EA Download Manager

[Arnock]

So, I've never played either of the mass effect games, and I'd like to now that I have a computer that can handle it. I noticed that one can get a digital copy from the ea online store. Did a bit of reading about the EA d/l manager, and I'm not really sure what to think.

If anyone here has used it... Does it function in a similar fashion as steam where you need to launch games through the client, and if so, can you play offline?

Or is it simply a digital download of the game?

[Brutalicus]

It's just a downloader. I was scared of it being like an EA-Steam platform I'd have to boot games through, but I was wrong. Both Mass Effect games install simple .exe files that have a launcher similar to WoW's (that you can circumvent because there's another .exe that just launches the games). Good choice of games, btw. If there's any game worth risking putting EA software on your machine, ME1 and ME2 are those games.

[Arnock]

Thanks, would you happen to know if ME1 still has that draconian level of DRM that it was released with?

[Brutalicus]

I only got it recently, but I am thinking no. Here are some quotes from the Wikipedia article...

On May 9, 2008, BioWare decided to remove the ten day periodic re-authentication, saying that it "listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them." Players will still need to connect to the server before they launch Mass Effect for the first time or download new game content

EA has since released a De-Authorization Tool for certain SecuROM Protected games released after May 2008, which includes Mass Effect.

It seems the Steam release has none of that, but it also looks like EA nixed the DRM too.

[Brutalicus]

Also, for when you become irrevocably obsessed with the Mass Effect universe, I direct you to this (currently cryogenically frozen) thread.

[Skwigelf]

It's just a downloader. I was scared of it being like an EA-Steam platform I'd have to boot games through, but I was wrong. Both Mass Effect games install simple .exe files that have a launcher similar to WoW's (that you can circumvent because there's another .exe that just launches the games). Good choice of games, btw. If there's any game worth risking putting EA software on your machine, ME1 and ME2 are those games.

You don't HAVE to use the Steam launcher to launch Steam downloaded games.

If you go into your Steam directory and snoop around(for me its C:\Program Files(x86)\Steam\Steamapps\common\) you will find the fully downloaded games and their .exe files, which you can add to your taskbar/main screen/start menu/etc.

[Brutalicus]

It's just a downloader. I was scared of it being like an EA-Steam platform I'd have to boot games through, but I was wrong. Both Mass Effect games install simple .exe files that have a launcher similar to WoW's (that you can circumvent because there's another .exe that just launches the games). Good choice of games, btw. If there's any game worth risking putting EA software on your machine, ME1 and ME2 are those games.

You don't HAVE to use the Steam launcher to launch Steam downloaded games.

If you go into your Steam directory and snoop around(for me its C:\Program Files(x86)\Steam\Steamapps\common\) you will find the fully downloaded games and their .exe files, which you can add to your taskbar/main screen/start menu/etc.

Interesting, I never knew that. Thanks!