Though they only intended to protect their product from piracy, EA got a lot of crap from gamers for including the stringent copy protection known as SecuROM with Spore last year. They won't make the same mistake with The Sims 3.

"The game will have disc-based copy protection – there is a Serial Code just like The Sims 2," said Rod Humble, Head of The Sims label at EA in a note on The Sims 3 website. "To play the game there will not be any online authentication needed."

Added 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."

The Sims 3 will be released for the PC and Mac on June 2nd in North America and in Europe and Australia on June 5th.