Sims 3: No Online Authentication!

Well, this is a pleasant surprise. With EA's embracing of online-activation culture, you'd have expected to see it turn up in Sims 3. But it's not to be, as made clear by an announcement by Ruling-Sims-Monarch Rod Humble. "The game will have disc-based copy protection – there is a Serial Code just like The Sims 2. To play the game there will not be any online authentication needed," says Rod Humble, "We feel like this is a good, time-proven solution that makes it easy for you to play the game without DRM methods that feel overly invasive or leave you concerned about authorization server access in the distant future." While fans of freedom will be pleased, I was personally hoping for some DRM so prescriptive that it requires one of the developers to be standing behind you, silently watching, for the game to boot up. Man!