Sorry to say it, but Impulse is going to be more and more useless for an european customer. 

Very few games available for us, and mostly overpriced.

Wow, North America only. I'm surprised.

QFT.

The amount of criticism EA have received over Securom is totally unjustified...

Have any of you used it or do you just moan about it and distort the FACTS....

When EA uses Securom on its games you can install the game an unlimited amount of times on up to 5 different PCs.

YES-i said unlimited-and okay u might reinstall your system but that will not use up an activation.

Some people may upgrade their Mobo etc which would cause an activation slot to be used up but EA supply a really easy to use Deauthorisation tool so as long as you use that in theory you do have unlimited activations on numerous PC setups.

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But why put us through the hassle? Why install (potentially) harmful DRM on our computers? "Well to stop pirates, of course!"
Wasn't Spore the most pirated game of 2008? Man, that securom really stops pirates now don't it?

EDIT: And to be positive, look at Stardock. They aren't stupid, they know their games are going to be pirated. They also know that DRM pisses people off and can make people pirate the game instead of buying it. That's why they don't put any DRM on their discs! Demigod was pirated so much not because of DRM but a few other issues (a big one being gamestop releasing the freaking game early...)

I did I have battlefeild 2. And a few others. I can afirm to you that when ever I install and EA product on my computer. My computer starts acting weird and performances starts to drop. I don't need to install tools to mersure the performance of my cpu to see the changes I can see them for my self very easily.

To top it off thousands of other people have reported simmiler problems with EA products, some reported nightmarerish events. So to me that good enought to ban ALL EA PRUDUCTS WITHOUT QUESTION.

Here's my criticism: DRM does not work! The one thing all DRM, from "enter word from manual" to "CD key" to "version whatever Securom/Starforce", has in common is abject failure. Sure, the latest in DRM will stop some kid just loaning his game CD to a friend to copy, but the humble CD key will do that too. Ok, if you want to pirate a few moments on the internet will give you a CD-key generator, but that same search will also yield a crack or cracked version.

None of us here (or at least, no sane person) deny the right of a developer/publisher to protect their code, but when they make legitimate customers jump through hoops (or worse) while still achieving absolutely nothing against the pirates, people get annoyed. Well, the customers get annoyed. The pirates don't care, it's business as usual for them, since they don't get faced with the crap the customers do on account of ripping all that stuff out with the rest of the copyright protection. Fun, isn't it, when the crooks get a better product than the legitimate buyers?   

#1 reason why don't don't buy EA no more.

How many games do you have installed? I have more than two dozen. Now, imagine you have to deauthorize each and every one before changing your motherboard or before you reinstall your OS. That's a serious and unnecessary pain in the ass, especially if your games are already tied to a digital platform like Impulse.

Here's the thing:  I don't care if I have "proof" that I bought a product--I KNOW I bought it.  And I certainly resent having that proof on my PC when it slows performance hindering my enjoyment (when, say, I can no longer play a smooth game with the graphics maxed out. And YES this does happen).

You can use all the piracy-related reasons in the world to justify putting malware on my PC --or rather getting me to PAY MONEY to install malware on my PC--it's irrelevant.  I am not a pirate.  I won't pirate EA's or anyone else's software.  But I will not pay for malware.  I understand the reasons for getting EA on Impulse.  They make some of the most popular titles in the world.  I'm just glad that the DRM used on a particular title is clearly displayed.

I'm not, then again you were probably being sarcastic

Too bad, I would've bought Sacred 2 earlier if the cheap price was also for EU.

Nobody does either ways; legally bought or pirated copies.

What most people hate, i gather, is supplemental verifications (through hidden processes) by code taking up useless space on their PC... i KNOW that also.

But, worst if there isn't anything to protect YOUR paid software (not malware, need i insist) from being stolen from YOU (and not by Pirates or from the publisher itself) - what value do you get to install on the PC?

Enter password. Security. ATM money in your bank account. Why do you think criminals try to use fake credit cards?

I have three registration codes for GC2 DL/DA/TA products that i paid for. Stardock KNOWS i'm a legitimate buyer. They even think of me as a customer, not a Pirate.

I paid for DesktopX, registered too.

None of these programs are malware, even if they check some tabs on their database (in a fraction of a second i should add) and constantly acknowledge my presence on Impulse when these products need to be updated. As a service - to a CUSTOMER, not a Pirate.

That's how precious our identity is, even for such things as games (paid for) installed on a PC.

By malware people mean SecuROM, which does act like malware.

You are paying for malware. When you buy certain games and install then, they install malware drm onto your system.

Your confusing the points. the DRM that Stardock uses isn't very invasive, and isn't as bad as the ones other companies use. Most of us don't mind activating our product, and proving that we are still the owners when it's time to update and the like. I have zero complaints about it, but part of me is worried that when stardock crashes something will happen and our beautiful games won't be able to update anymore.

A lot of DRM from EA games is installed on your system without your knowledge, and is not uninstalled from your system. Ever. Some programs (such as punk buster) will run everytime your PC starts up, even after you've uninstalled every game that is included with it. There's not an easy way to uninstall it either. DRM doesn't stop pirates, so why is it still in existance?

If you were buying a car, and for $3000 more, you could have a piece of paper taped to the window that says "this glass is shatterproof, so don't bother breaking in", would you buy it? That sign is just as effective, if not more effective than current DRM is against pirates.

We're not ranting for free everything, no disk checks, etc. We're saying that we don't deserve to have restricted activations, online necessary 1st person games that must call home every 10 days, invasive programs that aren't uninstalled without tedious work, etc. You are paying for malware. Not all DRM is evil, but current DRM in general is idiotic. I have never, ever, heard a single intelligent rebuttle to any of the key points of the anti-drm arguements. At least not any that can withstand a round or two of objections to their logic.