To bad this isn't going to matter. There are lots of people hyped about Spore thanks to the trial, who will no doubt run out and buy it day 1.

It really saddens me that companies continue to increasingly screw the user with their 'protections' that DON'T STOP PIRACY. I stopped buying from Valve after the Half Life 2 protections (can't play or even install a SINGLE PLAYER GAME unless you're connected to Steam), and I have since added EA and Bioware to this list for severe Spore and Mass Effect protections. I am disappointed to hear that Ironclad is going to force you to connect to Impulse to play Sins online with the next patch. Aren't cd-keys good enough to prevent pirates from accessing multiplayer?

I have no problems with supporting good games and good companies with my money, but if you're going to treat me like a criminal then you've lost a customer. I don't care how good the game is. It's too bad, I really liked Bioware but they had to go and partner with EA. Not a smart move guys.

Where did you read that Ironclad will be forcing people to connect to Impulse to play online? And is that only if you use their servers, or even for direct LAN/IP games?

Yes, the problem is that you have to go through protection that won't work at all in order to play. I'm fine with impulse, but you install Starforce or Securom on my PC, and you waste my hard-drive space and slow it down more than it already is (though I do optimize it often enough).

Granted, pirating it is a bit too far. I'll just boycott it, since piracy is illegal. Plus, I don't want that crap on my PC anyways.

Stanley, I won't try it because I'm on board with the boycott, but would it pass ethical muster for you if someone bought Spore but never installed anything but a SecuROM-free crack?

wow now that is a chilling look at the future.

i don't like ea at all either but.... i am a slave to battlefield and c&c.
but securom is horrible, whenever i try to play star wars empire at war it says im using a backup disk and i have to re-insert the disk so i can play, some times i have to put it back in so many times, i just give up.

and p.s. does battlefield (2142 or bf 2) even have securom? if it does i don't notice it often.

Im not sure but battlefield has some form of it. People have been having a huge problem with it since it was released and the game still doesn't work right. It like registers your hardware settings or something so when you make the slightest changes like changing you bits or screen resolution or even plugging in a new mouse the game glitches up and you most likely have to delete some hidden file or completely uninistal and reinstall then repatch it.Its easily fixable but is a pain.
Or how both games would suddenly brick your cd/dvd drive for no apparent reason but then securom has been known to damage peoples hardware. then theres is the thing where if your cd's pretty much messed up you have to buy a new copy of the game cause it won't except a new cd or a cd that has a different cd key. Like most people I pretty much just went and got a hacked Exe. cause it was to much of a hassle to deal with that crap.
I'm wondering now you have both games and never run into any problem?

I don't think Battlefield 2 or 2142 has securom.

Piracy is bad. The best way is simply a boycott. Remember, if it's not worth playing, don't.

I'm not gonna pirate. That was the heat getting to my temper. I had to walk in 110 degrees.