EA Games were seen as the bad guys for quite a while. They managed to earn this reputation by showing little interest in the actual content of their game offerings and just churning out sequels in popular franchises every year. They’ve also had a reputation for taking master servers offline for games that are only a year or two old, meaning that these games could no longer be played online. The astute observer would probably say this is done to help sell the newer versions of their games.

However, they’ve been having a bit of a renaissance over the last few years and, compared to the other major publishers, they’ve been starting to look like the good guys. They’ve had their ups and downs with DRM just like everyone else but they’ve actually been adding some nice incentives to help tip the balance.

Both Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, for example, contain extra content for those customers that buy a brand new version of the game. But the real brownie points come from the fact that this content, whilst requiring activation, can be used when you’re offline. I have to admit that, when I saw my copy of DA:O trying to talk to EA’s servers every time I played, I was quite appalled. However, there have been very few reports of people being unable to play offline with their bonus content (so long as you have successfully authenticated within the last few weeks or so).

Sadly, with the release of Command & Conquer 4, it looks like they might be back to their old ways. An article from PC Gamer has exposed their methods for trying to combat piracy and the secondhand market as being worse than Ubisoft’s! Not only do you have to be online for the entire time you’re playing (even if you’re just playing singleplayer) but it doesn’t even attempt to reconnect should you have any problems. Due to the way the system has been implemented, this also means that any progress you make from that point on (even if your connection comes back) will not be recorded. At all.

What they’ve effectively built is an MMO style system but where the client isn’t fully dependant on the server. If that weren’t the case, you’d at least know why you couldn’t carry on playing (no connection to the server means the server doesn’t know what you’re doing). Here, on the other hand, we’ve got the illusion that the client can do its own thing only to find out later that the server will then ignore everything since the last time it was connected.

If you’re a PC gamer who cares about their privacy or the ability to play your games on your terms, the list of suitable titles from major publishers is getting ever shorter.

On the plus side, the independent studios have been releasing some wonderful games recently and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change any time soon. So, if you want something to play whilst you’re avoiding all of this cloud gaming nonsense, why not check out The Indie Love Bundle.