along this thread that they have no internet or very bad quality one...

But yeah I got it

At this point this thread has become a pissing contest and people will just make up any excuse they can just to argue against the change to mass effect........

 So I got an idea for you : how about you guys just stop bitching and don't buy the game ?

I am not going to pay for a dial-up connection monthly so I can try and activate a game when my internet goes down. That is beyond stupid. My cellphone does not have the ability to surf the internet either so far as I know. If it can, I am relatively certain it will cost me extra to use that feature. How about this. You stop telling other people how this isn't a problem for them when you have no fucking clue what you are talking about, mmmkay? You are spewing non-sensical crap to try and invalidate legitimate complaints. If you don't want to read about people complaining then get the fuck off the internet. It is for whining, porn, and whining about porn.

Well thank you for telling me how I am going to play my game. Here I was thinking I would mostly stick to the single player aspects, and creating units for fun because I loathe online multiplayer in 99% of games. Thank you for correcting me on that. I am glad to hear I will suddenly really want to play online, and only online. I would have thought my previous tendency to avoid online would be maintained with Spore, but you have shown me the error of my ways. Thank you for telling me my preferences.